LIVING OR EXISTING

By Brother Godwin

Beloved,

For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection (Romans 6:5)

Many of the folks that would read this will remember the morning, the leader of the companion distributed a write up titled Living Cadaver. That was in our second year in the university. Summary of the write up was this: ‘people think they are living but actually are dead because they do not have Jesus Christ as their savior. It made such a powerful impact on our classmates who were not born again then (Thank God that a lot: I mean so many have accepted Jesus Christ since then. Hallelujah).  This analogy brings out the fact that a lot are living the lives they are not. So many Christians are not living the lives they really are.
Before Adam became a living soul, he merely existed. The life of God did not flow through him. When God breathed into him, he became a living speaking spirit like God (Genesis 2:7); he became a co-creator with God. He single handed named everything living and impacted the nature that they exhibit today (Genesis 2:19). Adam started living when God breathed unto him. Before then he merely existed.
Psalms 82:1 says that God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods. That clearly identifies who God says we are, mighty. God calls you a god (if you are born again). “Me, mighty” you may ask? I did not say it. Check it from your own copy of the Bible. Don’t be surprised. That is God’s view of you, but it did not stop there. Verse 7 says that you are not a man (some version says a mere man). Now that introduces a completely different narrative. I am not a mere man? Yes, you are not a mere man. You are a spirit, in the image and likeness of God. You are mighty. God had so much confidence that he appointed you a defender of the poor and fatherless, a deliverer of the needy (verses 5-6). I mean you are to enforce salvation that Jesus brought. You and I are to execute the judgment written in the scriptures (Psalms 149:5-9). Now read the whole of Psalm 82 and see that for yourself. Obadiah 21 calls you a savior. Earlier in Obadiah 17, the scripture says that there shall be deliverance upon mount Zion. Who shall do that, the deliverers of course!  I mean The Saviors in Zion..you and I WORKING  WITH GOD!.
That is why the whole creation has been waiting for ages for the manifestation of the sons of God (Romans 8:19). You and I are the hope of creation. True! Friend, Jesus is sitting down at the right hand of God waiting for his enemies to be made his footstool (Psalms 110:1). Satan has been defeated (Colossians 2:14-15) but that defeat needs to be enforced. Who would do that? Saviors in Zion: sons of God. I mean mighty spirits. This honor have all the saints of God (Psalms 149:9).
They were entertaining that daughter of Abraham for 18 years in that synagogue until Jesus appeared (Luke 13:16). The lame man was there at the beautiful gate until Peter and John showed up (Acts 3:1-7).   Simon the sorcerer was the talk of the town until Philip showed up (Acts 8:8-13). Ha ha ha! It is our time and we have to make it count.
How shall these things be, Mary asked the angel? Hosea 6:3 puts the answer this way “Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth”. When we follow on to know the Lord, his glory manifest. This is not head knowledge. It is heart knowledge with the whole spirit, soul and body, programmed and working in unison with the word of God. Daniel called them “they that know their God” (Daniel 11:32).
We ought to live in the likeness of his resurrection. The resurrected life did not recognize walls: the resurrected like could enter a locked room without the need for a door (John 20:19). The resurrected life could stay in the deep for 3 days without getting drowned. The enemy recognized the resurrected life in Jesus and Paul. Did you say Paul? I did not say it. The Bible said it (Acts 19:15). Paul, a re-born man like you and I, developed to the extent that he was recognized in the spirit realm. If Paul can, then we can.
Let’s wake up and make the divine life we have to count. We should not just exist we need to start living the divine life.

BAPTISM SERVICE, 18TH SEPTEMBER 2011

Riches and Good Health: All part of the salvation package

By Brother Godwin

Beloved,

Scripture Reading: And Pharaoh called unto Moses, and said, Go ye, serve the LORD; only let your flocks and your herds be stayed: let your little ones also go with you (Exodus 10:24).

Last week we saw how the enemy tries to negotiate our divinity away by making every effort to keep us at the fringes of our commitment to God. Go serve God he says, but do not go very far. Interestingly, this is a direct opposite of what God said in his word. Jeremiah 29:13 says, you shall seek me and find me when you search for me with your whole heart. The word also says that God will show himself strong in the life of those whose heart are perfect toward him (2 Chronicles 16:9). These are people who go far with him. Didn’t God say that he would spue out those who are neither warm nor cold out of his mouth (Revelation3:15-16)? So get immersed in God. That is how to get the best in God.
Pharaoh had another argument in order to contain the blessings of the people of God. This was what he said: Go ye, serve the LORD; only let your flocks and your herds be stayed (Exodus 10:24). Flocks and herds represent their riches; the blessings of the Lord upon their life. The enemy wants us to think that the good of life does not belong to us. “You can be holy but don’t talk about wealth”. “Don’t talk about a healthy living”. So people sing such songs as “take the whole world and give me Jesus”. No, that is wrong singing. If God is your father, doesn’t a good father take care of his children?  What reflection does it have on God that his children would be begging food? Friend it is not God. It is the enemy that convinces people that holiness is incompatible with riches. Lack or poverty does not make you more Christian than your neighbor that is rich. In fact it mocks the authenticity of the God you claim to serve (Psalms 37:18-19). Check the scripture. People that served God well were people of means. You know what? It is the love of wealth much more than love for God that is a sin. When wealth becomes a god, so that you live for it instead of for God, you are into idolatry. You will agree with me that the person that has 1000 Euro can be as idolatrous towards money as the person that has billions of Euros.  Don’t allow the enemy to negotiate the blessings God has given you away.
“Go serve God but leave the blessings behind”. This is a ploy of the enemy. God’s blessings include good health. The same death of Jesus Christ that saved you from your sin also saved you from sickness and lack. Salvation is much more than cleansing from sins. First let’s see what the problem was.  Jeremiah 5:25 says “Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest.  Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you”.  Now see the available solution:  Isaiah 53:6 says  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Put together, the iniquity that withheld good from us has been taken away. Every good thing has been provided. Don’t listen to the negotiator. The most holy God is the richest personality. The most holy God is not sick. So why should you and I lack? Why should you and I be ill? God’s plan is that those that serve him will not just be satisfy with the good things of life, also he plan to keep them healthy (Proverbs 13:17). See what he said And ye shall serve the LORD your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee. There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfil (Exodus 23:25-26). This is the true reflection of God.
Friend, we need to stand strong and take that which God has already given us. Joshua was frustrated with the children of Israel and asked them, how long are ye slack to go to possess the land, which the LORD God of your fathers hath given you (Joshua 18:3)? These are all included: Signs and wonders shall follow those of us that believe (Mark 16:17-18). We have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ (Ephesians 1:3). God’s divine power has given to us all things that pattern unto life and godliness (2 Peters 1:3-4).  Stop the enemy from negotiating away your covenant rights.
I will end this write up by quoting what the Spirit of God said through a man of God in August 2010: “Our ignorance or laziness to appropriate that which belongs to us does not invalidate the promises of God. It just means we did not take due diligence to do what we are supposed to do” (Pastor Olumide, 2010). How ture this is!Stop standing on the fringes. Go take that which belongs to you. Find them from the scriptures and forcefully take them by faith.