Tai

Rivers of living water | Author | Chess | LFC |

[Gbenga Samuel-Wemimo @GbengaWemimo]

Only Christians without any depth in their walk with the Holy Spirit argue about "Once saved, always saved vs Severally saved, never saved"
Salvation is a personal matter
Faith is a personal matter
You can receive your own salvation and lose it according to your faith
I have received my own salvation, and I cannot lose it according to my faith
The just shall live by faith
Live by yours, and I will live by mine
If you lose your salvation and you begin to search for it, you can be sure that it is not with me because I have mine.
Search for it among your friends who also have losable salvations
If they lose theirs, they may steal yours and repent later or even take it by force if they are violent enough
If when you read John 3:16, you see there that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, and whosoever believes in him shall have "temporary" life, so be it.
We all read the same things, but our interpretations are subject to our biases
What you cannot do is ask me not to see that the scripture said "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes ih him shall have eternal life"
It is temporary to you
It is eternal to me
Just like love
Some can only love you for now
Some can love you for now and always
I understand those who cannot believe in the eternal nature of the finished works of Christ
I wonder why they don't understand those who believe in eternal salvation
Maybe eternal salvation offers a wisdom and a depth of love and understanding that temporary salvation does not offer.
Temporary salvation means you can never enter into the realm of the saved and just with confidence
Your visa might be revoked at any time and for any reason if you ever do anything wrong
For those of us with eternal salvation, we are citizens of Zion, ambassadors of Christ, and we walk boldly into the throne of Grace and obtain mercy whenever we need it.
This has granted us the confidence that a tourist cannot have
We call heaven home; we are not seeking asylum or vying for a visiting visa
We are citizens of Heaven.

-GSW-

[Tai @Tai_falodun]

life.

For God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son, Jesus.

The best present you can give yourself is to independently research the truth, and you will only arrive at one conclusion: Jesus is the way.

Tai

[Tai @Tai_falodun]

I am the way, the truth, and life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

--- Jesus

Words so profound no other person before or after Jesus could say.
At that period of time, Jesus knew his identity, he knew who he was/is, and he knew he was/is the only

[Tai @Tai_falodun]

So many words and statements he uttered affirming who he was/is.

Come to me all who labour and weary and I will give you rest

I have come that they might have life and have it in full.

For God so love the world that he gave up his son, and whoever believes in him has eternal

[Tai @Tai_falodun]

Romans 5:8 NIV
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

[Sekou Abodunrin @sekoutoure]

This is the sum, we have a High Priest, a mighty Saviour, whose salvation is to the uttermost. He is my eternal security. I am His. He keeps me irrevocably and forever. None can ever snatch me out of His grip. Blessed be God for His gift.

[Gbenga Samuel-Wemimo @GbengaWemimo]

Manhanaim III

If such a special vision be granted to us let us keep it in memory. Jacob called the name of that place Mahanaim. I wish we had some way in this western world, in these modern times, of naming places, and children, too, more sensibly. We must needs either borrow some antiquated title, as if we were too short of sense to make one for ourselves, or else our names are sheer nonsense, and mean nothing. Why not choose names which should commemorate our mercies? Might not our houses be far more full of interest if around us we saw memorials of the happy events of our lives? Should we not note down remarkable blessings in our diaries, to hand down to our children? Should we not tell our sons and daughters, “There God helped your father, boy;” “thus and thus the Lord comforted your mother, girl;” “there God was very gracious to our family”? Keep records of your race! Preserve the household memoranda! I think it is a great help for a man to know what God did for his father and his grandfather, for he hopes that their God will be his God also. Jacob took care to make notes, for he again and again named places by the facts which there were seen. Jacob named Bethel, and Galeed, and Peniel, and Mahanaim, and other places, for he was a great name giver. Nor were his names forgotten, for hundreds of years after good King David came to the same spot as Jacob, and found it still known as Mahanaim, and there the servants of God of another kind met him also.
This brings me to my second text; for angels did not meet David, but living creatures of another nature met him, who answered the purpose of David quite as well as angels would have done. So just for a few minutes we will dwell upon that second event which distinguished Mahanaim. Turn to the Second Book of Samuel, seventeenth chapter, twenty-seventh verse. David came to Mahanaim, and there was met by many friends. He stood upon the sacred spot, accompanied by his handful of faithful friends, fugitives like himself. There was not an angel about that day apparently, yet secretly there were thousands flying around the sorrowing king. Who is this that comes? It is not an angel, but old Barzillai. Who is this? It is Machir of Lodebar. They bring with them honey, corn, butter, sheep, great basins by way of baths, and cooking utensils, and earthen vessels to hold their food; and look, there are beds too, for the poor king has not a couch to lie upon. These are not angels, but they are doing what angels could not have done, for Gabriel himself could hardly have brought a bed or a basin.
Who is yonder prominent friend? He speaks like a foreigner. He is an Ammonite. What is his name? Shobi, the son of Nahash, of Kabbah, of the children of Ammon. I have heard of those people: they were enemies were they not— cruel enemies to Israel? That man Nahash, you recollect his name; this is one of his sons. Yes! God can turn enemies into friends when his servants require succour. Those that belong to a race that is opposed to Israel can, if God will it, turn to be their helpers. The Lord found an advocate for his Son Jesus in Pilate’s house,— the governor’s wife suffered many things in a dream because of him.. He can find a friend for his servants in their persecutor’s own family, even as he raised up Obadiah to hide the prophets and feed them in a cave: the chamberlain to Ahab himself was the protector of the saints, and with meat from Ahab’s table were they fed. It strikes me that Shobi the Ammonite came to David because he owed his life to him. Kabbah of Ammon had been destroyed, and this man, probably the brother of the king, had been spared: this act of mercy he remembered, and when he found David in trouble he acted gratefully and came down from his highland home with his men, and with his substance. Many a good man has found gracious help in his time of need from those who have received salvation by his means. If we are a blessing to others they will be a blessing to us. If we have brought any to Christ, and they have found the Saviour by our teaching, there is a peculiar tie between us, and they will be our helpers. Shobi of Kabbah of Ammon will be sure to be generous to David, because he will say, “It is by him I live; it is through him that I found salvation from death.” If God blesses you in the conversion of any, it may be that he will raise them up in your time of need, and send them to help: at any rate, either by friends visible or invisible, he will cause you to dwell in the land, and verily you shall be fed. Here comes another person we have heard of before, Machir of Lodebar. That is the large farmer who took care of Mephibosheth. He seems to have been a truly loyal man, who stuck to royal families, even when their fortunes were adverse. As he had been faithful to the house of Saul so was he to David. We have among us brethren who are always friends of God’s ministers: they love them for their Master’s sake, and adhere to them when the more fickle spirits rush after new comers. Happy are we to have many such adherents. They helped the preacher’s predecessor; they like to talk of the grand old man who ruled Israel in the olden times, and they are not tired of it, but they are the entertainers of the present leader, and are equally hearty in their help. God fetches up these brethren at the moment they are wanted, and they appear with loaded hands.
Here comes Barzillai, an old man of fourscore, and as the historian tells us, “a very great man.” His enormous wealth was all at the disposal of David and his followers, and “he provided the king of sustenance while he lay at Mahanaim.” This old nobleman was certainly as useful to David as the angels were to Jacob, and he and his coadjutors were truly a part of God’s forces. The armies of God are varied: he has not one troop alone, but many. Did not Elisha’s servants see the mountain full of horses of fire, and chariots of fire? God’s hosts are of varied regiments, appearing as horse and foot, cherubim and seraphim, and holy men and holy women. Those who are of the church of God below are as much a part of the host of God as the holiest angels above. Godly women who minister unto the Lord do what they can, and angels can do no more.
On this occasion Mahanaim well deserved its name, because the help that came to David from these different persons came in a most noble way, as though it came by angels. The helpers of David showed their fidelity to him. He was driven out of his palace and likely to be dethroned; but they stood by him and proved that they meant to stand by him. Their declaration was in effect, “Thine are we, thou son of Jesse, and all that we have.” Now was the time of his need, and now he should see that they were not fine weather friends; but such as were true in the hour of trial. See their generosity! What a mass of goods they brought to sustain David’s troops in the day when they were hungering and thirsting. I need not give you the details; the verses read like a commissariat roll of demands. Every actually necessary form of provision is there. How spontaneous was the gift! David did not demand: they brought before he asked. He had not to send round his sergeants to levy upon the outlying villages and farms; but there were the good people ready-handed with all manner of stores. Their thoughtfulness was great too, for they seem to have thought of everything that was wanted, and besides, they said, “The people is hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness.” The heartiness of it all is most delightful. They brought their contributions cheerfully and joyfully, else they would have brought after a meagre sort, and with less variety of gifts.
I infer from this that if at any time a servant of God is marching onward in his Master’s work, and he needs assistance of any sort, he need not trouble about it, but rest in the Lord, for succour and help will surely come, if not from the angels above, yet from the church below. Will you look at Solomon’s Song, sixth chapter and thirteenth verse, “Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return, that we may look upon thee. What will ye see in the Shulamite? As it were the company of two armies,” or Mahanaim; for that is literally how it stands in the Hebrew. In the church of God, then, we see the company of Mahanaim: the saints are the angels of God on earth as the angels are his hosts above. God will send these upon his errands to comfort and sustain his servants in their times of need. Go on, O David, at the bidding of thy Lord, for bis chosen servants here below will count it their delight to be thine allies, and thou shalt say of them “this is God’s host!”
And now, to close. While I have shown you God’s invisible agents, and God’s visible agents, I want to call to your mind that in either case, and in both cases, the host is the host of God: that is to say, the true strength and safety of the believer is his God. We do not trust in the help of angels; we do not trust in the church of God, nor in ten thousand churches of God put together, if there were such, but in God himself alone. Oh, it is grand to hang on the bare arm of God; for there hang all the worlds. The eternal arm is never weary, nor shall those who rest on it be confounded. “Trust ye in the Lord for ever, for in the Lord Jehovah there is everlasting strength.” I said last Thursday night to you that faith was nothing but sanctified common sense; and I am sure it is so. It is the most common-sense thing in the world to trust to the trustworthy, the most reasonable thing in the world to take into your calculations the greatest power in the world, and that is God, and to place your confidence in that greatest power. Yea, more, since that greatest power comprehends all the other powers,— for there is no power in angels, or in men, except what God gives them: it is wise to place all our reliance upon God alone.
The presence of God with believers is more certain and constant than the presence of angels or holy men. God hath said it,— “Certainly I will be with thee.” He hath said again, “I will not leave thee, nor forsake thee.” When you are engaged in Christ’s service you have a special promise to back you up,— “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature; and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” What are you afraid of then? Begone all trembling. Let feeble hearts be strong. What can stagger us? “God is with us.” Was there ever a grander battle cry than ours— the Lord of hosts is with us? Blessed was John Wesley to live by faith, and then to die saying, “The best of all is, God is with us.” Shrink? Turn your backs in the day of battle? Shame upon you! You cannot, if God be with you; for “if God be with us, who can be against us?” or if they be against us, who can stand for an hour?
If, then, God is pleased to grant us help by secondary causes, as we know he does — for to many of us he sends many and many a friend to help in his good work— then we must take care to sec God in these friends and helpers. When you have no helpers, see all helpers in God; when you have many helpers, then you must see God in all your helpers. Herein is wisdom. When thou hast nothing but God, see all in God: when thou hast everything, then see God in everything. Under all conditions stay thy heart only on the Lord. May the Spirit of God teach us all how to do this. This tendency to idolatry of ours, how strong it is. If a man bows down to worship a piece of wood or stone, we call him an idolater; and so he is: but if you and I trust in our fellow-men instead of God, it is idolatry. If we give to them the confidence that belongs to God, we worship them instead of God. Remember how Paul said he did not consult with flesh and blood: alas, too many of us are caught in that snare. We consult far more with flesh and blood than with the Lord. The worst person I ever consult with at all is a person who is always too near me. The Lord deliver me from that evil man, myself. The presence of the Lord Jesus is the star of our night and the sun of our day, the cure of care, the strength of service, and the solace of sorrow. Heaven on earth is for Christ to be with us, and heaven above is to be with Christ.
I can ask nothing better for you, brethren, than that God may be with you in a very conspicuous and manifest manner all through this day, and right onward till days shall end in the eternal day. I do not ask that you may see angels: still, if it can be, so be it. But what is it, after all, to see an angel? Is not the fact of God’s presence better than the sight of the best of his creatures? Perhaps the Lord favoured Jacob with the sight of angels because he was such a poor, weak creature as to his faith; peradventure if he had been perfect in his faith he would not have needed to see angels. He would have said, “I need no vision of heavenly spirits, for I see their Lord.” What are angels? They are only God’s pages to run upon his errands; to see their Lord is far better. The angels of God are not to be compared with the God of angels. If my confidence is in him that he is my Father, and that Jesus Christ has become the brother of my soul, and that the Holy Spirit dwells in me according to his own word, what need I care, although no vision of the supernatural should ever gladden my eyes? Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed. “We walk by faith, not by sight,” and in that joyous faith we rest, expecting that in time and to eternity the power of God will be with us, either visibly or invisibly, by men or by angels. His arm shall be lifted up for us, and his right arm shall defend us.
My heart is glad, for I too have had my Mahanaim, and in this my hour of need for the work of the Lord to which he has called me, I see the windows of heaven opened above me, and I see troops of friends around me. For Pneuma City a project God has determined to complete very soon, I see providence moving.
Two camps are around me also, and therefore do I preach to you this day of that which I have seen and known.
May the angel of the covenant be ever with you. Amen.

