The Five Start Up Gifts

A normal child is born with a head, two legs and two hands.

 Amazingly, it is the same for the spiritual life.

We are born with five basic things: without knowing you have all five; you may not know how to use them or may look outside for them(as many still do). 

They are(not in a particular order): 

1. Eternal life

"And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God,that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God." (1 John 5:11-13 NKJV).

2. The gift of righteousness:

"For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ." (Romans 5:17 NKJV).

3. The measure of faith:

"For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith." (Romans 12:3 NKJV).

4. Grace:

"I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus," (1 Corinthians 1:4).

5. The Holy Spirit:

"Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." (Acts 2:38).

Everyone in Christ has all five; we will have an in-depth study of each point; showing when we received them, what they are about and how to use them(by the grace of God).

God Bless You!

Introduction To Prayer

 God is the Creator, He created everything and afterwards rested. That means He is no longer doing anything. Hebrews 4:10 says "God ceased from His works..."

The guiding principles which makes everything run smoothly in the world is what is called "nature".

God set nature in it place; to run everything in the world which God created.

There is no angel responsible for bringing out the Sun. Neither is there an angel who brings rain. All of those are controlled by nature. Everything we put in; is what we get.

Is it possible to break the laws of nature?
YES! We can!

That's where prayer comes in to play. Through prayer we can invite God to step into the scene and do whatever we desire to be done on the Earth.

Prayer is giving God legal rights to step in and disrupt the laws of nature on our behalf.

Elijah knew that rain had its season; but he prayed and it did not rain for 3years and 6months(James 5:17-18).
All the Bible miracles happened by God interrupting the laws of nature; because, men dared to trust God and pray!

Brethren, if we must see God work in this Earth(through us) we MUST learn to pray consistently.

John Wesley said;
"It seems God would do nothing on the Earth, except men pray"

What is it you are going through?
What is that difficulty in your life that seems it will never change?
Prayer can fix it!

Let's rise up and learn to pray consistently.

God Bless You!

Facts that will help you Understand the Bible

"How do I start Reading the Bible?" "Where do I start from?"

"I don't seem to understand the parts which are not stories!"

If this is you; you're not alone:

Amazingly, majority of Christians, all over the world share the same predicament.

Here are pointers that will help  you read and understand the Bible.

1. The Bible was written for you

For whatever things were written before, were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope Romans 15:4(NKJV).

Once a Christian can adopt and maintain this mindset, the Bible will stop being an elusive Book.

Don't see the Bible like a Book that requires something you don't have; in other to read and understand.

If you're God's child; you have the Spirit of God in you.

"You too heard the word of truth in Christ, which is the good news of your salvation.

You were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit because you believed in Christ"

Galatians 1:13(CEB)

Now, if you're not sure that you're born again here's how to become born again.

Just take a minute alone and say this words and mean them.

"I confess with my mouth "Jesus is Lord" and I believe in my heart

That God raised Jesus from the dead. 'I am saved'".

Romans 10:9(CEB)

If you just did that; Galatians 1:13 just happened to you.

The Holy Spirit is now in you and teaches you all things(John 14:26).

And, guides you into all truth(John 16:13).

2. The Bible is a Progressive Book

The Bible has been arranged in such a way that the revelation is progressive.

Meaning, what's found in Genesis is not as deep as what's found in Matthew.

What's found in Matthew is not as deep as what's found in the Epistles.

Examples

The Name of God

In Exodus 6:3 God told Moses;

I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as Elshaddai--'God Almighty'--but I did not reveal my name, Yahweh, to them. Exodus 6:3(NLT)

So, if someone were to study about the Name of God and He stopped in Genesis; He'd end up calling God, "God Almighty" which was for before the Law.

Jesus showed up and gave a new revelation about God's Name

He didn't say call Him "Elshaddai" or "Yahweh" but, "Father".

So pray this way: Our Father in Heaven, may your Name be honoured(Matthew 6:9) don't pray to Elshaddai or Yahweh but, to "the Father".

What happens after people die?

In the Old Testament, no one really knew that people lived on after they died.

The revelation available was that the remained in their graves as seen in

"Whatever you find to do with your hands, do it with all your might, because there is no planning nor knowledge in the grave, the place where you will eventually go” Ecclesiastes 9:10.

Jesus was the first in the Bible to inform us that the dead live on after their death when He told a story* about "Lazarus and the Rich Man" in Luke 16:19-31.

