The Lord is the Spirit. Part 1.

The only person, who could ever claim lordship over your life, is the person who is your lord. We have received Jesus as Lord and Savior of our lives, therefore Hes our Lord. He, in another place is called the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls (). The mystery of His lordship has now been revealed to us through the Holy Spirit; who has been given this RIGHT of lordship over us by the Eternal Godhead. NOW the Lord is the Spirit (). When Jesus left for heaven He told th e disciples (us included) that it was at their advantage that he departs, BUT WHY? I mean Jesus had been such a good Teacher, a good Master and a good Friend. Nonetheless He doesnt leave the disciples with endless questions but tells them that unless He leaves The Helper will not come, the Spirit of Truth (). Jesus calls the Holy Spirit ANOTHER Helper, why ANOTHER and not just HELPER? The answer to that question is the mystery behind the Holy Spirits nature and identity. Who is HE? If ever in your life you met the Holy Spirit or rather let me say had an encounter with Him, theres something definite that youll notice about Him. Unfortunately we will not meet a DOVE as some of us might imagine, or a cloud or a wind, but something more with Godhead expression. We cant say much now but one thing is for certain, The Lord is the Spirit.

Moved by The Spirit.

Luke 2:27 (NIV)

MOVED by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required.

There is nothing in the world that compares to that gentle and refreshing move of the Holy Spirit. It might not be an audible voice, or a dream or a vision but that sense in your spirit that the Holy Spirit wants you to do something or just alerting you about His Presence - Its truly a blessing. Most of the time when the Holy Spirit gives us IMPRESSIONS or COMPULSIONS in our spirits, we are usually doubtful and sometimes hesitant to respond to these spiritual feelings. In fact I was in church today and I was leading the intercessory prayer and the Spirit began to make an impression in my spirit that I should call one of our worshipers to worship but there was so much doubt in my heart, and I was very hesitant to do it, so I ended up not doing it. However afterwards the Holy Spirit gave me another impression to just talk in tongues and as I did, I felt His Presence surrounding me, just to let me know that He is there. The more fellowship we have with the Holy Spirit the more we experience this MOVE or USHERING. There is no impression that the Holy Spirit ministers in our spirits that is intended for harm, that's why we need to have more faith and act upon these impressions. Mary Magdalene brook an alabaster jar of fragrances and began to anoint Jesus and Jesus said to His disciples that what Mary had done, she had done as a preparation for His burial. Mary Magdalene just had an IMPRESSION in her spirit that she needed to anoint Jesus and because of that Jesus said that "wherever the Gospel is preached, what she did will

be told as a memorial of her" (Mark 14:6-9). This is one of the ways God leads us, as the bible says "as many as are led by the Spirit, these are the sons of God" (Romans 8:14). God desires that our fellowship with Him should be continuous, that's why He leads us everyday, guiding us through the journey of our lives, confirming to us that we are truly His sons and daughters. Amazingly as we yield ourselves more and more to God, His voice becomes clearer and clearer and before you know it, we are able to distinguish between the voice of God in our hearts and our own voices. No one who has ever been led by the Spirit has ever failed in what God was leading them to or failed to recognize it. Let us make it our aim to have more and more fellowship with God and as we do that it wont just profit us but the people that God is sending us to as well.

God Bless You

In the Flesh, No Longer.

Romans 7:5(NIV)

For when WE WERE IN THE REALM OF THE FLESH, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death.

There is such a realm called the realm of the flesh. Its a realm whereby bodily senses dominate, where the physical body slaves itself to sin, the realm of the flesh is not subjected to FAITH. It's a realm where sin has its highest control and where the devil rules. This is a REALM that is not subjected to the things of God. Most people live in this realm, they live their lives NATURALLY. They live by routine, they do what they bodies want them to do, Paul even says "their belly is their god"(Philippians 3:19). When a person lives in the realm of the flesh, even their mind is not subjected to God (Romans 8:7). The bible says "those who are in the realm of the flesh CANNOT PLEASE God." (Romans 8:8). That is why Jesus died for us, so that we can receive the promised Spirit of God, and start serving God in the Spirit. Jesus says the Father is seeking those who'll worship Him in Spirit and in truth (John 4:24). The opening scripture says "WE WERE...", in other words we used to be(its in the past), but now we are in the Spirit - we ought to function there and walk there, Paul says "as you live in Spirit, walk in the Spirit". This is a powerful consciousness. The realm of the Spirit, is the highest dimension of life. Jesus called us to function in the realm of the Spirit, when He was crucified, and we were spiritually crucified with Him, putting to death the FLESH with its passions and desires, so that we may start living for God in the Spirit. Thereafter we received the Holy Spirit and the Spirit realm was opened to us, to walk in. Paul says "you are