[Gbenga Samuel-Wemimo @GbengaWemimo]

Manhanaim 2

When do such seasons occur? Our Mahanaims occur at much the same time as that in which Jacob beheld this great sight. Jacob was entering upon a more separated life. He was leaving Laban and the school of all those tricks of bargaining and bartering which belong to the ungodly world. He had breathed too long an unhealthy atmosphere; he was degenerating; the heir of the promises was becoming a man of the world. He was entangled with earthly things. His marriages held him fast, and every year he seemed to get more and more rooted to Laban’s land. It was time he was transplanted to better soil. Now he is coming right away; he has taken to tent life. He has come to sojourn in the land of promise, as his fathers had done before him. He was now to confess that he was seeking a city, and meant to be a pilgrim till he found it. By a desperate stroke lie cut himself clear of entanglements; but he must have felt lonely, and as one cast adrift. He missed all the associations of the old house of Mesopotamia, which, despite its annoyances, was his home. The angels come to congratulate him. Their presence said, “You are come to this land to be a stranger and sojourner with God, as all your fathers were. We have, some of us, talked with Abraham, again and again, and we are now coming to smile on you. You recollect how we bade you good-bye that night, when you had a stone for your pillow at Bethel; now you have come back to the reserved inheritance, over which we are set as guardians, and we have come to salute you. Take up the non-conforming life without fear, for we are with you. Welcome! welcome! we are glad to receive you under our special care.” Then was it true to Jacob, “Verily I say unto you, there is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, but he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.” This brotherhood of angels must have been an admirable compensation for the loss of the fatherhood of that churlish Laban. Anything we lose when we leave the world, and what is called “society,” is abundantly made up when we can say, “We have come unto the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven, and unto an innumerable company of angels.”
Again, the reason why the angels met Jacob at that time was, doubtless, because he was surrounded with great cares. He had a large family of little children; and great flocks and herds and many servants were with him. He said himself, “With my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I am become two bands.” This was a huge burden of care! It was no light thing for one man to have the management of all that mass of life and to lead it about in wandering style. But see, there are two companies of angels to balance the two companies of feeble ones. If he has two bands to take care of he shall have two bands to take care of him; if he has double responsibility he shall have double assistance. So, brothers and sisters, when you are in positions of great responsibility, and you feel the weight pressing upon you, have hope in God that you will have double succour, and be sure that you pray that Mahanaim may be repeated in your experience, so that your strength may be equal to your day.
Again, the Lord’s host appeared when Jacob felt a great dread. His brother Esau was coming to meet him armed to the teeth, and, as he feared, thirsty for his blood. In times when our danger is greatest, if we are real believers, we shall be specially under the divine protection, and we shall know that it is so. This shall be our comfort in the hour of distress. What can Esau do with his four hundred men now that the hosts of God have pitched their tents and have assembled in their squadrons to watch between us and the foe? See ye not the horses of fire and chariots of fire around about the chosen servant of God? Jacob ought to have felt calm and quiet in heart; I suppose he was while he saw his protectors. Alas! as soon as he lost sight of them, poor Jacob was depressed in spirit again about his brother Esau, lest he should slay the mother with the children. Such is the weakness of our hearts! But let us not fall into the grievous sin of unbelief. Are we not without excuse if we do so? In times of great distress we may expect that the forces of God will become recognizable by our faith, and we shall have a clearer sense of the powers on our side than ever we had before. O Holy Spirit, work in us great clearness of spiritual sight!
And, once again, when you and I, like Jacob, shall be near Jordan, when we shall just be passing into the better land, then is the time when we may expect to come to Mahanaim. The angels of God and the God of angels, both come to meet the spirits of the blessed in the solemn article of death. Have we not ourselves heard of divine revealings from dying lips? Have we not heard the testimony so often, too, that it could not have been an invention and a deception? Have not many loved ones given us assurance of a glorious revelation which they never saw before? Is there not a giving of new sight when the eyes are closing? Yes, O heir of glory, the shining ones shall come to meet you on the river’s brink, and you shall be ushered into the presence of the Eternal by those bright courtiers of heaven, who on either side shall be a company of dear companions when the darkness is passing, and the glory is streaming over you. Be of good cheer: if you see not the hosts of God now you shall see them hereafter, when the Jordan shall be reached, and you cross over to the promised land.
Thus I have mentioned the time when these invisible forces become visible to faith; and there is no doubt whatever that they are sent for a purpose. Why were they sent to Jacob at this time? Perhaps the purpose was first to revive an ancient memory which had well-nigh slipped from him. I am afraid he had almost forgotten Bethel. Surely it must have brought his vow at Bethel to mind, the vow which he made unto the Lord when he saw the ladder, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon it. Here they were: they had left heaven and come down that they might hold communion with him. I like the dream at Bethel better than the vision of Mahanaim for this reason, that he saw the covenant God at the top of the ladder: here he only sees the angels. Yet is there a choice pearl in this latter sight, for whereas at Bethel he only saw angels ascending and descending, he here sees them on the earth by his side, ready to protect him from all ill. How sweetly do new mercies refresh the memory of former favours, and how gently does new grace remind us of old promises and debts. Brother, does not your Mahanaim point to some half-forgotten Bethel? Judge for yourself. Should our glorious God give you at this time a clear view of his divine power and of his covenant faithfulness, I pray that the sight may refresh your memory concerning that happy day when first you knew the Lord, when first you gave yourself up to him, and his grace took possession of your spirit.
Mahanaim was granted to Jacob, not only to refresh his memory, but to lift him out of the ordinary low level of his life. Jacob, you know, the father of all the Jews, was great at huckstering: it was the very nature of him to drive bargains. Jacob had all his wits about him, and rather more than he should have had, well answering to his name of “supplanter.” He would let no one deceive him, and he was ready at all times to take advantage of those with whom he had any dealings. Here the Lord seems to say to him, “O Jacob, my servant, rise out of this miserable way of dealing with me, and be of a princely mind.” Such should have been the lesson of this angelic visit, though it was ill learned. Jacob was prepared to send off to Esau, and call him “My Lord Esau he was ready to cringe and bow, and call himself his servant, and all that. He went beyond the submissiveness which prudence suggests into the abject subjection which is born of fear. The vision should have led Jacob to stand upon higher ground. With bands of angels as his body-guard, he had no need to persist in his timorous, pettifogging policy. He might have walked along with the dignified confidence of his grandsire Abraham. There is something better in this life after all than policy and planning: faith in God is grander far. A cowards scheming ill becomes the favourite of heaven. Why should he fear who is protected beyond all fear? Esau could not stand against him, for Jehovah Sabaoth, the Lord of hosts, was on his side. O for grace to live according to our true position and character, not as poor dependents upon our own wits or upon the help of man, but as grandly independent of things seen, because our entire reliance is fixed upon the unseen and eternal. Jacob as a mere keeper of sheep has great cause to fear his warlike brother, but as the chosen of God and possessor of a heavenly guard he may boldly travel on as if no Esau were in existence. All things are possible with God. Let us, then, play the man. We are not dependent on the things that are seen. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God shall man live. Cursed is he that trusteth in man. Trust in God with all your heart. He is your infinite aid. Do the right, and give up calculations. Plunge into the sea of faith. Believe as much in the invisible as in the visible, and act upon your faith. This seems to me to be God’s object in giving to any of his servants a clearer view of the powers which are engaged on their behalf.

