Getting To Know The Holy Spirit

This is not about spirits or getting involved in the spirit world and dealing with secret societies or whatever; this is about Christians who are told in Galatians 5:13 and onwards to 'walk in the Spirit'. The full scripture says; 'Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But, if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law'. 

We hear so much about manifestations (speaking in tongues, prophesying etc.), the power of the Holy Spirit but some of us don't talk about WALKING in the Spirit or the guidance of the Spirit of God. How He has come to take FULL control of what we DO or SAY and how we ACT. Just because YOU speak in tongues, or have GIFTS of the Spirit doesn't mean you WALK in the Spirit of God. Jesus sent the Spirit to take HIS place. He fellowshiped with His disciples but left the Spirit of God, His MIND, the ESSENCE of God. How amazing is that? We have been made in God's image, we have His Spirit and we can choose to just let go and walk according to His will. 

Works of the Flesh
'Now, the works of the flesh are evident, which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness and the like of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

This itself TELLS you what it is NOT to be in the Spirit of God. If you commit ADULTERY (voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and a person who is not their spouse), you are living according to your OWN desires. I know it's become such a norm now...I mean, look at Kim Kardashian (I don't mean to bash her but she's the one I can think of now), she was still married to Kris Humphries at the time she got in a relationship with Kanye West and was even impregnated by him. This alone shows that adultery was committed. In the olden days, this used to be a sin punishable by STONING because of the act itself. In family law, I learnt that consummation is the act that actually solidifies the marriage. So, the wedding does not necessarily make you married, but having sex with your husband MAKES THAT BOND. When you go out of that bond, that's adultery. 

Another one is FORNICATION - these are sexual relations committed by an UNMARRIED person. Pornography, masturbation, sexual immorality...all things done by somebody who is not married...that is fornication.

UNCLEANNESS - This covers a wide range of all sorts. Uncleanness, in my opinion, is a spiritual uncleanness. So, all filthy talk must be GONE - 2 Timothy 2:16 tells us to 'avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly.'
For me, godless chatter includes those who share what they do with their boyfriends. I don't want to know the details of what you've been doing. That's for your privacy. First of all, I don't want to imagine that and second of all, whenever I look at that boyfriend of yours, I probably won't see him in the same way because of what you have told me. 1 Corinthians 15:33 tells us that 'bad character corrupts good manners...' So, imagine if you are such a good girl but because your friends are all filled with filthy speech, you are obviously going to take that ON and may change. (Not always the case, but it happens.)
Proverbs 18:21 is something I also try to live by; 'the tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruits'. So...be careful what you say!

Be clean...what does being clean involve? This means stop listening to the voices in your LIFE and learn the voice of God and be OBEDIENT to that voice. His Words (the Bible) will build your faith and  that faith comes by HEARING His Words. In order to hear His voice and His Words, you must be in a position to hear them. So, if you are living by the flesh, then you will only hear the voice of your flesh. If you listen to music that is obviously...explicit, watch movies full of sex, violence and nudity, then that's what you will hear. Remember, you sow what you reap. 

LEWDNESS/LASCIVIOUSNESS- Well, to be honest, I didn't know what this word meant until I look up it's meaning. So, apparently it means to be ignorant, wicked, unlearned. Basically, it means lacking moral values. This is for those people who gather in God's house to worship, hear His word, enjoy fellowship yet those who appear to be holy lead a lust-filled life. They fornicate, carry on affairs, feed their own addictions to pornography. Jude 4 tells us that 'for there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.' Jude is telling us that there are people out there...possibly those on pulpits, who are up there, preaching but living a life full of lust, full of filth.

IDOLATRY - This is easy because idolatry is everywhere and has been since biblical times. In those days, they had Babylon - which (I actually went as far as watching The Truth Behind Hip Hop 7, just to find this out), historically, had gods made by hands, so people clearly had no faith, priests were worshipped by people (Dagon was a priest - Dagon is just another name for Nimrod who was came from Canaan and Cush - all this through the bloodline of Noah). Other things they did at Babylonian times was have people enslaved, homosexuality was common in place, bisexuality was worshipped with the sun and moon gods, newborns were scarified to idols, paedophilia was seen as 'reincarnation', marriage was not sacred. 

What is idolatry nowadays? Well, pretty much the same thing. We hold celebrities (hence they name, they are celebrated) up to a high level. We see them as gods, we want to know what they are wearing, what they are doing so we follow them on social media, we email them, we go to their concerts, follow them worldwide (that's for those die hard fans). We do SO much for people who do not even acknowledge YOU. Do you know they have a Church of BEYONCE now? The religion is called Beyzus. They call it the Church of Beyzus. How crazy is that?

Paul tells us in Romans 1:21-25 that 'for although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts became darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles...they exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator - who is forever praised. Amen.'

I'll post a video down below so you can see the effect of idolatry - especially with celebrities.