already in the Spirit, if the Spirit of Christ dwells in you" (Romans 8:9). Therefore all we need to do is to learn to WALK and FUNCTION in the Spirit. As we walk in the Spirit we will bear fruits of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, self-control, patience, etc. We will begin to hear more from God. We are no longer in the flesh, so we need to start abiding in the Spirit, see and hear in the Spirit.

God Bless You

The Last Triumph.

Genesis 49:19(NKJV)

Gad, a troop shall tramp upon him, But HE SHALL TRIUMPH AT LAST.

The last triumph is always ours in Jesus. Paul says "but thanks be to God, who in Christ ALWAYS leads us in triumphal procession..." (2 Corinthians 2:14). Thus we are ALWAYS VICTORS in Jesus. However sometimes it happens that as we pursue some things or as we face some challenges that we fall into failure. A work project, school subject, and other endeavors seem to be too hard, we feel like we can't triumph upon them and even sometimes that fear of failure becomes a reality. Hence when we do fail we feel more like FAILURES than CONQUERORS, however that is not so. Paul says "in all these things WE ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS" (Romans 8:37), so we cannot be failures. We have to refuse the FAILURE mentality, even though people call us failures or sometimes even the result of the things we are doing reflect an element of failure, we are to REJECT it. The ULTIMATE VICTORY is OURS. In life we could have been "tramped" but we SHALL TRIUMPH AT LAST. What you get for a subject in school doesn't change who you are, or not meeting a deadline at work for that matter. VICTORY is an attitude, it's a MINDSET - A victorious person is seen by his attitude towards challenges, his not fearful, HE KNOWS WHO HE IS. Today, reprogram youself, begin to reprogram your mind for victory, for success, REJECT & REFUSE failure and fear, and experience the VICTORIOUS LIFE that God called us for.

God Bless You

Perceive the Grace.

Galatians 2:9(NIV)

James, Cephas and John, those esteemed as pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of FELLOWSHIP when they RECOGNIZED THE GRACE GIVEN to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised.

This is the area we sometimes fail so miserably in - to perceive the grace of God in others. It is the tradition of almost every church to have the benediction at the end of the service and in the duration of the benediction, in the last moments, the pastor would say,"LET US SHARE THE GRACE". This is a statement THAT IS so phenomenally powerful if we would look at it the way God's word looks at it. Let us share the grace. Sharing is God's ministry to us as believers, Paul says "Anyone who receives instruction in the word must SHARE ALL GOOD THINGS with his instructor."(Galatians 6:6) - this is what sharing the grace is all about. In order for us to accept other believers in our midst (fellowship with them) and not be judgmental and critical towards them, we have to see the grace of God in their lives and how that same grace can benefit both the body of Christ as an entity and us individually. The first thing that we need to understand is that EACH AND EVERY BELIEVER HAS RECEIVED SOME MEASURE OF GRACE, as Paul says "But to EACH ONE OF US GRACE HAS BEEN GIVEN as Christ apportioned it." (Ephesians 4:7) therefore there is no one in the body of Christ who hasn't received grace - we need to LEARN TO RECOGNIZE & SEE IT. If we fail to recognize the grace of God in others, we will miss out on a lot of blessings because we rejected the grace that God wanted them to share with us. No one man can do everything in the body of

Christ - "If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?" (1 Corinthians 12:17). We are together because we need each other. There's a grace that the man, Joseph of Arimathea had that even Cephas being the pillar didn't have, because Joseph was rich and influential he (most probably him alone among the disciples) could get and claim the body of Jesus for a burial(Matthew 27:57). When Potiphar SAW that the Lord was with Joseph (son of Jacob) and that God gave Joseph success in everything he did, Potiphar put him in charge of his household (Genesis 39:3-4). Potiphar SAW the grace and the favor of God upon Joseph and he made a decision to make him the supervisor of his house and afterwards the bible records "from the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the LORD blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the LORD was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field." (Genesis 39:5) - HOW AMAZING IS THAT. We should always exhort one another in the grace of God, build each other and esteem the other better than ourselves (removing every form of selfishness & jealousy that blinds us from seeing the grace of God) and not criticize and judge on another but on the contrary build each other in the love of God. The bible says "he who walks with the wise grows wise..." (Proverbs 13:20), recognize the grace, make fellowship and partake of the same grace.

