Preach the Gospel!

It is highly expedient that I write a piece on this all important subject matter to Christians. The Old man was made to worship the God of heaven,  the new man,  however,  was created to not only worship the Lord but more importantly to spread the Good News of the kingdom of God. 

My Spiritual father, Rev. Eastwood Anaba,  once said that many Christians boast of how holy they have lived their lives but many of these very holy ones are the same who have done nothing to promote the kingdom in anyway with regard to the works of God. He went ahead to call this state; “impotent righteousness”.

There are many who are carry certificates of impotent righteousness in the kingdom currently. We must preach the Gospel to the world that isn’t waiting for us but progressively advancing towards hell. 

Romans  10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.  10:14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?  10:15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

The verses above indicate to the church and the individual Christian, the need for him to speak to another. Because if no man preaches the Gospel, the sinner cannot hear of it. In other words, sinners that read the bible and if they do,  not to find the Gospel but for other suicidal reasons. 

If the sinner does not hear the Gospel, it means that there is no basis for him to mount a believe system. There is no believe without a preamble! Something must precede and precipitate a believe in whatever. And during the period the individual doesn’t believe in God,  then it is just not possible for him calling on God for salvation. Not because God won’t answer,  but because he doesn’t believe! 

The verse 15 of the scripture about tells us of something which I believe has been some part of the reason why the church isn’t preaching. It says, how can they preach unless they are sent. This particular line has the potency of making an individual conclude that he or she has not been sent so he has no business preaching the Gospel. Let us see another scripture to help us know the answer to such thoughts and questions. 

Mark  16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
Go ye into all the world! This statement is an instruction not a suggestion and it is our instruction. The Lord said we should Go; into all the world,  which means that we are sent so we have the validation to preach the Gospel, and he added all the world,  so we are sent everywhere,  there are not limits or forbidden places. So the Lord told us that we are the salt of the earth. 

Salt is a necessity good not a luxury good, it must be common in town to help everyone lay hands on it to prepare tasty meals. The reason we are salt and not meat is because, when you prepare soup,  you will have both meat and salt in it,  but the meat cannot mix entirely with the soup,  it solidly swims in the soup forever but the salt fuses with the soup making it possible for it to be tasted everywhere in the soup. Therefore,  God wants us to mix in all the world,  so that the Good News be heard in every corner of the world. 

When we successfully go into all the world as Jesus instructed,  he didn’t ask us to Go and start businesses,  go and study abroad,  go for site seeing,  window shopping, vacation; NO! He said we should PREACH THE GOSPEL! Not hide the gospel,  protect the gospel,  sleep on the gospel,  polish the gospel, modify the gospel,  amend the gospel,  conform the gospel, sell the gospel,  manage the gospel,  lead the gospel, read the gospel, handover the gospel,  none of these was the instruction. The instruction was quite simple; Preach the Gospel! 

Adam & Eden

The issue of sin and death is a very delicate one. The message on sin has encountered so much controversy. There is so much that clouds the real intent and the divine motive for abstaining from sin. Not sinning because you don’t want to go to hell is just like being in a hostage situation and complying. The whole thing looks like there’s a threat you want to avoid,  hence the compliance. The children of light must dwell in light no matter what happens,  that is the life after salvation. 

John said in his epistle,  “I write unto you that no man sin,  but if any sin,  let him know that we have an advocate… Jesus Christ”. The reason for the statement is that,  you should not be a christian with bucket lists featuring sins of different breeds,  instead,  you should make a habit of living in light,  so that if at one time you fall short,  do not think of yourself as prodigal, needing to leave home,  but as loved,  needing an embrace. Not an endorsement for sin in any way. 

Like it or not, many leave the church body daily because they sinned and felt unworthy of the light anymore so decided to take strolls through life. 

When Adam sinned against God, God walked into the garden and questioned him. Adam did not speak with regret. He said, “I am naked!” The proclamation of who he now believed he already was, was a dangerous step he took. Why? The scenerio is just like an adopted son having to find out the Truth about himself will going through something and decides to leave the home he’s been always because he feels he has knowledge of who he actually is. 

