Love is God, not the other way.

When we say that God is love, we really mean that in a sense of originality, God is the essence of love. This can otherwise be a meaningless contradiction altogether. We draw every part of virtue through a source. We can say that a man has great love and affection for his wife or a mother has great love and affection for her children, either way we are still fixed in a circuitous notion. Man's love for his wife and mother's love are both great imitators of what true love suppose to be however, when compared with the original love, it is still  far fetched. We have not even grazed the surface of true love yet. The love we give and get from our fellow human beings is love retained.The love of God is love inherent and there is no correlation between the two. God is the giver of love because He himself is love. Love is to be shared towards others, like a milkman distributes milk to the consumers, from a cow, a water is drawn from a well. Like a well, love is drawn from God because God's love is inborn and not retained.

WORD is...: Where is God?

WORD is...: Where is God?: You can question about God and perhaps question his existence, but your heart will always disagree, because you know that God does exist. Th...

Where is God?

You can question about God and perhaps question his existence, but your heart will always disagree, because you know that God does exist. The question you must ask is how come he is not present in my life? After you have dig a little deeper, you will come to find out that you have been the escapist and He has been the pursuer.  How uneasy you feel about His name in a public settings or how you feel concerning the things of God is an evidence of your disposition toward Him. You will find that you are the drifter, not Him.

NEW MORALITY?

NEW MORALITY?
By Stephen A. Ibeh

There are legalism and the liberalism in both our churches today. But first I will begin with the legalism.

The law was given to us because of transgressions. When the children of Isreal came out of Egypt, (with their slave mentality), they were wild, stealing,committing fornication, killing,fighting and coveting each others wives and properties and worse, worshipping other things except God.

This prompted God to send the Law. God knows that if you leave man to himself and without boundaries he will eventually become just as a wild beast. He wiped the entire human race with a flood once because of that. He certainly knows it.

So to curb the old nature( the flesh) and keep it in check until Christ comes, He had to do something to maintain order, so He gave them the Law.

The Law is only created to keep us in check and show us who we are (sinful creatures that need a savior) until the appointed time, for Our Lord Jesus to come ( Galatians 3:23-24). Simple , nothing more ,nothing less.

The Law is not to be worshiped or observed.Considering that there are other sin which the ten commandments cannot control,  man's inward sin.  For example great sin of pride, evil heart of unbelief ( the unforgivable sin), and inward disobedience towards God ( grieving the Holy Spirit), both for believers and unbelievers.

But today for the believers we have liberty in Christ and not bound by the law!

We have died from the law, because Christ died, and we are risen with Christ in the newness of life which is a new law. The Spirit law.

But where should draw the line on liberalism?

Now, there is a new morality that people have adopted saying that "we are to hate the sin and not the sinner."

As much as how warmly this may sound.Let me warn christains that has adopted this slogan. It is tampering with the Grace of God! The enemy is toying with this slogan and some Christains are not knowledgeable.( Jude 1:4)

This slogan is not in the bible and there's no such thing as a "liberal Jesus" or "Jesus Superstar"

Here is a background concerning how Our Lord Jesus Christ hates sin:

Jesus walked into the temple and saw that the money changers were making deals and gambling in the house of God.

He was furious, burned with anger he began to toss and turn every table and chairs.

The disciple were stunned, they have never seen him behave like this.

Then He spoke this words " My Father's house is the house of prayer and you have turned it to a den of thieves!!

Well that was the temple then, but today the temple is the body of believers...a Holy house for prayer.
( 2 Corinthians 6:16-18)

Most people especially believers all talk about "The liberal Jesus" but not the Jesus of the bible.

He is still the same, yesterday, and tomorrow Jesus who will judge sin in our lives.

Just like the disciples, many will be stunned when He will cast them out of Heaven because of sin in their lives.

Now let's continue:

As for the unbelievers, we can only witness to them, not accept their lifestyle, we are to show them the love of Christ by our testimony and  Gospel of Christ, ( which is the death, burial, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ) nothing more, nothing less.( Revelation 12:11)

Now, If I present the Gospel of Christ to an unbeliever or a so call believer and he or she rather rejects the Grace of God and chooses  rather they own sinful lifestyle .They are the wicked... enemies of God! (see psalm 7:11, psalm 11:5, and Exodus 34:7, John 3:36, James4:4).

As Christains we ought to love what God loves and hate what He hates, but we should not cast judgement on anybody. It is not left for us to do so.