God Bless You

We May Boldly Say;

Hebrews 13:5-6(NKJV)

Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. SO WE MAY BOLDLY SAY: The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?

I believe without a doubt that the truthfulness of any word, is judged by the character of the person who utters it. It would be complete gullibility to trust in the words of someone's character you haven't been acquainted with. Being trustful and being gullible are two different things. If somebody promised to buy you a car at the end of the month, unless you were completely sold into believing that the person would do it, you would never tell anyone about it, just in case that person doesn't keep his word and you are shamed. However if you believed and have known that, that particular person is faithful to his word then you would go to the streets and SHOUT WITH BOLDNESS your new found blessing. It is the same thing with the Gospel. We go out evangelizing to people, telling them to receive the grace of Christ with BOLDNESS because we believe it is the truth. The reason we can be BOLD about the measure of love that God has for us is because "we have known and believed the love that God has for us" (1 John 4:16). Thus if God says "he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities" (Colossians 2:15), WE CAN BOLDLY SAY "no weapon formed against us shall prosper," (Isaiah 54:17). We say whatever we say from God's word with BOLDNESS because God said it. We have judged God and we have found Him FAITHFUL to His word, as even the bible speaks concerning Sarah that "she CONSIDERED HIM

FAITHFUL WHO PROMISED" (Hebrews 11:11). We BOLDLY confess what God says about us, simply because of His truthfulness, trustworthiness and faithfulness. Let us live by that same SPIRIT OF FAITH that he had who wrote "I believe therefore I speak" (2 Corinthians 4:13), and confess with BOLDNESS the word of God, professing what we believe. We can also pray for one another, as Paul asked the Ephesians to pray for him "that utterance may be given unto him, that he may open his mouth BOLDLY to make known the mystery of the Gospel of Christ" (Ephesians 6:19). In fact let us not delay, let us pray now; "Blessed Father in the name of Jesus, you say to us, we must come to Your Throne of grace with the full assurance that faith brings and with boldness, therefore Father we ask that you give us boldness to speak Your word without fear, to confess your word with the power of faith, and to hold Your Word in sanctity and speak it as it is in truth, THE TRUTH, which is Your word which works effectively to those who believe, in Jesus' glorious name we ask, AMEN & AMEN". Now let us expect to receive.

God Bless You

Be Clear.

1 Corinthians 14:8 (GNT)

And if the one who plays the bugle does not SOUND A CLEAR CALL, who will prepare for battle?

This is something most of us battle with; MAKING A CLEAR CALL. The word "bugle" in our opening scripture is actually the word "trumpet". When soldiers went to war, as a sign that they needed to prepare for battle, one of the soldiers (chosen) will sound the trumpet, to alert the others. There was a reason for the CLARITY of the sound that the trumpet makes or else the soldiers wouldn't know whether to go out for battle or to do something else. I believe God wants us to do the same when we are asking Him something or asking for something from Him. We sometimes don't want to be clear about what we need because we feel like it might not be the will of God or what we are asking Him might somehow offend Him; but that should not be our concern. Jesus said "your Father knows what you need before you ask for it" (Matthew 6:8), therefore not saying exactly what is in your heart might be something of a LIE to God if you look at it that way. When asking something from God, we NEED TO BE CLEAR. We need to tell Him exactly what we need. When God appears to Solomon by night and asks him "what should I give you?", Solomon tells God that he needs WISDOM, so that he can judge Israel which was a very large company of people (1 Chronicles 1:7,10). The Divine Response is amazing, when He says "because THIS WAS IN YOUR HEART..., WISDOM and KNOWLEDGE I have GRANTED you" (1 Chronicles 1:11-12). We need to pour out our hearts to God when we are asking Him for something; we need to be DEFINITE about our requests. God values an honest heart. If there is anything you

need God to do for you, go to Him BOLDLY and let Him know, if it is by any chance not His will, He will let you know and that knowledge will leave you with PEACE. He is our Father, we should not be afraid of Him and He most definitely doesn't want us to think that He is unapproachable. Therefore let us go and make definite petitions to our Father, as Jesus had said "whatsoever you ASK in My name, I WILL DO" (John 14:13) and in another place He says "Your Father LOVES YOU" (John 16:27). So, get ASKING it could be your time for a miracle and you'll never know until you ask. Oh another thing, BE THANKFUL and APPRECIATIVE when God has given you your heart's desire, God loves a grateful heart so much.

