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There is a world that is more real than the physical world.

slider2There is a world that is more real than the physical world. Take writings for instance. Your old letters are yellowing and getting tattered but all your emails from even the 1990s are stored up in cyber space and have not and will never age. The reason being that whatever you can handle in a material form has little eternal value. You can handle a letter physically but you cannot handle an email p…hysically unless it is printed and once it is printed it begins to age like a letter. So, when you go to church and your fancy is tickled by promises of prosperity, material blessings and financial breakthroughs but you are not convicted of sin or exhorted to improve your character and die to the flesh, know that the only thing you can take with you when you depart this world is your character. You will leave material things behind and they will rot, rust and decay. So you choose today whether to focus on the material or the eternal.

God’s greatest pleasure is to be believed

renoGod’s greatest pleasure is to be believed. And this character is shared by His Son, Jesus. When He sent out His disciples to evangelize He instructed them “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans”. But in John 4:39-40 we read “Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in Him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to Him, they urged Him to stay with them, and He stayed two days”. Jesus did the very thing He asked His disciples not to do-He entered into a Samaritan city. And not only did He enter, he stayed in that city for 2 days. Why? The reason being that “many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him”. Belief, or what we call faith, can cause God to make an exception for you! “without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him”-Hebrews 11:6

Increasing in Influence With God

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Principle 1: The Joy of The LORD is a Tangible Strengthener. The joy of the Lord is our strength according to Nehemiah 8:10. The joy of the Lord enables us to do difficult things. Think about it. What gave Jesus the strength to go to the Cross when He found it almost unbearable? Hebrews 12: 2 tells us that it was the joy of the Lord-“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God”-Hebrews 12:2.

Principle 2: How do We Increase Our Capacity to Give Pleasure to God? In Hosea 6:6 we read “I want your constant love, not your animal sacrifices. I would rather have my people know me than burn offerings to me”. Of everything we do in church, the one that pleases God the most is when we grow in knowledge of Him

Principle 3: In Proverbs 4:7 we read that “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom”. In  Luke 2:52. We read “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man”. Notice the sequence of the earthly growth of Jesus. Wisdom was the first thing that was mentioned before stature, which refers to physical growth, and favour, which refers to obtaining tangible and intangible benefits from God and people. Why was wisdom mentioned first? Because it is the principal thing

Principle 4: If you have been going to church regularly you also have to have been growing in church regularly. If your level of knowledge of the Scriptures and the principles, promises and qualities of God is not increasing as your attendance in church increases yet you are increasing miracles and financial breakthroughs you need to question what your objective for going to church is. Character development is the highest priority once a person has been saved because your character is the only thing you will take with you when you leave this world. “always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth”-2 Timothy 3:7.

Knowledge, Faith and Pleasing God.

imageHosea 4:6 says “My people are destroyed for lack of KNOWLEDGE”. What is the antidote to this destruction? In John 17:3 Jesus says “And this is eternal life, that they KNOW you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” Knowledge of God that leads to character refinement is the antidote to destruction because your character is the only thing that will follow you when you leave earth. Colossians 1:10 says “And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the KNOWLEDGE of God”. Satan does not mind us going to a church where we get miracles and financial breakthroughs as long as we never increase in the knowledge of God because he knows that it is that knowledge that will eventually translate to eternal life. Miracles and financial breakthroughs can never provide that for you.

In Matthew 4:23 we are given an account of how Jesus spent His life. Essentially our Lord spent His time on earth on 3 things-Teaching, Preaching and Healing.

Now understand that teaching and preaching are the same things only that teaching is educating the mind while preaching is educating the heart. So in essence Jesus spent 2/3rds of His life teaching people because He was aware of the reason why they were perishing which is what we just read in Hosea 4:6. He was passing on knowledge.

After your salvation, God does not let you die even though the bible tells us in Philippians that to live is Christ and to die is gain. We are left on earth and so we must ask ourselves why?

If you don’t believe you are a spirit and your body is not the real you, take time to examine the word self-control. If that word means you have to control your self then who is having the control? It follows that if the self is being controlled by you then the real you cannot be the self. The bible says in Job 32:8 “it is the spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding.” Don’t go through life being only conscious of the self. You are not your self. You are your spirit and just as your phone can stop working but your SIM card keeps working, your self will pass away but your spirit will live on. So which should you develop? The part that dies or the part that lives on?

