Be strong, act like a man !

 We are in trouble! Our society is producing weak men like a factory assembly line. Modern christianity is producing weak men like it's nobody's business. No wonder christianity is so weak in the land. God called the man to lead, to lead requires one to be strong. But from the beginning we saw Adam abandoning his leadership position and allowing his wife to lead him. We saw Adam again fail to take accountability for his own decision and blamed his wife, showing weakness of character. 

And so many men throughout history continue to follow in the footstep of Adam, neglecting their duty and following the woman. According to the Bible in 1 Peter 3:7 ," the woman is the weaker vessel." It means women are weaker than men in many ways. Which mean men are responsible before God to lead , protect and guide women . But we now have a society in which women are the one leading in many areas because the men have become weak.  Being a leader by definition means to guide, direct. It take a strong person to lead, but the modern man is a weakling waiting for the woman to lead and blaming her for his own failures .

" Be strong and act like a man." (1king 2:2) Act like a man. Many men nowdays are driven by pleasure and have no self control, no purpose etc.. A man who is driven by pleasure is a weak man, for it is a man who has no purpose in life, no true drive, such a man cannot lead himself, much less a family. A man who is driven by pleasure will soon find himself under the control of women. A man under the control of a woman is a weak man. As our society is becoming more effeminate, we find more and more men are looking to a woman to find satisfaction. When the man is the one who should provide for his wife.

A man provides security, stability, strength for his wife, his family, his friends etc.. A man cannot be like a woman and be constantly depressed, needy etc..A man is to be a provider. It is a man's job to work, to provide for his family. A strong man must be patient, has self control, gentle and not easily angered. A strong man must not be ruled by his emotions or his sex drive. A strong man must subdue himself first in order to be able to lead others. A strong man is a man with a purpose, a goal, a vision and will not easily be distracted from his purpose. Strong men are lacking in our society, strong men are lacking in our churches.

Women are for rhe most part emotional and make decisions based on emotions. A strong man provide the stabily for her emotions. Had Adam been strong and rebuke his wife's emotional decision and eating the fruit, we would not be here. A man is responsible for his wife's behavior  because a man is the leader of the home. The wife looks to the husband for direction and so as a man if your home is in chaos, you are to be blamed. A strong man doesn't blame his wife for tge chaos of the home, but he face the chaos and bring stability in the home.

A strong man is not afraid of the trials of life and is not easily depressed when things get hard but with the help of God seeks for a solution. A strong man doesn't hide from others to protect "his mental health." A strong man speak the truth whether others like it or not. A strong man is a man of conviction, not a man who is tossed to and fro by his feelings today. A strong take accountability for his own life and doesn't play the victim. Strong men are lacking in our society . Jesus was a strong man. Jesus was focused, Jesus had self control, Jesus had a purpose and pursued it with relentless zeal until He overcame the world. To be strong man we must look to Jesus.

The church( bride of Christ )trust Jesus because Jesus is faithful, Jesus provide for her needs, Jesus protect her, Jesus lead her and Jesus died to self for her. Many men out are looking for a wife, but they have no purpose, no drive, indecisive,  emotionally unstable etc.. Women don't feel safe with such a man and as a result divorce rates are sky rocketing because we have weak unreliable men leading families and the church . Friends, God is calling us to act like men, to be strong, to be purposeful, to be focused and the strongest man is the one who make His purpose to serve God at all cost and lead others to Him.

Our society is in the business of producing weak men, men without purpose, drive or goals, man without love and self control. But Jesus is in the business of restoring men and making us strong. He gives a purpose which is to take up my cross and follow Him. Follow Him in the home, follow Him in the church, follow Him everywhere you go by being a man of purpose, a man of strength,  stability and conviction. A man who is not controlled by His emotions or his flesh. But a man " who will stand for the right, though the heavens fall." Be strong, act like a man," and let us stop being like cowards who living without purpose and convictions.

The Lord is good!