God Bless You.

Give God a Chance.

Jeremiah 2:5(KJV)

Thus saith the Lord, What INIQUITY have your fathers FOUND IN ME, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?

Long before we ever truly know God, we have SO MUCH to blame Him for, we blame Him for poverty, for sickness, for death, for sorrow, for almost every bad thing. We are so consumed with the idea that God is responsible for everything that we forget that there are two sides in a coin. James wrote something very profound in his epistle, he wrote "My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water."(James 3:12). Therefore how can David say "the Lord is good"(Psalm 100:5) if God is bad?, how can a good God do bad? God cannot be good & bad at the same time, IT'S IMPOSSIBLE. God is good. There is a person who is responsible for the bad and all the misfortunes that we see in the world and his name is Satan. He doesn't want to be recognised for his wickedness, he hides himself behind God, he transforms himself to an angel of light(2 Corinthians 11:14). He rejoices in pain and suffering, he rejoices in evil, Jesus says "he was a murderer from the beginning"(John 8:44). The reason that God sent Jesus was so that He could destroy the works of the devil, and release those who were oppressed by him (Acts 10:38). He is the opposite of God, he only stands for evil & wickedness. God doesn't find joy in our sufferings and pain, that's the reason for Jesus, He came to restore peace, love and joy. He came to give us life and life in abundance (John 10:10) while Satan came to kill, steal & destroy. I saw something that a lady posted on her status update on

facebook today and her words were "God has failed me again, my grandfather passed away". To tell you the truth I was sad to see such words from a believer, and it made me realize that God was right when He said "My people perish because of lack of knowledge"(Hosea 4:6). It is evident that God doesn't enjoy people's deaths when He says "I DO NOT DELIGHT in the death of the one who DIES" (Ezekiel 18:32), but because some of us don't know that, we blame God for people's deaths. Let us give God a chance by getting to know Him more. Let us strive to know Him personally, to know Him more. He is so loving. J.I. Parker in his book titled "Knowing God", he wrote something extraordinarily powerful, he wrote "there's a difference between knowing God and knowing about God". That statement changed my life and my perception of how we relate to God. Let us not know about God but know God. As we know God more we will see that there is no iniquity with Him and that He is all loving and all true.

God Bless You

God's Word is Final.

Numbers 22:18

Then Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak, Though Balak were to give me his HOUSE FULL OF SILVER AND GOLD, I could not go beyond the word of the Lord my God, to do less or more.

The word of God is more than just the bible. The word of God is God's representative of who He is. Anything and everything that God has made known of Himself He has contained in His Holy Scriptures. Paul says to Timothy "all Scripture is Godbreathed..." (2 Timothy 3:16-17), when you understand this truth, you begin to be aware of the power of God's word. The word of God is the TRUTH (John 17:17), and whatever God says in His word is TRUE and He HONORS it. The word says it's impossible for God to lie(Hebrews 6:18), therefore if and when He said something, He told the complete truth. Let the word of God be your reality, LET IT HOLD FINALITY IN YOUR LIFE. Balaam said even if a man would give me a house full of silver, I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord, to do less or more, if God says you are more than a conqueror then you cannot be a failure because He said you are not. The word of God SHOULD hold the FINAL verdict over your life. BELIEVE THE WORD. Paul said to the Thessalonians "...the word of God WORKS effectively to you WHO BELIEVE" (1 Thessalonians 2:13), if you believe in God's word, it will work wonders for you, miracles will be your daily life. Jesus said to Martha "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. DO YOU BELIEVE THIS?" (John 11:25-26), Jesus asked Martha if she believed Him, if she believed the words He spoke. Meditate

on God's word, let it DWELL in you RICHLY, think on it, imagine on it, set your heart and your mind on it, and you will be established. Let the word of God be FINAL, all that matters is what God said. In everything you do put the word first, someone can say to you that sex before marriage is not a sin for instance, but what he said doesn't matter to you, because God said it is a sin. So God's word reigns over your life.

