Why Limit THE LIMITLESS ONE?

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If you've been around motivational speakers, well wishers and even some well meaning preachers, you must have heard the saying “The Sky is the Limit!” Many employ this saying implying that whatever you want or wish to do and or become (I know the “or’s” and “and’s” can be a mouthful ...) is achievable and that is true within reason, of course. For example, I can wish and want all day long to become the King of England but that’s not going to happen, I know it’s an extreme example but you get the idea!

The same can be said of all of God’s children, we were all created for His pleasure and not a single one of us is useless to Him. We may want to become like others for whatever reason, but in doing so we are giving up what we were truly created to be. Someone once said – I forget who –  “God doesn't create photocopies, He creates originals”, and I agree with that.

Now, for a child of God, with God’s very own nature within you, you have everything you will ever need to achieve all that you were created to achieve. If you have God’s Spirit in you, you lack nothing! Stop hopping from conference to conference, church to church, ministry to ministry chasing after what you already have. You are complete in Christ Jesus! What we all need is to find out what we have and that comes from spending time with the Holy Spirit who is in us and as we obey Him we will be well on our way to accomplishing all the good works that God had already prepared for us to walk in.

You may be wondering “but how come I’m not exactly living the abundant life Jesus came to offer”? First of all, if you are in Christ, that very thought is deceptive. It is from the enemy of our souls, the father of lies trying to get us to doubt God and His word. Know this, once you entertain and accept the enemy’s doubts you are effectively limiting what God wants to do for, in and through you. Nothing can stop God’s favour from flowing in your life, not even Satan. You alone can stop His favour and resist His grace by embracing doubts and unbelief.

The Children of Israel by their unbelief limited God and it didn't go over well for them. Their enemies couldn't stop God’s favour on them, remember the Balak and Baalam saga? Try as they did, they couldn't put a curse on the children of Israel. The children of Israel were the only ones who could stop God’s favour over them by their unbelief and acts of disobedience. Actually unbelief itself is disobedience…. So yeah…

The Good Book documents their bouts of unbelief this way…

          ⁴¹ Yes, again and again they tempted God,

And limited the Holy One of Israel. – Psalm 78:41 NKJV

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Other versions render the word “limited” as “vexing”, “testing” etc.

So beloved let us not be found doing the same. Let us believe God’s word regardless of our circumstances and allow Him to walk with us through our circumstances and we will go from faith to faith, from victory to victory, from glory to glory as we journey through this life.

Take the limits off of your Father who loves you eternally and unreservedly. Remember He can do far above all that you can ask or imagine and He does it according to His power that is at work in you. And the more we align our thinking with His Word, the more His power works in us, resulting in His desires being imparted and fulfilled in, for and through us. Why would we want to limit the Limitless One who desires only the very best for us, why?

You are blessed and Highly favoured! 

Will the REAL YOU please STAND UP!

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²² Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.²³ Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror ²⁴ and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. - James 1: 22 - 24 NIV

It is interesting that the Holy Spirit likens hearing the Word and not doing it to looking into a mirror and immediately forgetting what you look like. You see, when we fail to do what the Word instructs us to do we have essentially forgotten who we truly are in Christ and that leads us to act contrary to our true identity. 

And every time we act contrary to our true identity, that of beloved Children of God, we open ourselves up to condemnation – both from our own hearts and from the enemy of our souls too. Condemnation with its cousins, guilt and shame, if entertained, can incapacitate us. How? They seek to brand us with other identities that are contrary to the one the Father gave us. Identities such as “failure”, “hopeless”, “sinner”, “liar”, “good-for-nothing” and the like, which we should not accept under any circumstance, yes even if we have sinned or failed miserably. We have an advocate with the Father - Jesus Christ the righteous (1 John 2:1)    

Beloved, it is the Father’s will that you be secure in the identity that He has given you. You are His Child, you are His beloved. Refuse to take upon yourself any other identity except the one your Abba Father gives you. Failure to remember Our New Identity in Christ, will always result in us walking in the flesh, having deluded ourselves with all the knowledge of the Word we have amassed, yet without it effecting any positive changes in our lives.

