“You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” (NIV) Ephesians 4:22-24

Christians are admonished to continually move up in our spiritual lives. This is a command, not an option for believers to do. No one ought to continue in a state of spiritual infancy like we were when we first obeyed; we were in a state of innocent bliss. Beloved, we should never desire to return to immaturity, ignorance, inexperience and other infantile behaviours we use to engage in.

The journey to a new life begins in the mind. Since, Satan knows changes originate from the mind, there is a perpetual battle in the mind for control. The enemy is constantly battling with God for our minds. You have the power to select the one to listen to and obey. How much of a grip does Satan have on your mind? What types of things do you think about? Do you have a defeatist attitude? Are you complacent?

People of God think of heavenly things and walk accordingly. Why don’t we think on proper things? It is because the enemy accuses us to keep living in the past. We can consider the past but not dwell on it. Let’s have a proper perspective of life which should be on Christ. Many fail to grow into a new life with Christ because of fear and self-imposition of limit to their vision. And this is because they often concentrate on the physical realm or what can be experienced physically with the human senses.

Consider God’s perspective and his purpose for you. God does not view life in the same way we do! If we train our minds to think in heavenly terms, it will change our perspective about everything. We will endure persecutions with joy. We will be content with little of this life’s goods or walk away from them if they are against the will of God. No matters how others treat us, we will faithfully endure with the right attitude. We will view sickness, death, and other trials in a totally different way-one the world will never understand!

To walk in a new life with Christ, consider your future. Fear should not be the only thing that motivates us to grow spiritually, if it is, we will be miserable. Fear is NOT a good-enough motivator to inspire us to do our best. It may be a good starting point, but all it yields is the minimum required to get by. It is the desire of God for us to walk from our old life to a new life in him to experience great joy in life and the future to come. Amen!

Critical choices - Introduction || More

“Don’t be misled – you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit” (NLT) Galatians 6:7-8

Our life from the cradle to the coffin is made of the cumulative choices we make in our pilgrimage. The choices we make daily range from the mundane to the sublime, from the inconsequential to the consequential, from the reversible to the irreversible.

Choices such as when to sleep, what food to eat, what clothes to wear etc. are largely mundane and inconsequential, and though what one eats can impact one’s health, the outcome of that is reversible in the short term.

However, there are some choices we make that have everlasting consequences. The impact of those choices outlives us and the generation that comes from our lineage can be affected by those choices we made centuries ago.

The choice of who to serve (worship), how to spend your time, and who to marry, are three critical choices that almost every person has to make. They are critical because it will eventually determine where we will spend eternity.

In subsequent devotionals, we will examine each of these three critical choices and see how the Manual of Life, the Holy Bible can guide us to make these critical choices well to reap the full benefits for ourselves and our children’s children.

Created in the image of God- Part II || More

“Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” (NIV) Genesis 2:7

When God have utilized all resources at his disposal to create human beings, he added the breath of life that inculcated in humanity the attributes of God. According to the law of source and resource, any created entity depends on its source (creator) for resources for survival. Humans cannot survive without its creator. Humans have a highly developed brain capable of abstract reasoning, language, and introspection.

Though man is created in the image of God, men have the ability to do many things God does though not at the same level as God. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, ‘declares the LORD.’ As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9.

God has endowed man with so many capabilities which include the following:

1. Like God, we can “Think”

2. Like God, we can “Communicate”

3. Like God, we can “Create”

4. Like God we can appreciate “beauty”

5. Like God, we move in “His Spirit”

6. Like God, we can “Evaluate”/judge

7. Like God, we can “Love”

To whom much is given, much is expected (Luke 12:48). We have been blessed with godly attributes for the benefit of the church and society as a whole. Let us use these attributes to the praise of God. Amen.

God-led: The gate of the year || More

“For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.” (NIV) Romans 8:14

At the beginning of a year like this, it is only appropriate I share with you a piece of this popular poem written by Minnie Louise Haskins entitled: "THE GATE OF THE YEAR". King George VI of England quoted this poem in his public Christmas broadcast. It reads:

And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:

“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”

And he replied:

“Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God.

That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”

So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night.

And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East…

A toddler who has recently learned to walk and is on a promenade with the father has neither sense of direction nor destination. He just follows the lead of daddy and trusts that it is safe wherever daddy leads. He knows he is safe as long as his hand beds in the hand of his father. This is the message the poem reveals.

Likewise, for us, the year 2016 will be great if we decide to do nothing until God leads us. Then He will lead us through a successful year despite the surrounding struggles. Our motto should be: to make absolutely no step unless God has stepped; to go nowhere unless God is there; to say nothing unless God has prompted; to eat nothing unless God has given; simply God-led. Amen

Created in the image of God || More