The Prodigal Son, His Brother And His Father

Jesus gave a lot of parables; thirty nine were recorded in the bible. Jesus’ parables had hidden truth which must be unravelled. Remember, everything Jesus did have a link to the kingdom of God and has an explanation about it. One of the parables with deep truth is the parable of the prodigal son or the lost depending on the translation used [ref. Luke 15:11-32]. Today, I’ll take a closer view at this parable and dig out some things; although this might not be completely new to you but it is important so as to renew your mind with the truth.

As the story goes the Father had two sons, the Father here symbolises God the Father, a reference to this could be seen in John 1:12-13 which says, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”NKJV. Other scriptures include: Romans 8:14, 1 John 3:1, Romans 8:16-17, Galatians 3:26-27, 1 John 3:9-10. The prodigal son represents some Believers who go astray but not out of Christ; and think they can do things without Christ; no one (Believers in particular) can do anything without Christ [ref. John 15:5].

The prodigal son left his Father thinking he could control things by himself but eventually lost everything. He then thought he had fallen short, of which he did, but note this; even with his unfortunate incidence, he was still referred to as a son, he didn’t get another name. We must understand this because in a Believers former life (the life before he met Jesus), sin was the master, but the moment the Believer accepted Christ, there was a break away from the old life into a new. In other words going by biological terminology, grafting took place. The branch getting nourishment from the old tree was grafted into the new tree which is Christ.

In the old life, the nature of sin was what was given, but in the new life of Christ, eternal life and the Holy Spirit have been given as a gift. Now, a gift is something given to a person which wasn’t demanded for but is needed. This cannot be lost unless the Believer who possesses the eternal life and the Holy Spirit decide to denounce Christ and nothing else. This was the reason why the prodigal son still remained a son all through the story. Some people think the Holy Spirit is taken away the moment we sin, if this is so then it implies that the Holy Spirit wasn’t a gift and no one would merit it because no one deserved it in the first place. So, if God takes the Holy Spirit from us when we sin it implies it is by works that we attain eternal life and no one will get it, because we all have fallen short.

When the prodigal son eventually came back to his senses that nothing could be done without his Father, he went back home. To show you how much the Father loved his son; the moment he was sighted miles away the Father ran all the way to embrace him; this is to show us that the love God has for us surpasses any love we could ever give him.

The Father didn’t have time to listen to his stories; he immediately dressed him up as the son he knows. We must understand that it is our focus on Christ that really saves us, nothing else. The Father had accepted him before he said anything; this is how our God is, but many people think He is one fierce person that strikes you dead ones a thing goes wrong. He is more merciful than we could ever imagine, even if you go astray, His arms of love are ever stretched towards us. This was what Jesus implied when He explained this parable with the parable of the lost sheep. No matter what you do, the moment you turn to God He accepts you, there is no need for appease Him because Jesus already did that. Just look unto Jesus and all will be well with you. We are like children in need of parental care, this is what God provides.

The brother on the other hand represents Believers who think it is by their effort they get blessed by God. The bible says we are joint heirs with Christ [ref. Romans 8:17], which implies we’re entitled to all the benefits through grace in Christ Jesus. The bible says, “For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.” Romans 4:2 NKJV. The Brother didn’t understand everything the Father owned belonged to Him; it is not of works that we are saved [ref. Romans 4:14]. What we just need to do is to believe in the Lord Jesus and we would live the excellent life Christ has provided for us [ref. Matthew 6:33-34]. It’s all because of the love Christ has for us and this is the gospel truth.

Why not accept Jesus today if you haven’t. Pray out loud, “Jesus, I confess that You are my Lord and Saviour. I believe in my heart that God raised You from the dead. By faith in Your Word, I receive salvation now. Thank You for saving me!” Congratulations, you’re born again, you are now brand new!

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GOD BLESS YOU.

Unless otherwise stated, the following scriptures are gotten from King James Version (KJV)

Christ's Love And Not Fear Compels Us

The earth is not a static place where nothing happens; man does things as a result of the decisions he made. However, there is a driving force involved in making choices; this is seen in every decision made by man. We are the result of the decision we make; but there are times where one is compelled to make. To follow Christ, we have to be compelled before we accept Him, but are people compelled by the right force today? Let’s find out.

There are many people today who accepted Jesus as Lord because we Believers told them they would go to hell if they don’t accept Jesus. They tell about the sins they commit and how God will punish them if they don’t accept Jesus. [True, hell is real and those who don’t accept Jesus there, but this is done after much persuasion by the Holy Spirit. God gives mercy to those who are not saved several opportunities to get saved and they are obvious signs that the unsaved cannot deny it (ref. Romans 1:20-21). This opportunity happens over and over till the second coming. This is when those who deliberately don’t accept Jesus go to hell]. My point here is that fear is not the way Jesus taught us to win people to Him; the way Jesus taught us is through love!