Now, just as we look into natural mirrors to groom ourselves, we must look into the Word to groom our souls. To make sure we “look good spiritually”, we must look into this mirror – The Word – on a regular basis. If you look into a natural mirror daily to avoid going out unkempt, unprepared or outright unsightly, how much more should you look into the Word of God, your spiritual mirror, as it were, to see and be reminded of who and what you are in Christ.

Because of Jesus’ perfect sacrifice of Himself our sins have been put away once and for all and now since we have put our trust in Him, we have Eternal Life now, We are part of God’s very own family.That’s who we are!  As you look into this "Mirror" some of the things you will see about yourself in Christ are these: -

You have been reconciled to God, You are a new creation in Christ, you are God’s child, you are the Lord's beloved, you are the righteousness of God, you are Holy before God, He is not keeping a record of your sins, you are one spirit

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with God, God is never angry with you, you are more than a conqueror, you are seated with Christ far above all principalities and powers, your God has promised to supply all your needs. You have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ, and a whole lot more…Beloved that is your true identity! 

Once we know, believe and accept our identity as dearly beloved Children of God, all other labels that we or others have placed on us will fall by the wayside, then we will be truly free to live bold, victorious and productive lives that will always bring honor and joy to Our Father, for in Christ, we were created for good works! Blessings!

Conquering Fear with Love - By Daniel J. Musokwa

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I have been following the news lately about the Isis terrorist group in Iraq and Syria. These guys are a splinter group broken off Al Qaeda, accusing Al Qaeda of being "too soft". These guys are well-trained and properly funded - their coffers boasting an endowment well in excess of $400 million. They pretty much murder everything 'softer' than they are, Muslims included.

They have a fast growing influence and recruitment rates of any terror group before them with recruits from the US, UK and many other developed countries. Al Qaeda has spawned Al Shabaab, Boko Haram and now Isis. The world is not ready to fight this type of threat because of its ideological nature. The world in its civilization would want to sit down at the round table with these guys and negotiate a truce... have a peace talk with them. The West truly does not understand that these guys want total and complete annihilation of all non-Muslims and moderate Muslims as well. Until this happens this war will never end (at least in the perpetrators mind).

The world can never accept that spirits have influence over people, and that the spirit world also has its own agendas that it seeks to realize through human agency. But what has been written in the Scriptures must be fulfilled, much as we might not like to hear about it or even consider it... much darker times are coming up ahead for the whole world when "men's hearts shall fail them because of fear" (Luke 21:26). Terrorism is rooted in terror (extreme fear). This dark cloud will spread all over the globe, and fear along with it. The rider of the Pale Horse in Revelation 6:8 was named Death, and Hades followed after him. These spirits are released for the sole purpose of terrorizing and murdering as many people are possible.

Luke 21:16 And you shall be betrayed also by parents and brothers and kinsmen and friends. And they will cause some of you to be put to death.
Luke 21:17 And you shall be hated by all for My name's sake.

Jesus Christ testifies of these times that they will even "cause some of you to be put to death." This didn't just happen at the destruction of the temple in 70 AD, it is actually already happening globally to many underground churches today. The rest of the church is "underground" in peaceful countries... false peace. As long as we are producing our worship CDs and DVDs, and we have "seeker-friendly" programmes then we get this false sense of accomplishment. These days the world comes to church for entertainment... to watch our concerts, production and dances. We have slogans and sayings but the rubber doesn't really meet the road.

Friends fear is coming... we need to be militant and offensive with the gospel and not hide behind empty religiosity. We love talking about ruling and dominion, but is that all Christ died for? We must, in our hearts, be willing to lose everything including our possessions, families and even lives. We must constantly check our hearts and minds against this and weep for our own loss. Jesus told the women of Jerusalem "do not weep for me but for yourselves and your children", why? Because He knew that "Yea, all who want to live godly lives in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." We have become theologians, debating the latest fads and revelations. "Will the church go through the tribulation or not" we ask. But I wonder how that Christian man in Sudan would answer this question - having been castrated without anaesthesia and then crucified on a tree... just for loving the Lord.