WRATH - Wrath is defined as extreme anger. You can see this spirit in those who are fatherless because their father was never there during their childhood. For example, Tyler the Creator, Chris Brown - I feel for them because if you do listen to their music, some of the lyrics are just sad. For example, Tyler The Creator's song 'Bastard'. Man, I felt bad for him. 

When we hold on to unforgiveness, we only hurt ourselves. We cannot hold on to these things. What we are doing is simply changing how we think, how we act, based on what they did to us. Proverbs 27:3, 'A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty, but a fool's wrath is heavier than them both.' Holding on to unforgiveness will simply weigh you down. 
Proverbs 22:10, 'Drive out the mocker and out goes strife (wrath); quarrels and insults are ended.' So, forgive those who hurt you, and anger will be gone. True forgiveness. 

SELFISH AMBITION - This is self-explanatory. This is simply YOU seeking your own ambitions. Selfishness. Pride. It's not wrong to be ambitious. In fact, I've been praying for an ambitious brother, I have an ambitious father, my grandfather was an ambitious man. BUT, having that strong desire to achieve something for YOURSELF. Colossians 3:23 - '...and whatever you do, do it wholeheartedly, for the Lord, and not for men...'
Whenever we do things according to our own accord, this produces pride. We become pride and God doesn't like pride. He loves humble.

ENVY: Envy is simply jealousy. You envy those around you when nothing is going according to YOUR way. Godly contentment cannot be achieved until you get ride of all that. Surround yourself with people that will encourage God's plan in your life and not their own plan for YOUR life. People who are not happy and satisfied with their own life will try and stop your contentment. Guard your life and your children. Especially during your waiting period, you must be content. 

Anyway, I won't go through the whole sin list but you get the point - you cannot be an instrument of God's vessel if you, yourself, are unclean, if you are involved in sorcery, if you a re committing adultery continuously,envy others, you are selfish and seek to feed your OWN desires. Jesus was a servant...He came down as a KING, the father of all fathers...yet He served US. He died for us. Let's try and be that way.

BUT the good news is that we CAN live according to God's Will. The way JESUS lived on earth. By having and WALKING in the SPIRIT of GOD. When you have His SPIRIT you are a NEW CREATION. This means no more envy, no more selfishness, no more arrogance, no more filthy talk. This doesn't mean it will come just like that. It will be challenging but to HIM who is able to keep you from FALLING and present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy - to the only God our Saviour be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen. 


Fruits of the Spirit

LOVE - Ah, that word that seems to be thrown around like it means nothing. Well, the Bible defines it in 1 Corinthians 13 - love is patient, love is kind, love is not self-seeking, not selfish, it makes no records of wrongs but seeks to find the good in others. Now, can you say that you love that person? Oh, and to lay down your life for others...it's safe to say that the love that God gives us cannot be compared to the love we give to others. The love that God gives US is incomparable to the love of others. When we lose our way, He is always ready to embrace us. So, try and walk in love. We should realise that all humans make mistakes, try and have the heart that the Lord had. When people make mistakes, have the heart to forgive them. 

JOY - This is hard to do because when we are led by own will and way, then our joy depends on our circumstances and we struggle with depression. I think joy is very much a personal thing. We have to realise that people in the bible actually endured much more suffering that we probably ever will but they had joy in the midst of it because they knew that God was in control. This does not mean pretending to be happy just because the bible tells you to have joy. But we have to exercise this. The Lord tells us that we should consider it PURE JOY whenever we face trials and tribulations of many KINDS because we know that perseverance simply builds up our faith. (James 1:2-4) 

PEACE - This is a word used by a lot of the disciples in the bible. Peace be with you, may God grant you peace..Well, the only way to understand this is by defining maybe what the opposite of peace is...FEAR. Remember that story in Luke 8:24? Well, let me remind you...
One day, Jesus said to his disciples, 'let us go over to the other side of the lake'. So they got into the boat and set out. As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down the lake, so that the boat was swamped and they were in great danger. The disciples went and woke him saying 'Master, Master, we are going to drown!'

He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided and all was calm. 
'Where is your faith?' he asked his disciples. In fear and amazement they asked one another, 'who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.'

What does this teach us? We all somehow that inherent fearful spirit in us. No matter how much God continues to bless us and answer our prayers, we still fear the next time we face another crises. Didn't Jesus tell them they'd get in the boat? In fact, they were with Jesus in that boat and they still had fear.

I don't know about you but sometimes I get scared too. I pray for jobs, I get through to the interviews but I still have that FEAR no matter what. It's just weird...then I tell myself, 'Chansa, God has not given you the Spirit of fear...calm down...'

So, continue living according to the Spirit of God. No matter what happens in life, ensure that you have love, you have joy, you have peace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. If we live in the Spirit, let us walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another and envying one another.

