GOD IS LOVE

God's kind of love is not self-serving or self-seeking. Agape love will cause a person to lay down his life for another (Jn. 15:13), because he has literally forgotten himself. Many times when heros are asked why they put themselves in jeopardy to save someone else, they reply that they didn't even think about themselves. All they thought of was the danger to the other person. That's God's kind of love.

God's type of love involves emotions many times, but it is not an emotion. It is an act of the will. We can choose to love even when we don't feel like it and we can always conduct ourselves in a godly manner, when we feel God's kind of love. God's kind of love is a choice.

God's kind of love is also the antidote to selfishness and pride. We cannot conquer self by focusing on self. The only way to win over self is to fall in love with God more than with ourself. It is in discovering God's love that we lose self love.

Jesus didn't feel some emotional sensation when He chose to die for us, but that was the greatest demonstration of God's kind of love that the world has ever seen. He made a choice in spite of His emotions. Because He was consumed with God's love, He acted properly, even when His emotions didn't agree.

IF ANY MAN BE IN CHRIST

Proverbs 10:22 says, “The blessing of the Lord makes rich and He adds no sorrow with it.” What makes rich is the blessing of the Lord, not your labour. God's blessing package for you is comprehensive, it covers all aspects of your life; spiritual, physical, material and social. For instance, Genesis 1:27-28 says, “…God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply…” Which means when a male and female come together as husband and wife, they step into the blessing of fruitfulness, it is already waiting for them. Every properly married couple have a guarantee for fruitfulness! So, no matter what is happening around you right now, God says, “Be Fruitful!” That is both a blessing and a decree. And psalm 127:3,5 says, “…Children are an heritage of the LORD…Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them….” So, you can have as many children as you desire!

 

As you may know, you have access to the blessing of supernatural prosperity. Jesus came to be our substitute in poverty according to 2 Corinthians 8:9: “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.” He took our place in poverty and gave us His place in prosperity. So, to be born again and still suffer lack is an abuse on redemption. God redeemed you to enrich you.

 

Furthermore, you have the blessing of supernatural success. Deuteronomy 28:13 says, “…The LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath…” That means you have an heritage of headship wherever you find yourself. Take note of the phrase ‘above only.' The only place you are permitted to be is above. So, the blessing of the Lord enriches all areas of life. That shall be your portion in this season.

LIVING IN THE BLESSING

What does it mean to be blessed? It means to be empowered. God has empowered you to prosper; to multiply and be fruitful in all that you do. God's blessing is comprehensive; it is all encompassing. When you are blessed, it touches all areas of your life. He said concerning you, “…Whatsoever he doeth shall prosper” (Psalms 1:3). “Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep…thy basket and thy store. Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and …when thou goest out” (Deuteronomy 28:3-6). God also said in Ezekiel 34:26, “….I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing.” That will become your story this season, in the name of Jesus.

Blessing is our heritage in God. That is why we talk about showers of blessing. Genesis 1:27-28 says, “…God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them…” After God created man, the first thing He did was to bless him. God did not curse man, He blessed him. Even though it was only Adam that God created at the beginning, the Bible says, He blessed them, because He knew that Adam would multiply. That is to say, when God was blessing Adam, you were in him. The day you were born into the world is not the day you began, you have been in existence since Adam! That is why God said, “Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee…” (Jer. 1:5). So, when God said to Adam, “You are blessed, be fruitful and multiply”, you were there.

 

If check very well you will see that there is no curse in the first two chapters of the Bible, only blessings. Curses came in chapter three of Genesis, after man fell. So blessing came before curses and that means blessing is stronger than curses. God blessed man and whatsoever God does is forever (Eccl. 3:14). When God blesses, the blessing remains. That is why curses are temporary but blessings are permanent. You have a heritage of blessings; you have been blessed from the foundation of the world. Anything around your life now that looks contrary to blessing came too late. Never you be threatened by challenges, problems, calamities or curses because they came after you have been blessed. Whatever will stop your blessing must be older than God and since there is no such person or circumstance, you are irreversibly blessed

 

If you have been blessed in some areas of your life but you are still experiencing dryness in other areas, it simply means you are yet to come under the showers. But in this season, I see God bringing you under the showers of heaven. You will never know dryness again! Be blessed!