The West is going to be overwhelmed by the next wave of of terror because they truly don't know how to fight it. Their civilization, laws and human rights advancements are going to be their own enemies... by the time they realize for sure what is happening it will be too late. The church cannot sleep, what is coming is coming, but we can stand and the true power of the Kingdom of our God will be seen. Our true power is LOVE... this completely casts out fear.

We cannot afford to be antagonistic with each other or with those who are our enemies (even though we are not theirs). The toughest thing is to love these people... how do you love a terrorist who has just beheaded a fellow Christian? These are the things the "helper" (Holy Spirit) does. I know that God wants to train our hearts to LOVE deeply and illogically. He wants to train you to be a loser... to learn to lose your rights, dignity and pride and not be affected at all. A lot of relationships in the church right now (globally) are in shambles! So much pain and hurt and more pain. Pastors and ministers giving up. When they meet it is just awkward because they no longer drink from the same Spirit. This is your training ground... can you forgive completely? If you cannot forgive those who gossip against you, it is going to be kinda difficult forgiving most of the acts that the church (global) is going to witness. All the hardships now are opportunities for the divine to manifest in you in forgiveness, love and reconciliation.

Fear is coming, but love is already here! You and I are the agents of love. Prayers are good, but only the love of our Father within us can overcome all terror. One has to be so overcome and overwhelmed by divine love to be able to say... "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do."

So many of our brothers and sisters in the Lord are suffering right now in countries which do not accept our Lord. May we keep them in our minds always and not forget ourselves in our successes and comfortable lives. The only good thing about the coming wave of persecutions will be the unification of the church... so beautiful! Petty doctrinal differences will seem, well, insignificant. Finally we can get real.

We must conquer fear with God's love!

Shalom!

WHEN GOD SPEAKS…

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At creation God said “Let there be light” and light showed up, no ifs, ands or buts, even though the sun wasn't created yet, that didn't make any difference to Him.. yeah that’s my God …when He calls something forth as He called the light at creation, there is no two ways about it…no well, maybe, perhaps, I wish, I hope so, only if…none of that. When He speaks, it is done.

When the children of Israel were facing the Red sea with nowhere to go as Pharaoh and the Egyptian army was closing in on them, they cried out to Moses…Can you imagine what was going through their minds? Talk about fear, worry, panic, despair all rolled into one  – sheer terror. But God had brought them out of Egypt to bring them into the land He had promised Abraham over 400 years earlier, not to have them killed, injured or enslaved again by their oppressors.

¹⁵ And the Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward. ¹⁶ But lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. – Exodus 14:15-16 NKJV

And that is exactly what happened! They didn't see a way out but God had it all figured out…

Remember the disciples in the boat during the storm, with Jesus fast asleep on a pillow in the stern? It must have been a no joke storm for seasoned fishermen to be that frantic. They woke Jesus up with accusations “don’t you care we are perishing?” Before we give them that “how-dare-you-say-that-to-the-Lord-who-is-ever-so-faithful” look, let’s us be reminded of the many trying situations in our lives where we've more or less voiced similar sentiments to God…hmm!  Jesus was in the boat with them and had already given them His word; you’d think that would keep them calm.  

³⁵ On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side.” – Mark 4:35NKJV (emphasis mine)

The very presence of Jesus in that boat with them should've given them the assurance that what He told them is exactly what is going to happen, they are crossing to the other side, storm or no storm. You see beloved, just like the disciples of old, we often get so caught up in what we are going through at the moment, we forget the promises of God to us, we also forget He is in us and with us at all times just as He has promised us, yes even in our darkest moments, He never leaves us nor forsakes us. He loves us eternally, perfectly and unconditionally.

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Beloved, what is your Abba Father saying to you today? What has He promised you today? Whatever it is, trust Him – if He spoke it, consider it done. Remember, He looks at His word to fulfill it. It never returns to Him void! So when you hear what He is saying, go ahead, be bold and prophesy, for you know Him who has spoken.  