The truth is that,  with this our eye Adam was naked,  but before we had this kind of eye that detected nakedness,  God didn’t want us to know about our nakedness. Now we are all adopted into being sons of God,  Paul said. And God wants us to forget what we were so he blinds our eyes with heavenly realities so that we do not find out that we were once on drugs,  in sexual sin, liars and all that. Unfortunately, the devil brings the thoughts back. The thoughts defeat us more than our acts because as a man thinketh in his heart,  so is he. 

But God, knowing that Adam knew he was naked, expected that Adam will be sorry for his actions but Adam blamed his wife,  his wife blamed the snake. And when God spoke about sending them out of the garden, Adam named his wife Eve. That’s to say, he was more concerned about his weakness and didn’t bother to lose the presence of God. 

Most Christians leave the Church because we feel we know who we are and can’t force ourselves to be Christians. We are “naked” and that’s all we can be,  that is how we think and then we leave the Church. But allow me to show you why leaving the church is not the best. 

Genesis  3:21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
God made coats of skins and clothed them. Adam was using leaves to cover himself and his wife,  but how much covering could leaves cover? God knows that we want to cover our shame, we couldn’t, so he put a new skin on us, so that we won’t find the old skin. We won’t blame ourselves anymore. Adam still did not see the love of God enough to beg for forgiveness. Most times,  we sin and God continues to bless us,  we don’t realise God’s goodness so we plead for his mercy but we walk away from his presence chest out. 

Genesis  3:22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
This is what we miss when we decide to walk out of the presence of God. We lose the opportunity to eat of the tree of life and live forever. Jesus is the tree of life. Asking for forgiveness is pleading to dwell in the presence,  to stay in the fellowship. The longer you stay there,  there will be a word you’ll hear that will repair you forever! 

Don’t leave the Church! Don’t denounce your Faith in God! Press on unto the mark of the higher calling. Eternal life is available for those who have eaten from the tree of life. Don’t nullify the effects of the tree by walking out of the Faith. Stand Firm. You’ll make it to heaven without even trying. 

Love Your Own!

In high school, there was a culture among boys which was popularly referred to as “boys-boys”. This culture featured a way of living where every individual boy fought at all cost for the whole of the boys that were on campus. If a boy committed an offense and he was not identified first-hand by the authorities, it would really be difficult for another boy to tell on him and that made it difficult for authorities getting their way with the students. 

In this post, I’d like us to do a very extensive study on Acts 23. I will post most relevant portions of the chapter in this post but it will do you great good to pay attention to the entire chapter on your own. 

In our societies, families and churches,  we come across individuals who barely care for the people around them. It’s a good thing to care for yourself but Jesus said Greater love is for a brother to lay down his life for another. I don’t pretend to have accomplished that but I believe we can get there if we renew our minds hence this post. 

Acts  23:6 But when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question.
Reading a few verse from this particular verse,  you will realise the effect of what Paul said. In this Scripture, Paul had been apprehended because of the Gospel by the Sadducees and the Pharisees. They took Paul because he was wrong and he wasn’t preaching what was right according to their law. The Pharisees, after hearing that Paul was a pharisee too,  they immediately began to fight for him. They had put aside the accusations against him and were concerned that he was one of their own. This is the matter of Faith. In our Christian Church,  the body of Christ,  we are quick to condemn those we figured are not practicing what we know to be right. When the world fights pastors and believers,  so sad but some pastors and believers also help the world to fight our very own. In this scripture,  the Pharisees knew Paul was condemned,  they actually took part in condemning him but when they heard he was one of their own, they could not resist their urge to rescue and protect their own. Stuffs like this don’t happen in the body of Christ. We label our own as false prophets and expel believers as though they were never part of us. 