Paul told us that we are ALL victims of sin in some way of another. But, these are things that our FLESH were subject to and still desire. So, it is important to put away the works of the FLESH and live through the Spirit of God. Use all the Fruits of the Spirit to overcome the works of the flesh.

Psalm 119:101 - I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey your word...Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path, I have taken an oath and confirmed it, that I will follow Your righteous laws.

Have a good week!

Do You Have A Hard Heart?

A hardened heart. What does that mean? Let's see, Ephesians 4:18 says, "They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart."

Isaiah 6:9-10, "You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive. For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I will heal them."

Proverbs 29:1, "He who is often reproved, yet stiffens his heck, will suddenly be broken beyond healing."

Reprove means 'correction'. Proverbs 29:1 tells us that hardening our hearts is a result of rejecting repeated warnings - pushing aside all truth. As a result of our constant rejection, our hearts become hard and then they become impossible to cure. Obviously, this is to the Church and it's people. It cannot be to the world because the world has not accepted Him. Christians are the ones who sit in the Church each WEEK or possibly everyday listening to sermons of reproof but continue to ignore it. Such people, this verse says, refuse to allow God to correct them and as a result, the hardness begins to set in and in the end, they cannot be cured.

So, a hard heart is one that resists the word of God or resists obeying the Word of God. Then it becomes impossible to convict them against the warns of the Holy Spirit.


The TEST
Are YOU developing a hard heart?

1. How many times have you heard and read messages about the neglection of daily prayer and bible reading?
I am so guilty of this because life gets so busy but you listen to a message on the importance of daily prayer and bible study BUT you find it so hard to pick up the bible and spend 5 minutes speaking to God. If you neglect the closet at home, if you think praying once a week will take care of your needs, then you will never survive the troubled days ahead. If you have ignored the call of the Holy Spirit to draw  you to the secret closet for intimacy, then you have taken the first step towards the hardness of heart. You should be able to have a personal relationship with Him - that's the only way to prepare for what is coming.

Prayer is important! I think I need to take this on too. Gah!

2. How many times have you been warned about gossip?
Sometimes, we listen to a message on gossiping, then we go out into the world and continue gossiping again. Remember how the gossiping and murmuring cost Israel everything. They were continuously warned about the dangers of gossip but they continuously disobeyed the Lord. Continuing to gossip despite the messages you have heard leads to a hard heart.


3. How many warnings have you heard against harbouring a secret sin?
What about that secret sin you battle with. When a preacher preaches against a certain sin such as cursing, lust, sexual immorality, but continue to live in such...isn't that a hard heart? When you do not allow the conviction to sink IN. That leads to a hard heart. The Lord both endues us with overcoming power through His Spirit, and puts a will in our hearts to do right.

Hebrews 3:7, "Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness, where your ancestors tested and tried me, though for forty years they saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation; I said, 'their hearts are always going astray and they have not known my ways'. So I declared on oath in my anger 'they shall never enter my rest'."

So, the hardness of hearts comes from those who HEAR God's voice but ignore it. Everyone is in danger of becoming hard hearted. Because we go on to worship God, praise Him but we do not mature. We gossip, we sin but we love to listen to God's word, we just do not obey it. We are hard hearted.

Israel listened to the Prophet Isaiah, BUT they continuously justified their sin. That's why God said in Isaiah 6:9-10, "You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive. For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I will heal them."
God KNEW the Israelites were not willing to lay down their sin. They loved their fleshly pleasures too much. In the end, the Lord just told Isaiah that, 'You know what, these people are not going to change their hearts. I won't speak a word to them.'

In Psalm 15, which I just read and it convicted me, David asks the Lord, "Lord, who can reside in Your presence? Who can come to before You? Who can come to Heaven?"

He lists down a few things about how we should act, how we should speak. He says, we should be sincere in our ways, righteous in our walk, we should do the right thing. We should speak the truth, not gossip about others, our friends, we must stay faithful to them. If we make a promise, we should be able to keep that promise. We should hate and despise sin, not hate sinners, but pity them. We should not look with approval on anything that is vile before God. If we do all this, we will stand firm in Him. 

For those who are Christians, do you remember what first brought you to God? What first brought you to repentance? When your heart gets cold...hard, you have no feeling. You cannot be moved, you cannot be broken. Remember when Pharaoh's heart grew hard, even with the afflictions he faced, death was on his door, sickness had befallen Egypt, but all he said was, "Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice? I will not bow my neck, neither will I do his will. I am my own master and I will have my own pleasure and my own way. I will not yield to God."

May the Lord melt your heart and mine. 

I hope this message blessed someone...I know it blessed me.