[Gbenga Samuel-Wemimo @GbengaWemimo]

Manhanaim

“And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God’s host: and he called the name of that place Mahanaim.”— Genesis xxxii. 1, 2.
“And it came to pass, when David was come to Mahanaim, that Shobi the son of Nahash of Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and Machir the son of Ammiel of Lodebar, and Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim, brought beds, and basons, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and flour, and parched corn, and beans, and lentiles, and parched pulse, and honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of kine, for David, and for the people that were with him, to eat: for they said, The people is hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness.”— 2 Samuel xvii. 27— 29.

LET US go even unto Mahanaim and see these great sights. First, let us go with Jacob and see the two camps of angels, and then with David to observe his troops of friends.
Jacob shall have our first consideration.
What a varied experience is that of God’s people! Their pilgrimage is over a shifting sand; their tent is ever moving, and the scene around them ever changing. Here is Jacob at one time contending for a livelihood with Laban, playing trick against trick in order to match his father-inlaw; then he prospers, and determines to abide no more in such servitude; he flies, is pursued, debates with his angry relative, and ends the contention with a truce and a sacrifice. This unseemly family warfare must have been a very unhappy thing for Jacob, by no means tending to raise the tone of his thoughts, or sweeten his temper, or ennoble his spirit. What a change happened to him when the next day, after Laban had gone, Jacob found himself in the presence of angels. Here is a picture of a very different kind: the churl has gone and the cherubs have come, the greedy taskmaster has turned his back and the happy messengers of the blessed God have come to welcome the patriarch on his return from exile. It is hard to realize to the full the complete transformation.
Such changes occur in all lives; but, I think, most of all in the lives of believers. Few passages across the ocean of life are quite free from storm, but the redeemed of the Lord may reckon upon being tossed with tempest even if others escape. “Many are the afflictions of the righteous.” Yet trials last not for ever; clear shining comes after rain. Change worketh ever. We pass from storm to calm, from breeze to hurricane: we coast the shores of peace, and anon we are driven upon the sandbanks of fear. Nor need we be surprised: for were there not great changes in the life of our Lord and Master? Is not his life as full of hills and valleys as ours possibly can be? We read of his being baptized in Jordan, and there and then visited by the Spirit, who descended upon him like a dove,— then was his hour of rest. Who can toll the restfulness of Jesus’ spirit when the Father bare witness concerning him, “This is my beloved Son”? But we read directly afterwards, “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.” From the descent of the Holy Ghost to dire conflict with the devil is a change indeed! But another change followed it, for when that battle had been fought out, and the triple temptation had been tried upon our Lord in vain, we read again, “Then the devil leaveth him, and behold, angels came and ministered unto him.” In a short space our Lord’s surroundings had changed from heavenly to diabolical, and again from satanic to angelic. From heaven to the manger, from walking the sea to hanging on the cross, from the sepulchre to the throne— what changes are there! Can we expect to build three tabernacles and tarry in the mount when our Lord was thus tossed to and fro?
Beloved, you will certainly find that the world is established upon the floods, and is therefore ever moving. Never reckon upon the permanence of any joy: thank God, you need not dread the continuance of any sorrow. These things come and go, and go and come; and you and I, so far as we have to live in this poor whirling world, must be removed to and fro as a shepherd’s tent, and find no city to dwell in. If this happen not to our habitations it will certainly happen in our feelings. From of old “the evening and the morning were the first day,” and “the evening and the morning were the second day,”— the alternation of shade and shine, of setting and rising, are from the beginning. Dawn, noon, afternoon, evening, darkness, midnight, and a new morning follow each other in all things. So must it be: there is a needs be for clouds and showers, and morning glories, “until the day break and the shadows flee away,” when we shall be fitted to bask in the beams of everlasting noon.
In the case before us we see Jacob in the best of company. Jacob, not cheated in Mesopotamia, but honoured in Mahanaim; not trying to outwit Laban, but gazing upon celestial spirits. He was surrounded by angels, and he knew it. His eyes were open, so that he saw spirits who in their own nature are invisible to human eyes. He became a seer, and was enabled by the inward eye to behold the hosts of shining ones whom God had sent to meet him. It is a great privilege to be able to know our friends and to discern the hosts of God. We are very apt, indeed, to realize our difficulties, and to forget our helps: our allies are all around us, yet we think ourselves alone. The opposition of Satan is more easily recognized than the succour of the Lord. Oh to have eyes and hearts opened to see how strong the Lord is on our behalf.
Jacob had just been delivered from Laban, but he was oppressed by another load: the dread of Esau was upon him. He had wronged his brother; and you cannot do a wrong without being haunted by it afterwards. He had taken ungenerous advantage of Esau, and now, many, many years after it his deed came home to him, and his conscience made him afraid. Notwithstanding that he had lived with Laban so long, his conscience was sufficiently vigorous to make him tremble because he had put himself into a wrong position with his brother: had it not been for this he would have marched on to his father Isaac’s tent with joyful foot. Dreading his brother’s anger, he was greatly distressed and troubled: these angels came to bring him cheer by helping him to forget the difficulties round about him, or lose his dread of them by looking up and seeing what defence and succour awaited him from on high. He had but to cry to God, and Esau’s four hundred men would be met by legions of angels. Was not this good cheer? Have not all believers the same? Greater is he that is for us than all they that are against us.
If this morning I shall be enabled by the Holy Spirit to uplift the minds of the Lord’s tried people from their visible griefs to their invisible comforts I shall be glad. I beg them not to think exclusively of the burden they have to carry, but to remember the strength which is available for the carrying of it. If I shall cause the timorous heart to cease its dread, and to trust in the living God who has promised to bear his servants through, I shall have accomplished my desire. The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge, and therefore no weapon that is formed against us shall prosper, and even the arch-enemy himself shall be bruised under our feet.
In treating of Jacob’s experience at Mahanaim we will make a series of observations.
First, God has a multitude of servants, and all these are on the side of believers. “His camp is very great,” and all the hosts in that camp are our allies. Some of these are visible agents, and many more are invisible, but none the less real and powerful. The great army of the Lord of hosts consists largely of unseen agents, of forces that are not discernible except in vision or by the eye of faith. Jacob saw two squadrons of these invisible forces, which are on the side of righteous men. “The angels of God met him,” and he said, “This is God’s host: and he called the name of that place Mahanaim (two camps) for there a double army of angels met him.
We know that a guard of angels always surrounds every believer. Ministering spirits are abroad, protecting the princes of the blood royal. They cannot be discerned by any of our senses, but they are perceptible by faith, and they have been made perceptible to holy men of old in vision. These bands of angels are great in multitude; for Jacob said, “This is God’s host”: a host means a considerable number, and surely the host of God is not a small one. “The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels.” We do not know what legions wait upon the Lord, only we read of “an innumerable company of angels.” We look abroad in the world, and calculate the number of persons and forces friendly to our Christian warfare; but these are only what our poor optics can discover: the half cannot be told us by such means. It may be that every star is a world, thronged with the servants of God, who are willing and ready to dart like flames of fire upon Jehovah’s errands of love. If the Lord’s chosen could not be sufficiently protected by the forces available in one world, he has but to speak or will, and myriads of spirits from the far-off regions of space would come thronging forward to guard the children of their king. As the stars of the sky, countless in their armies, are the invisible warriors of God. “His camp is very great.” “Omnipotence has servants everywhere.” These servants of the strong God are all filled with power: there is not one that fainteth among them all, they run like mighty men, they prevail as men of war. A host is made up of valiant men, veterans, troopers, heroes, men fit for conflict. God’s forces are exceedingly strong: nothing can stand against them. Whatever form they take, they are always potent, even when God’s host is made up of grasshoppers, cankerworms, and palmerworms, as in the Book of Joel, none can resist them, and nothing can escape them. They devoured everything; they covered the earth; and even darkened the sun and moon. If such be the case with insects, what must be the power of angels? We know that they “excel in strength,” as they “do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word.” Rejoice, O children of God! There are vast armies upon your side, and each one of the warriors is clothed with the strength of God.
All these agents work in order, for it is God’s host, and the host is made up of beings which march or fly, according to the order of command. “Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path.” All the forces of nature are loyal to their Lord. None of these mighty forces dreams of rebellion. From the blazing comet which flames in the face of the universe to the tiniest fragment of shell which lies hidden in the deepest ocean cave, all matter yields itself to the supreme law which God hath settled. Nor do unfallen intelligent agents mutiny against divine decrees, but find their joy in rendering loving homage to their God. They are perfectly happy, because consecrated; full of delight, because completely absorbed in doing the will of the Most High. Oh that we could do his will on earth as that will is done in heaven by all the heavenly ones!
Observe that in this great host they were all punctual to the divine command. Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. The patriarch is no sooner astir than the hosts of God are on the wing. They did not linger till Jacob had crossed the frontier, nor did they keep him waiting when he came to the appointed rendezvous; but they were there to the moment. When God means to deliver you, beloved, in the hour of danger, you will find the appointed force ready for your succour. God’s messengers are neither behind nor before their time; they will meet us to the inch and to the second in the time of need; therefore let us proceed without fear, like Jacob, going on our way even though ail Esau with a band of desperadoes should block up the road.
Those forces of God, too, were all engaged personally to attend upon Jacob. I like to set forth this thought: “Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him he did not chance to fall in with them. They did not happen to be on the march, and so crossed the patriarch’s track; no, no; he went on his way, and the angels of God met him with design and purpose. They came on purpose to meet him: they had no other appointment. Squadrons of angels marched to meet that one lone man! He was a saint, but by no means a perfect one; we cannot help seeing many flaws in him, even upon a superficial glance at his life, and yet the angels of God met him. Perhaps in the early morning, as he rose to tend his flocks, he saw the skies peopled with shining ones who quite eclipsed the dawn. The heavens were vivid with descending lustres, and the angels came upon him as a bright cloud, descending, as it were, upon the patriarch. They glided downward from those gates of pearl, more famed than the gates of Thebes. They divided to the right and to the left and became two hosts. Perhaps the one band pitched their camp behind, as much as to say, “All is right in the rear, Laban cannot return; better than the cairn of Mizpah is the host of God.” Another squadron moved to the front as much as to say, “Peace, patriarch, peace with regard to Esau, the red hunter, and his armed men: we guard you in the van.” It must have been a glorious morning for Jacob when he saw not one, but many morning stars. If the apparitions were seen in the dead of night, surely Jacob must have thought that day was come before its time. It was as if constellations mustered to the roll call, and clouds of stars came floating down from the upper spheres. All came to wait upon Jacob, on that one man: “The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him”; but in this case it was to one man with his family of children that a host was sent. The man himself, the lone man who abode in covenant with God when all the rest of the world was given up to idols, was favoured by this mark of divine favour. The angels of God met him. One delights to think that the angels should be willing, and even eager, troops of them, to meet one man. How vain is that voluntary humility and worshipping of angels which Paul so strongly condemns. Worshipping them seems far out of the question; the truth lies rather the other way, for they do us suit and service: “are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to them that are the heirs of salvation?” They serve God’s servants. “Unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my son”? But this he has said, first to the Only-Begotten, and then to every believer in Christ. We are the sons and daughters of the Lord God Almighty, and these ministering ones have a charge concerning us: as it is written, “they shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.”
I have shown you that believers are compassed about with an innumerable company of angels, great in multitude, strong in power, exact in order, punctual in their personal attention to the children of God. Are ye not well cared for, oh ye sons of the Most High! Those forces, though in themselves invisible to the natural senses, are manifest to faith at certain times. There are times when the child of God is able to cry, like Jacob, “The angels of God have met me.”