Acts  23:27 This man was taken of the Jews, and should have been killed of them: then came I with an army, and rescued him, having understood that he was a Roman.
In verse 27, a Centurion, a Roman centurion who also rescued Paul from the war between the Sadducees and the Pharisees, was seeking for a high class protection convoy for the transportation of Paul through the town that had sworn to slay Paul. The centurion took this step because he understood that Paul was a Roman.  The man was protecting a fellow citizen. The Centurion had very limited right to take a Jewish prisoner into his custody,  but when he heard the man was a Roman,  he went on a rescue mission. People don’t care about their own. An African can find a fellow african suffering in Europe or America and not care at all,  besides he also worked through to get what he has now. It’s not the best. Love your own,  no matter the accusations leveled against them. 

Acts  23:16 And when Paul’s sister’s son heard of their lying in wait, he went and entered into the castle, and told Paul.
In the same chapter,  when the Jews had planned and sworn to kill Paul, a family of Paul,  came to the rescue. The whole thing is this; Paul was not innocent of the accusations, but Paul’s nephew was loving his own so bad that he couldn’t keep quiet for him to be slain. Families are broken because people among them don’t care for their own, they don’t mind if you don’t make it in life. Selfishness is a disease and when uncontrolled, becomes a plague. 

In these scenerios,  everyone was loving their own. They were protecting that which bears their name. The Church has certain anointed people who have put themselves under a curse to expose other preachers in the Faith or they won’t eat. It is of no use, there will still be judgement at the end which will do that so why not let that sleep for now. Protect your own.  The Christian sinned and you’re a Christian who is peacefully discussing your sister who sinned with an unbeliever, you’re a traitor! 

Acts  23:35 I will hear thee, said he, when thine accusers are also come. And he commanded him to be kept in Herod’s judgment hall.
When Paul was finally taken to Herod,  he didn’t judge him outrightly, he put him in the judgement hall. The bible says that Judgement shall begin in the house of God – the judgement hall. Don’t sack people from the church because they sinned,  don’t stop preachers that you think are false,  leave them in the church,  because that is the judgement hall of God. He will judge His own. Yours is to love your own. When a person identifies with the Faith, protect them, whether they are murderers, fornicators, sinners of the highest order,  they are Christians. Protect and love them because they’re your own. 

When It Becomes Unconditional…

From the old days, I have heard Romeo and Juliet being used ultimately to represent love in practicality. The truth from my end is; I have not us much studied their story as I have studied that of Christ from the scriptures, and I beg to differ but I didn’t see any resemblance among the two. 

Personally, I have been through different shades,  forms, levels, faces and times of love. One thing is true,  the more you go through love the more you either love more or love less. It depends entirely on how you examine the issue. 

The Bible clearly defines,  “God is love”. This pressupposes that Love must definitely be God. There are different stages of love that we go through but truth is, we have not really seen love unless we see it look exactly like God. 

Why? Naturally, Love must be unconditional! Why do I say that? The answer is,  because God is definitely unconditional. If God is love,  then love must have qualities that make it look God. God is God,  whether He is worshipped or not,  whether he is respected or not,  insulted or not,  despised or not, wanted or not, whatever you do to God doesn’t change His personality as God. So the same must apply to love. 

So God loved us and gave His Only Son. Great! Isn’t it? Now let’s analyse God’s actions. God so love the world; which means that God loved the place where sin abound even though in His nature He knows no sin and sin cannot dwell in His presence. So God loved something that was not in the shape he was compatible with.

Because God so loved the world,  He gave His only son. So God also decided to be the one to help the brides situation with His own resources. He wanted that bride so bad,  He couldn’t choose another. He had to make the bride suite His nature. 

He sent His Son to come and die. In other words, God gave something He didn’t expect the bride to cherish or protect. He understood the ignorant state of the bride for Love’s sake. 

Since God knows the end from the beginning,  I suppose He also knew that not everyone will accept his Son,  and not all who accepted will keep him till the end. God knew, but He didn’t blink anyway, He sent the son. From looking at the way as Christians, we still sin freely, I realize something about God,  that He is Love in practicality.

When it comes to human beings,  we see a different mode of operation. Men are afraid to love each other,  too careful not to be hurt by anybody and too careful not to be rejected. We don’t see that in God. God knew the consequences first-hand,  but He still went in anyway. 