So God leaves us on earth so that we can develop that part of us that is required to have control over the self which includes the mind and the emotions. And it takes discipline to do that and discipline cannot be miraculously imparted into you, it is something that you must work out after it has been worked into you by the Spirit.

Now don’t forget that we will be given new immortal bodies in the Kingdom of God. So if we cannot discipline the self in this existence and bring it into subjection to Christ how can we control the immortal bodies we will receive in the kingdom?

The reason that we are left on this material world after we obtain salvation is so that we can develop our character because character is the only thing we will take to heaven. That is why we have the admonition of Romans 12:2.

But how do we develop our character?

“And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him”-Colossians 3:10

The only way that we can develop our character is via knowledge. You see, there are no shortcuts. We must obey the law of process!

Some people may say what about those who receive salvation and they die almost immediately after. What about the thief on Jesus’ side who receive a promise of entry into the kingdom the same day?

You see, salvation guarantees you entry into the kingdom, but character refinement determines how useful you will be to God in the kingdom. It is a fallacy to think that everybody has the same status in God’s kingdom. The bible never taught that. There are elders, there are rulers over cities, there are other statuses there.

Consider that in the natural the length of your training in school is tied to the status of the job you are preparing for. So if you want to be a clerk, and I’m not saying there is anything wrong with being a clerk, there is a limited length of formal education required to prepare you for that role. But if you want to be a lawyer, doctor, engineer, rocket scientist, the length of time increases.

So, let each one of us run our own race by increasing in the knowledge of God and the knowledge of how to please Him.

Let me read Hosea 6:6 in the good news bible “I want your constant love, not your animal sacrifices. I would rather have my people know me than burn offerings to me”.

Of everything we do in church, the one that pleases God the most is when we grow in knowledge of Him. But if we come here and praise and sing and dance and get excited and some prophesy and some perform miracles and others bring thanksgiving offerings, we will just be like a man who is buying a perfume for the President of his country. Then we will leave the President’s presence thinking we have done him a big favor  and and thus increased our influence with him but one small boy who knows the President will be laughing at us. Then you ask the small boy why are you laughing and he says that the President does not wear perfumes!

The reason why God so desires that we increase in knowledge is because God’s greatest pleasure is to be believed-Hebrews 11:6. However, you can only believe God to the extent that you have knowledge of Him, His qualities, promises and principles. That’s why Romans 10:17 says “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God”.

Do you know see the relationship between faith and knowledge?

It is through knowledge that you will eventually manifest the good life that Jesus died for you to have as He said in John 10:10.

If you don’t know, you don’t grow. You will end up with zeal but not according to knowledge.

You can go to a church where your senses are excited with easy believism and your zeal is fired up, but if you have no knowledge you will be like a car whose gear is in neutral. No matter how much the driver hits the accelerator that car won’t accelerate unless and until you shift the gear from park to drive.

Let’s read Proverbs 19:2.

I remember when I was a teen ager, I took my mum’s car and tried to drive it without knowing how to drive and I ended up hitting a man. That is what happens to the man who attempts to grow in God with zeal rather than knowledge. You will be like an excited teenage boy who cannot drive in a car but that car will not take you to your destination. In fact it may end up taking you to your destruction!

Lets confirm this word. Read Romans 10:2,  Proverbs 22:12 and Matthew 12:36. You see, God watches over knowledge so if you train yourself to seek the  knowledge of God and you train your lips to always speak it God will watch over your words. However, if you don’t seek knowledge your words will be guided by ignorance and they will be careless words and you may if you don’t repent be at the risk of judgment.

Matthew 13:45-46- “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, (46) who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

To understand this parable we need to read and understand Philippians 3:4-8.

The merchant is the man seeking knowledge and the pearls are different types of knowledge that exists but the pearl of great price is the knowledge of God which when a man has found it if he is wise he does what Paul says in verse 8 and count it all as nought that he might obtain Christ.