The Lord God has spoken!
Who can but prophesy? – Amos 3:8b NKJV

Blessings!

YOU ARE LIGHT, SO SHINE AWAY…

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Before trusting in Jesus and what He has already done to redeem us, that is His death on the cross that brought us forgiveness of sin and His resurrection that made it possible for us to become New Creations, we were all enslaved under the power of the enemy. We might have thought we were the ones running our lives, but the truth is, we were being driven by the wicked one who had blinded our minds to the Truth with his deceptive agendas.

In Christ, we have been translated from where we were, spiritually speaking, our standing before God has changed; we are no longer under the dominion of the prince of darkness and his kingdom of darkness. We have become New Creations, citizens in God's Kingdom.

Now that we are in the Kingdom of Light, we are in Him who is the Light and we have become the light of the world, we cannot continue to live like we did in the realm of darkness for we are now children of the Light. The enemy will try to draw us away from this truth through his only weapon – deceit, but we are not ignorant of his devices.

The Word of God says:

¹³ He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son - Colossians 1:13 ESV

Beloved, if we believe that God has raised Jesus from the dead and we have confessed Him as our Lord, then we have effectively been transferred from the kingdom of darkness and into the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Light for God is Light and in Him is not darkness at all (1 John 1:5).

Light doesn't try to be light, it is light so likewise let us live according to our true New Nature identity – by being the lights that we are wherever we are, anything less is hypocrisy and that would only lead to miserable lives.

Jesus our Lord said:

¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. ¹⁶ Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. – Matthew 5;14-16 NKJV

Light expels darkness every single time, illuminating the space it occupies and by doing so, blessing those who are exposed to it. So wherever you are today child of God, know that your very presence there is expelling any and all forms of darkness there while showing The Way to others. Don’t shrink back, let your light shine before others impacting them for Christ and that way your Father will be glorified.

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We are lights, beloved, we are children of the Light. God is the Father of lights – that’s us! And He doesn't change, nor does He fluctuate. Know this child of God, your presence anywhere is an opportunity for others to see Him who is the Light, experience His love through you and ultimately come to trust Him and be rescued from the kingdom of darkness.  

Arise and shine today, for you, child of God are the light of your world!

Blessings!   

SIMPLICITY - By Daniel J. Musokwa

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Simplicity 

I have, of late, been thinking about the simplicity of the Gospel. It is so easy to get caught up in the so-called “higher revelations” and forget that God speaks the language of children… He is impressed by child-like faith. 

And really sometimes what we call spiritual ‘revelation’ is nothing more than just human intelligence at work. Some people have a much higher intelligence-quotient than others, they can think fast and in a flash of a second they can link-up Scripture, history, general knowledge, predictive deduction and a little psychology to come up with a stunning ‘revelation’.

Simplicity 

We love to hear these revelations but I find that the only revelation that changes you truly is the one you've had yourself because of your walk with God. People who go around chasing revelations from minister to minister or church to church will never grow into responsible Christians.

Simplicity 

I look at how Jesus began His ministry and I’m tempted to say that I too have at some point made this grave error. The “higher” things don’t build character… it is the simple things. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth… blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy… blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God… blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God… be merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful.” These words are so simplistic and yet they have such a ring of power to them. Everything that we are as God’s sons should be built on this foundation.

But I too have found myself seeking ‘wisdom’ in empty religious sayings and notion… away from this life-giving simplicity. So sad that religious rhetoric has replaced God’s life of simplicity in us.

Simplicity

So many times we find ourselves in a land I call Eisegesia… reading too much into and over-interpreting the Biblical text. I’d rather learn to be merciful, kind and loving than to know the word “mercy” in Ancient Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, Latin and Ancient Nubian.

Simplicity 

My heart yearns for simplicity of a God who would choose to entrust His own birth into the hands of a simple teenage girl… a God who would choose to come to Earth to show His creation the way of love instead of showing them how He balanced the equations of planetary centripetal force and angular velocity.