When The Holy Spirit Depart - Pastor David Wilkerson

Work Experience: Coventry City Council

Heyyyy, possible law students/graduates reading this. You're probably here because you want advice. Well, I'm here to give it. It's so easy to plan how your life should go BUT hard to see it come to plan sometimes. Hmm! I mean, they say University helps you prepare for your career. The exams we had, the coursework, the dissertation, this does NOT help you figure out what you want to do, where you want to be after you finish. I mean, seriously. Life's HARD out there. The world is become so competitive making me so much more difficult for us to find jobs and we have to be so meticulous about the sort of law firm you want because your personality will suit a certain type of law firm.

I cannot STRESS how much work experience is important to have. If you KNOW you want to study law...if you're in college, make sure you try and get experience. Ask Law Firms if they have any work placements, make friends, go to law fairs and interact with people, network! It helps. Believe me!

I was sort of thinking and made my own list of the benefits of gaining work experience in the legal field. They may help...or not but check them out. Don't judge!

1. Research
You're a law student...or graduate and you've been doing nothing but researching throughout your years at University. Well, it's not over...you have to research the FIRM you want to work at. The type of law you truly want to be involved in. Does that firm interest you? This will help you conclude and may help you make an informed decision on your career choice. So, work experience is important...believe me. The more experience you gain, the more opportunities you will have in the future. Firms will be impressed due to your hard work and commitment to wanting to gain experience. As for me, Child LAW and Family Law are the areas I love. I managed to get a 1st for my Child Law module during my LPC. That's how much I enjoyed it. I loved and still love Child Law. In fact, I still read the Child Law book (that's how much I love Child Law). I loved learning about Children in Need, the Child Protection Conference, Contact with Children in Need. That's one of the reasons I undertook my week long work experience at Coventry City Council. The cases were mostly Child Law related. I worked with a Senior Legal Officer and members of the legal team, attended legal meetings on Child Protection, carried out research and also did some minimal work such as filing. That was a great experience. That's one of the reasons why I chose to pursue a career in Child Law.

As a result of this, I went on to study the LPC...and actually chose Child Law as one of my electives as I studied the LPC. I wanted to gain more experience so when the opportunity showed up to volunteer as a Legal Assistant for this Family Pro Bono Scheme at Leicester Family Court, I jumped straight to it. Although its once a month, I had the experience of meeting and registering clients, assisting parties by explaining court procedures, observing interviews and attending court hearings from the duty solicitor. So, I love experiencing new things, especially if it has to do with Child Law.


2. Ask Questions
When you work at that place...ensure that you ask as many questions as you can. Do not just go there, do the work, get the experience then leave. Ask a lot of questions! Also the questions they ask you at Job Interviews can be shaped from your research and experience with other firms. You want to give a great impression, so ask intelligent questions. If you know little to nothing about the law that that firm specialises in, then simply show that you are willing to learn and be enthusiastic about your eagerness to learn and grow.

When I worked at Coventry City Council, I was so scared to ask questions. I was quite nervous because I didn't want to be bothersome but they were very accommodating and would even ask me if I had any questions. I think asking questions not only shows your interest but also shows your eagerness to learn too. The best person I remember speaking to was a Law Graduate and an LPC Graduate who was working there as a Paralegal but was going on to pursue a Training Contract the following month. I had the opportunity to learn what he did, his goals, his career plans, how he went on to obtain a Training Contract. So, I think it's important to obtain experience...definitely.

3. Be INVOLVED
Do not be SHY. They chose you for a reason. That's what I say to make myself feel worthy. Anyway, the whole point is, you're worth something, that's why they chose you. Remember, you are there to learn. So the best way of doing that is to get involved. My week was so awesome. I was given responsibilities such as research, attending meetings along with the Senior Solicitor - this was amazing because it gave me great confidence in what i would like to do in future and a an insight into what I would be doing as a Trainee Solicitor.

Ask for work if you feel like you are not contributing enough.

4. Do not COMPLAIN, just DO IT
Okay...so, as volunteers and students on work experience, we may be given tasks that we absolutely HATE. For example...FILING and PHOTOCOPYING. This is the opportunity for you to fake it. Yes...I said fake it. BUT think about it. It's beneficial too because you get experience of legal research and proofreading. It's not exciting BUT it plays an important role in legal work experience. I was fortunate enough to actually be given tasks such as filing and proofreading during my week at Coventry City Council. I would get so emotional being told 'thank you' because I knew everybody else had so much to do but I was of some use whilst I was there. In fact, it made me feel appreciated and that I wasn't wasting my time whilst I was there.

So, everything you DO and the experience you GET will help you in life.

A Jealous Lover

Do you know you're in a relationship with God? Do you know that He loves you? He sent His only son to die in your place? He has loved you with an unfailing love. Isaiah 54:5 "For Your maker is your HUsband - the Lord Almighty is His name, the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, He is called the God of all the earth." But as with every lover, God is a jealous one. When He doesn't have our time, when we don't spend time with Him, He gets jealous.

Exodus 34:6
God revealed to Moses that "the Lord is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin..."