 Goodness! Something we all look for. We all are looking for good things for ourselves, regardless on how we define it. The drug dealer is looking for his own good. The thief steals because he thinks it will do him good. The promiscuous girl have sex with different people because she thinks it will do her good. The adulterer cheats because he thinks he will find satisfaction. Some people help others because it bring them satisfaction. Everything everyone of us do in life is in search of satisfaction, in search some perceived good .

We all are in search of goodness in our lives. This life is tough, miserable with rare moments of goodness. Have ever met someone who is pleasant, kind etc..? Man, how much do we want to stay around that person, spend hours with him/her. Being around such a persom evoke all kinds of good feeling from us, make our hearts melt with pleasant feelings and temporarily uplift us from the despair and miseries of this world. Everyone loves to be around such a person and you never want to lose such a one .

God is such a person. The Lord is good! The more my friendship with Jesus grows, the more pleasant He is to me. The Lord is good. I have never met someone as pleasant as God. God never has mood changes. God will never betray you. God never rejects the one who comes to Him. God knows all my flaws and still loves me. God is patient with me. God is tender with me. God has made me strong. When I make mistakes, the Lord still accepts me when I come to Him. Spending time with God daily has made me wiser.

Spending time with God is the sweetest thing in the world . The closer you get to the Lord,  the more you will feel the abiding presence of His Holy Spirit within your own soul, conforting us. The Lord is good! I have never met someone like the Lord before, who truly desires my good and does everything to make my life a blessing. The Lord is good! The Lord is beautiful , lovely. How can anyone not love the Lord is a mystery to me 🤷🏾‍♂️.

The Lord is good, there is no greater love than  God's love, no greater goodness than in the Lord.

We all may think different things will bring goodness to our lives but in truth only a relationship with God will bring true goodness. Many things we thought would bring us goodness end up bringing more misery to our lives. But with the Lord we will experience increasing goodness. Goodness for now and everlasting goodness in the life to come. The Lord is good ! How can i not praise Him, how can I not glory Him and magnify His name upon the earth ? The Lord is good! To know God is to experience goodness and true love.  Seek the Lord, for He is good!

“Educate your mind to love the Bible, to love the prayer meeting, to love the hour of meditation, and, above all, the hour when the soul communes with God.”- Testimonies for the Church 2, p.268

Only through death !

 No death 💀, no heaven ! And no I am not speaking about the death of Jesus Christ. While the death of Christ is what gives us access to heaven, " for without the shedding of blood there is no sacrifice for sin." ( Hebrews 9:22) Christ shedding His blood on calvary for our sins paid the debt required for the transgressions of God's Holy law  and opened the way to paradise for the whole human race 🛣

Jesus has opened the doors of paradise for us all. While heaven is accessible to us all, the only way to enter is through death 💀. No one who remains alived will ever enter heaven , only the dead will enter there 😱. What do you mean Ric ? How is it only the dead will enter heaven when the Bible say " those who are alived will see Jesus coming down and be caught up with Him in the air ?" 1 Thessalonians 4:17.  Those who are alived in Christ but dead to self will be caught up with Him in the air. 

Jesus is the only way to heaven. Jesus said, " I am is the way, the truth and the life." Jesus said follow me. Jesus is the way to heaven and a Christian is one who follow Jesus. So the question is how did Jesus get to heaven ? What way did He take to get there ? The way Jesus took to get to heaven is through calvary,  through the cross. The way of humiliation, suffering and death .

Jesus showed us the way to heaven and the way to heaven is the highway of self denial and death. Jesus died to self before He was ressurected to glory and if I want to go to heaven I must die to self to be raised in glory. I must die to all my sinful desires. I must come to the Lord and present my sinful desires before Him and say Lord, crucify these desires in me. Now our desires are a part of our make up, for the Lord to crucify your desires is to experience excruciating pain akin to death.