[Kim Walker-Smith @kimwalkersmith]

I can still remember
The very moment I first heard Your voice
Like a light in the darkness
Your love flooded in and filled up every void
I didn't have the words, but I just knew.

[Gbenga Samuel-Wemimo @GbengaWemimo]

Dumbing Down II

"By Faith, this is the last rent I am paying as a single lady. If you support me to pay this rent, by the grace of God, this time next year, I will be in my husband's house." is back begging for support to pay another rent.
Not because God didn't bring eligible suitors her way, but because her PASTOR has replaced the Holy Spirit in her life.
Pastors ruin a lot of destinies when they insist on playing God instead of their primary role as destiny guides.
Many members have submitted their free will to their pastors, giving their pastors the power that God himself didn't take from us from the dawn of creation.
When you take the ability of the individual to act as a free agent in the name of religion, you reduce him or her to a puppet and yourself to a puppeteer.
You want to pull the strings of the lives of thousands of born-again Christians at the same time while rendering them useless to follow their paths in Christ and grow into mature sons.
I was at a Church in Anthony village about three years ago to minister, and I met this young man who was schooled at a very prestigious university in the USA.
He was the in-house IT consultant of the church, and the pastor placed him on a monthly stipend while he was working for God.
It was the Pastor who introduced the young man to me while boasting that God had given him the most capable hands to help him in ministry.
I asked him if he had any Python, Java, cloud engineering, data management, digital marketing, coding, or similar tasks available for the young man in the church.
He said no.
I said, "You are giving this young man the job that any young school leaver who is proficient in computer appreciation can do, and you don't see it as limiting his capabilities and rendering his skills obsolete?"
You would rather boast that you are ruining a destiny to build up your own profile rather than set this young man on the path of excellence?
Did God call him into ministry as a preacher?
Is he understudying you in preparation for his own ministry?
The pastor said, "No, I plan that as the church expands, he will head our digital infrastructure and position us for the future."
I said, "He can do that as a consultant or even as a member, he shouldn't be doing that while you are paying him 100,000 Naira a month.
He should be out there, flying with his peers and earning in dollars!
The only exception is if the Lord has called him to be a preacher and he is understudying you as your personal assistant, as led by the Lord as part of his season of preparation.
Anything other than that is injurious to his destiny!"
The pastor had never seen it that way
When I was done ministering in the church, the young man hugged me and thanked me profusely.
He said his mother sent him to the pastor when he returned from the USA and the pastor immediately told him that God had need of him in the ministry or he would die without fulfilling his purpose.
Why do pastors do this?
I have another case from the Northern part of Nigeria. A young lady reached out to me seeking clarity regarding her future
She said her Apostle told her she has been raised by God to sing in his church choir, but she is a medical doctor by training and desires to further her studies abroad
Every time she raised the issue with the Apostle, he shut her down and told her she was struggling with the will of God
"Why can't you just submit to God and serve in the choir and watch as God will take your voice all over the world as this ministry grows?"
The young lady said she knows she has a good voice and sings very well as one who is full of the Holy Spirit, but she does not want to be "Sinach", she wants to fulfil her dream of practising as a Pediatrician.
She was wary of incurring the wrath and curse of the Apostle, however, and did not know how to extricate herself from the situation.
The apostle did not see anything wrong with his actions because he was a user of people who believed that in order to fulfill his own desire to become a big ministry, others could not thrive and grow in their visions and ministries as ordained by God.
This is witchcraft.
It is not of God.
Jesus didn't lead his disciples this way.
Insecurity is the undoing of many African so-called Pastors and Spiritual leaders, and they hide behind the illusion of divinity to put others in bondage.
I experienced this firsthand as a young graduate, so I understand how a pastor trying to build his ministry could see the potential in a young man or woman and try very hard to turn such a person into servants and house helps in the name of discipling them or training them for kingdom relevance
You graduate from the University and join the labour force, you apply for many jobs, and at a point, you tell yourself it is important to seek supernatural guidance in your quest to fulfil destiny
Somebody somewhere tells you about a church or a ministry, you join, and you are convinced the church is good. You also tell your friends, and they join.
But you are all fresh graduates who are heading into the future one way or the other, but this pastor wants you to be his flock.
To him, his church of ten members had suddenly become a church of 30 members because of you guys, and he wants to keep the numbers growing, so he begins to give you prophesies that were not of God but with the aim of keeping you in the fold for as long as possible.
He told young graduates who ought to go for NYSC that God is telling him they should give it up for service to God in the vineyard.
The mother of two of the ladies in the fellowship, whose daughters told that the pastor told them not to go for NYSC, quickly removed them from the fellowship before the seed of corruption being planted by this pastor would bear fruit
The others also left as soon as they could gather their wit
People who you ought to guide on their path in sincerity ran as far as they could from you based on how you chose to manipulate rather than nurture them.
A married woman whose husband worked abroad was a trained secretary, and while her husband was abroad, catering to the needs of the family, he begged her to stop working so that she could focus on raising the children.
She was raising five children all by herself, and combining this with a job seemed a bit too much at the time.
One of the vital institutions for raising godly children was the church
This woman attended church regularly with her children and even volunteered to spend any free time she had typing the pastor's sermons, Sunday School pamphlets, handouts, books, journals, and other church reports and documents
She was not officially employed to do the work; she just saw that she could take some of the secretarial duties on during her downtime, and she did so with all sincerity.
The church enjoyed her free services for five years until the pastor forgot completely that she was doing the church a favour
One day, the woman came to church to tell the pastor that her husband would be returning home to visit the family, and she would not be available for a few days because she had to pick her husband up from the airport and ensure that he settled in properly.
Unfortunately, that weekend was the weekend of the church's anniversary, and the pastor had a lot of secretarial work to do.
He told the woman God said she should pick one. Heaven or marriage.
He said if she goes to pick her husband from the airport, she has chosen the world and forsaken the Lord.
The woman wept all the way home, It was not the thank you, thou faithful servant report she had worked day and night for many years to get that she received.
She went to pick her husband from the airport and distanced herself from any church founded by any individual after that experience.
She said the ambition of church founders requires that they use people to build, even though they lacked the resources to pay or compensate such people, so they resort to blackmail, coercion, lies, fake prophesies, promises, and manipulations to get things done while keeping their followers on a leash.
Followers are also enablers as they refuse to read the Bible for themselves and walk in the light of the word of God.
No one should be able to take you captive in the name of God, Jesus, all the angels, or any form of miracle if you know the word of God. The word of God is profitable to make one wise, and therefore, anyone who knows the word of God cannot fall victim to any false doctrine, teaching, spiritual manipulations, or lies.
All the false teachings of someone being a covering for someone else came from these manipulative narratives, and believers should be wise to them.
I have seen a pastor declare that his church is the only church in Africa that is licensed by God to take people to heaven, and some members believed him.
The day he said that, all his members ought to laugh, pick up their Bibles, and leave without looking back.
Self-aggrandisement has become the order of the day in some churches, the pastor sells himself as the be-all and end-all of the member's spiritual enlightenment, and the members sheepishly surrender their eyes of their understanding to him or her.
He or she must determine where they work, whom they marry, who they associate with, whose music they must listen to, and whose sermons they must hear. If they want to travel, he must see if the road is clear on their behalf, if they want to build a house, he must approve, if he does not dedicate their baby, the baby is illegitimate.
This is not the faith Christ or the Apostles died for.
Jesus died that you might be free of religion.
Christianity is not a religion, it is the opposite.
It is individualistic and determined by the faith and belief system of the one rather than the many.
Salvation, therefore, is a personal affair, and the baptism of the Holy Spirit is also a personal affair
Religion is the opium of the masses, and Christianity is the salvation of the individual and his or her walk with God.
When we fellowship together, we do so not so we can get brainwashed by one "super Christian" but so that we can minister to the Lord and minister to one another in the presence of God.
Every believer must hold this truth to be self-evident.

PS: Someone sent me the video of a pastor condemning a song recently released by a fellow believer, which is making a global impact
The Pastor represents an old school of Christians who are unfit to be custodians of the gospel due to their rigidity and limited understanding of the finished work of Christ.
Disciples of the gospel of Works and Performance lack creativity and discernment but are good stewards of rigidity and religious doctrines.
In other words, a Pharisee must act like one, and Jesus must act like Jesus.
We are all just being true to our nature.
"I can never go back o
No...No
It's already too late o
No...No
Where Am I going to...
No...No"

If you read to this point, when I was in Spain, I asked a very important question about a meal. If you know the answer, I'm inside the comment section.

-GSW-

[Gbenga Samuel-Wemimo @GbengaWemimo]

The Mareh Vision: A supernatural Atmosphere

And the Lord will create over the whole site, over every dwelling place of Mount Zion and over her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory shall be a canopy (a defense of divine love and protection) (Isaiah 4:5 AMPC).