God Bless You

Draw Near to God.

Lamentation 3:57(NIV) YOU CAME NEAR WHEN I CALLED, and you said, Do not fear. Everything begins somewhere. James says "draw near to God and He will draw near to you."(James 4:8). Many of us wonder and think and sometimes even pray to God, asking this life-changing question, HOW DO WE DRAW NEAR TO YOU, FATHER? At some point in our lives we have had a revelation of drawing near to God, we have realized the importance of drawing near to Him, of coming closer to Him, to experience His Precious Presence, but we just didn't know how. Paul says in Acts 17:26-27 "From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this SO THEY WOULD SEEK Him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, THOUGH HIS NOT FAR FROM ANY OF US". He said I am not that FAR, from any of you; just amazing. Since we know that His is not that far then it should be easy to come close to Him; but we just don't know how. Nonetheless God be thanked for His Word, which shows us and teaches us the ways of God, because the entrance of His Word gives LIGHT (Psalm 119:130). The opening verse is too powerful for words, because it explains just about everything we need to know about drawing closer to God. It says "You (God) CAME NEAR WHEN I CALLED...", so it means that, the moment we CALL, God DRAWS NEAR. In another place God says I would not have told the people of Israel to SEEK ME if I could not be found. I, the LORD, speak only what is true and

declare only what is right." (Isaiah 45:19 - NLT). The reason God said we should seek Him, is because He truly can be found, if we seek Him we will FIND Him, WHEN we seek Him with all our hearts (Jeremiah 29:13). PRAYER is that first step; when we pray we are reaching out to God - we are calling unto Him. In Jeremiah 29:12-13, God says "Then you will CALL UPON ME and come and PRAY to Me, and I will LISTEN to you, You will SEEK Me and FIND Me when you seek me with all your heart. - POWERFUL. He says when they come and PRAY to Me, I WILL LISTEN. Therefore let us begin to draw closer and closer to God and draw closer CONTINUALLY, In 1 Chronicles 16:11 it says "..., seek His PRESENCE CONTINUALLY". Let us keep coming closer to Him, let us draw NEAR to Him and He will draw NEAR to us. PRAY WITHOUT CEASING (1 Thessalonians 5:17). God Bless You.

The Friendship of God.

Exodus 33:11(NIV) The Lord would speak to Moses FACE TO FACE, as ONE SPEAKS TO A FRIEND. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent. So powerful. A friendly relationship with a man, that's what God, was looking for. This is one of the most intimate relationships a man can have with God - when a man speaks to God FACE TO FACE. If we look at the book of Ezekiel 39:29 we find God saying "And I will not hide My FACE from them anymore; for I shall have POURED out My Spirit on the house of Israel, says the Lord God", its amazing that we are living in the era of the outpouring of the Spirit of God and one of the reasons we have the Spirit of God is so that we can enjoy this friendly, personal relationship with our Heavenly Father. Since we have the Holy Spirit we can easily tap into God's Presence whenever we feel like it. In another Paul says "For through Him (Jesus) we both have access by one Spirit to the Father."(Ephesians 2:18), he says we have access or an introduction by the Spirit to our Father. Job experienced this wonderful friendship with God (Job 29:2-4) so did Abraham (Isaiah 41:8). Jesus in fact calls us to this friendship, when He says "You are my friends, if you do my commandments"(John 15:14). The more we come close to God, the more we experience this friendship with Him, Solomon says "There is a friend that sticks closer than a brother"(Proverbs 18:24), God's that friend. He is a friend always, and the more we follow His Son and do the things that please Him, meditate on His word and be constantly

delighting in Him, the more intimate our relationship with Him gets. God Bless You

Dead to Sin.

Romans

6:11(NLT)

So you also should consider yourselves to be DEAD TO THE POWER OF SIN and ALIVE TO God through Christ Jesus. This is a very profound thing - to be dead to the power of sin. The reason that sometimes we sin is because we haven't accepted what Jesus did for us as a reality. Sometimes we justify ourselves and say that "its impossible for us not to sin", but that's not true. The act of nobility that Jesus did at the cross was more than just make us right with God; He died so that sin might have no power over us, so that we may be DEAD to the power of sin but ALIVE to God. If we are alive to the power of sin, then we are dead to the reality of God. However Paul says "Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins...But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God's grace that you have been saved!"(Ephesians 2:1,4-5). So we are no longer dead but alive, alive to Him who gave us ETERNAL LIFE. Let us start walking in the grace that God gave us, and consider ourselves dead to sin, but alive to Him, so that we allow no sin to have its power over us anymore, let us accept this grace as it is. You can wake up everyday and confess this scripture over your life to remind the devil that he has no claim over your life anymore, he has no power over you and sin has no power over you as well. God Bless You

God-Confidence.