On the way to heaven, I must surrender my will, my wishes, my wants to God's will. To surrender these things to God is to experience death 💀. I want to dress 💃🏽this way but Lord not my will but your will be done. I want to eat whatever I want but Lord not my will but yours be done. I want speak whatever I want to speak but Lord not my will but yours be done. I want to do whatever comes to my sinful mind, but Lord not my will but yours be done. To surrender my will, my wishes, my desires to God is to die to self 

Many people are deceived into thinking that God will save them just as they are. God will take them with their vices, their rebellious spirit and lawlessness but unless they allow the Lord to put to death every impure thoughts, every evil things in their lives they will die in their sins.  Jesus said " whoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it ; and whoever shall lose his life shall preserve it." Luke 17:33 .

If you want to preserve your way of life, you will die in your sins whether you claim to be a Christian or not .

The apostle Paul said, " I die daily." (1 Corinthians15:31) Friends, it is the only way to heaven, through death 😥. When the Word of God reveal areas of my life that is unholy, I must go to God and say Lord crucify this evil in my life . When the Spirit of God tell me to surrender my angry temper, my lust, my addictions, my love of the world, my love of fashion, or anything the Holy Spirit convict me of, I must go in prayer and say Lord crucify these things in me, put them to death. The more I die daily, the more Christ will live in me and the more prepare I will be for heaven. My prayer is, Lord crucify all evil things in me so that you may live in me 🙏🏾

Leave him alone !

 The worst thing that can happen to you in this life is not death, not loss of health, not the loss of a job, not a loss of a loved one etc...Whatever evil you can think of in this life is not the worse thing that can happen to you. The worst thing that can happen to anyone in this life is when God declares " you are joined to your idol, leave him alone." 😱 (Hosea 4:17)  To be forsaken by God is the greatest calamity in existence. To be forsaken by God is to be forsaken of true joy, true peace, true contentment and of life itself.  To be forsaken by God is to literally receive a death sentence, for there is no life outside of God. 

Now why would God forsake anyone ? Why would the loving, merciful God forsake any of His creatures? I mean God so love us that He was willing to sacrifice Himself to save us, to reconcile us to Himself, so what could cause the loving Savior to forsake those He died for ? Notice what the verse said again. Hosea 4:17, Ephraim is joined to idols; leave him alone! The term joined here is similar to a marriage relationship 🤵🏾👰🏽. Like when God said in Genesis chapter 2 a man will join his wife and become one flesh. What God is saying here is that "Ephraim is married to his idol, leave him alone." Ephraim here represents all who forsake God for other lovers .

Have you ever loved someone and wanted to be with him/her, wanted for him/her to be your spouse 🤵🏾👰🏽? And so you pursue her, utter sweet words to her, give her gifts 🎁, express how much you love her, be attentive to her, sacrifice your time for her , write her love notes, do all you can to show her how much she means to you and how you want her to be yours but she keeps rejecting you, she wants your words, your attention, your gifts but she keep refusing you. You keep trying thinking that one day she will say yes to your love, hope is still alived in your heart despite many rejections .

But one day you hear she has been engaged to someone else and is getting married 💔. What would you as a respectable person? You would say " she is joined to her lover, leave her alone." With tears in your eyes 😥, a broken heart in your chest 💔, you would utter  leave her alone because she has clearly rejected me. She has takeb my gifts and give them to her lovers. She has rejected me and all that I stand for and chose someone else for her spouse. She has rejected me as the source of her joy to cling to someone else, leave her alone. She has abandoned me, forsaken me and I have no choice but to accept her choice and to forsake her 😥. My heart is broken within me ,but leave her alone.

This heartbreaking love story is the story of God and many of us. God blesses us daily, He has showered with many gifts, He gave us His bible as His love letter to us, telling us how much He loves us " with an everlasting love." And as the highest demonstration of His love, "God gave His only Son for us." Jesus said "I lay down my life for you." "I love you more than life itself, I want to be with you, I want you to be by my side forever. " In me you will find peace and joy for your soul, come and join with me, come and be one with me , " I love you. " But many of us say no! 