If you’re familiar with deserts, such as the Northern African Sahara and Southwestern United States Mojave Deserts, you’ll know they can be very unforgiving places, which aren’t conducive for human habitation. At night, they could get bitterly cold, and in the day they’re terribly hot. This was the kind of harsh environment the children of Israel found themselves in after leaving Egypt.
To be under such extreme conditions for the length of time they wandered through the wilderness could have spelt doom for them, but the Lord was with them, and He gave them His divine atmosphere. He shielded them as a cloud in the day time, overshadowing them from the scorching heat. And at night, He was to them a pillar of fire, protecting them against the extreme cold. So the children of Israel travelled with their “own atmosphere”; it was the presence of the Holy Spirit (Exodus 13:21)!
If you’re born again, you carry this glorious presence of the Holy Spirit in and with you (John 14:17); it’s the blessing of the new creation. You carry your own atmosphere of the miraculous! It therefore doesn’t matter where you may find yourself or what happens around you. That “divine” atmosphere shields and protects you against the harsh conditions and negative circumstances of life. No wonder Jesus described us—Christians—as indestructible when He said in Luke 10:19 “…and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”
You’re divinely shielded and immune from everything that hurts, binds, or destroys. Everyone around you may have an infection due to the outbreak of an epidemic, but not you. There’s something that creates an atmosphere of health and victory around you; it’s the indwelling and abiding presence of the Holy Spirit.
This same presence can be created by you in the place of prayer

They were under God’s divine atmosphere, provision, love and care. Exodus 13:21-22 says, “And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire….”

Even though they were in the desert, in that terrible arid land, they weren’t scorched by the sun. Then at night, they were kept warm by a pillar of fire. Thus, day or night—they were under a special atmosphere. That’s amazing! This didn’t happen for one day, three days, a few months or a year; it was for forty long years. God protected them!
Read the psalmist’s account of this in Psalm 105:37 (AMPC): “He brought [Israel] forth also with silver and gold, and there was not one feeble person among their tribes.” Deuteronomy 29:5 (NKJV) says, “And I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn out on your feet….” This is extraordinary; they were in God’s presence and He fed and nurtured them
Nehemiah 9:20-21 (GNB) says, “In your goodness you told them what they should do; you fed them manna and gave them water to drink. Through forty years in the desert you provided all that they needed; their clothing never wore out, and their feet were not swollen with pain.” He hasn’t changed. The same God takes care of you and nurtures you today. His presence in, with, and about you today makes you an oasis of love and grace in a troubled world.
You live in His presence, in a divine atmosphere of joy, bliss and glory, where you’re absolutely independent of circumstances. Be mindful of this always. There could be chaos or anarchy everywhere, but in Him you’re at peace and in safety. Hallelujah!
But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth (Acts 1:8).

Daniel 15 When I, Daniel, had seen the vision (Hazon), I sought [r]to understand it; and behold, standing before me was one [s]who looked (Mareh) like a man. 16 And I heard the voice of a man between the banks of Ulai, and he called out and said, “Gabriel, explain the vision (Mareh) to this man.” 17 So he came near to where I was standing, and when he came I was frightened and fell on my face; and he said to me, “Son of man, understand that the vision (Hazon)pertains to the time of the end.”
18 Now while he was talking with me, I was dazed with my face to the ground; but he touched me and made me stand at my place. 19 And he said, “Behold, I am going to inform you of what will occur at the final period of the indignation, because it pertains to the appointed time of the end.

Hazon: Revelation, Sight, Vision

Daniel 9: 21 yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision (hazon) at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, reached me about the time of the evening offering.
Everything is very consistent in the Hebrew hazah, hazo, hazon and these words continue to be used in the same manner until suddenly in chapter 10 there was a different degree of vision. There was a different experience in his vision.
Notice in Daniel 8:15 When I, Daniel had seen the vision, I sought to understand it; and behold, there stood before me one having the appearance of a man. And I heard a man’s voice between the banks of the Ulai. There would probably be people walking around that day. But there is no record that the people around him were affected. All he had was a personal vision.

Mareh: Appearance, Sight, Vision

Daniel 10: 2-3 In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks; I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth. In case you didn’t know it that’s one of the best types of fast. A partial fast that is a long one where he ate no pleasant food. Nor did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled.
And so in chapter 10 there was definitely something different about the kind of vision he was having. There was a depth of vision that he had during his experience in chapter 10. Lets read on in Daniel chapter 10:7 And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, for the men who were with me did not see the vision. But a great trembling fell upon them, and they fled to hide themselves. There was something definitely different. Before that he had visions but the people around never reacted like that day. Just cross- reference to the one he had earlier. Chapter 8 he saw Gabriel in verse 16. As he saw it there was no record of the people around him being affected at all.
But in Daniel 10:7 nobody saw the vision but everyone around felt something. For the word vision is a different Hebrew word. In verse 7 I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, and the men who were with me did not see the vision (mara). It’s a different type of vision. So here mara is a totally different meaning. Here the word mara is used to bring out the depth of the vision that he was having.
With all these Hebrew words I summarize it to be two main areas hazon and mareh or mara. The other words are just deviations. If I were having a hazon vision I could be kneeling down or sitting down and worshipping. It can be in three different types.
It can be a closed vision,
an open vision or
a spiritual vision.
And anyone around me wouldn’t know it. Everyone around would have thought that I was just praising the Lord.
But if I were to be having a mara kind of vision, and you were around me something will affect you. Maybe you began to shiver and shake. Maybe you would feel a holy awe and terror striking you, even though you don’t know what’s going on. A mara vision is of a very high degree.
Lets read on to establish this fact here in Daniel 10: 8. See everybody ran when he had a mara vision. Although they didn’t see Gabriel they felt something that was frightening to the natural man and they ran. Verse 8 Therefore I was left alone and saw this great vision (mara). Even though you don’t understand Hebrew you can see the adjective great added to the noun vision; never before has Daniel use the word great to describe his previous visions in the previous chapters. He calls that vision a great vision. The word vision again is the word mara. He saw a great mara. And it affected him more than it affected him before. It says, and no strength was left in me; my radiant appearance was fearfully changed, and I retained no strength. Then I heard the sound of his words; and when I heard the sound of his words, I fell on my face in a deep sleep with my face to the ground. And behold, a hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees.
Definitely this is a different experience. Before that he had different types of experiences. Like in chapter 8 verse 27 he felt weak for some time. But now he was so affected that he fell into a deep sleep. And then when Gabriel’s hand touched him, his body couldn’t stand the amount of power that was being transmitted and his palms were vibrating and his knees were shaking. Understand that Daniel was a very spiritual man and he has seen visions before. But this was different.
What happens in Hazon and Mara
There are different things that take place between mara and hazon.
Our bodies are affected
No. 1 when we move from hazon to mara it began to affect our physical body. It will have a supernatural effect on the natural realm. One of the reasons why Enoch was translated was because he moved so much into mara. You cannot move into mara too long because your physical body cannot take it any more. It will either have to be renewed or your physical body will either have to die or be transformed. Our physical bodies are not made to sustain mara. It is too powerful for our physical frame. Our mortal bodies cannot take on this immortal experience. Which is why I can see the people like Enoch moved so much into mara until his physical body was virtually transformed and he was translated.
The spirit world is materialized
In Hazon even angels you see are spiritual but not in Mara level, when you are having a mara kind of vision and you try to walk you will bump into that angel. At the mara stage the spiritual has materialized into the natural realm. There is a small degree of hazon having materialization
Optazia and Horas are encounters in new testament
And mareh is a manifestation of the highest degree. So great that it is impossible to come out of the mara vision the same. When you come out of mara vision something physically takes place on your natural body. Let me illustrate also with the New Testament. In the New Testament there are two Greek words for visions. One is the word optasia, which means an apparition and the other is horasis, which means to see. In the New Testament there are different places where optasia takes place and where horasis takes place.
Lets look at some incidents in the book of Acts 10:3 About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision (horasis) an angel of God coming in and saying to him, “Cornelius”. So he saw a horasis kind of vision.
Look over at the book of Acts 26:19 Wherefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision (optasia). Suddenly, there is a change. Paul says that he calls his horasis as optasia. To compare it to the Hebrew hazon vision is like horasis. March kind of vision is like optasia. Paul was talking about his vision in Acts chapter 9 when he met the Lord Jesus Christ on his way to Damascus. It was a mareh or an optasia kind of vision. As we said when you have a mareh or optasia vision something physically happen. Paul was riding on his donkey. As he came near suddenly the windows of heaven opened. He not only saw Jesus. I mean later on he saw Jesus and there was no such happening. We are told that Jesus appeared to him after he has been in prison and said Paul be of good cheer.

PS: We will be in Europe this week, starting with Rome!
We come bringing help and support to all believers and those who don't yet believe, as led by the Holy Spirit.
No matter your situation or condition at the moment, we offer a hand of help and fellowship
Kindly send a DM, if you are led to do so.
Thank you

[Gbenga Samuel-Wemimo @GbengaWemimo]