When people begin to offend us,  when they repeat their offences, we grow impatient and indifferent, more of self-righteousness. We tend to make them pay for their offences even when they apologize. We hide behind the fact that they keep doing what they’re doing. Have you considered the things God doesn’t like that you do,  and the fact that you keep on doing and regreting and still doing it anyway? 

The thin line is this; until a man can become very selflessly loving, He cannot be like God. God is selfless whenever He’s loving the world. The bible declares that we love Him because He first loved us. How did we know He loved us?  Because He made clear His feelings. I’ve met people who don’t care about others,  when you ask them, they go like,  “he also doesn’t care about me” or “she hasn’t also smiled to me before”. We want the “others” to take the initiative of loving.

If you keep your eyes on the effect of Jesus on your life,  it won’t be difficult to be an unconditional lover. Why? Because though Christ loved you,  died for you,  and intercedes for you every moment, he has never given up on you when you sin. Whenever you say sorry,  He forgives you. Have you thought of it before? 

Unforgiveness is a symptom of Conditional love,  which is no love at all. Because there’s no such thing as Conditional God. You love people without Conditions,  you decide to practice it with conditions but the fire that burns in you, burns no matter what. 

In Galatians 5:22-23, we understand that there is no law against love. Things means that you can fall love anyone and everyone Just like God who so loved the world. But you must be willing to give your only begotten son. That is your investment. 

One last thing! When God gave His only begotten son,  he was conscious of the fact that not everyone will believe in His son. Sometimes,  you are afraid to love because you feel they might not feel the same about you. You must love anyway,  because when they don’t love,  they’ll perish and not you. 

God loves without boundaries. I believe that most of the things we enjoy in the Church now,  and there are a lot of other Church folks criticizing those things, the reason that is still happening is because God is loving without constraints. 

All men have not Faith. Faith is when your love is acting. Not all men can act the script their love have written because of the mindsets they possess. Love them anyway. Love men,  love them in all things. 

Softcore Pornography – The Teaser!

Pornography is a hard thing to talk against. In old times,  it was rather hard to come by. Now-a-days, we don’t need to come by, we practically live by it. Pornography has become live and coloured rather than bad and covered!

In the family of Pornography, there are two major categories of Porn materials. There are ones referred to as “softcore porn” and the rest are “hard-core”. Depending on the how explicit a material was,  determined it’s category.

Softcore porn is pornography that has very limited level of exposure. It shows men and women who, though have lost dignity,  have very tiny positions of their privacy kept private. 

Surprisingly, I discovered the operation of certain unclean spirits and their interaction with things we might possibly interact with. 

It is not very easy for demons to take over the command center(brain)  of a man whether a believer or not. Because of this natural function of the human body,  the devil developed the “teaser” strategy. 

The Teaser Strategy. Most demons operate with teaser strategy. Whatever sin you fall into,  there was an appetizer you took in that pioneered your downfall. The devil can try to even use a good post like this as a teaser for his evil agenda,  by twisting the way you get the message. Softcore porn is now no longer referred to as pornography. Most of the dressed ladies in our time will be walking softcore porn if they were living 100 years ago. Most of the advertising companies in our time would have been tagged as softcore porn producers if they were in similar operation some years ago. In some several years ago,  when Playboy magazine was enjoying some level of monopoly in softcore porn images, they sold for exorbitant prices but now,  most ladies don’t need a magazine to show their new found passion. That’s the teaser approach. The devil wants softcore porn to be normal and easy to come by. As a teaser,  the very little sexual images you flash your eyes on, they stir you up for more. Like Pepsi puts it, “Dare for more”.

Now, watching pornography is not a decision but an acceptance. There is an offer before you with conditions and you have to accept or decline. I believe all porn sources have a teaser on the opening pages and will ask you to accept to proceed to a more dangerous location. 

Whenever you pay close attention to any softcore form of pornography,  you allow a demonic possession impulse to be sent your brain. As you to accept the offer,  you open the door to your own brain for the demon who will keep you bound for a long time,  struggling with the addiction. 

Why does the devil want you to watch porn? He wants you to condemn yourself! His great achievement is to get yourself to condemn yourself and declare yourself unworthy of God’s love and Grace. And once you do that, he knows you both will surely meet after death. 