Philippians

3:3(NIV)

For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who PUT NO CONFIDENCE IN THE FLESH Jesus says "apart from me, you CAN DO NOTHING"(John 15:5), showing us the amount of dependence we need to have towards God. We need to be dependent on God for success, or for anything we need, for all sufficiency. When we rely on our abilities and put our confidence on them, we are bound to fail or even if we do succeed, we will be filled with PRIDE - which is the same thing that caused Satan's fall from heaven & eternal separation from God. When a person is filled with pride, he receives praise and glory for himself and doesn't give any to God, who is highly responsible for most of his success. The bible says a fool is self-confident (Proverbs 14:16). Self-confidence is not what the word of God teaches us, its what the world teaches us, that if we are self-confident, we will have positive results in life. Even Paul who was successful in his ministry acknowledged Christ's power at work in him, when he said "I can DO ALL THING THROUGH CHRIST, WHO STRENGTHENS ME"(Philippians 4:13), he wasn't putting confidence on himself but his confidence was in Jesus. We can always be assured of success if we live a life of God-confidence, a life where we put ALL our confidence in God and none upon ourselves. God Bless You.

Expect to Receive. Acts 3:5 (NKJV)

So he gave them his attention, EXPECTING TO RECEIVE SOMETHING from them. This is a huge element of faith; namely expectation. Jesus says "whatever you pray for BELIEVE that you receive it and you'll have it". Believing is the first element. When we believe, a release is made or by faith our prayers are granted, so to say that what we asked for has been granted to us - that's the prayer of faith. Expectation is a concept of welcoming what we have received by faith. For instance when a woman is pregnant and she's aware of it, she doesn't believe that she's pregnant; she KNOWS that shes pregnant and she is waiting for the day of delivery that is why that whole process is called EXPECTING. Likewise, when God has given us things or promised us things, all that we have to do is WAIT for the materialization of those things; the day of delivery. If you pray to God for an opportunity and you believe that you've received it by faith, then you should expect that opportunity, that's why Jesus says "which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead?", in other words you don't ask God for a fish and He gives you a snake instead. Therefore it is important that we make specific requests to God when we pray because Satan can also take opportunity from our requests and give us things which we think are from God. However, God be thanked because every good and perfect gift is from above. Enjoy your faith and believe God for all things you ask Him. God Bless You

The Joy of Worship.

Luke

24:52(NLT)

So they WORSHIPED HIM and then returned to Jerusalem FILLED WITH GREAT JOY. When we worship God, the joy of God fills our hearts. David said in His Presence there is fullness of joy(Psalm 16:11) and in another he also says worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs (Psalm 100:2). As we praise and worship God we are filled with His Presence, we are filled with the Spirit, and no better Person brings the Presence of God like the Holy Spirit. In fact that is what the Kingdom of God is all about, "it is righteousness, peace and JOY in the Holy Spirit" (Romans 14:17). Imagine the praise and the worship in heaven, all that is in heaven finds JOY in worshiping and praising God, the bible says Jesus REJOICED in the Spirit and gave PRAISES to God(Luke 10:21). When Paul and Silas were in the prison, after all that happened to them, the afflictions they suffered, they began to pray and SING hymns to God,(Acts 16) and that was the source of their JOY at that moment of despair. When we make melodies in our hearts and sing to God, the joy of God begins to fill us, all the cares and the burdens of life are taken away, all the depression and anxiety fades, we begin to be FREE, the JOY of the Lord becomes our STRENGTH (Nehemiah 8:10). The word says "... the righteous SING and REJOICES" (Proverbs 29:6) - I love that. We ought to always be REJOICING (1 Thessalonians 5:16) and we can get there by worship. If you are having heartache or you are feeling down and depressed begin to worship Him form the deepest part of your heart, begin to sing to Him, thank Him, praise Him, the word says "Praise the Lord, for it is good to sing

praises to our God; for it is PLEASANT and praise is beautiful. (Psalms 147:1). God Bless You

Heavenly Mind.