Miracles And Gift of Healing

“And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

The Lord Jesus never once exaggerated; He always spoke absolute reality. What He said above is something you should consciously demonstrate, knowing that He who said it never lied to anyone. You’re to lay hands on the sick to receive healing; you’ve got that ability in the Name of Jesus. The Lord Jesus will be remiss to ask you to do something you couldn’t do, or for which He hasn’t enabled you. He said in Matthew 10:8, “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead….” This is for every believer in Christ; step out in faith and take healing and health to the people in your world and in the regions beyond.
Someone might, however, lament, “When I pray for people, they get healed, but when I get sick I’m not able to help myself.” Many have found themselves in this dilemma. It’s similar to what happened to Elisha who was so anointed of God but died sick. In 2 Kings 13:20-21, some men were about to bury a man when they spotted some raiders. Hastily, they tossed the corpse into the sepulcher that contained the remains of Elisha. As soon as the dead body came in contact with Elisha’s bones, the dead man came back to life (2 Kings 13:21). This happened long after Elisha was dead; his bones retained the anointing! Though Elisha died sick, God’s power in him didn’t fail. We can conclude that it was Elisha who didn’t apply that power to his health.
You’re supposed to apply the same authority Jesus gave you to heal the sick in your personal life. Christ the Healer lives in you; acknowledge this reality, and function with this consciousness every day. When you do, everything that’s not of God: sickness, poverty, death, lack, failure, depression, etc., will have no hold over you.
But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues (1 Corinthians 12:7-10).*
“The working of miracles” is one of the manifestations and gifts of the Spirit. When that gift is in operation in your life, the Spirit of God causes you or guides you to perform a miracle. There’s a wonderful example of such in the Old Testament, where the sons of the Prophets came to Elisha to help them retrieve a borrowed axe that had fallen into the river. The Bible says Elisha cut a piece of wood, dropped it in the water, and the axe head came afloat (2 Kings 6:6).
How did he know what to do for the axe head to come to the surface of the water? That was the Spirit’s leading. Elisha worked a miracle when the other folks didn’t know what to do about the situation. On another occasion, a widow lost her only son and pleaded with Elisha for help. The Bible says, Elisha “…walked in the house to and fro, and went up, and stretched himself upon him: and the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes” (2 Kings 4:35). Again, how did Elisha know what to do to bring the child back to life? That was the gift of the working of miracles in operation!
If you want to work with God for your financial success, for instance, you must have the thinking of the miraculous. As long as you think it is impossible, you can’t work miracles. You must have a different mindset. The miraculous isn’t based on the wisdom of this world. When there’s a seemingly “impossible” situation, and no human mind can comprehend a way out, trust the Holy Spirit for the working of miracles.
Always, your desire should be to be synchronized with the Holy Spirit; filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. That way, your life will be the expression and manifestation of the supernatural.
So I believe that "gifts of healings" and "workings of miracles" are for the church today—for Bethlehem today and the mission of Christ in the world today. Let me say just three brief things about these gifts and then we can pick it up on Wednesday evening and say more and deal with questions.
1. Not for Self-Exaltation but for the Sake of Love
Gifts of healing and workings of miracles are not for self-exaltation but for the benefit of others. They could easily become the basis of pride just like teaching or preaching or mercy or hospitality or prophecy or any of the gifts. But they are meant to be expressions of love. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:2, "Though I have all faith to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing." Gifts are not the main thing. Love is the main thing. Using gifts is one way to love.
This is what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:7, "To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good." It is a great danger to want signs and wonders because they sound neat or merely because you think they would make your faith stronger. That is almost a sure way to spiritual self-centeredness. What we should want is for Christ be honored through our self-sacrificing love for others. The greatest need we have is not for gifts of healing. The greatest need is to care that people are sick—sick with soul-destroying sin, sick with emotional disorders, sick with physical disease, and often a tangled mixture of all three. The greatest miracle is that our hearts begin to care more about the lostness and pain of others than about our own personal comforts and leisure plans. When that miracle happens, we might be in a position to experience the lesser gifts of healing.
That's the first thing to say: the gifts are all for the sake of love. So let's let the love of Jesus for us break us down and build us up to love others
Do you realize that there’s power in your hands? You do have something to give because there’s power inside you. You can transmit God’s healing power to the sick through your hands. God has given you the authority to confront the devils of disease and cure sicknesses. As you preach the gospel, there are times you come across people who are too sick to have faith in themselves. Some have peculiar diseases that wouldn’t allow them to hear, see, or even talk to you. Others are too distracted by the ensuing pain and discomfort. In such cases, you must understand that God, by His Spirit and through faith in His Name, has given you the power to transmit divine power to the sick and cause them to be healed.
Always, we find Jesus healing the sick before He preached. There were times He spent His entire day healing sick folks and curing their diseases by the power of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 15:30-31). When Jesus sent seventy of His disciples into cities and towns, He told them, “Heal the sick who are there and tell them, “The kingdom of God is near you” (Luke 10:9). The Lord, in other words, instructed them to heal first and preach later. When Jesus instructed His disciples to heal the sick, He gave them the authority over every disease by the same command to accomplish the task (Mark 6:7).
You received the dynamic ability to cause changes the moment the Holy Spirit came to dwell in you. Therefore, don’t be satisfied with only preaching the gospel; learn to fulfill your heavenly Father’s desire and demonstrate the power of the resurrected Christ by healing the sick.

Then he called his twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases. And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick (Luke 9:1-2).
God wants us to pray with faith, boldness, and the expectation that what we decree in prayer will come to pass. He has given us the authority in the Name of Jesus to issue decrees with daring audacity and have them established.

Some religious folks however gripe at our boldness, asking, “Who do they think they are, giving such decrees?” They expect us for instance, to pray and ask God to heal the sick, instead of taking it upon ourselves to command the sick to be healed in the Name of Jesus. Well, first of all, the Bible never says we should pray to God to heal the sick; rather, we’re to heal the sick.
There’s no place in the Scriptures where God asks that we pray to Him to heal the sick. In Matthew 10:8, Luke 9:2, and Luke 10:9, Jesus charged the disciples to heal the sick; He didn’t ask them to pray to Him or to the Father to heal the sick. In Mark 16:17-18 He said, “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” Jesus made it clear that we believers have been given the authority in His Name to heal the sick.

In the third chapter of the book of Acts, while Peter and John were at the gate of the temple called Beautiful, they met a man who is impotent in his feet; and never walked from birth. Notice Peter’s language to the man: “…Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk” (Acts 3:6). He didn’t pray that God should heal the sick man. He was conscious of the authority he had and knew that though he couldn’t give the man money at that point in time, he could ‘give’ him healing in the Name of Jesus.
The nature of God has been imparted to your spirit if you’re born again, therefore you’re to reign as a king in life (Romans 5:17AMP).
When you pray for the sick, make bold decrees! Command the devils responsible for the sickness to come out and that the sick be healed in the Name of Jesus. Expect a change every time you issue such commands. This is the kind of prayer James refers to as prayer of faith in James 5:15.

In praying for the sick to get well, there’re certain truths to be mindful of; otherwise, you may pray from sunup to sundown with little or no impact. First, recognize that God wants them well; He isn’t the one responsible for the sickness. Some believe God uses sickness to carry out His plan or to correct His children; that’s a lie from the pit of hell. No sickness or disease is from God.
Secondly, does that sick person want to be well? This would be an important question to answer. Jesus asked certain folks in the Bible who apparently were in a distressing health situation the simple question, “What do you want?” So, it’s important the person is willing and ready to get well and that there’s mutual faith.
Thirdly, be in tune with the Spirit. The Holy Spirit can guide you to know whether or not a demon is responsible for that sickness or disease. That way, you’re able to deal with the situation. For example, the woman who was bowed over in Luke 13, Jesus showed us that Satan was responsible for her infirmity. The moment Jesus cast the devil out, the woman was healed.
Never be afraid of demons or evil spirits. The Name of Jesus is greater than all. We cast out evil spirits with words, as Jesus did. In Matthew 10:8, Luke 9:2, Luke 10:9, Jesus charged the disciples to heal the sick, and He didn’t ask them to pray to Him or to the Father to heal the sick. Evidently, we have authority from Jesus to heal the sick and bring health and joy to a dying world. Be bold about it.

-GSW-

[Gbenga Samuel-Wemimo @GbengaWemimo]

Righteousness Produces Right Living

A sinner cannot live a “Holy Life” just as A man can never become a woman or a woman become a man. A man or woman may travel to America, learn to speak American English, dress like an American, and mix with Americans, but many may assume such a person is an American until it is time to produce documents to back this assumption up. When the documents are unavailable, such a person will only be classified as a pretender or a fraudster or an impostor. He or she is not what He or she has claimed to be.
In the same vein, a man or woman may be born in America and raised in another country. He or she may not dress like an American or talk like an American or behave like an American. Many may look at him or her and see no sign or mannerism by which they can classify such as an American but when it is time to produce the documents, he or she will be known to be an American.
Apostle Paul was a citizen of Rome, but by all intents and purposes, he was a Jew!
There are many who pretend to be Christians or think they are Christians but they do not know that they are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. They had been declared righteous but they do not embrace it. They think it is pious to claim that they are sinners. As long as they claim to be what they are not, they cannot act right and therefore they struggle to live right.

Living Right is not just about morality or a certain code of conduct.

Living right is living in the fullness of the grace and divine status with all the attending benefits that heaven has given unto them in Christ Jesus.
A sinner is under the law of sin and death.
A righteous person is operating fully in his divine nature and as such he or she is above all things

For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sins; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him (2 Corinthains 5:21).

Ask any born again Christian today this question, "Are you righteous?" He will most likely pause to think for a while and then reply, "I am working on it."
How is such a believer going to know when he or she finally righteous?"
The most likely reply you will get to this is “I will know when I get to heaven.
Many chrstians don't think they are righteous because they equate righteousness with right-living. They look at their actions to rate their righteousness. But there is a difference between the two concepts.

The Bible says "....if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which recieve abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:17). When you received Christ into your hearts, God gave you the righteousness as a gift. It's not something you worked for. Righteousness is the nature of God that is impacted to your human spirit that produces in you the ability to stand before God without guilt, inferiority or condemnation. Righteousness is that nature of God that produces in you, the rightness of God, and gives you right standing with God. Now, right living on the other hand is doing what is right and required of God as a way of life. They are not the same.

Right living is the product of righteousness. No man could live right until he's first of all righteous; God can only require a man to live right after that man has been made righteous. This is the reason He imparted righteousnes to you freely. The ability to do the right things can only flow naturally from a righteous person. Now some of your actions may still be imperfect but that doesn't in any way impact on your righteousness. What you need do is get the Word of God into you and righteousness will find expression through your actions.

When you were born again, you became as righteous as Jesus is, for you were made righteous with His righteousness. You can't be more righteous than you are right now, for God's roghteousness is perfect which is what you already have in Chríst--and you can't improve on perfect. That righteousness is in your spirit, and it produces in you right living---the ability to do right!

Sincerity Isn’t Righteousness
For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ (Romans 5:17).
In your walk with God, you have to understand that there’s a huge difference between sincerity and righteousness. Sometimes, we think that God should look at our sincerity and count it for righteousness, but it’s not so. No matter how sincere you are, it’ll never amount to righteousness. God doesn’t hear and answer your prayers because you’re sincere, but because you’re righteous; because of Jesus; and your righteousness is the righteousness of Jesus. The Bible says,
“Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life” (Romans 5:18).
Righteousness is what gives you right standing in the presence of God. Your sincerity never gives you right standing before the Father.
Having been declared righteous, you have a right to be heard in the presence of God; you have peace with God. Never think of God as one you need to “impress” with your good works so He’ll accept you or do anything for you; Jesus already impressed Him in your behalf.
Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage (Galatians 5:1).
The Christian has been called into liberty, to live righteously for the Lord. The divine ability to live right and please God naturally was imparted to your spirit when you were born again. That’s Christianity. A Christian doesn’t struggle to do right. Righteousness, which is the nature of God in your spirit, is a force in you that produces the ability to live right.
Some have never really understood the doctrine of righteousness as revealed in God’s Word, hence the reason they still struggle with sin. Righteousness is more than doing what is right. Righteousness is a nature that gives you the ability to do right. It’s a divine element that causes you to act, talk and live right.
The Christian is not in bondage or under servitude to sin or the devil. You can never be in bondage to sin, Satan or any bad habit when you understand who you are in Christ. Hebrews 12:1 says “lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us…” This means you can decide you’re not going to do something that’s wrong and stand your ground, for you have the ability to do right. Make up your mind today to stand fast in the liberty of Christ.
The Bible definition of righteousness doesn’t mean right living; right living is a result of righteousness. You can’t live right until you’re righteous. Thus, righteousness, essentially, is a nature; the nature of God that produces in a human person, the rightness of God.
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17
The man who’s born again is a completely new species, one that never existed before. He has only one nature, which is the divine nature—the nature of righteousness.
For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ (Romans5:17).
Now that you’re born again, the life and nature of God has completely supplanted the human life and nature with which you were born by your biological parents.