The bible says God so loved the world [ref. John 3:16], this is to imply He would want us back with love in order to save us from the disaster prepared for the devil and his angels. Jesus showed this aspect of love in the story of the woman caught in the act of adultery. Jesus asked those who wanted to cast stones at her to cast stones if anyone was without sin, since no one was without sin they dropped their stones and left. But the point here is that someone had the freedom to cast stones at the woman but didn’t, who was that? Jesus! He was without sin. When Jesus noticed that the woman’s accusers had gone, He said to the woman, ‘“Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?” She said “No one Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”’ John 8:10-11. This was an act of love; the woman naturally would stop her act of adultery because she was shown love instead of condemnation. Note that Jesus didn’t support sin but He didn’t condemn her.

However, what we have today is Believers spelling out the sins of people, instead of spelling out the love of Christ. It is explaining the love God has for us by sending His Son to die for us and what He did on the cross that really gets one saved; because then the unsaved would truly know God loves him and would want to follow Christ. But people just talk about the sins committed and how they would suffer is they don’t repent; so people turn to Christ to save their heads, but this is not genuine repentance. This is why we find half baked Christians today, because they can’t defend the scriptures, why? This is because the entire bible talks about the love and mercy of God towards man. The bible says in John 3:17 that, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. This verse comes immediately after the verse which explains how God loves us.

Apostle Paul when explaining the Ministry of Reconciliation in 2 Corinthians 5 said in verse 14, “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.” NIV. The Message puts it thus, “Christ’s love has moved me to such extremes. His love has the first and last word in everything we do.” The point we have to understand is that condemning people doesn’t actually save them, it makes them worse and frustrated. This is when the person sins more and struggles not to sin; but when the love of Christ is what is shown and nothing else; this transforms their lives toward Christ.

Remember, it’s about Him and not us; we were never qualified. When we focus on ourselves we won’t have the opportunity of focusing on Christ. This was what happened to Adam and Eve; they lost their focus on God and started to focus on themselves. It is our focus on Christ that transforms us and not the focus on our faults. His strength is perfect in our lives and this is the gospel truth.

Why not accept Jesus today if you haven’t. Pray out loud, “Jesus, I confess that You are my Lord and Saviour. I believe in my heart that God raised You from the dead. By faith in Your Word, I receive salvation now. Thank You for saving me!” Congratulations, you’re born again, you are now brand new!

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For prayers and comment send them through my Google Plus account.

GOD BLESS YOU.

Unless otherwise stated, the following scriptures are gotten from King James Version (KJV)

The Faith Of Jesus

I really admire Jesus a lot, every time I read about His personality, the way He answers questions and the miracles He performs, I’m thrilled; He is just my role model. But let’s take a look at a popular miracle Jesus performed, which is the stilling of the storm. This miracle baffled me over and over again, not just about the miracle performed but the event before He stilled the storm. What made me thrilled?

Jesus said to His disciples, “Let us cross over to the other side of the lake.” Luke 8:22 NKJV. Then while on their way there was a storm but Jesus was asleep in the stern. Now the stern is the most dangerous place to sleep in a boat; anyone who stays there in a storm like the storm Jesus and His disciples faced, the person on the stern is most likely to be thrown overboard first, but that was where Jesus was! His disciples woke Him up and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” Mark 4:38 NKJV. But really, was Jesus meant to be sleeping at such a time?

Now, Jesus woke up and said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” Mark 4:40. But really, what faith was Jesus talking about? Remember, Jesus told His disciples to cross over, and when Jesus says a thing, it is always backed up by faith because He lived a faith filled life. As we know, faith is the substance of things hoped for, while the evidence is not yet seen by man and not the one who spoke [ref. Hebrews 11:1]. Jesus already saw Himself at the other side of the lake; this was the act of faith. Also, remember that Jesus only did what His Father asked Him to do. Jesus had complete trust, complete faith, and complete reliance on His Father. So, whatever His Father said was final, He had no second thought about what He was told to do. This is to imply that the crossing to the other side of the lake was approved by God.

For Jesus, He had complete peace of mind to the point of being fast asleep in a storm. This was the faith His disciples lacked; they didn’t see with faith, instead they saw with their five senses. We must understand that the moment God tells us a thing, He tells the end result of that thing and that is what we are to hold on to and nothing else. For Jesus, no storm or circumstance could change His stand on what His Father had told Him; this is how to live as a believer.