Simplicity

“But I say to you, Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, so that you may become sons of your Father in Heaven. For He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax-collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax-collectors do so? Therefore be perfect, even as your Father in Heaven is perfect.” – Jesus Christ (Mat 5:44-48)

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Simplicity

If all of religion was Matthew 5:44-48… it would be sufficient. May I learn to cause the sun of my blessing to rise upon the evil and the good, and the rain of my peace to water the just and the unjust… just like my Father. For what good is my Christianity if the world finds in me a judge instead of an impartial blessor of the just and unjust alike.

Simplicity 

It eludes complicated hearts to find a nesting place in brokenness.

The ONE THING that is needed...

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When Jesus was invited to Martha, Mary and Lazarus’ place, Martha was busy serving, a perfectly normal thing for a host or hostess to do to make their guests feel welcome. Mary decided to hang out with Jesus and the other guests in the living room listening to Him and learning at His feet.

After toiling alone for a while, Martha wasn't amused. She stormed out of kitchen blaming both Jesus and Mary for the situation she was in. Heck, she even ordered Jesus to do what she thought was the right thing at the time – “Lord… tell her to help me” - the audacity, the gall!

Let’s pick up the conversation, shall we?

⁴⁰ But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.”

⁴¹ And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. ⁴² But ONE THING is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” – Luke 10:40-42 NKJV (Emphasis added)

Serving in itself isn't a bad thing, but the motive behind our serving is what matters. What motivates us to serve? Is it the love of God in us compelling us to serve or are we busy serving to save our reputations? Are we trying to impress God – as if we can – by our serving, so He’ll somehow bless us in an area of lack in our lives? Or perhaps we are seeking the praise of men…motives for serving in whatever capacity are as varied as one could care to list, so yeah…

Just as Martha was distracted with much serving and ended up accusing and blaming Jesus and her sister Mary, we too can get distracted with many things, not necessarily sinful things, but just much activity in the name of serving or ministering. In the end we will fall into what I'll term as the "Martha Syndrome" - accusing God of not caring and our brothers and sisters of deserting us - while the truth is, all this time they have been enjoying the very presence of God and we are the ones who are troubled, worried and distracted by many things...Just because we have neglected that ONE THING that is needed - fellowshipping with GOD!

Now beloved, God’s presence is right where you are, He is Omnipresent, but it gets better, He is in you by His Holy Spirit, you are one with Him. No need of getting all weird and spooky, simply believe His Word and let His love compel you to serve in the right way and at the right time. Mary got to anoint Jesus before His death because she did the ONE THING needed – she sat at His feet and soaked in His Word. Remember the women who went to the grave to anoint Jesus’ body when He was buried and found the tomb empty? They missed out on an opportunity that only Mary had. 

There is tremendous value in doing the ONE THING – soaking in the presence and Word of God.

King David said it this way:

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ONE THING have I asked of the Lord,
    that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
    all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
    and to inquire in his temple. – Psalm 27:4 ESV (Emphasis added)

Today, because of what Jesus did for us, we have what David could only desire, we are God’s dwelling place, our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. We have received the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God, now may the eyes of our understanding be enlightened that we may know the hope He has called us to and what we have in and through Him as per Ephesians 1:17-23.

Blessings!  

CHILD OF GOD, PROPHESY!

Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy - 1 Corinthians 14: 1 NIV

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We are to pursue the fruit and desire the gift. Here we see the fruit of the Spirit (which is encapsulated by the phrase “the way of love”) and the gifts of the Spirit with emphasis on prophecy going together, hand in hand as it were. Why? Simple…Everything in the Kingdom of God operates by love.

Our motivation for everything we do should be love. God’s love has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5) who is in us. His love should be the motivating factor behind our desire for His gifts to operate in and through us. God is Love, His very essence is Love. Anything done without love doesn't amount to much, 1 Corinthians 13, the popular love chapter in the Bible, makes that abundantly clear.