We say no Jesus! I want your gifts but I don't want to be with you. I want heaven but I don't want you. When the question is asked ? Whom do you prefer to be your lover, who do you love more than Jesus ? Our heart answer is ," I love my sins more than Jesus, I love my spouse more than Jesus, I love my children, my boyfriend/girlfriend, my money ,my house , my pride, my pleasure, my anger, my jealousy, my friends, my job etc.. more than Jesus. I love everything and anything else more than Jesus. The way we live, the things we pursue and cry for reveal our true love .

And then there comes a time, when you don't even know it when you make a final decision and say I prefer my sin more than Jesus, I prefer my boyfriend/girlfriend  more than Jesus, I prefer this life more then Jesus. Then Jesus with tears in His eyes 😥, with a broken heart 💔, with great sorrow utter the dreadful words, " he is joined to his idol, leave him alone, she is joined to her idol; leave her alone ." At time moment you are utterly deserted by the Holy Spirit of God, for you have committed the unpardonable sin, you have chose idols above the Lord God and you will no more return, but be on the way to everlasting destruction. For to forsake the Lord is to forsake life itself.

My prayer is, Lord help me to forsake all other lovers, help me to forsake all idols, all sins and to cling to you my only source of peace, joy and everlasting life. Help me to Lord to be faithful unto you at all cost and to abide in your love 🙏🏾

Your day of judgment

 Imagine you standing before the Lord, the King of the universe, in front of billions of beings and you are lost 😮. And the proceedings begin with Jesus speaking. He says before the witnessing universe, " I have left heaven to redeem the human race, I became a human being, walked amongst men, taught in their streets, heal them, give them hope, invite them to come unto me, to bring their burdens to me. I offered them eternal life, a life of peace and blessings forevermore. I have endured all their hatred, I endure their mockings, their spitting upon me, I endured their crown of thorns."

Jesus continues, " I endured their cruel beatings, my skin was ripped for you, I bled for you, I carry the heavy cross for you, I endured separation from my heavenly Father for you, my hands ✋🏾 and feet  👣 are pierced for you, I enjoyed the agony of the cross for you, I drank the cup of the wrath of God for you, I died for you, I resurrected for you, I ascended to heaven to intercede for you, I sent my Holy Spirit to appeal to you, I sent holy angels to guide you in the way of truth, I sent preachers to preach the truth to you."

Jesus continues," I sent family members and friends to warn you of the dangerous paths you were on, I bring many blessings upon you to show you of my love for you, I allow hard times to come upon you to cause you to think and come to your senses, to make you understand without me you cannot make it, I am the bread of life, I am the water of life, I am the light of this world and only in me you will find satisfaction for your soul. I have done all in my Divine power to save you from your sins, I have opened the gates of paradise  for you. I have done all to save you! Then Jesus look at the universe and say I have done all to save him/ her and sit down."

Then the eyes of the whole universe is fasten upon you and the eyes of God is fixed upon you and the question is asked why are you lost ? And with trembling voice and terror 😢😱, you begin to say, I am lost because I loved sex more than you Lord, I wouldn't surrender my sexual drive to you, I wouldn't surrender my habits of masturbation to you. I am lost because I loved women more than you, I thought a woman, a created being could bring me more satisfaction than you. I am lost because I loved men more than you, I thought I needed a man to fulfill my deepest desires."

You continue," I am lost because I loved money more than you, I thought money would provide me with safety. I am lost because I loved pleasure more than you. I am lost because I loved my husband, my wife, my kids, my family more than you. I am lost because I was more concerned with what others would think of me if I gave my life wholly to you. I am lost because I loved fashion more than you, I loved feeling sexy and I wouldn't surrender my body to you, my heart to you, myself to you, I am lost because I am a fool Lord."

I continue, " oh wretched man/woman that I am! I have rejected an eternal life of bliss and happiness for foolishness. I have pursued after men/women who have left me broken for Jesus who have loved me and died for me. I have chased after pleasures which only satisfied me for a moment than Jesus who would have brought me perfect peace. I have pursued after money which brought me more anxiety than Jesus who would have given me eternal riches. I have pursued after the perishable things of this world at the expense of eternal riches. I have been a fool, I have neglected the loving Savior for madness and folly, I have been a fool, O wretched man/woman that I am."