The point to note is that even if Jesus hadn’t calmed the storm they still would have gotten to the other side of the lake! This is because God said it through Jesus. So, as a Christian if sickness come, we don’t panic, instead we hold on to what the scriptures says, that by the stripes of Jesus we were healed [ref.2 Peter 2:24]. When financial challenges come, you confess that the Lord has supplied all your needs according to His riches in Glory [ref. Philippians 4:19]. These are the things we do and more, we must hold on to what God has said and not what the world says or even what your friends say, so far it isn’t from God.

Jesus holding on to what God told Him to go to the other side through faith despite the storm, strengthens me a lot and this is what God expects of us, to have complete trust in Him. God has taken care of all we would ever need; we just need to trust Him as Jesus did. The love of Christ towards us knows no bound, and this is the gospel truth.

Why not accept Jesus today if you haven’t. Pray out loud, “Jesus, I confess that You are my Lord and Saviour. I believe in my heart that God raised You from the dead. By faith in Your Word, I receive salvation now. Thank You for saving me!” Congratulations, you’re born again, you are now brand new!

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For prayers and comment send them through my Google Plus account.

GOD BLESS YOU.

Unless otherwise stated, the following scriptures are gotten from King James Version (KJV)

What Hinders Miracles

As humans there are certain challenges that could affect us such as health challenges, financial challenge and even climatic challenge; take for instance flood. But as Believers we have been given the ability to rebuke anything that doesn’t correspond with the privileges we have in Christ. Sometimes, when we declare things by faith it seems nothing happens, such as rebuking sickness; or maybe when we lay hands on a person but the person remains the same, although lack of faith by the person could be a hindrance to the person getting healed. But if the person you lay hands on has faith but the infirmity remains, even though you meditate on the word day and night and believe in the power of the Holy Spirit and nothing happens; what do you think the problem is? The problem is with you!

Many times we think when we lay hands on people, it is our deep focus by putting some effort that enables us operates in the power of God that gets the job done, but that’s not it. What the issue is, is that we often time misunderstand how miracles happen through us. We cannot heal anyone or deliver anyone from demonic attacks or raise anyone back to life and others relating to this; this sounds surprising to you right? First of all we must understand that we are joint heirs with Christ [ref. Romans 8:17] which implies that it is Christ who gave us this privilege; also we must understand that the One whom God raised to have all authority in heaven, earth and under the earth; and having the most powerful name is Jesus and not us [ref. Philippians 2: 9-11].

We operate with the same ability as Jesus in Philippians 2 because we were adopted as Sons; so if the firstborn who is Christ doesn’t possess all these that I mentioned above then we would have nothing. This is to say that the person who heals is not us but Jesus Himself! Jesus said that He does nothing except that which He sees His Father do [ref. John 5:19]. This implies that God operated through Jesus to get His job done; this is the same with us. Whatever God wants to do here on earth, He does through us, and not we doing things by ourselves. We are like tools which the Carpenter uses. Now, when the Carpenter uses a hammer on a wood, we won’t say the hammer did it, instead we say the Carpenter did it; because the Carpenter was the driving force to which the hammer just obeyed.

Where am I going with this? Until you understand that it is Jesus who lays His hands on the sick and not you, then miracles cannot happen. The reason is that when you think you are the one, you unconsciously struggle to meet up with God’s standard, thinking there is work you need to do; but once you understand it is Jesus controlling your hands and not you, and He carrying the anointing then miracles happen; and this is an act of faith. For we must remember; the bible didn’t say, without our effort it is impossible to please God, rather it says, without faith it is impossible to please God [ref. Hebrews 11:6]. By remembering that it is Jesus who laid His hands through you strengthens His ability in you, because this reminds you that Jesus cannot fail since He is the one laying His hand on the sick, rather than you thinking it is just the ability in you which gives room for the devil to bring doubts to your mind that you can’t do it.

As I said earlier, knowing it is Christ and not you strengthen your faith by seeing the person already healed before the physical manifestation. So, I encourage you Brothers and Sisters in Christ to go out there and place the hands of Jesus on the sick and those with other infirmities and see the miraculous. This applies to anything you place your hands on or on whatever you declare. It’s all because of the Love of Jesus towards us, and this is the gospel truth.

Why not accept Jesus today if you haven’t. Pray out loud, “Jesus, I confess that You are my Lord and Saviour. I believe in my heart that God raised You from the dead. By faith in Your Word, I receive salvation now. Thank You for saving me!” Congratulations, you’re born again, you are now brand new!

Log on next time.

For prayers and comment send them through my Google Plus account.

GOD BLESS YOU.

