Walking with GOD: Seeking YWHW

Happy New Year All. Yes, it is the Tenth day, of the Second month, in the year Two thousand and Fourteen, and here I am wishing you a  Happy New Year. Rather Late than never.

I have decided this year to experience God in a deeper way. How I don't know yet, but my anchor Scripture comes from Mathew 6:33 "Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need." (NLT)

I have realized that this is the principal thing. We all need to find God in all we do. We all need to put Him first in our decision making. This is my Journey. To try as much as possible to commit everything, however little to God.

Christ said about the greatest commandments. Mathew 22:36-40 ^"You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments."

How then do we Love God, by obeying his commandments. How do we obey his commandments by living like Jesus did. Living for Christ.

How do we love our neighbor. First by giving them the best of what we have. What is the best. The Gospel of the good news. What more can we have than eternal life with our King Jesus. Once we are all transformed into the nature of Christ, Loving and Living in unity will come easy.

Lets go out and show the Love of GOD and proclaim the good news.To Seek God first we need to Love him above and do His will.

Till next time Maranatha.

What kind of Soil are You? The Good Soil?!

Finally, the Good Soil. Christ said " the seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop - some thirty, some sixty, and some a hundred times as sown." He explained, that these individuals  heard and understood the word. Leading them to yield crops (Mathew 13: 8;23).

Fellow believers, this is were we should all be longing to be. We need good understanding that goes beyond shallow roots, and will withstand thorns. We need the understanding that comes from the Holy Spirit.

This ties back to the second write up on this series, about seeking understanding. This is Key, understanding will subdue our human thinking and say Lord make my decisions for me, help me make the right decision (Proverbs 3:5-7).

The Soil is called good because it produced good fruits. Good fruits are results of abiding in Christ, abiding in Christ is the resolution one has made to live for Him and allow Him live through us. Christ said he is the Vine that good fruits are borne from (John 15:1-17).

My prayer is that we will allow the Lord, through the Holy Spirit, to encapsulate us and use us for His glory. This way, we will bear both physical and spiritual fruits that will be satisfying and long lasting, here on earth and for eternity (Luke 18:18-30).

Till next time, remain blessed and stay strong in the faith we have been called to. Amen.

Maranatha.

What kind of Soil are You? Thorns?!

For those who have been following this series, I move on to the next kind of Soil, Thorns. These are the kind of soil who receive the word but are choked by thorns (worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful).

One thing that quickly jumps out here is that, the previous soil, Path, were persecuted on account of the word, but here we see that these set of individuals are more concerned about worries of this life, which choke the Word. I will like to mention that the worries of Life and deceitfulness of riches act as distractions(blinders) to the Word these individuals received and understood.

I will take it a step further and say that if we were to look at this as a gradual procedure from the first soil, then this individuals might have even overcome some persecutions on account of the Word. The enemy being frustrated devices a new strategy and decides to touch their health, family, riches then worry starts to creep in and their trust in God is shaken, the truth of the word is choked, they struggle to hold on to the Word, it sounds absurd. Or in another case the Devil lures them into riches, greatness, material wealth and they get so involved in attaining these things that they lose focus on Christ, their views are distorted.

These things happen subtly, and as you can see from my writing, it is difficult to pin point where or when it might arise. For each individual our case might be different, but on thing we know is that there will be distractions from focusing on God, and that is our clue. Regardless on how this might creep in, once we notice distractions in our worship and fellowship we can be certain  there is something trying to take the number one spot in our lives, Christ.

So how do we ensure that we are not distracted my the worries and deceitfulness of wealth. Mathew 6:33; Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness and all other things will be added to you. Here we can see that wealth itself is not bad but our main focus should always be on God. Once this is so, we should be confident that we will overcome. Christ should be our Focus.

For greater understanding on how to overcome thorns read the book of Job.

Till next time were I discuss the final soil, remain blessed.

Maranatha.

What kind of Soil are You? The Rocky Ground?!

"The Rocky Ground" according to the parable of the sower is the soil that hears the word and receives it with joy, but has no root and endures for a while, but when tribulations and persecutions arise on account of the word, they immediately fall.

Here we see two things, first they received the word; in contrast to the path, we can say that they had some understanding of the word to be able to receive it. However, with the understanding they got from the word they had no root to endure to the end, they endured only for a while.

"They endured for a while" the understanding that they had is what the "path" individuals lacked, but was not enough. Yes it was a good start, they were able to last for a while, but when persecution arose they fell; the end is what qualifies the beginning.

It is also important to note that persecution did not arise on the account or worldly things, persecution arose on the account of the WORD, in other words they were persecuted not because they were politicians, CEO's, doctors, teachers, no, they were persecuted because they believed in JESUS, they believed in the life given word, then they fell.

My fellow believers in addition to our understanding, we should be rooted in our firm foundation Jesus Christ. He Himself said if they deny you they have denied me; He said they will persecute you, but do not be afraid, because I have overcome the world (John 16:33). As Christians we will be tested, there is no other solution than to be prepared.

How do we prepare, read the word and be ready at all times to answer your persecutors (1 Peter 3:15), and when you feel you don't have an answer, do not be afraid the Holy Spirit is in you, the Lord Jesus said, you will be arrested and charged before kings, but this is an opportunity to spread the gospel, the Holy Spirit at that time will tell you what to say (Luke 12:11-12).

Pray without ceasing, this is a powerful tool, Prayer ensures that we are constantly in God's Presence. Praise and rejoice always, this will lift our spirits up, even when circumstances surrounding us say otherwise.