However, we are commanded to pray for those who are committing evil but not join in and support their sinful lifestyle.( This is where many believers don't take a stand in)

For the believers we also have  grace.Grace is not just for the unbelievers but for the believers as well.But grace is not a license ( see Romans 6, and Galatians 5:1)

Shall we continue to sin? No! We have risen from it! (Notice continuing means living, daily, and enjoying sin). Nobody is sin free.

The flesh itself is sinful in nature, therefore even a believer, might stumble into sin, fault, means to stumble ( Galatians 6:1 KJV)

The believer must confess sin immediately (1 John 1:8-10) and be restored by fellow brethren.

We are to encourage, a child of God who has fallen with the spirit of meekness (godliness), lest we ourselves fall ( Galatians 6:1). Because no one is righteous except righteousness in Christ! ( Philippians, 3-9)

If somebody calls themself a believer   and lives in sin and have been witnessed to by the body of believers ( the church) and he continues to live in sin, based on the authority of the Word of God. He is not a child of God!

And we have the right not to fellowship with them (Mathew 18:17) until they repent and turn to God.

The believer should reexamine themselves and make sure whether they are in the faith.

As Dr. J, Vernon McGee use to say
The prodigal son may get in the pig's pen but won't stay in the pig's pen.

Repent and turn to God! He alone will save you.

Meditation( 2 Corinthians, 6:14-18)

Humility: The song of Asaph.

Where you are right now is an exalted position.

This stage of your life now, this very moment as a Christian.

But this poison called the pride of life is a serious thing.

Satan has mastered this strategy.

He injects it in our thoughts. Pride is a sweet and bitter feeling the enemy uses to keep us out of the promises of God.

He will say things like this:

You have been doing this for years, nobody cares. You have been working here, toiling for decades but nobody appreciates you.

You've been serving God for years yet you have nothing to show for it.

Your mates are now successful but look where you are now.

You are a beautiful woman, what are you doing with him?

He will then turn you against others with this kind of saying:

See how they use up your time, look at how they take advantage of your kindness and your generosity.

Look at how they show discomfort in your own needs.

Then gives you his alternative:

But look what is over here, look what you can get over there. Here's someone better, here is a suitable place.

This will sound, look and feel sweet in the beginning but devastating in the end.

Your thinking becomes your attitude, then decision, then action, then habit, then character.

All this to target and to destroy your character.

Wherever you are now, you are at an exalted place.

At your job, home, church, at your ministry, or school.

J.R. Miller once wrote: "The only thing that walks back from the tomb with the mourners and refuses to be buried, is the character of a man…What a man is, survives him. It can never be buried."

The enemy wants to destroy your character.

But want to destroy it by offering you false hope. You will be like gods.

Asaph's character was almost destroyed.

But when he turn to God, his perspective changed.

The Wise Builder.

Jesus talks about the man, the foolish builder who builds his house on the sand.

Man builds the house
Upon the foundation, Christ.

Storms.

Storms of finance, storms in marriage, storms in health, family, unemployment, storms of life.

Storms are uncertain.

The foundation is where the pillars are set. The man sets the pillars in place on the solid rock.

A man builds on that which his family lives. They live on the structure the man sets.

Prayer, faith, devotion, praise, thanksgiving, hope, love, grace, courage.

Centered and rooted in Christ.

Joshua: As for me and my house we will serve the Lord.

Build the house.

The house structure is the most unnoticeable but yet keeps the house stable.

You remove the structure, the house falls.
You remove the man the house falls apart.

You remove the Foundation the house sinks.

Buried Memory.

Nobody starts out with bad intentions. Whether in marriages, in friendship, in politics or in any organized union, everybody wants to see themselves as noble and just. No one comes into a marriage with an intention to divorce the other nor in politics with an intention to lie, cheat or steal. We start off with with the good foot on the playing field before dwindling towards a downward spiral. Something always happens in the middle, some sort of disconnect, derailment of some kind, misconception of ideas, a glass half full. Somewhere down the line, the norms and expectation is betrayed,  boundaries are crossed, principles are violated: lonely hearts left in shambles.  We either then shift blames or numb our pain with suppressants without looking on the inside.
We never see the inside of the mind- the buried memory. The counselors always take us back to that place. A place where love was tarnished, hope crushed, mind twisted by false memory.The hate, the fear, the disappointment, the failure, the betrayal, the shame and all the pain and anguish.
But there's no need to wrestle with it now, only to release it to the One who had paid for it from the beginning of time. Christ Jesus, the savior of the world. But first you must find it before releasing it to Him.