That's all true, God said it Himself. He forgives iniquity, He loves His children. He is our rock, He is our fortress. But He also reveals Himself in a different and deeper way. Yes, God is our Love, God is our deliverer, He is our healer. But there's more to the revelation of who He is. Skip to Exodus 34:14, "Do not worship any other God, for the Lord, whose name is JEALOUS, is a jealous God."

So, God is love, He is gracious, He is KIND, He is a deliverer but He is also a JEALOUS God. He is in LOVE with His people. If you read throughout the Old Testament, it's almost like a love story. He is passionately in LOVE with His bride. Jealousy means to be intolerant with CHEATING. This means God will not allow His bride to have roving eyes. He has EYES for YOU which means You should have eyes for Him only. God is a JEALOUS lover. He doesn't want anyone else taking that place. He gets ANGRY.

Imagine you're married, and your husband or wife constantly focusses on other things, other men or women...your wife or husband will be JEALOUS. Your attention is not on your husband. God has been a faithful lover...He has never cheated on US. He always provides for US, He is always faithful. He never lets us DOWN.

"Psalm 89:1 "I will sing of the Lords great love forever, with my mouth, I will make your faithfulness known through all generations..."

So, when can God get jealous? When there's an alienation of affection. When your affection for God is no longer there. You can see it with Israel. They wanted something to see, to touch. They didn't want God because they never saw God, they couldn't touch Him. Even though the miracles were there. They made idols, and worshipped idols. Israel is a 'Church' in the Bible.

Deuteronomy 4:23 "Be careful not to forget the covenant of the Lord your God that he made with you. Do not make for yourselves an idol in the form of anything the Lord your God has forbidden. For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a JEALOUS God."

Deuteronomy 5:7 "You shall have no other Gods before me. You shall not make for yourselves an image in the form of anything in Heaven ABOVE or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord Your God, am a jealous God..."

Deuteronomy 6:14 "Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; for the Lord your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and He will destroy you from the face of the land."

Joshua 24:19 "You are not able to serve the Lord. He is a holy God, he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you after he has been good to you."

God's jealousy is always TIED to idolatry. Those people who probably worship God but do not do it in Spirit and in Truth. Worshipping Him everywhere you go. That doesn't mean going out to your place of work and raising your hands up and worshipping Him. It just means living out your truth.

Looking at the Israelites, God provided for them. But you can see what idolatry did to them. Israel provoked God to ANGER with their idols.

Have you ever read the Book of Hosea? In that Book, Gomer (Hosea's wife) was a prostitute, representing Israel which was the Church in those days. Hosea had love placed in his heart for Gomer. He was instructed to marry her but throughout the Book, although she was faithful to him at the beginning, she was intimate with him (she bore him a son) and they were fruitful, Gomer began cheating on him. She had love for other gods, she had many lovers. Now, imagine the pain and brokenness suffered by Hosea. The pain in Hosea's heart was overwhelming. Gomer had promised to be faithful, but she wasn't. This is a representation of our relationship with God. We got married to Him by giving our lives to Him, making a covenant and commitment to Him. He is our Husband (Isaiah 54:5). We may not fully understand the pain that God Himself goes through when we hurt Him, when we cheat on Him. Hosea's story is just a glimpse of it. But each and everytime Gomer cheated on him, Hosea was commanded to take her back and love her just as much. Yet, she would cheat on him again. 

Hosea 2:3 - this represents what God will do if we continue to cheat on Him. All the resources of the Holy Spirit will go. The peace of God will leave you, the joy and fellowship of God will leave you. You will be left with confusion and pain, no fulfilment and you will thirst for some meaning in life. 

Hosea 3:1 God instructed Hosea to love her even though she was loved by another man and had sinned. JUST like He loves Israel in their sin and they turn to other gods. 

Today, in this present age, are we provoking God?

Self Help
You know when you're so down in the dumps and you just want to talk to someone. Someone you can see, someone you can hear with your ears, someone you can just vent to, but you don't go to God first, it can sort of hurt. I'm just trying to imagine myself being in a marriage where, every time my husband is in trouble or is so burdened with something, he runs to someone else, I would feel so JEALOUS. I would feel angry. I would feel hurt and unworthy. That's what happens nowadays, when we get in trouble...we go to books for help. Or we look for quotes. We no longer run to God, we no longer pray to God. We get self help books such as 'coping with poor marriage', 'how to find the right mate', 'how to cope with loneliness'. But God is right there and He feels rejected.

It must provoke GOD to jealousy when we run to the flesh instead of HIM. We cannot rely on MAN. God is our lover, He is our provider. It is important not to run to men but to RUN to God.

Psalm 37:39 "the salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord, He is their stronghold in time of trouble."

When you look to anybody else but God for help, you are provoking Him to jealousy. You are idolising someone else, some other god instead of Him. Sometimes, when God can't give you something right away, He just wants time with you. When you go into His presence, He just wants to feel your love. He waits for that time, that intercourse, when you are loving Him and He is loving You. When you two communicate.