HEART FOR GOD

Proverbs 4:23 says, “Keep your heart will all diligence for out of it are the issues of life.” The word works, but the working of the word begins from your heart. Your heart is the beginning of your world. Until your heart opens up, your world remains closed.

 

God spoke several things through Samuel about Saul but until Saul received a new heart, none of those prophecies came to pass (1 Sam. 10:9). Until your heart is opened your destiny remains closed. Look at this way: Ten drums of water can never be enough to fill up a cup that is closed or covered because the water would have no access into the cup. If you close up a cup and put it inside an ocean, how much water will get into it? Not a drop. So, you are not blessed according to the volume of notes you write in church or the number of messages you listen to, you are blessed according to the openness of your heart.

 

If there is any prayer you need to pray for yourself today, it is that God would do for you what He did for Lydia in Acts 16:14. The Bible says, “And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.” God opened her heart and she attended unto the word.

 

The Bible says in Ezra 7:10, “For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.” The first thing Ezra did before he began to seek the word was to prepare his heart. So, every time you want to receive God's Word either in your private study or in church, prepare your heart first. Until you have opened your heart, don't open the book because the book responds only to open hearts, not to open eyes. You can read and read until you become ‘red', if your heart is not open you cannot be blessed. God looks at the heart and not at the face (1 Sam. 16:7).

 

Proverbs 16:1 says, “The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD.” The preparation of the heart must precede the answer from the Lord. Where is your heart? Is your heart open or closed? Is your heart good or evil? Is it receptive or ‘rejective'? Is it obedient or rebellious?

The Word of God is creative but the principal factor that determines it's effect is the heart of man. The practical manifestation of every man's destiny is at the mercy his heart. If your heart is right, one word is enough to turn your life around but if your heart is not right, 1,000 messages are not likely to make any change in your life.

Living for Christ

In John 12: 23-24 Jesus said, “…The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified...” When He went on to explain how the glory would come. He said, “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” In other words, “My time of glory has come but this is the way to it, I must first of all fall to the ground as a grain of corn and die.” So, the way to glorification is self denial. Except you die to self you cannot live a life that glorifies God. Glorifying God often entails counting yourself as a nonentity; disregarding yourself. Self abandonment is the route to glorifying God. You can't glorify yourself and at the same time glorify God. Jesus said, “If anybody would come after me, let him deny himself; let him count himself as a nonentity, let him take up his cross through the city for all to mock him, and let him follow me” (Matt. 16:24

Living your life to glorify God is the only guarantee for your own glory. As long as you are seeking God's glory, you can't loose your own. It is when you stop seeking His glory that you begin to drop in glory. When Nebuchadnezzar stopped giving glory to God, he dropped from His glory. Outside of God's glory you have no glory. No wonder Jesus kept saying, “I seek not my own glory but the glory of Him who sent me.” And as a result, God gave Him His own glory, He gave Him a name that is above all names. What is the route to God's glory?

 In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed that the cup should be removed from Him, but when He remembered that He must live to glorify God, He said, “Not my will but thy will be done” (Matt. 26:42). Your greatest enemy in spiritual adventure is self.

 1 Corinthians 10:31 says, “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” Always seek the glory of God in your life and in all that you do. Remember that the ass was honoured and respected only as long as Jesus sat on it's back. The moment Jesus got off, nobody made reference to the ass again. So, only those who make their backs available to God to ride upon will be glorified. The glory of any branch is to remain connected to the tree. When the branch is tired of showing forth the glory of the tree by bearing the leaves and the fruit, it will be cut off. So, when your life stops glorifying God He cuts you off.

The greatest yearning of every believer must be to glorify God. If you want to remain a reference point, keep making reference to God. You can't give glory to God and miss your own glory. You know why the name of Paul the Apostle has refused to die? It is because he lived to glorify God. His greatest aspiration and ambition was that Christ may be glorified, whether it be through his life or death. That was all he lived for. May you begin to live your life to glorify Him.

 

True knowledge

Isa 55:8  For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the

LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and

my thoughts than your thoughts.