* watch out for the differences between a story and a parable

3. Younger Books help explain Older books

This is one truth that helped shape my understanding of the Bible

The Bible is a compilation of Canonical writings.

The Bible was written over a period of 2000years.

Which means, those who wrote the younger Books; had the opportunity of reading the older Books.

Daniel read Jeremiah's writings:

"in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, came to understand from the sacred books that, according to the word of the LORD disclosed to the prophet Jeremiah, the years for the fulfilling of the desolation of Jerusalem were seventy in number. (Daniel 9:2 NET).

In Genesis 32:24-30 we are told that Jacob fought with an angel;

But Prophet Hosea explains that it was prayer(Hosea 12:4).

In Exodus 2, Moses acts like a judge without telling us why he acted so

In Acts 7:24, we are told the reason for his action.

"He thought his own people would understand that God was delivering them through him, but they did not understand." (Acts 7:25 NET).

4. There are 3 eras in the Bible with different revelations

This will be subsequently treated like a topic of its own

Without this clear understanding; the Bible will seem contradictory.

Each era has its different revelations and definitions of terms.

i. Before the law

This period starts from after the fall of Adam till when Moses brought the law.

"Yet death reigned from Adam until Moses even over those who did not sin in the same way that Adam (who is a type of the coming one) transgressed." (Romans 5:14).

 ii. The Law Era

This is the period from after when Moses brought the Law till when Jesus died.

Jesus Christ, announced His assignment in Matthew 5:17

I have not come to abolish the law but, to fulfill them.

Romans 10:4 tells us

"For Christ is the end of the law, with the result that there is righteousness for everyone who believes."

iii. The Grace Era

This era started when Jesus resurrected and came in full, when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2.

Praise God!

When reading the Bible try to identify the differences in the revelations from each era.

God Bless You!

How To Locate Your Place in Christ

Many believers often ask "How do I locate my calling?" while others don't seem to know what they are supposed to do, the last group don't seem to be aware of any responsibilities or divine placements in the body of Christ; because of ignorance of this; many Christians don't have any sense of responsibility.

The Bible describes everyone in Christ as called ones.

For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 Whom he predestined, those he also called. Whom he called, those he also justified. Whom he justified, those he also glorified. Romans 8:29 (WEB)

We are all called with the same calling into Christ; but, have specific assignments(different from each other's assignments).

Romans 12:4 For even as we have many members in one body, and all the members don’t have the same function.

The way we end up is primarily influenced by three things;

1. Our basic interest:
We all start out with a basic interest in an aspect of Christianity; which may not necessarily be what God wants us to do. In the Bible, Paul had an interest in Preaching to the Jews(Romans 11:14), but God wanted him to preach to the Gentiles.(Acts 22:18-21).

2. People around us:
Most people tend to do what people around them do; that's why most believers tend to go the way of their church leaders. If their Pastors function like a Prophet; they may desire to function that way(1Corinthians 14:1) and over time may go that way. Even though, it may not necessarily be what God wants for them.

3. People we meet:
Ephesians 4:11
"And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;" (KJV)
Notice, it's not saying; "He made some Apostles". The context is "He gave gifts to men"(verse 8); this is referring to the type of people that God makes us to meet depending on where we are.
I am grateful to God for some people that I have met who catapulted me into a whole new phase.
Ephesians 4:12-13 describes what these gifts(men) do;

12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ:

 Since the previous points make us to have a loop-sided growth; God causes us to meet these people(that's different from running about looking for these people; it's God who makes us to meet them) so we can be exposed to other aspects too.

There is a specific place for each of us(Romans 12:4-6) because, we are members of the body of Christ and just as our bodies have different parts; Christ' body has different parts too(1Corinthians 12:18-20).

Many believers prefer to stay and pray about their calling/place in Christ: well, that's good, but not what Bible says we should do. God doesn't want us praying like people of the Old Testament(we are joined to the Lord; therefore, we are one with Him 1Corinthians 6:17)
To know your place in Christ, just live the life the Bible recommends every Christian should live.

Live the life of faith in God, Daily.
Pray in the Spirit and with the spirit, sing with the spirit and in the Spirit.
Fellowship with the Holy Spirit and with other Christians.
Spend time studying, reading and listening(audio format) to the Bible.
Meditate, confess and do the Word of God. Make out time for fastings(weekly fasts, monthly fasts and annual fasts).
Don't forget to preach to others who are not believers.

By doing all of these things, God will reveal your place to you; if you're not already in it.

God Bless you!