Fretting
When you are very worried about something because things aren't happening according to your plan. That's when you fret against the Lord. Your life is not completely submitted to God then. I am guilty of this. I know I shouldn't worry because He's got me but it's so hard not to worry because I cannot see past my problem. I know I have to trust Him.Trust is the highest form of affection. If you say you love somebody you will trust them. If the trust is not there, there is no basis for true love. TRUST is possibly the highest form of worship. I am truly working on this.

When you fret or worry, you are not fully persuaded that He is capable of bringing it to pass, or what He has promised He is able to perform. God knows what's going on. He is working in every area of Your life. He just wants YOU to love Him, sit in His arms and let Him do the work.

Just imagine what God thinks, when we worry and fret, He must think 'does she not think I am capable of doing it all? Does she not think I am the Lord?' He brought out SLAVES from Egypt. He saved Daniel from the den of lions. He sent His SON to die in your place. What LITTLE do you think He cannot do?

Nowadays, there are so many ways that we dishonour Him. When we are among friends, we complain yet we state that we are God's people. We murmur and complain. We honour Him with your lips but our hearts are far from Him. Honouring God is not just by works, i.e. you do not smoke, drink, fornicate but honouring Him by being fully HIS. People around you MUST know that you are God's child. When sorrow or tribulation strikes you, you do not fall apart. You do not go to others and say how hard it is. You say it all to Jesus. You remain peaceful in those times. Then those who do not believe will see the testimony of God in YOU.


It must make Him terribly jealous when we give time to everything else but Him. When we go to our friends and talk about our problems instead of Him. If you don't want to pray or be in His presence, you don't love Him. People who are in love want to be alone with each other. That's what it's like. Whoa, that's actually scary. Again, it's like marriage. When you are married, you want to be alone with your husband sometimes. You want to be with him and spend time with him. You even probably rush home because you can't wait to talk to him. It's just the same with God. Prayer is communication with Him. You pray and communicate with Him because you love Him. Your love who He is. You love His presence. You love spending time with Him. As it should be. We can all work on this. Life gets so busy but it's important not to neglect Him because essentially, you are putting everything else before HIM. He even told us himself (you know how husbands can command this), to not have any other gods before HIM.

Listen to this message :)
Christ and His Harlot Church

Let your heart not grow COLD. He loves You and wants you close to Him. Happy Sunday. x

Are Your Conversations Full Of Grace?

Paul, writing to the Phillipians tells us to have conversations that is worthy of Christ and His gospel. Every word that we speak should be words that we claim to believe are worthy of Christ and His Word. If we think about it, we have marriages that are spoilt, relationships that are spoilt because of the words that come out of our mouths.
We can judge someone's spirituality by what comes out of their MOUTH. Out of the ABUNDANCE of the heart, the mouth speaks. You can judge someone by their conversation very clearly.

There was a time when we all talked filthy talk...well, I did (I don't know about you). I would swear and I spoke as I wanted to speak. But Paul tells us in Philipians 1:27 - "Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the One Spirit, striving together as one of the faith of the gospel without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that will be destroyed, but that you will be saved - and that by God. For it is granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him, since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have."

Is your conversation WORTHY of God?

Gosh, that's scary to think about. I mean, when I am upset, I do speak all kinds of profanity. If God was to come right now, what would He hear?

Covetousness
Hebrews 13:5-6 warns us let our conversations be without covetousness; and to be content with the things we have. There's nothing wrong with wanting better things, but when it possesses your heart that you HAVE TO HAVE IT at all costs, that's when it becomes serious. When it's all you think about it, how to get it, how to figure it out, it's in your thought life.

We seem to think our conversations and words just fall to the ground and die, or they disappear, but our words live on and they do not die.

You may be going through a lot right now; you're out of employment, you're sick but it's always a testimony when you build UP others in SPITE of what you go through. You speak with CONFIDENCE despite your problems. Your words reveal what's going on in your heart (Luke 6:45 - A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of."

If someone is gossiping about someone else, to avoid gossip, say something nice about the person and then change the subject. If you have those friends that are constantly bashing others, the best thing to do is mention it to them and tell them you're not comfortable with it, if they continue, avoid them but pray for them. You also have to evaluate your own heart because words say a lot about who a person is.

Words said out of impatience can really hurt others and ruin a friendship. I know I have a problem with this...or used to...still do? Maybe? Well, when I am upset or very very HUNGRY, I can be so impatient and can snap at people. But...clearly, I should listen to God a lot more, clearly. LOL. He tells us in Proverbs 15:28 to be patient and think before we speak.

You can honestly tell a lot about a person by listening to what they have to say and how they say it. What do your words reveal about you?