Colossians

3:2

(AMP)

And set your minds and keep them set ON WHAT IS ABOVE (THE HIGHER THINGS), not on the things that are on the earth. This is the mindset that God wants for us - a heavenly mindset. A mentality of heaven, "the mind of Christ". God wants us to think in the realm of His existence, to be aware that there is a heaven where He dwells, where He IS, which we are born to by receiving Jesus into our lives. The more we think in that sphere the lesser we will think in the sphere of the earth. The heavenly mind is the mind that is filled with the environment of Heaven, the environment of peace, of love, of joy, of faith, of delight, of bliss, of tranquility, of comfort, of warmth. Jesus always had His mind set on the Kingdom of God, He knew where He was from, ("not of this world"), and we also ought to think in that sphere. The heavenly mind is the one that always thinks of destiny, that we are here on earth for a purpose, that we are sojourners and pilgrims in this world and that we have a citizenship in heaven. It imagines the beauty of heaven continually, the angels, the saints in heaven, the worship & praise, the Throne room of God, the sea of glass, the heavenly Jerusalem, the unsearchable treasures of Christ, the life, the beauty of Jesus, the fellowship of the saints, the trees and rivers, the image of God, and all such beauty. Paul says "whatever things are lovely...meditate on such"(Philippians 4:8). Every person's picture of heaven is uniquely amazing and God has allowed us to meditate on those imaginations, so that we may have hope and strive to reach that precious picture of HEAVEN. Believe me, what we imagine is nothing compared to the true image of HEAVEN. God Bless You

Awareness of the Presence. Psalms 16:8 (GNT)

I am ALWAYS AWARE of the Lord's PRESENCE ; HE IS NEAR, and nothing can shake me. This is one of the most powerful scriptures I've ever read. Jesus said surely I am with you ALWAYS even to the very end of the age (Matthew 28:20). If we read this we understand that Jesus is not saying I am watching over you, He is saying I AM WITH YOU, so to say that I am next to you - close to you. Amazingly God did something too great for our minds to imagine, He in filled us with His Divine Presence of the Holy Spirit. He says "Christ in you", in other words He is not just next to you, but inside of you. However even though we know this reality, how much are we aware of it? how much are we experiencing it? Sometime ago the Spirit of God said to me "The consciousness brings the anointing", meaning that I should always be conscious of Him or I must always be aware of Him. David says "I am ALWAYS AWARE of the the Lord's PRESENCE", to be aware is to be conscious or having knowledge of something or being sensitive towards something. He was saying that he was ALWAYS aware of the PRESENCE of God, and He recognized that God was NEAR. We need to start having that deep awareness of God; we need to be convinced beyond measure that Jesus is always with us. We need to recognize His OMNIPRESENT nature which He has by His Spirit, even in worship and in prayer; we need to recognize that HE IS NEAR, He is closer to us than the air we breathe. Allow your spirit to always be sensitive of the closeness of the Holy Spirit and you will enjoy an amazing relationship with God, you will be filled with so much peace and love for God, and He will begin to reveal Himself more and more to you. God Bless You.

Release a Blessing, Today.

Ephesians

1:3(NLT)

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who HAS BLESSED US with EVERY SPIRITUAL BLESSING in the HEAVENLY REALMS because we are united with Christ. The verse says 'God HAS' and not 'God WILL', as though talking about the future. In other words, all the blessings that God would ever give us, have been prepared and made available for us already, He has packaged them and made them ready for us - for a time when we need them. But He says they are in the "heavenly realms". Hence for us to get them, we need to take them from the treasure room of God in heaven. But how?? Very simple, Jesus says "whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you LOOSE (RELEASE) ON EARTH will be LOOSED (RELEASED) IN HEAVEN"(Matthew 18:18). So I don't have to literally go to heaven to get a blessing when I need it, I can be anywhere on earth and when I need it, I release it - WITH MY WORDS. You could be enjoying your day & suddenly something happens that changes your mood or changes the state of your day to being BAD, it doesn't matter where you are(@ school, @ work, @ home, etc), you can reverse that STATE with a blessing from God, the bible says "the blessings of the Lord maketh one rich and He adds no sorrow with it"(Proverbs 10:22) and in another "Every good & perfect gift is from above"(James 1:17). Therefore blessings are there to give you joy & prosper you. And you know what? There are more than enough blessings for everyday of your life - CLAIM THEM. Whenever you need a blessing, even if you are not having a bad day, just say: FATHER I CLAIM & RELEASE A BLESSING UPON ME TODAY IN THE NAME OF JESUS. You can even CLAIM one for a friend, or a relative, family, spouse, children, a stranger, ANYONE. There is more than

enough God Bless You

for

ALL

of

us

The True vs. The Seeming.