I continue," I have rejected all the warnings of God, I thought I was to young to give my life to Jesus, I thought I was too busy to give my time to God, I thought I was too wise to submit my will to God, I thought I too comfortable to walk in the narrow way that leads to life, I thought I was too cool to read the Word of God and now I am lost 😥, I am lost, beyond redemption, beyond hopes and where are the things I gave up Jesus for? Where is the man/woman I gave up Jesus for ? Where is the money, the child, the wealth  I gave up Jesus for ? I am a fool, I am lost, lost, lost , lost !"

Then I will hear the voice of Jesus saying, " depart from me you worker of iniquity into the everlasting fire 🔥 prepared for the Devil and his angels. " What horror! To live a life of misery under Satan's tyranny and to perish with him in the fires of hell. Friends, let none of us suffer such a fate. The message is today if you will hear God's voice, harden not your heart, but surrender your heart to Jesus. Nothing in this world, no one in this world is worth you losing eternal life for for. Today is the day of salvation, give your life to Jesus today, walk with Christ today and you will pass from judgment unto life eternal. Friends, seek the Lord while He is near, a day of judgment is coming. 

Redeeming the past

 God is love ! God loves you! But the problem is many of us don't understand what true love is and I can't really blame you because many of us have not experienced true love. One area many find if hard to experience love is our past . Many of us , if not all have done things we are shameful of in the past. Many of us have done things we wish we had never done and wish we could go back and change. Many of us walk around heavy, depressed because of a guilty conscience from past mistakes, sins .

Many of us walk around feeling worthless because of our past and what make things worse is we find ourselves unable to speak about them because people will judge us, look down on us and hold us to our past. Many people identified us for what we did and the past and still see us as the same person. As a result many of us identify ourselves with our past, unable to break free from our past traumas. Being bound to our past can lead to toxic behaviors in the present as we can be secretly angry and volatile. And so we lash out, feel misunderstood and yet fearing to express the real cause of our fustrations, our past.

How was your past ? Were you a bad kid ? Were you a very disrespectful person in the past? Were you a thief in the past ? Did you commit some heinous crimes in the past ? Were you very promiscuous, sleeping around with many people ? Did you get pregnant out of wedlock 🤰🏾? Were you molested as a young person ? Were you married and got pregnant by someone other than your husband 😥? Did you make a girl do an abortion? Did you get an abortion ?  How was your past friends? 

I am here to tell you today that no matter how shady, how sinful, how shameful your past was it can be redeemed. There is one who will not condemn you nor look down on you because of your past but who is seeking to heal you from them. Friends,  I am here to tell you to no longer identify yourself by your past but through Jesus who is able to redeem you from your past. It is time we bring our past to the foot of the cross and leave them there .

Your past is your testimony. The Bible speaks about people's past to show God's grace. David was a murderer and yet he became a man according to God's own heart. Rahab was a prostitute , a bad girl and yet she became a descendant of Jesus Christ. Jacob was a deceiver and yet his name was changed to Israel, God blessed him and made  him  a great man. Ruben slept with his father's concubine . Judah slept with his daughter in law masquerading  as a prostitute  and yet Jesus came from the tribe of  Judah .Your past no matter how bad, shameful and disgusting can be redeemed by Jesus .

God doesn't look at your past to condemn you, but He sees what He can make of you if you will bring your life to Him, your past to Him. The Lord will redeem you from your sinful past and will use you to help others who are struggling with the same past you used to struggle. Your past in God will become a testimony of how good God is to you. "Yes I used to be bad, but the Lord has transformed me, yes I used to a drunkard but the Lord sober me up, yes I got pregnant 🤰🏾 out of wedlock but I am married to Jesus now, yes I used to be this, I used to be that but Jesus has rescued me, clean me up and has set me in heavenly places with Christ. "Yes, my past was bad, but Jesus is good." 