God loves you. He wants to draw close to you. He wants to keep you by His side. But the problem is what the devil can make you think of yourself. Snap out of anything the devil has locked you in. Come out from it and be separate unto the Lord. 

Digestion – Illustrating Giving and Receiving.

Have you ever wondered where your money goes to when you give it as offering? Does God need to obtain some groceries with the money collected at church? Why is the offering received with the mind-set of being given to God? 

Many of us Christians,  when things get tough in our lives,  we sometimes think about the amount of money we have given at church. We begin to raise a lot of allegations against the church for taking our monies and not putting them to use that will benefit them. 

There are some that argue that pastors take money while members of the church are hungry. While some people of the church are not able to raise money for their family but they are still forced to give in church. Well, those who complain,  they also work during the week and there are still hungry people in the church and even at their work places who have been hungry for so long, they can not even recall the last time they ate breakfast. Before you conclude on anything,  finish reading the entire post.

Digestion breaks down food into forms that can be easily absorbed and used by the body for energy,  growth and cell repair. 

Before digestion can take place,  the hands, legs and brains, eyes and ears of a human being must work very hard during the day. The leg carrys the body around,  the hand carries other weight,  eyes are looking out,  ears are listening and brains are storming just to make ends meet. 

Do not forget that,  during these period when there is work going on,  your stomach is fast asleep. Your stomach doesn’t carry your body around,  it doesn’t hear anything, it doesn’t think,  it doesn’t see anything. It’s only waiting for food. 

Though you’ve not thought about this before, but it is true; though the hands and legs and co are responsible for the food on the table,  they don’t get the food though. It is the stomach,  the ‘lazy’ one that gets all the food. 

Take note,  the hands,  legs,  eyes, ears, brains,  mouth and others, will never have food to eat until the food they brought has been to the stomach of the body. And if the stomach has not eaten,  the body can still die while there is still food on the table. Besides you can’t cover your body with food and hope that you’ll wake up a strong person. Not at all!! 

There is a form that the body can absorb the food in,  and this form can only be made by the stomach. Food from the stomach can be used for energy,  growth and cell repair. When body tissues are damaged,  you can’t just stick some food there and expect to see your skin heal. 

In this same manner,  it is not wise to be complaining that a pastor is not working but you’re feeding him or her. Just like your stomach that doesn’t work but is the sole beneficiary of the food on the table,  the pastor too,  though not the sole beneficiary,  doesn’t work(some work though). 

The body needs food to be broken down into ways it can absorb and use for the work during the day. The same way the body of Christ needs inspiration to evangelise,  to stand in faith,  to multiply,  to grow and to fulfil it’s purpose. In order for the church to do that, food must visit the stomach. 

The work the stomach does cannot be done by any other part. The position the pastor has in the church cannot be occupied by any other. Don’t try to wrestle with them because of your offering. You need healing,  protection, inspiration and motivation,  teaching,  prophecy, faith. All these things comes by hard means,  fasting and praying and communing with God for several hours. Don’t require of your pastor to work before he eats,  and don’t ask him to go and feed the poor. The poor is everybody’s responsibility. The pastor is called to watch over the church not the orphanage or the rehab center. Don’t be over critical. If they support the poor it’s their reward,  if they don’t,  it’s their discretion. Have you finished helping the poor? 

Malachi  3:10  Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
In the scripture above,  God says bring tithes to his house,  so that there will be meat in his house. God doesn’t eat meat,  it is the pastor that eats meat! You have to accept it that way so that you save your life. But until you bring meat into the storehouse,  the windows of heaven are shut and the blessing you need is kept safe. 

A man of God is like a stomach,  though he seems not to be doing any work, when you bring your hard earned income,  you will take a blessing home. The bible says,  it is the blessing of God that maketh a man rich and he adds no sorrow to it. Listen,  when you gather all the money you earn from your business to yourself,  you are not rich,  you’re an economist! Every economist has enough for a time period to survive on. 

Bring your tithes,  it will be broken down into simple and soluble states that your life stream can absorb called blessing! 

