JOYOUS REWARD

"Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion,  then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.  Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,  not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others." Philippians 2:1-4


Many people even Christians live only to make a good impression on others or to please ourselves. When we're concerned only for ourselves, seeds of discord are sown. As friends and Christ lovers, l stress spiritual unity to love one another and work together with one heart and purpose “being of one accord and of one mind".

When we work together, caring for the problems of others as if they were our own, we demonstrate Christ's example of putting others first, and we create unity. Let’s not be so concerned about making a good impression or meeting our own needs that we may strain relationships with others. We must feel and show kindness and affectionate sympathy to others.

As we are all from so many different backgrounds and walks of life, it might be difficult to maintain unity at times. But being bounded together in Christ, makes it possible for us to have this unity showing the outside world its possible regardless what our differences might be in the eyes of others.

Jesus is not only equal to God He is God. Though He is God He became man in order to fulfil God's plan of salvation for us. He did not just pretend to have a man's body - He actually became a man to identify with man's sins. He voluntarily laid aside His divine rights and privileges out of love for us and out of trust and obedience to His Father. He died on the cross for our sins, so we wouldn't have to face eternal death. Jesus Christ was humble, willing to give up His rights in order to obey God and serve us. Like Christ, we must serve out of love not out of guilt or fear.

We often excuse selfishness, pride, or evil by claiming our rights. As children of God, we should have an attitude just like Jesus Christ. One that enables us to lay aside our rights in order to serve others selflessly. If we say we follow Christ, we must live as He lived. We should develop the attitude of humility as we serve, even when we are not likely to get recognition for our efforts.

Are you selfishly clinging to your rights, or are you willing to serve selflessly? When we are totally committed to serving Christ; sacrifice for the faith of others is indeed a JOYOUS REWARD!!!


By Enyonam Gbekle. All rights reserved 2014.

SELF-PRESERVATION

A common excuse for self-preservation through disobedience is offence. There is a false sense of self-preservation in harbouring an offence. It keeps you from seeing your own character flaws because the blame is deferred to another. 

You never have to face your role, your immaturity, or your sin because you see only the faults of the offender. The offended person will avoid the source of the offence and eventually flee, becoming a spiritual vagabond.

Offended people believe everyone is out to get them. With this attitude it is difficult for them to see areas in their own lives that need change. They isolate themselves and conduct themselves in such a manner that invites abuse.

A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire; he rages against all wise judgement. Proverbs 18:1

God never created us to live separately and independently of each other. He likes it when His children are cared for, and nurture each other. He is frustrated when we sulk and feel sorry for ourselves, making everyone else responsible for our happiness! 


By Enyonam Gbekle. All rights reserved 2014

Difference between Healing & Health Dr David Antwi

Difference between Healing & Health Dr David Antwi

DO NOT FEAR

Isaiah 41:10
"So do not fear, for l am with you; do not be dismayed, for l am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

In the book Isaiah 39:6-8, God told Hezekiah of the impending exile of his descendants to Babylon, but assured him he would already be dead by the time this happened. In our humanness, we can identify with Hezekiah when he thought with relief, "At least there will be peace and security during my lifetime. What a loud voice fear can have. Sometimes it can even overpower the voice of God that gently reassaures us of His nearness.

I have learned in the midst of my struggles as the Bible clearly says in Lamentations 3:57, "you came near when l called you, and you said, "Do not fear." This is so true. God does draw near to us in the midst of our worst fears. Even as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death , death of a loved one, death of our dreams and goals, death of our marriage and relationships; He is with us just as He promised. Not only is He near us, He is also working things out in us, growing our faith and character as we wrestle with our fears and learning to accept His will. While we cannot understand why He allows our fears to  materialise, we later realise that we have come to know Him in a whole new way through them. He is our reward for persevering and not staggering.

I have personally come to appreciate whatever l have gone through in my life and while l would not choose to go through them again, I am also grateful ( yes grateful) for all that it has birthed within me as l live out my worst fears. One thing I have learnt in my struggles is that; we will always see Him and we will learn to trust Him in a whole different way. Not only that, we will also come to a new level of faith in our walk with Him.

By Enyonam Gbekle. All rights reserved 2013

DON'T GIVE UP

Isaiah 40:29-31
"He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in The Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings, they will walk and not be faint."