Unless otherwise stated, the following scriptures are gotten from King James Version (KJV)

What Makes Jesus Special?

Why do you think people go to church today? Well, with what I’ve observed, people go to church to get their problems solved, these problems include: finance, health, barrenness, and many others. The point here is that these problems are being solved through other methods apart from coming to the church, so why should we go to church when these problems are solved through other means? What makes so special that I can’t get anyone like Him anywhere in the entire universe till eternity comes? Let’s find out.

When man fell in Genesis man as I said before sort for how they could get back to God so they devised several means. Part of the result of the fall was several problems as seen above. Man in his quest to find a lasting solution found... the solution (so he thought), either through encountering some spiritual forces or maybe through some hard work; this went on and on till today. So, man’s seemed to find a solution to his problem but what man failed to understand is that as a problem was solved another problem emerged but was later solved. But still another problem emerged and later it was solved. Man was and is still satisfied with his problems being solved even though another emerges he feels he could just get it solved as the others were. Man isn’t still thinking far today as to why do problems keep coming up?

First of all, if your main purpose of going to church is getting your problems solved, then you don’t know why you became a Believer (speaking to Believers). This is because any spiritual power can do it; today even science has proven that having your mind focused on what you want gets you... what you want! The question we need to ask ourselves is “where do all these problems come from?” If you need the answer then let’s go back to Genesis.

At the beginning, God wanted a family which He could have a relationship with; as we know He made us free moral agents by making the choices by ourselves. But as we know instead of choosing God, we chose ourselves. All the problems we claim to have today are as a result of our selfish act we made at the beginning which is popularly known as sin. All these problems keep coming and coming; and the only way to solve them is by completely separating us from sin permanently. This would imply that the only problem we have is SIN, and nothing else. The total package of our problems is sin; and no other person or spirit could solve this problem, but Jesus!

Sin is an iniquity before God and those who carry it must be punished. But instead of us being punished, Jesus decided to take our place. This can never be done by any other spirit we claim solves our problems. The bible says in 2^nd Corinthians 5:21. “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (NKJV). Also, Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (NKJV). You will never find any spirit showing love; Christ didn’t demand for any sacrifice before He solved our problems, instead He Himself became our sacrifice. And because the life of God was in Him He rose on the third day in victory. Not only did He rise, God gave Him all authority over heaven, earth and under the earth; and at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord [ref. Philippians 2:9-11].

Jesus didn’t only just save us from our greatest problem; He took us away from the kingdom of darkness into His kingdom of His kingdom and also made us joint heirs with Himself [ref. Colossians 1:13 and Romans 8:17 respectively]. You can’t get such privilege anywhere else in the universe, so why bother yourself with a weak link when you have the universe at your disposal. But all these cannot just come over you like; this is because we are free moral agents, we have to make the choice ourselves by accepting Jesus, just as He Himself said, “...whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16b NKJV, also, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10:9 NKJV.

Remember, the only problem we had was the problem was the problem of sin which Jesus has taken away. But, when you accept Him as Lord you find out all you problems have been taken away, just Jesus Himself said, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on... for after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” Matthew 6:25, 32 and 33 NKJV. All these is because of His love for us and this is the gospel truth.

Why not accept Jesus today if you haven’t. Pray out loud, “Jesus, I confess that You are my Lord and Saviour. I believe in my heart that God raised You from the dead. By faith in Your Word, I receive salvation now. Thank You for saving me!” Congratulations, you’re born again, you are now brand new!

Log on next time.

For prayers and comment send them to my Google Plus account.

GOD BLESS YOU.

Unless otherwise stated, the following scriptures are gotten from King James Version (KJV)

One Voice

For a while I’ve been bothered over something I observed; what I observed was to find several churches on a street I walked through, and on Sunday they all would fellowship differently. So I thought to myself, if their central focus were the same then there won’t be several churches close to each other on a street. There should be one voice in Christendom and not several voices because it is Christ that we preach or is it?

Apostle Paul told the Galatians that if any message is preached order than that which was preached, that person should be accursed [ref. Galatians 1:8]. Also, in 1st Corinthians, Paul observed the disunity among Believers in Corinth by dividing themselves into four camps; some claiming to belong to Paul another of Apollos, another of Cephas and another of Christ. Paul explained to the Believers there that Christ is not divided, what is preached is the purpose of Christ crucifixion. He pleaded with them that they speak the same thing, perfectly joined together having the same mind [ref. 1 Corinthians 1:10-25]. The point here is that this act of not having one mind takes us away from our primary focus, and this result preaching one’s dogma or ideology and not preaching the purpose of Christ death, burial and resurrection. What could be behind this?