The Present is Merely Consequence Catching up to Yesterday’s Words

The Present is Merely Consequence Catching up to Yesterday’s Words
What we call the present is merely consequence catching up with yesterday’s words and what will be the future is consequence catching up to today’s words. To this extent, you and I have the power to influence our future for evil or for good.
There is a need among not just Christians but throughout the human race, and that need is vital. People do not understand that the Bible is a book of principles and promises designed by God to help them reach their highest and best destination. The principles of God are settled laws that will work for any human being, irrespective of the person’s state of salvation. The promises of God are only applicable to His children who believe in Him and believe Him (two different things), and who have accepted His Son, Jesus, as their Savior.
God is a God of principles. He is not moved to fulfill His words because we cry, get angry, or rail at Him. He is a God who will do anything but violate His words because the standing of this whole universe, everything He has created, is held up by the integrity of His word. In the following verses, we see that God created the heavens and the earth using the wisdom of principles:
By wisdom the Lord laid the earth’s foundations,
By understanding he set the heavens in place. (Proverbs 3:19, niv)
He made the earth by his power; he founded the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding. (Jeremiah 51:15, niv)
To demonstrate God’s steadfast principles, I offer an elementary example. Take words, for instance. What did Solomon—one of the men most blessed with godly wisdom that ever lived—mean when he laid out the principle that “Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof”? (Proverbs 18:21).
It is easy to think your words don’t matter because oftentimes you don’t see the manifestations of the things you say. But consider this: a supersonic plane travels faster than the speed of sound. You see the plane and hear no sound, only to hear the sound moments after the plane has passed. Similarly, the spirit part of you is supersonic. It is your spirit that speaks through your body—therefore, words are spiritual. And when you speak words in the present, those words go into your future faster than the material body is able to comprehend. By the time the material body you live in catches up to the words you speak today, it appears to the material body as the future.
Therefore, the man or woman who has not had his or her spiritual senses exercised by reason of use, as described in Hebrews, will not sense the correlation between what they spoke yesterday and what is happening to them today:
But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. (Hebrews 5:14, niv)
Christians ought not to live life the way the world does—oblivious to the fact that our words can advance or sabotage our aspirations.
You may have seen those documentaries where a seed is planted and then, through time-lapse photography, the seed germinates, sprouts, grows leaves, and flowers within what appears to be seconds. Do you know that if that seed was planted in front of your house and the natural process of time passed before the seed germinated, sprouted, grew leaves, and flowered, chances are that you would not notice it because it is so incremental?
It is the same thing in your life. All the words you have ever spoken since you became conscious of the intent of words are spiritual seeds. In the spiritual realm, those words activate just as in the time-accelerated documentary of the seeds of a plant. They germinate, sprout, grow leaves, and flower within milliseconds. But because your body is of the physical world, it takes time for them to manifest in the natural realm. However, as surely as you have spoken them, they will manifest!
This is what Jesus is telling us in Matthew 12:36: “And I tell you this, you must give an account on judgment day for every idle word you speak” (nlt). Why would the Lord warn about a “careless word”? Because He came to earth from the spirit realm and knows there is no such thing as an idle word. Words affect you, your environment, and thus, humanity.
You cannot say things and expect that those things will not come to pass in your life. God created this world by speaking things into existence. Americans elected Barack Obama because he spoke his way into power. You spoke your way into a job, and you married your husband because he spoke a proposal to you. Or, conversely, your wife wedded you because she accepted your proposal to her. If, in these situations, words can manifest themselves in reality, why do people of the most holy faith—handed down from Abraham and the patriarchs—believe that this spiritual principle doesn’t hold true for us?
And it is not just spoken words that affect our reality. Our thought life works with our spoken words to affect our reality. Ephesians 3:20 says:
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us. (NIV)
From this verse it is clear that God is cognizant of our words, our thoughts, and imaginings. Yet so many of us speak the right words but sabotage it with our thoughts. René Descartes said, “I think therefore I am.” Permit me to paraphrase him and say “I think excellently, therefore I am excellent,” or “I think defeat, therefore I am defeated.” This principle did not originate with Descartes, however. It is taken straight from Proverbs: “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7)
Just as material world ignorance of the universal physical laws of God (what the world calls the laws of nature) doesn’t excuse you from their consequences in this material world, similarly, in the spiritual realm, ignorance of God’s principles does not excuse you from spiritual consequences that manifest in the physical; they apply to you nevertheless. For instance, humans are not naturally conscious that the world is constantly going around and around in orbit on its axis. Yet, however unconscious we are of this fact, it does not stop the earth from orbiting. It is an established principle, and we are better off when we understand and harness it.
I see believers taking Scripture out of context, expecting it to work for them without applying the principle behind the Scripture, and getting frustrated in the process. My heart is moved with compassion to fill this need. Every Sscripture taken out of context is, of course, a pretext! When I began studying the Bible as if it was a personal letter written to me by my own father (and in reality that is what the Bible is), I discovered that its principles, when applied, worked for me. More and more, I’ve come to realize that the Word of God will only work if you work it!