Jesus is in the business of restoring lives, of healing the broken, of redeeming our past. Do not let your past define you, but in Jesus use your past to go and tell others how good God has been to you, how the Lord has saved me, " a wretched and miserable sinner," and has made me a son, a daughter of God. Friends, let us all go to prayer at the feet of Jesus, let is bring all our past, shame and guilt to Him, let us leave them there and let go and proclaim to others struggling how good God is, how deep His love for us is, how no matter our past He loves us and He is seeking to enter into close fellowship with us. God can redeem our past, let is seek Him today 🙏🏾

Two thieves: Jesus' journey to us

 Jesus is on a journey 🚶🏿‍♂️. He left heaven on a journey, a mission. A mission of mercy and salvation, to rescue me and you from the burden of sin, the miseries of this life.  In the gospel we find Jesus having different encounters with people from all walks of life. Jesus had encounters with religious leaders, from the  conservative pharisees to the liberal sadducees . Jesus had encounters with Roman soldiers, other pagan people. Jesus had encounters with the sick, the grieving, the rich publicans( tax collectors), the prostitutes, the adulterers etc.. Jesus was on journey to save people from all walks of life because we are all in need of salvation.

 These encounters of Jesus with people from different walks of life is called Divine encounters. Every encounter of Jesus with someone is for the purpose of rescuing, of healing and saving. Today we will focus on Jesus' final encounter. His encounter with two thieves on the cross. Two wicked men who have commited murders and robbery met with Jesus moments before death. Jesus walked with them from Pilate's hall of judgment to Golgotha. He took the journey with them to cross, the place of execution and throughout the whole process, they were beholding Jesus, looking at His life, His example and were conviced that He was the Savior of the world but they had two different reactions. 

One Savior, two reactions. Jesus was crucified in the middle with one thief on His right and the other on His left. He was the center of attention and both thieves were looking at Him, contemplating. The hour of decisions had come, they were in the midst of  Divine encounter and they had to decide what  to do with Jesus. What will they do ? One thief wanted to be rescued from his present pain and say to Jesus if you are the Christ, save me from the consequences of my sin, not necessarily my sins, but the consequences. His prayers were not answered.

The other thief didn't ask to be saved fron the consequences of his sins. He acknowledged he was on that cross because he deserved it, he was guilty, he recognized Jesus was the Messiah, the only One who is able to save and he put his trust in Jesus, saying "Lord remember me in you come in your kingdom." Luke 23:42 . The second thief prayed to Jesus to save Him. He put His trust in Jesus, He called Him the Lord of His life and His prayer was granted. 

This is the reality of this life. No matter where you are in life. Religious or non religious, conservative or liberal, good girl or bad girl, faithful, unfaithful, a proper woman or a harlot woman, rich or poor, a law abiding citizen or a thief, a corrupt politician or  an honest man, with a bad past or a good past, no matter who you are or what you have done , you will not be condemned because of them. At some point you will have a Divine encounter with Jesus and what you decide to do with Jesus will determine your destiny. 

Jesus will journey to wherever you are to reach you. He will journey to the nightclub to find you, He will journey to your sick bed to find you, He will even journey to your cross to find you. Jesus will spare no expense to Himself to find you and rescue you. But He will not force you to accept Him as your Lord and Savior. No human being will be lost because of the evil we have committed, if we are lost we are lost because we rejected Jesus when He journeyed to our hearts ❤, we refused to open the door 🚪 of our hearts when the lovely Savior came knocking .

Friends, as we have seen, Jesus is in journey to find and rescue you. Your past will not prevent Jesus from finding you. I don't how bad your past was, Jesus loves you and He is looking for you. There is moment in our lives when we realise I have to make a decision about Jesus, its either I put my trust in Him and accept Him like the thief on the cross or just want Him to take me out of the consequences of my sin. There is a time in our lives when we have to make a decision for or against Jesus. Today Jesus is joyrneying to you, He is speaking to your heart, I hope you make the right decision and give your life to Him. Lord help us to choose you daily. " Remember us when you come in your kingdom."