First of all, God is not a God of confusion [ref. 1 Corinthians 14:33], so if the Believers are not speaking the same thing, it is then logical to conclude the one who causes all these things is the ‘guy downstairs’; the devil. Even though Christianity is not a religion, you will find out that every religion in the world speak the same thing, well true because it is a ‘religion’ but the point is that the only way that leads to Christ is what Satan has made sure shouldn’t succeed. You won’t find that in any religion because it is not the Way. So what do you think Satan does?

What Satan does is to bring up irrelevant things that eventually become a mountain out of a mole hill. For instance a Preacher feels to give God respect you have to remove your shoes when Believers gather as a Church; on the other hand, a fellow Preacher says it is not so important for Believers to remove their shoes when gathering as a church. This goes on and on as each Preacher defends their claim using scriptural references and then you find out the church gradually gets divided into two. They could also prove their point when giving sermons. Eventually, when the heat becomes too much, one of them part ways taking along some members. What do you think happened here? They lost the main focus and pursued irrelevant things.

It is not possible for two people to speak the same thing and not be united. So, this implies that if two people claim to speak the same thing and are not united then it means someone is not saying the right thing. This is because it is only messages about Christ ALONE that we are to hear in a true church. So if churches aren’t having one voice then it implies some churches have lost their focus. It is easy to find the wrong churches; when what is preached is on dogma and not Christ then that church has lost it.

Don’t be deceived, you have everything in Christ; from prosperity to good health to a sound mind and many more. This is because Jesus Christ has been made Lord of All; so why do you bother yourself focusing on dogma instead of Christ Himself. If the church fails to speak with ONE VOICE by focusing on Christ alone, then the world is in trouble. This is the gospel truth.

Why not accept Jesus today if you haven’t. Pray out loud, “Jesus, I confess that You are my Lord and Saviour. I believe in my heart that God raised You from the dead. By faith in Your Word, I receive salvation now. Thank You for saving me!” Congratulations, you’re born again, you are now brand new!

Log on next time.

For prayers and comment send them to my Google Plus account.

GOD BLESS YOU.

Unless otherwise stated, the following scriptures are gotten from King James Version (KJV)

Just Observe The Signs

Has this ever happened to you? Your life is in a cross road and you desperately need help. You’ve been told to go and meet God through meditation or you’ve been given guidelines by your Pastor or Priest to help you meditate more effectively. You eventually meditate but it seems nothing came out of it. What could be wrong? The point most of us fail to understand is that nothing was wrong with our meditation, but something was wrong with or receiver! Some still don’t know when God is answering our prayers.

There was a young lady that I know of who really wanted to know if a certain guy was the man for her. He was spiritual, good looking, romantic, had everything a woman would want. She wanted to be sure because many people could have these characteristics and not be the one. The young man meditated and got his answer that she was the one, but he had to be sure she saw the same thing. The lady meditated and God answered her prayer but she didn’t know God had given her the answer. This is because she hadn’t developed herself to know how God answers her prayers.

There are signs that indicate the presence of God backing a thing, they include: joy, peace of mind, calmness of your inner man and most of all it strengthens you spiritually which of course must be backed up by the scriptures [quick ref. Philippians 4:6-8]. On the other hand, signs that are not from God bring doubt, worry, confusion, fear, don’t make you grow spiritually and are not properly backed up by scriptures. Note the word “properly” because the devil uses scriptures but it can never be used to defend the truth [ref. Matthew 4:6].

Know this, nothing in the world happen by accident, whether the person claim it is one, from the perspective of God, it was meant to happen. Things are caused either by God or the devil, these are signs and circumstances. Since man can’t be controlled, these signs then enable man to make his decision. But when you intend to fall into God’s plans then look out for these signs that I stated above. The point you have to note is that whatever God wants to do in your life will always make you grow stronger in Christ, because the devil can never risk making you stronger in Christ! So, that’s an obvious sign.

So, there is no crossroad in life that you bring to God that He cannot handle. We must know that God has always had the answer being stretched towards us; He was just waiting for us to receive it that’s all. No matter what you’re going through He has the permanent solution, just be alert and you will find the answer. All these are just because of the love God has for us and this is the gospel truth.

Why not accept Jesus today if you haven’t. Pray out loud, “Jesus, I confess that You are my Lord and Saviour. I believe in my heart that God raised You from the dead. By faith in Your Word, I receive salvation now. Thank You for saving me!” Congratulations, you’re born again, you are now brand new!

Log on next time.

For prayers and comment send them to my Google Plus account.

GOD BLESS YOU.

Unless otherwise stated, the following scriptures are gotten from King James Version (KJV)