When relating with God, revelation knowledge is essential, revelation is getting spiritual insight into what God has for us to do to get breakthrough. The Lord's ways are not always our ways , not seeking and trusting the intuitive knowledge that God gives us by his Spirit will cause us to miss many blessings of God. The holy spirit reveals God to us, but it’s your responsibility to educate your spirit man to get acquainted with the ways of God. Lets look at Pauls prayer for the Ephesians , Eph 1:15  Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,  And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power.  God wants to manifest in our life but it will only depend to level of our knowledge of him. Naturally you can’t enjoy what you don’t know, people only enjoys what they know. People who know God ways do great exploits,Dan11:32.

Many people have substituted their zeal for christian knowledge, when I do something out of mystic feelings and emotion vibrations I count it done well before God but that is just one part. No one is a doctor, teacher etc without studying, so we can’t be anything God has said we are without studying the word of God in that area, have you not heard seek ye first the kingdom of God and its righteousness. To seek is by dedication , its being sold out to continuous word study and prayer which are the demanding price for true Gods knowledge of God’s success acquisition.1Sa 2:3  Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogance come out of your mouth: for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.

Until you are doing what you say you know in the bible, you don’t know yet. Be aware of  the danger for  limited knowledge ,it leads to pride and comparison. Never be contented to  basic sense knowledge rather contest to get more and more light to flow into abundance of God. When you expand your knowledge you expand success in any area. many people they fill their heart with all junks from TV, newspaper, internet, friends etc and yet they expect to be useful in the church or to be healed, well what I know is that if you want to make your life a reference or testimony for others to follow you must have some references you have committed yourself to daily.  Nothing happens because you desire it or deserve it, things happen coz you are working the required knowledge for delivery of your expectations. It is not the goal of a good church  to make you happy or blessed or feel well etc,a good church will make you holy and teach you the truth that will set you free ,the church gives you 40% and you make it by yourself 60%. But all this requires you to be present in church on time, take notes ,obey and practice what you are told. To get true knowledge we have to memorize the word and believe it in your heart, personalize the word, visualize the word, assimilate the word, confess the word against your entire adversary, let all things be false but the word of God true. You see, everything--including healing--starts inside you. Your future is literally stored up in your heart. As Jesus said, "A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.

Pro 3:5  Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In

all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear

the LORD, and depart from evil.

Rom 10:6  But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who

shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) Or, Who shall descend into the

deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even 

in hy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; For with the heart man

believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

WHERE IS YOUR HEART

1Sam13:14  But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the LORD hath sought him a man after his

own heart, and the LORD hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast  not kept that which the LORD commanded thee. King Saul knew the will of God, but he decided to change it to fit his desires ,he added his desires to God’s will. Brethrens It's not enough just to know God's will, we need to continue to seek the Lord until we know God's plan for accomplishing that will. If we are not keen about obeying God to the letters then our heart are not with him. Your heart is not with God by your words but by your attitude and by your action. The kingdom of God and the will of God are inseparable Mathew 6:10, Samuel instructs King Saul to go to Gilgal and wait for him there seven days in order that the prophet could offer burnt offerings.  The Philistines were gathering against Israel with three thousand chariots and soldiers as numerous as the sand on the seashore. Those who stood loyal were frightened and desperate.  Saul thought he could wait no longer. He offered the burnt offerings, hoping that God would understand and accept his human worship.  Samuel arrived just as the burnt offerings were finished.  He said, “What have you done?” (1 Samuel 13:11-12).

We, like King Saul, have done too much thinking and not enough waiting in prayers before our Lord when trouble strikes. We spent little time in church, we lay our plans and programs for Gods approval for solving the problems facing us, then spend a few minutes in the presence of the Father asking Him to bless our best effort.  We then go about our business out of human thought, human effort, and human experience. We overlook seeking the face of God to his perfect will for our life in what we are passing through. People are more interested in having their needs met than seeking the face of God. Prayer is not just for receiving things from God and having our needs met; prayer is basically for meeting with God. one major reason God put up the Friday programme of prayer is so that we can meet with Him and have fellowship with Him. It is in the process of beholding His face that you get to know Him better. And when you know God, no other knowledge will threaten you, when you see His face no other face can harass you, when you hear His voice, the voice of doubt will die. Beholding the face of God is the end of all confusion and shame. Don’t be like king soul he played short cuts to survive and they cut him off his kingship. One day I heard from the Lord saying: they are interested in what I have but not in me. Choose to seek God and love and fellowship with him like King David.

Mat 15:7  Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto

me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.

But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

Mat 6:21  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. In on other words where your

money go most is where your heart is.