As we yield to the love of God that’s poured out in our hearts, we won’t have any other agendas, our desire will be to see others saved, healed, delivered, blessed, lifted up, restored and fulfilling their God ordained destinies. The gift of prophecy that flows out of love is never condemning, neither does it seek to bring fear, control or manipulation; the gift of prophecy will always edify, exhort and comfort others. True prophecy will never contradict the written Word of God, the Bible, which is the standard against which every prophetic utterance is to be measured before being accepted or rejected.   

The ministry of the prophet goes beyond edification, exhortation and comfort but that is beyond the scope of this blog post, suffice it to say that prophets prophesy but not everyone who prophesies is a prophet. The ministry of the prophet in the New Covenant is a foundational ministry in the Church. Now, back to the gift of prophecy...

Every believer can and should operate in the gift of prophesy, the Lord urges us to desire it earnestly – above all the other gifts, He knows we need it. He wants to reveal His heart to others through you by way of the gift of prophecy.

In His wisdom, God has made a way for us to learn how to operate in this gift, and as we learn we become bolder and more fluent in flowing with the Spirit. Let me quickly say this: we cannot improve on the gifts of the Spirit; they are already perfect gifts from the Perfect One. 

What we can and are ENCOURAGED to do is to LEARN HOW TO BETTER OPERATE in the gifts, especially the gift of Prophecy.

³¹ For you can ALL PROPHESY ONE BY ONE, THAT ALL MAY LEARN and all may be encouraged. – 1 Corinthians 14:31 NKJV (Emphasis mine)

Start where you are, when God reveals something to you (by way of a vision, a spontaneous thought, an impression, a “knowing” etc.) for someone else and impresses upon you to share it with them, then in love, step out by faith and share it, even if it is a one word or a one liner prophecy such as “rest in the Lord” or “I love you” or “I’m with you”, that might be exactly what the person needs to hear at that time. Don’t hold back and wait until you can prophesy paragraphs and chapters; faithfully start with what He reveals to you and don’t try to interpret the message just present it exactly as you received it. Do not let fear hold you back, the Lord desires to bless others through you.

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Beloved, desire the gift of prophecy today and as you do, delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart - the gift of prophecy being one of those desires! Become a blessing to someone today, pay attention to what the Spirit is revealing to you and prophesy! 

Blessings!

GOD LOVES YOU…He Always Has and Always Will!

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God is not mad at you, He never was and never will be. He is on your side, He is for you, not against you. There is nothing you can do that will change His mind about you, He knows everything about you and loves you perfectly and eternally. He is for you, not against you. Remember it was Adam and Eve who ran and tried to hide from God’s presence after they had disobeyed Him, God came to hang out with them as He had always done up to that point.

God wasn't mad at them even though they had disobeyed Him, He still made them skin suits. He did that for them not for Himself, He could have left them with their flimsy fig leaf skirts but He chose to make them skin coverings to alleviate the shame they brought on themselves by their own disobedience. 

They were naked all along and God didn't have a problem with that (He made them that way) but after they disobeyed and their “eyes were opened” they had a problem with the fact that they were naked. So even in their sin God was still looking out for them and reaching out to them. Oh, what love!

Of course their sin had consequences but God never stopped loving them. He never stopped communicating with them. He talked to them and they talked to Him. I mean God even had conversations with Cain before and after he killed his brother Abel. The claims we often hear that God neither hears nor talks to sinners crumble against such pointed Scriptural evidence to the contrary.

Immediately God set in motion a plan to redeem and restore mankind to Himself through the Seed of the woman (Genesis 3:15); that is through the coming of Jesus. He chose Abraham and through him raised the nation of Israel for the express purpose of bringing redemption to mankind through them. Jesus came and became the perfect sacrifice, putting an end to the Old Covenant including the yearly sacrifices the Jewish people had to offer for forgiveness of sin.

At God’s appointed time, Christ came and died for the sin of the entire world, every single human being is included – no exceptions.