But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30).
Righteousness is the nature of God in you, producing in you the rightness of God: the ability to do right and fulfill the will of the father. God is always right; it’s His nature to be right. This nature of righteousness is at work in us. So in our Kingdom, we do righteousness; we walk in righteousness and do works of righteousness; we manifest the goodness of God to the world.
It was for the same reason that the Pharisees and Sadducees had a problem with the good works that Jesus did; they misunderstood Him. If in your place of work, for example, you did something you thought was good and required commendation, but instead you found yourself being persecuted for your good works, don’t feel bad about it.
Just because you’re good and doing the right thing doesn’t mean everybody is going to be cheering you on. There might be those that’ll resist you, and try to make you swerve from your path; they might even call you evil, in spite of your good works; maintain your composure. Refuse to change. Stay the course with the Word of God in your heart and in your mouth.
Remember, you’re the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus; therefore, it’s your calling to express His righteousness. See yourself that way, regardless of the pressures and challenges that may tend to provoke you to compromise. See yourself just as the Word says: “…greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4); this means that you’re greater than your adversaries, detractors and persecutors. You’re a victor forever.

My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not (Proverbs 1:10).
The word “sinners” in our opening verse isn’t referring to the heathen or people who don’t know God. Rather, in this particular context, it refers to the children of Israel who weren’t living right; those that broke the Law, and weren’t living according to God’s instructions.
That’s why the Spirit instructs, “Suppose they say, “Come on; let’s find someone to kill! Let’s attack some innocent people for the fun of it! They may be alive and well when we find them, but they’ll be dead when we’re through with them! We’ll find all kinds of riches and fill our houses with loot! Come and join us, and we’ll all share what we steal.” My child, don’t go with people like that. Stay away from them” (Proverbs 1:11-15 GNB). How instructive!
Being born again, you have the nature of God to do right, and must therefore consciously live right. You’ve been separated from the world, unto God, from unrighteousness unto righteousness, and from darkness to light. You might have been a gangster, but now that you’re born again, you can’t go back to such gangs. Yes, you may preach the Word to them, but you can’t roll or stick with them anymore. “…Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good” (Romans 12:9).
You must let go of any attitude that’s not of God. In 1 Corinthians 6:5-9, the Apostle Paul chided the Corinthian church because their way of life didn’t portray the new nature of righteousness they had received. As a Christian, it’s important you recognize that you’ve been completely delivered from the worldly lifestyle. You’re not the same man you were before you were born again. Your old nature of sin was supplanted by God’s nature of righteousness.
Recognize your new identity. See the picture of the new you and live accordingly. You’re a new creation. Your conduct must now reflect your new personality in Christ Jesus—your new nature—which is the nature of righteousness.

Christ Is Your Life

When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory (Colossians 3:4).
Christ is our life! Blessed be God! Just the thought causes the power of God to course through my being. We’re not ordinary. When you received Christ, something actually transpired: the life and nature of God was imparted to your spirit. You no longer have the human life; you have the Christ-life, the divine life.

This was the Apostle Paul’s summation when he declared, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh (in this body) I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). What an overwhelmingly deep-seated conviction!
Paul referenced the same thought in Colossians 3:10 when he said that as new creations, we’ve put on the new man who’s been renewed in knowledge after the image of Christ. In other words, the more you learn about Him and experience Him in knowledge, the more He’s expressed in and through you. That’s Christian growth.
When the knowledge of the divine life in you sinks into your spirit through meditation, it becomes your constant consciousness. It becomes your practice, experience and way of life.

The Bible says if Christ is in you, even if your body were dead or ravaged by sickness or disease because of sin, the Spirit gives it life because of righteousness—the life and nature of God in you (Romans 8:10). The depraved, defeated, destroyed and broken human life has been supplanted by the Christ-life—the divine life of righteousness, honour, peace and glory. Glory to God

For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe…”(Hebrews 5:13).

According to gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, righteousness is firstly a nature; the nature of God, which was imparted into your spirit at the New Birth. When you were born again you were born as righteous as God Himself. You don’t become more righteous as you grow spiritually, just as a baby doesn’t become more human as he grows. Even though he is a baby, he’s still as human as any adult.
Righteousness gives you the ability to stand in the presence of God without any sense of guilt, condemnation or inferiority. This is called right-standing.
Secondly, righteousness produces the rightness or character of God in the human spirit; it gives you the ability to do right. So right living isn’t righteousness but a product of righteousness. Like that baby, your actions may still be imperfect, but as far as God is concerned, you are as righteous as He is because His nature of righteousness has been imparted into your spirit. However, God wants you to grow from babyhood to maturity.
You see, the quality of your life depends on your understanding of your righteousness in Christ. Your faith can never go beyond your understanding of righteousness. In James 5:16-18, the Bible tells us of how Elijah held rain for three and a half years until the whole nation repented of their evil deeds. This man triumphed against impossible odds and ruled over kings and kingdoms because he was cognizant of right standing with God (1 Kings 18:19-40).
No wonder the Bible says, “…they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:17). However, if you’re ignorant of your righteousness in Christ, you can’t rule and reign in life. Therefore, make a quality decision today to study the Word of God like never before, “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith…” (Romans 1:17). Hallelujah!

PS: If you don’t declare you are righteous always and believe it. You are only an impostor if you claim to be a believer.

-GSW-

[Gbenga Samuel-Wemimo @GbengaWemimo]

Practical Application of Power in Christ

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you…(Acts 1:8).

Power is derived from the Greek word – Dunamis, which means “The dynamic ability to effect a change.” When you’re filled with the Holy Spirit, you received the dynamic ability cause changes in life. Don’t live your life complaining, be influential, be effective, you know Jesus said “ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto me (Acts 1:8).” Jesus gave us power, it time to activate that power within you through speaking in tongues.
Things can be going wrong, if you cannot change it for everyone else at least change it for yourself in such a way you live above it. The Bible says, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out them all (Psalm 34:19)”. You can be an oasis of love in a troubled world, be the light in the dark place. God has distinguished you, he has separated you, you are different; if they tell you everything is going this way , you say count me out, I don’t belong there, say I’m above it, I live above it! Because Christ has raised you, you are seated together with him in the heavenly realms, where you have authority to effect changes in your world.

As Christians, we’re not ordinary people; we’re never to be victims in life. If you’ve found yourself in a predicament, a precarious or desperate situation, be comforted; you have what it takes to win, irrespective of the adversity. There’s something in you: the life and dynamic power of the Spirit to effect changes.

That word “power” is actually “dunamis” (Greek), and it means dynamic power or ability to cause or effect a change. It refers to miracle- working ability; power and ability that’s beyond yourself! It’s a “doing-power,” and it’s sometimes translated “might.” It also means the power of excellence; the extraordinary ability to be efficient and effective in all that you do. This is the life we have in Christ—a life of super-productivity and ever-increasing glory by the Holy Ghost!
No wonder He says in 2 Corinthians 3:5, “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God.” Your ability to do anything; the reason you can be successful at anything; your power for excellence and innovativeness is the Holy Ghost in you. 2 Corinthians 4:7 says, “…we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.”
Therefore, if you’re struggling in your life; if it seems you’re putting in so much effort and recording incommensurate success, the chances are that you’re neither conscious nor taking advantage of the power of the Spirit within you. Paul said, “I can do all things through the ability of Christ in me”; the prophet Micah affirmed, “…truly I am full of power by the spirit of the Lord…” (Micah 3:8).
Become conscious, and take advantage of the power of the Spirit within you. Through that power, you can do the unthinkable, the unimaginable, and the impossible: “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us” (Ephesians 3:20). This is Christianity; it’s a life of dominion. You don’t need to go from place to place looking for help and seeking power; all the power you need is in you through the Holy Ghost. Put it to work.
To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27).
Acts Chapter 3 chronicles the inspiring miracle of the lame man at the gate of the temple, called Beautiful. Peter and John had gone to the temple at the hour of prayer and met the man who begged them for alms. Turning to him, Peter said, “…Look on us…silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I thee” (Acts 3:4-6). Remarkable! He said “such as I have, give I thee.”
Peter wasn’t going to be praying to God on behalf of the lame man; he knew he had something to give him. Oh! How I’ve meditated on this portion of Scripture through the years! It’s too big for the ordinary mind. How could a man talk this way? Peter, the fisherman, who, once out of timidity, denied Jesus, stands before another man and says: “Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I thee, in the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk,” and then yanked the man up. The Bible says instantly, the man’s ankle bones received strength, and he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God (Acts 3:7-8).
What made the difference for Peter? What resulted in his sudden audacity of faith? He had received the Holy Spirit and had been turned into another man! He had come to understand the revelation of the divine life in him. No wonder he said in his epistle: “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:3-4).
The man had come to understand that he was no ordinary being; he knew he had received “Zoe”, the very life and essence of divinity, and this made him more than human.
Have you come to this understanding? Do you know you’re not ordinary? Sickness, disease, poverty, and failure should have no place in you because you’re God’s headquarters in the earth. He wants to bless the world through you; so like Peter, be bold to declare who you are and what you have, and you’ll always find yourself walking in the realm of the miraculous!
Power In Your Words
Genesis 1:1 Says; “In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the Word was God, all things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made”
Look at this: Jesus talked to deaf ears, He spoke words to deaf ears, He told the deaf ears open up, they opened, He didn't have to touch them, He didn't have to fix anything, He didn't have to give them something to drink so it'll happen, He didn't have to give them something to swallow so that a miracle will happen, no, He spoke words, amazing. He spoke to the maimed; those who had their limbs amputated, and the bible says the maimed were restored. Jesus talked to the crippled and their limbs were healed, Jesus talked to the dead, they came back to life. He used words, then he talked to the winds and the waves, and it calmed. He was a master of words. He showed us exactly what the father did, the father created the world with words.
Look at this, He went to Simon Peter's house, and the Bible tells us that Simon Peter's mother-in-law was sick: she had a fever, and the Bible says Jesus stood over her and rebuked the fever, he talked to the fever to leave the woman and right away she was healed.He spoke words because the most powerful force in the world is the force of words. Words are potent, words are powerful, the whole world came out of words. God brought us salvation with words, and then he showed us in the scriptures how to receive salvation, He said use words.
He said, “for by your words you shall be justified and by your words you shall be condemned” (Matthew 12:37). A man would go to heaven or hell according to the words that he spoke. If he spoke the words that God said to speak for salvation, he will have salvation, but if he didn't, he will go to hell, not because of what he did wrong but because of what he didn't say.
Jesus told us to live the life that he gave us, and for you to do that you’ve got to use words to live the authentic Christian Life. Otherwise you’ll be living mere religion, but if you use the words that he has given us, then you’ll actually enjoy the true Christian life.