Proverbs

14:12

"There is a way which SEEMETH right unto a man, but the END thereof are the ways of death." If we read this carefully we begin to understand that there are two realities that co-exist, namely the SEEMING and the TRUE. IN other words there's a reality where the TRUE nature of things is exposed and a reality where that NATURE is disguised. There are choices that APPEAR good but they end in TROUBLE -also DECISIONS, PATHS, and WAYS. The reason they look right is because their nature is not REVEALED - It is the concept of "wolves in sheep's clothing". Therefore unless you get to the TRUE NATURE or TRUE REALITY or TRUE REVELATION of that particular thing/situation, you will always make the wrong choices, make the wrong turns, make the wrong decisions, & that is why we need DISCERNMENT. We need to start living & walking & hearing & seeing in the true reality, which is the reality of the Spirit. The realm of the unseen, if we live in the Spirit we will be acquainted with the TRUE knowledge of things. God Bless You

Refuse It.

Hebrews

11:24(AMP)

[Aroused] by faith Moses, when he had GROWN TO MATURITY and become great, REFUSED TO BE CALLED the son of Pharaohs daughter, We need to REFUSE anything that we are called if its not in the Word of God. We have to learn to refuse being called failures by the devil, because God says "we are more than conquerors", we need to refuse being called sick, because God says "through His stripes we are healed", we need to refuse being called poor, because God says "Christ became poor for our sake, that through His poverty we may become rich", refuse failure, depression, poverty, sickness, laziness, sin, negativity, pain, confusion, anxiety, worry, frustration, anger, sexual immorality, insomnia, fear, etc. If there's anything in your life that you don't want, just get up right now and say "I REFUSE _________ IN THE MIGHTY NAME OF JESUS" God Bless You.

Explicit Images.

Ezekiel

23:14-16(GNT)

She sank deeper and deeper in her immorality. She was ATTRACTED BY THE IMAGES of high Babylonian officials carved into the wall and painted bright red, with sashes around their waists and fancy turbans on their heads. AS SOON AS SHE SAW THEM, SHE WAS FILLED WITH LUST and sent messengers to them in Babylonia. The principle thing is that LUST is a SIN. It is a different sin, because it's a sin of the heart; a sin that in most cases leads to another sin. One such sin is covetousness, which leads to envy, theft and even jealousy. In this particular instance we are talking about SEXUAL LUST. When we read our opening verse, we understand that as soon as she looked at such pictures she began to lust; meaning that the pictures caused the LUST. If we read further on, in the verses that follow (v. 17-18) it says "the Babylonians came to have sex with her. They used her and defiled her so much that finally she became disgusted with them"(GNT); it didn't just end with LUSTING. An example of such pictures is pornographic pictures and videos. That is why PORNOGRAPHY is a sin. Pornography takes away the sanctity of sex and it destroys God's holy image of marriage. For instance Jesus says "but I tell you that anyone who LOOKS at a woman LUSTFULLY has already committed adultery with her in his heart." (Matthew 5:28); this is scary because it means that you don't need to physically engage in the deed - just by thinking about it, you've already done it. What Jesus said applies to both men and women. You might not see a woman physically to lust at her but you can be looking at explicit images and have that lust develops. Job said "I dictated a covenant (an

agreement) to my eyes; how then could I look [lustfully] upon a girl?( Job 31:1-AMP). Therefore there is a need for us to put away a heart of LUST and put on the new heart (Ezekiel 36:26) that God gave to us through Jesus. We need to refrain as much as possible from explicit and obscene images that cause lust in the heart. Furthermore, it doesn't have to be pornography, it can even be pictures on social networks, as long as they war against the soul and cause lust they are not good for us. It is these kind of pictures that even grieve the Holy Spirit of God; and we ought not grieve Him. Let us strive into perfecting holiness in the fear of God. God Bless You.