² He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. – 1 John 2:2 NIV

However, each person must receive the forgiveness of sin by believing in Jesus and confessing Him as Lord. What does the Word of God say?

⁹ If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. – Romans 10:9-10 NIV

  

God was in Christ reconciling the human race to Himself. And the best part is, today on account of what Christ did, God isn't holding your sins against you, instead He is pleading with you to be reconciled with Him. So stop trying to earn points with God by trusting in your "good works", instead believe in Jesus and when you do, you instantly become a brand new creation in Him. His Spirit gives you His life, you then become a member of God’s family, a dearly beloved son or daughter of the Most High.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. - 2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV      

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You don’t have to “clean up” your act before you approach Him, you couldn't do it even if you tried, just put your trust in Him and allow Him to take care of the rest. 

Remember you are loved, perfectly and eternally – the least you can do is to respond to God’s love today, that is, if you haven’t already! And if you have then rest in His love, be rooted and grounded in it, let God’s love compel you to reach out to someone else today. 

Blessings!

THE TRUE ISRAEL OF GOD - Part 10 - By Daniel J. Musokwa

Daniel J. Musokwa

This is the last installment in this series of teachings titled "The True Israel of God" by my brother and friend Apostle Daniel J. Musokwa of The New Testament Ministries - Tanzania. It is fairly long and it is presented in the form of a letter. I have taken the liberty of posting it here on Ever Increasing Grace - my blog as a ten part series for easy reading. 

I would encourage everyone who reads this to take some time and check out the preceding installments by clicking on the following links: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8 and Part 9

Daniel can be reached at: kainos.diatheke@gmail.com

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Rom 4:16 Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring - not only to THOSE WHO ARE OF THE LAW(Jews) but also to THOSE WHO ARE OF THE FAITH OF ABRAHAM(the church). He is the father of us all.

Source: Google Images

This was God’s promise to Abraham and his offspring… well guess what! Romans 4:16 lets me know that I am entitled to all of Abraham’s blessings by faith in Jesus Christ. With me putting absolute faith in Jesus Christ, God will bless all those who bless me, and curse all those who curse me… I didn't ask for this, but I guess it came with the package, you know, with being Abraham’s seed and all. Shadows and types my friends. Furthermore…

Gal 3:29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

And again…

Eph 3:6 This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.

The holy Scriptures are replete with verses talking about us believing Gentiles being co-heirs with the Jews! Remember, the Book of Romans is very clear that “not all who are descendants of Israel are Israel, and nor because of such, are they all Abraham’s children. It is NOT the natural children who are God’s children – Romans 9.” Everything that was promised to Abraham is now accessible to ALL believing Jews and believing Gentiles together! Now, all believing Jews and Gentiles have a common spiritual Jerusalem who is our mother (or our common spiritual abode or safe haven). This is the Gospel of the Kingdom; “there is therefore now neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free… but Christ is all, and is in all!”

I know there is a lot of religious pressure to say “yes, but God loves the Jews, they are His people.” Granted, but in what way exactly does He love Benjamin Netanyahu more than He loves Ahmadinejad? Be careful now friends. If the Israelis are His people, in the New Covenant, what does that make the Fijians then? Do you honestly believe that in this New Testament dispensation God could love one people MORE than or above all others?

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

John 3:18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.

My Bible tells me “for God so loved the whole WORLD that He gave His only son!” Verse 18 above says “whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.” 

Does that description fit the unbelieving Jew and Gentile of today? They do not believe in the name of Jesus as God’s Messiah. Paul says that if they persist in unbelief, they will not be grafted back into the commonwealth of the true Israel of God, the church!

Source: Google Images

Paul lamented for his people, the Israelites, that they were missing out on something that was to be originally theirs… salvation at the hands of a Jewish Messiah! The blessings of Abraham are at work in the Jews (Isaac) and Arabs (Ishmael) to this day regardless of their spiritual condition. This simply proves that God is faithful and that His gifts are irrevocable. But we must love both sons, Isaac and Ishmael, and share with them our spiritual blessings… even Jesus Christ.

Shalom!