ALL in ALL - I know you cannot LIKE EVERYBODY, because some people...eish, it's hard to like them because of their mistreatment towards you. BUT that doesn't mean your behaviour towards THEM has to change in anyway...think about how Jesus was on the CROSS, people threw insults at him, they cursed him, they mocked him, they embarrassed him, they ridiculed him, but he didn't retaliate. In the end, all he said was 'Father, forgive them...'. Think about it in that way...

Let us change, guys. Let us speak words that are uplifting to others.

Faith, What's That?

This year has been a testing year. I have friends who are also going through stuff and it made me think about faith. As a Christian, I am always told to have faith. I am always told that I have to trust in God. I am always told that God knows what He is doing. My Mother and my Cousin most especially. They tell me the importance of prayer. It's so easy to be upset because good things happen to other people, but they never seem to happen to you.

So, what does faith mean to me? Faith means having complete trust in God no matter WHAT happens to you. Faith is having hope in the fact that He has your back. It's expecting the best instead of the worst. It's accepting that things happen for a reason and there will be a light at the end of the tunnel.

I can now see that looking back in life, everything I have prayed for...came to pass. If it didn't come to pass, I now realise that it happens later down the line or I didn't need it. Either way, God knows what He is doing. I know sometimes I can let ONE thing destroy my day. If I do so badly on a test or assignment, or I feel that I performed badly after writing an exam (that was just recently, hehe), I let it ruin my day, sometimes, my whole month. Then I think about Jonah's conversation with God after he preached at Ninevah. He was so upset because he thought Ninevah didn't deserve the grace of God. It just seems selfish thinking about it now but it seems like we do this too.

"But to Jonah, this seemed very wrong and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord, "Isn't this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live."
But the Lord replied, "Is it right for you to be angry?"
"Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. Then the Lord provided a leafy plant and made it grow so up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort and Jonah was very happy about this plant. But at dawn the next day, the Lord provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah's head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die than to live."
But God said to Jonah, "Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?"
"It is," he said, "I am so angry, I wish I were dead."
But the Lord said, "You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up and died overnight. And should I not have concern for the great city of Ninevah, in which there are more than a 120,000 people who cannot tell their right hand from their left - and so many animals?"

So, reading about Jonah's conversation with God made me think. There's no point in letting one thing ruin my day or month or year. Besides, the Lord Himself told us that we shouldn't worry about tomorrow, let the day worry about itself. It's so much harder than I thought but I'm working on it.
GOD Himself asked, "how many of us add A SINGLE HOUR to our lives by worrying?" - Matthew 6:27

So, God lovingly allows us to go through tests in life in order to build our faith - to test us to see what is in our hearts. We obviously crack under pressure and look at the scenario through human eyes rather than the Word of God. Right now, looking at my situation - I won't lie, I'm kind of scared, trembling in fear, in fact. What if I don't find a job? What if I don't pass? What if I die in sin? What if I don't truly know God as much as I should. What if my parents are disappointed in me? I have a friend going through this right now. She is in an interracial relationship but afraid that her parents will not accept it. The whole point is, we look through our situations through our own eyes rather than the the Word of God. Nevertheless, unbelief in the fact that God isn't going to pull us through isn't an absence of faith, it's just insufficient.

As I said before, faith is actively believing that God can do it. When we believe that God can do it, there is an action, a response to God's WORD. Faith goes far beyond an intellectual awareness of the Bible. The whole point is...obey and TRUST and BELIEVE in Him.

This whole thing has been around for a long time. It makes me think of the Israelites. How they would relish in the fact that God had delivered them then when a test had come, they would grumble and complain. I don't want to be like that. I want to have faith and relish in the Word of God.

Having faith is the only way that you will ever be able to face calamity or affliction. It was the only way in Habakkuk's day (Read the Book of Habukkuk), it was the only way in the Old Testament and the New Testament and it's the only way NOW.

So if you're going through something, whatever it is...I don't know, fear of being forever alone, fear of failure, fear of neglect...remember that those thoughts are a burden.

• You shouldn't have to accept them. It's important to get into that place of positivity, hope and faith that the things that are to COME are for your own GOOD. The situations that YOU face now are not forever. You have to look outside of YOURSELF. 
• Be extremely positive. If you don't have faith or hope, you have nothing. Always remember that whatever you're in NOW is not forever. It's just a stepping stone for what will happen in the future. 
• Things will not be HARD FOREVER - It will humble you.

The Fall Of King David

This is one of my favourite stories in the Bible but it's actually deeper than that. Let me tell you about David. He was a righteous man, a man after God's own heart. A man who wrote and composed music about God, His goodness, His love, His mercy. This is a man who was so supposedly perfect; and committed to God, but he committed some serious sin (which shows that even He fell short and wasn't perfect). I read this again and it was like my eyes were opened. I've learnt something.