It's okay for us to feel a little tired of trying, a little weary of praying prayers that seem to get unanswered and the pages of the Bible looking like it is written in Arabic; don't give up because God hasn't given up on you. To the contrary He is been listening  to all of our prayers and as a matter of fact, it's often the prayers we offer in the lowest point in our walk with Him that pleases Him the most.

Our heavy heart is no secret to the God who loves you and l. David wrote in Psalm 38:9, "All my longings lie open before you, O Lord; my sighing is not hidden from you." God is asking you and l today to hope and trust once again in Him even though we haven't seen any amazing results in recent months and weeks, even though our emotions say, " what's the use?"  and giving up seems more appealing than seeking Him right now.

Nevertheless, I want to encourage you and myself to obey the word of the Lord and hope once again in Him, keeping in with His word, returning to prayer and intimacy with Him, confessing our sins, sharing fellowship with God's children and sooner than later He will surprise us with a renewal of strength and cause us to soar on wings and not to faint. He will cause us to experience His joy more than we can handle. Lets remain faithful by trusting in Him as wait on Him to fill up every emptiness in our heart once again.

God hasn't given up on us, so lets not give up on Him either. Lets continue to seek Him in prayer and in His word today for a fresh perspective.

By Enyonam Gbekle. All rights reserved 2013

LIVING IN THE PRESENT

Ephesians 3:16-17
"I pray that out of His glorious riches He ( Jesus) may strengthen you with His power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith." ( with emphasis added)

I am someone who likes to plan out my life and can be rather calculated in my thinking and what l do. In short l like to live life being in control of what happens next. But the older I grow, I realised life isn't all about great plans and being in total control. Many times our detailed outlined plans and goals get interrupted by unforeseen circumstances many a times beyond our control. Why? Because we don't  have the privilege of seeing or knowing what's ahead of time. Only God does. We can dream, set goals and hope for a better future but we cannot be in control of how these plans and great goals turns out in reality.

In our society, we are pushed forward in so many ways and so much is expected of us that we forget its the present that counts. The Bible tells us in Galatians 5:25, "Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit." I must admit that this scripture completely and totally changed my thinking especially for someone like me who like to live life far ahead in the future. Not only that it has also save me so much heart arch, disappointments and pain. I say this because, when  unforeseen obstacles loom in the path of my carefully planned course, we start stressing and thinking of them as barriers to our goals and distractions in our carefully planned out life.

Now the question l ask is, how can we expect to live by the Spirit if we seek to move through life
mile by mile rather than step by step? Our walk in the Spirit is to be just that; a walk not a sprint. I
know that every time l have gotten ahead of myself, I have ended up disregarding the present and the
people around me right here and now and the opportunities immediately at hand. When l get ahead of myself, l make dreadful mistakes of ignoring the specifics like sin and instant obedience. Being pre-occupied with future agendas drains us of the energy to engage in the daily, present struggle with the sin and selfish habits that dog our feet.

What l have come to appreciate and learn recently is that, keeping in step with the Spirit; Jesus can pinpoint the areas in our lives that need change. So we don't get ahead of  Jesus trying to take life in leaps rather than steps glossing over the daily obstacles and challenges we face. Then our prayers won't become so general, our Bible reading won't just become a mere 10k run that we need to finish. Our obedience won't be centred around a lot of outward actions, rather it will be more of a daily cleansing of our heart, soul and mind.

The good news is that Jesus becomes our "Goal", Heaven gets  placed on a meal table marked "Today".  l just want to encourage you  with what l am encouraging myself with; "Slow down".
Take some time to meditate on a few words from Apostle James and Jesus Christ.

James 4:13-16
"Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this it that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, "If is it the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil.

Matthew 6:33-34
"Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as we'll. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough
trouble of its own."

Lets remember today that our Christian faith is meant to be lived in the present. It isn't a general
broad outline; it is a long walk with a real person Jesus. Details counts a lot, like passing thoughts, small sacrifices. few encouraging words, little acts of kindness and victories over nagging sins. What the Spirit of God is saying to you and l today is, if we are going to walk with Him, then we should pay attention to the present.

By Enyonam Gbekle. All rights reserved 2013.