Hearing, Listening or “Paying” Attention?

Someone might be asking questions, so many questions about the above title of this very post. The nature of the heart has been placed under careful analysis with aim of finding how it helps in our daily interactions with people and things. 

The issue today is that; I want to make clear the meaning of the three actions mentioned above, that we might choose from amongst them, what we will practice from this moment. 

The act of hearing is a very important act that a man must be able to practice. It is a great gift that the holy Spirit can bless you with. Moreso,  there is another aspect,  a more basic aspect of hearing and that is hearing from people around us. 

As much as, hearing is very great,  it is not advantageous. Why? Because,  you can never until there is a sound loud enough to reach your hearing senses. That is why,  whenever you say,  “I heard” it is almost referring to something you didn’t provoke,  something you didn’t ask to hear, something you didn’t force out of somebody or something. When a prophet says he heard, most of the time,  he is referring to something that sound in the spirit realm without him asking for that sound. 

Though it is good to hear, your hearing ability is limited to what the sound reveals to your senses. 

In relationships, we cannot survive with just hearing. You cannot live on hearing when you want to thrive with your partner in a relationship. It is not always that your partner is ready to talk about what is bothering them, so if you’re relying on hearing,  you might not even hear at all! 

Sometimes,  because we do not find out the truth,  but we just want to practice hearing;  those who often want to talk,  are those who bring us the destructive hearsays. Hearing is random. Whatever sound is made,  if you’re not deaf, you’ll hear. Everyone can hear too. Hearing is not special. 

Listening,  the whole point of listening could sound as the most challenging thing ever. Why do you listen? Listening is being clever to sound that is being produced. When you listen,  you are ready to pick up sounds produced. But why do you listen? 

Some people listen because they really want to reply to what is being said. Some listen because of other funny reasons,  while others do so for good reasons. Nevertheless,  there is some aspect of hearing you won’t get until you listen! 

Bible says we should be quick to listen. This indicates to us that we should make it our priority to listen to sound projected to us. Even in class,  we can listen for the purposes of passing our exams. That’s pathetic! Turns out listening is also not perfect. 

Proverbs  4:1  Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.

From the above verse,  we are to hear the instruction of a Father. The whole of being told to hear suggests that we should listen to a father,  to hear what his instructions are.  The second part of the verse says we should attend to know understanding. 

Paying attention, the bible says we should attend to know understanding. Most people are listen and hearing things that they still don’t understand yet. Why?  Because they’re not ‘paying’ attention. 

The word paying is the verb and attention is the price. When we pay attention,  everytime we pay attention,  we actually pay a price. We pay a price of getting every other thing off our minds and giving our entire reasoning ability into what we are examining. 

When you pay attention,  you grab information that is not necessarily transmitted through sound. Most truths are not found by hearing,  because the most important information are mostly not heard but read. Read actions,  gestures, nature, behaviours and character. You will know people and their capabilities very well if you are able to do that. 

Hearing is good,  listening is better but paying attention is the best. When your partner wants you to listen,  what they actually need is your attention. And though attention is expensive,  it’s the best price you can pay for another person’s heart! 

God – Contended?

The world may well have accepted that there is something beyond science. But not every believes that there is only one person in charge of everything. Looking at the movies created everytime, we realise the projection of a mentality that there are several powers beyond man, that are competing among themselves for supremacy. 

If we consume such assumptions, we begin to feel that God is in a similar situation. And that is not true! 

The bible says something very profound about whether or not there is competition or comparison in the realm of the supernatural. Let’s find out from Jesus’ words; 

‘And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.’

MARK 10:18 ESV

In the text above,  we see the use of the word ‘Good’ as a description for who God is. The use of the word good implies that God being the supreme ruler,  has no competitors or legible comparison. 

If God was being compared to other powers,  then He would have been referred to as the best. But because He has no competition around Him and no one is legible enough to contend with Him for His position. 

God is God. There is no tornament that will put His position up for grabs. No election,  no system of rulership can provide room for others to compete with God on anything. 

God created everything. He cannot fight His creation because it wouldn’t be called a fight. He would rather create other beings to fight rebellious ones. 