Let's see it from Bathsheba's perspective. She was just minding her own business, washing off on a warm night when a messenger from King David told her that the King had seen her bathing from his rooftop...oh, and he wanted to meet her. But, we don't know how she felt. I can only imagine that she was probably glad to have to be in the presence of the King. Her husband, Uriah, was off fighting for WAR FOR David himself in the army, so maybe she couldn't exactly refuse to go.

Anyway, we don't know what she was thinking, but she and David slept together. At the end result of that night, she got pregnant.

From David's perspective; David, one evening, was chilling in his palace, and he saw a woman bathing. He was overcome by LUST and he instantly wanted her. The Bible says, this woman was so beautiful and obviously, David was so intrigued that he sent someone to find out about her. He was told the woman was 'Bathsheba' and she was 'the wife of Uriah'. So, at this point, he knew she was a married woman. That's the first mistake he made.

He then sent his messengers to go and get her, she came to HIM and he slept with her. She got pregnant and informed David that she was pregnant. You can only imagine how David felt. Well, let me guess. He slept with one of his soldiers' wives. He must have felt ashamed, embarrassed, anxious...I can only imagine.

After this, we see a series of events. This GODLY man continuously tried to hide his sin. He sent word to Joab saying 'send me Uriah', he was obviously under the pretence of seeking information about the course of the war, but his main thing was to bring Uriah back to Jerusalem.

When Uriah came to him, he tried to convince him to to back to his house and relax. I mean, seriously, he tells Uriah to go home and relax, he obviously wanted Uriah and Bathsheba to enjoy their evening together. He wanted to hide deeper into his sin and pretend he hadn't fathered Bathesheba's child. BUT Uriah was so loyal to him, he slept outside the palace and did not go home.At one point, he ensured that Uriah got drunk so that he could go home and sleep with his wife. He woke up after that BUT Uriah continued to be loyal and faithful to David and did not go home.

He must have felt guilty, because I know I would, but there is no evidence of guilt here. David, at this point, hadn't even confessed his sins to God, he hadn't even recognised that he had sinned. He wanted to cover it up more and more. This led to him getting Uriah drunk in the hope that Uriah would go home and sleep with his wife, but nope, this still didn't happen.

In the end, he just decided to have Uriah killed by putting him at the front of the war line where the most dangerous and strongest defenders were. He planned all this so that he could marry Bathsheba himself as quickly as possible. Jeez, this guy is bad. LOL. But, it's honestly hard to imagine a man so close to God, so intimate with Him to fall so short. It's hard to imagine a man who composed such beautiful psalms, such great morals, such LOVE for God, so passionate about Him...yet he fell so deep into it.

Later on, Bathsheba's child dies. Bathsheba mourned for her husband for 7 days; but he later made her his wife. At this point, he probably had I think 5 wives...but later had Solomon after marrying him. Anyway, David showed no remorse, no guilty for his sin and God did not take it lightly.

Man, you can obviously see how this built up. David got someone else's wife pregnant and decides to hide it and cover it up. But GOD knew. And, if you read the rest of it, you will see that what He had done had DISPLEASED the Lord. Not only had he broken God's laws, he had shamelessly abused his royal power, which God trusted him with.

David can be seen as a total failure but God called David 'A Man after His OWN heart' in 1 Samuel 13:14. You can see his anguish in the Psalms, particularly Psalm 6, Psalm 32 and Psalm 51. 

What I learnt (with notes from David Wilkerson's Podcast):

• It does not matter what your sin is or may be. But no sin will cause God to give up on you. You are still his purchased possession. Even though David despised God by committing adultery, the Lord did not give up on HIM. 
• God even sent a PROPHET to David - he sent Nathan - to tell David what he had done wrong. He was confronted by a Prophet of God (I think in those days, God sent messengers to warn people). 
• Also, his fall caused him to write some beautiful words (as seen in Psalms). I can only imagine what David felt at that point, embarrassed? Ashamed? I mean, imagine if you did something like that and a Man of God comes and tells you that God knows what you have done.
• It took 40 years to get fear out of Moses and to make him listen to the words of God - but Moses because one of God's greatest heroes. David had to run back to the house of God and cried out for forgiveness and peace. 
• "Jonah retraced his steps and did exactly what he refused to do at first, bringing the City of Ninevah to repentance and deliverance."
• "So DESPITE their failure, these men became great men of God. They kept moving on. It's always after a failure that a man does his greatest work for God.

The bottom line is...FAITH. And faith rests on this one - "No weapon formed against you shall prosper." - Isaiah 54:17.

Even Paul said in Romans 7:14 - 25:

"My own behaviour baffles me. For I find myself doing what I really LOATHE but not doing what I really want to do...I often find that I have the will to do good but not the power. When I want to do good, only evil is within my reach..."

The message is...stay in God's presence. I'm sure you know what happened to Saul. - Read it in 1 Samuel 13 and onwards...

Hope you enjoyed...x