So by Brothers and Sisters, with understanding let us also be rooted in the solid foundation JESUS so we will not be shaken. Amen 

Till next time, remain blessed. Maranatha

What kind of Soil are You? The Path?!

"The Path" is the kind Soil, that according to the parable, describe when the word is planted there is no understanding and the enemy quickly comes and snatches what was sown in our hearts (Mathew 13:1-4;18-19).

In my previous post I spoke on the types of soil in the Parable of the Sower. Here I will be focusing on the first soil, so we can know when we might be in this position and how best to overcome it. 

From a believers perspective this could be us, as new converts or those of that have been in the church for a long while and feel as though they know the scriptures all so well. There could be a message coming from the pulpit, but we fail to grasp it, sometimes it is feels unreal, how can this be?  we ask, this is a hard saying! we moan, this must be a joke! no this cant be true in this day and age!  while these questions can be raised and be legitimate, lets be aware of the enemy who has come to snatch away the truth from us.

By no means am I saying you should not question what you digest, the Berean Christians did so, what I am saying is to follow their examples, are there questions arising from a sermon that is unclear to you? Seek clarification and understanding. This is what the people in the category called "the path" lacked.

How do you seek understanding. We seek understanding trough the Holy Spirit, John 14:26; James 1:5, before you go for a sermon pray for understanding, pray that the lord God will bring a fresh understanding to you, this is paramount. The Holy Spirit is our advocate.

Second, discourse this with fellow believers, they will bring to your knowledge that missing piece that will clarify you confusion. 

Third, look for examples in the bible, the bible is full of case studies of  men and women who have gone through all that was written in it and triumphed. These examples will shine a light on your doubts and lack of understanding.

Finally, wait on the Lord, keep on fellowship with the brethren, the right answer will definitely come at God's own timing, just because you did not get a full understanding of a message does not mean you should stay away from Worshiping the Lord. At the right time the "aha" moment will come.

Till next time my friends. Maranatha.

What Kind of Soil are You?

For a long time I always viewed the parable of the sower (Matthew 13:1-23; Mark 4:1-29; Luke 8:4-15) with a different view. I always believed that the seed that fell on the road / path and rocky path referred to unbelievers and the seed that fell on thorns and good soil referred to believers. Although I believe there is nothing wrong with this version of understanding. The seed is the Word of God that is sown to all lives whether believing or not believing, the main issue here is the soil that it fell on? And here lies my question; What kind of Soil are You?

As I mentioned earlier my previous understanding of the text makes me believe that the soil the seeds fell on where evenly divided by whether one is an unbeliever or a believer, but as have been reading these texts recently, I have been directed to a different understanding.

I have been looking at it from a believer's point of view. Christians are regularly blessed with the word of God, but yet we still find those who go through the same phases outlined in the parable of the sower, those who receive the word without understanding, those who receive the Word with Joy but yet no root to sustain them, those who seemingly overcome the former two, have understanding and joy of the word to some extent but yet when tested by the trials of life give in, and finally those who hear the word and understand it and bear fruit.

To be sincere it takes a lot of spiritual consciousness and humility to identify where one truly lies, at different stages of our Christian growth we all can identify where we were or are, but it takes the direction and power of the Holy Spirit to make us the Good Soil that the Lord expects us to be. But we must consciously seek this, we must seek and pray understanding and wisdom to overcome and not be the soil that lacks understanding, we must pray for guidance and study the Word of God to overcome and not be the soil that has no root,  We must practice the word of God and seek first the Kingdom of God in all we think and do, to overcome and not be the soil that the worries of life and deceitful riches choke our fruitfulness. Then we will be able to be that Good soils that bears good fruit, some thirty, some sixty, some a hundredfold.

I do pray brothers and sisters that the Lord will lead us through the Holy spirit to be all we can be in Christ. Amen.

Maranatha.

I will focus on each type of soil in subsequent posts. Stay Tuned.

Run to the WORD

What keeps you believing? What keeps you pressing on? What gives you assurance? What removes all doubt? when you know all you believe about the Lord is true even when is is not portrayed in the physical. How do you ensure that you don't fall into age OLD trap of the enemy, Deception. That is Satan's only weapon, he has no other plan or strategy. He only Deceives......................take a moment and ponder every sin you have committed, look carefully it all came from a lie, a twisting, a deception, through ignorance or through changing the truth to suit or so called urgent requirements.

A look at Psalms 19:7-14 (NIV) encourages us in the beauty of the Lords Word........"The law of the Lord is perfect,refreshing the soul.The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy,making wise the simple.The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart.The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes.The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous.They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb.By them your servant is warned, in keeping them there is great reward.But who can discern their own errors? Forgive my hidden faults.Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me.Then I will be blameless,innocent of great transgression.May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight,Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer."

Brothers and Sisters, whenever you find yourself doubting anything action, uncomfortable about any plan, unsure of what is right or wrong about a situation, God still speaks to us and gives us direction.Prayer is one way, but today I want you to Run to the Word and receive your answer.......it is Written and you will receive your revelation. What burning questions are you having problems reconciling with what you know is true, Go to the Word of God. Pray for understanding and wisdom and dig into the Word of God. He will separate you from wrong decisions and will light your path.

Let us be students of the Word. Let us saturate ourselves with the word of God. When the Word of God is within we will not fall into temptation or lies, we will not because of self pity or empathy condone evil or immorality,  we will stand fast and walk the way of the Living God.

Remain Blessed.

Maranatha.