-GSW-

[Michael🌹 @MichaelAjobo]

This Girls worship session will bless your Spirit....she sings like she's a professional.

🟥 There's always something spectacular about Christ Embassy Children...you can tell Pastor Chris raised these ones.

A short story;
I remember when I was RCCG (an amazing church), and I went to help the children's church with somethings...getting there, a girl was praying, I couldn't but notice, I had never heard even an adult pray like that, but at this time I had started to listen Pastor Chris (sparsely), so, I thought "this girl sounds like Pastor Chris", I had to wait for her to conclude her prayer, so I could ask her where she learnt to pray like that, cus I knew she wasn't one of us, when I asked her, the teachers immediately intercepted " ahhh, omo Christ Embassy ni ooo" I was touched for life...few years later, started attending Christ Embassy and found myself praying like that girl, cus, Pastor Chris had now taught me how to pray.

[Apostle Emmanuel Iren @pst_iren]

God did not send Jesus to endure the agony of the cross and the torment of his separation from God to merely be an option among many.

The brutal death Jesus suffered proves that Jesus is not a way—HE IS THE ONLY WAY.

"Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).

[Tai @Tai_falodun]

@w_bitterman In Jesus' acceptance lies Salvation.

[Gbenga Samuel-Wemimo @GbengaWemimo]

Morality is not Spirituality.

Is it not shocking to you to hear of a highly moral pastor being attacked by witches and wizards?
The case of a pastor from an apostolic church was brought to me
He and other pastors got involved in an agricultural venture
The venture was owned by one of the rich church members
This rich member saw the stipend pastors were paid and realised it could never be enough for them to live on as family men
He decided to give them an opportunity to farm
He gave them hectares of land, provided fertilizers and seedlings
They had a cooperative arrangement so that they could rent tractors and other farming equipment to maximize their yield
In the time of planting many of the pastors refused to show up
When the time of harvest came, they queued up to claim their part of the harvest
This one pastor who laboured hard to make things work ran to the man who gave them the farmland to complain that the other pastors had rented trucks to haul harvests where they did not sow
The owner of the farmland got police officers involved and prevented the pastors from doing so
The pastors insisted they were being cheated
To them, the land was given to all of them
The seedlings and fertilizers were given to all of them as a unit
Even though they didn't show up to plant or farm the land
They deserve a share of the harvest
They were not asking to divide things equally but they wanted a fair share
that would represent the seedling, fertilizer and farmland
Whatever amount of harvest that might amount to
The owner of the farmland listened to them and told them he was the owner of the land, the one who bought the seedlings and fertilizers.
His decision was simple
They didn't contribute anything and therefore they would not get anything
The man who did all the work gets to keep everything for taking advantage of the opportunity he gave all of them
The other pastors took it badly
The next day, the man who did all the hard work slept and had a dream
In the dream, he was shot in the spine and he woke up paralysed
Bad things happen to good people through evil people
Bad things happen to moral people through immoral people
Nobody can lay a hand on a spiritual man or woman
It is simply impossible
Abraham's wife was taken by Pharaoh
Abraham was a spiritual man, Pharaoh was a powerful evil king
Pharaoh couldn't touch Abraham, he even returned his wife to him with reparations
Abimelech took Abraham's wife, he returned her with an apology
Abraham was not a moral man
He told half-truths when it was convenient for him and he was a man of war when he had to be
He was a slave owner and an oppressor when he had to be
He cavalier manner in which he threw Hagar out without a second thought and even the children of Ketura later in his life tells us how pragmatic he was in his thinking
God protected him all the days of his life because he was a spiritual man
I have seen many Christians and pastors who are highly moral and yet easy targets for the enemy
Some of them are in prison at the moment
Some of them were swindled of their hard-earned money and investments
Some of them were assassinated
Some were seriously attacked spiritually
Like Naboth, they felt doing the right thing was enough to protect them from the wiles of the evil one.
A man says he stands for the truth, he finds himself in jail and persecuted often for the truth he professes.
A man says he stands for Christ, he finds himself able to walk out of prisons, heal the sick, raise the dead, command resources and be totally untouchable from the enemy.
There goes the difference between a moral and a spiritual man
Imagine a Reverend telling you to be scared of witches
One told me years ago that witches are powerful and Christians should avoid them at all cost
I told him I would demonstrate to him that what he had said was rubbish
I was invited to minister in his church and in the church they had witches, self-professed and dominant personalities in the church who had walked up to this pastor and threatened him with sickness and affliction against him and his family should he do anything apart from what they had instructed him to do
They decide who gets ordained in his church and who does not
When he applied to be transferred away from the parish to another so that he could be rid of them, they made his daughter so sick that he had to withdraw his transfer request
It was one of his members who told him to invite me for a three days revival in the church
I got there and we got talking in his office
He tried to set the stage in such a way that I would not ruffle the feathers of his masters
i got on the altar and I told the church i would be serving them communion
They all took the bread and the wine in their hands
Then I told them it is the body of Christ, anyone who eats it when I minister must be a part of the body
If anyone is taking communion while belonging to the devil, it is poison and such a person will die physically
I told people to eat the communion and to suspect those who are not eating it beside them of being members of demonic cults or witchcraft
They all ate the communion and then the witches and cultists among them began to manifest
Ushers brought them to the altar
I led them to Christ
This reverend cried his eyes out that day
When we got to his office after the service he went on his knees and asked me to fill him with the power of the Holy Spirit
I obliged him
I also told him he was too timid and even though the Holy Spirit is a humble spirit, he is not humble when dealing with evil spirits.
The Holy Spirit is a domineering spirit over all spirits, the Bible called him the Father of Spirits.
He does not bow to any other spirit and those who are filled with the Holy Spirit must know this and walk in this consciousness.
Jesus showed us when he met with the madman of Gadarene how a man or woman who is filled with the Holy Spirit should conduct himself.
You take authority, you speak authority, you command and take charge
A moral person's default is to flee from evil forces out of fear
A spiritual person charges at the hordes of evil, they are empty clouds in his or her reality
How come the ones who claim to be living a "holy" life are so afraid?
When they pray, the content of their prayers is against evil forces and demonic oppression.
I thought the bible said the righteous would be as bold as a lion
How come they are so timid?
They will avoid going to the village
They will not eat in some people's houses
They will not allow some relatives to come to their houses to pay them a visit.
They are quick to anoint the house with oil from their pastor and handkerchiefs that had been prayed on in the church.
They will tell you they do not do any evil or wish anyone any harm
They are moral and yet they are powerless
The devil does not respect morality
The morality of one culture differs from the morality of another all over the world.
What you regard as immoral in Dubai is not what you regard as immoral in the UK
Dubai has nothing against polygamy but everything against same-sex marriage
The West is all for same-sex marriage and totally against polygamy
A thinking Christian will look at all the conflicting issues among nations and come to one conclusion
There is only one standard which is sure
It is the standard of God and that standard is Christ!
I was having a discussion with a priest one time and he said the reason his prayer gets answered was because he was a virgin.
It was the most ridiculous thing a person could ever believe or say in my presence.
I told him my prayers get answers more than anyone I know and I was not a virgin at the time.
I was preparing to get married and this priest was part of those counselling me at the time.
He asked me how we can prove whose prayer gets answered the most
I said i would ask him to pray for something impossible to happen and he should pray that something impossible happens too and we would set a time frame for the thing to happen
He said okay
He asked me to pray
I said, "Lord, give Father Sola a wife within the next year, a woman that will give him great peace and joy with whom he will share his life and be contented."
The priest laughed
He said "You have surely asked for an impossible thing"
I laughed too
Then he prayed "Let your son see the light and join us in this denomination within the next one year"
We laughed over it and moved on with our lives.
The priest is a very sound man who I would sometimes call to clarify some differences in belief systems that is rife among christian denominations
Eight months later, Father Sola got married and relocated to Ireland
We both still joke about it once in a while when we get in touch
A moral man does not have any spiritual currency or power
He will have a good reputation among men and some will even call him or her a child of God
People will tell you He is a man without guile and a man of great reputation of uprightness and a stickler for the rule
But it does not make him powerful in any way beyond that
The power of darkness doesn't care whether you are religious or not
King Saul told Doeg the Edomite to kill the priests of Nob for an
offence they know nothing about and he did
The priests died due to the insecurity of King Saul
He tried to kill Prophet Samuel too but Prophet Samuel overwhelmed him with the spirit
The difference between the priests and the prophet was their level of spirituality
The Jews tried to kill Jesus several times but they could not because he was a spirit being
John the Baptist however was a moral teacher, we all saw how easy it was for Herod and Herodias to make minced meat from him
The moral ones often run helter-skelter in search of help from the spiritual one
The Rich young ruler came to Jesus and declared that he had fulfilled all the moral obligations but he was unfulfilled because he didn't have the Holy Spirit
Nicodemus was a moral teacher who specialised in religious dogma, he came to Jesus by night looking for the key to eternal life
Morality does not lead to eternal life
Eternal life is the gift we receive after becoming believers
In living this eternal life, we are elevated to the realm of the Spirit
What is flesh is flesh
What is spirit is spirit
We must learn to separate the two
When many believers tell you they are living a "Holy" life, what they mean is that they are living a moral life.
Living a moral life does not give you power or a defence against the hordes of darkness.
When they suffer any loss and start lamenting, you will hear them recounting their moral deeds to God as a form of reminder.
Learn from them so you don't become a victim
Righteousness is a gift, it is not earned
When we came to believe in Jesus, we received the gift of righteousness
We received the Holy Spirit, we believe the gospel which is the power of God unto salvation
We demonstrate Dunamis, Exousia, and Phronesis and we command the verities of the divine life
This is where our superiority shines forth as spirit beings.

PS: This is my second invitation to all to join PSSBC School 24, classes start in January 2025. Pneuma School of the Supernatural and Bible College is the school where the fullness of the Spirit is taught daily for three months with practical demonstrations. The knowledge of Christ is key in our walk with the Holy Spirit. I invite you to please let us learn Christ together. This is the invitation link https://t.co/zrqgEJCo6F…

-GSW-