Because there is no room for the devil to challenge God,  he challenges God’s creation. We are God’s creation. And fortunate to us but unfortunate to the devil, we are dear to His heart than anything. This makes the devil furious and that’s why he keeps trying to get us off the mind of God. 

Over the years he has tried to get us off the mind of God,  but he has never succeeded. This is the reason the Angels asked God,  “who is man,  that you’re so mindful of him”.

Now the devil figured a way to win the battle. If we sinned and God still loves us,  and no amount of dirt he put on us made God stop thinking about us. Then he is now working on getting God off our minds. 

We need to protect our minds,  and fight the good fight of Faith… 

‘Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;’

2 Corinthians 10:5 KJV

The devil will do everything to make you think otherwise on God. He will break your marriage,  he will destroy your life,  move you into poverty,  and frustrate everything around you. But remember,  those are not what exactly he wants,  he wants your mind of God. 

Love – from Feeling to Decision.

There is a great misunderstanding in the field of love these days. Many are confused how to handle what they call love. While some hoard the feeling, others advertise it and yet there are some who smuggle the entire thing called love. 

In this post,  my aim is to, by scripture,  let us know the need for maturity in love. Love as a relationship between yourself and God,  then between yourself and your partner. 

Love is a feeling, no doubt about that. But there is a duration for the feeling. Because feelings are generated and cannot be consistent over time. Because we generate love, love can also be degenerated. It is very easy to say,  “I don’t love you anymore”  because the feeling you have for that individual has degenerated. 

But for two people to stay together, there is a time that Love ceases to be a feeling and moves into another realm called DECISION. In the realm of decision,  you love people no matter what may happen. Because during the time of feeling, it is like a window shopping, and during that window shopping you must have really been certain about the product enough to make a decision to purchase it. If you do not purchase the product, another person will. This same thing applies to love, the feeling of love allows you to pay attention to an individual or a particular person. During that period, you’re trying to get convinced to make a decision for that person, a life-long decision for that matter. 

Now,  because every relationship has two parties in it, sometimes one person will be ready to make a decision before the other person. Because love is about moving from the realm of feeling into the realm of decision, if one party stays behind, it does not stay in feeling but rather in a realm of indecision. 

The realm of indecision is a hard place to find yourself. Because,  being indecisive is coupled with insecurity and confusion. The longer you stay in this realm,  the longer you’ll remain there. 

“For though by this time you ought to be teachers [because of the time you have had to learn these truths], you actually need someone to teach you again the elementary principles of God’s word [from the beginning], and you have come to be continually in need of milk, not solid food. For everyone who lives on milk is [doctrinally inexperienced and] unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a spiritual infant. But solid food is for the [spiritually] mature, whose senses are trained by practice to distinguish between what is morally good and what is evil.”

HEB 5:12‭-‬14 AMP

“Because of the time you’ve had to learn these truths”, that’s a profound statement. There is a time given to learn truths. When you want to know whether you want to spend a lifetime with someone, there is a time you must be very conversant with certain truths about this person. Because during that same time,  the person is also convincing him/herself. In this period,what keeps two of you together is the feeling. 
The moment the time of feeling is elapsed, the decision should be boldly sitting in both parties. If not, then one needs to really work on making a decision as soon as possible. Because the juice for the decision is embedded in the feeling realm and if you leave that realm without a decision,  you end up in the realm of indecision. 

So the bible verse up there tells us that,  we must make an effort to mature,  because there is a time frame for which we should become matured in whatever we are doing. There are believers who have been in church for 17 years and they still cry over affliction. At 17 years in Christ,  you should rather be consoling other young ones. So there is a time frame for maturity and it exists in love too. 

At a point,  you must know that your partner still loves you though he hasn’t bought you a birthday gift yet, you must know that your partner adores you though she hasn’t called you yet. At the realm of feeling,  we do these things because of the force of feeling,  when the feeling wears off,  you might not see a lot of calls,  gifts, I love yous,  and all that. But you must make a decision, that all this while you’ve known this individual, you know he/she loves you and no matter what,  you love them back!