DECEPTION

I was listening to a message being preached by a man of God I thoroughly respect and I got a new understanding of the deceptive nature of the devil.

In the Garden of Eden, the devil tempted Eve telling her if they ate the fruit of the forbidden tree, they would become like God. That God prevented them from eating the fruit because He didn’t want them to become like Him. However, what they (Adam and Eve) failed to realize was that they were already like God as in Genesis 1:26 “Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion …”. It was a smart and well-played deception and they fell flat into it. He offered them the counterfeit of what they already had.

The devil is still at it today, telling Christians they are failures when we originated from God, Success Himself. The Bible says in John 1:12 “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name”. So if you have accepted Christ as your Lord and believe in His name, you are a child of God and in God there is no failure, sickness, poverty, disappointments, depression... Everything produces after its kind: A goat’s child is a goat(kid), a lion’s child is a lion(cub) therefore, God’s child is a god (Ps 82:6). So in anyway the devil might be deceiving you based on the circumstances you may be facing today, rise up and tell him his game is over. You know who you are and will come to the full image of that in just a while.

I want you to go into today, this week, this year and whatever God has called you to do with confidence and full realization that you are a god and a child of the most high! As God cannot fail, you can’t fail. I once read something that goes thus: It all becomes beautiful in the end. If it’s not beautiful, then it’s not the end. So hang in there, my dear. God’s plan for you is to bring you to His expected end. Therefore, keep your joy up and give no place to the devil (Ephesians 4:27).

Why?

So, the other night my husband and I were reviewing a document in MS Word on his laptop. He kept using a particular shortcut that I didn't know. It made what he was doing a lot faster than the way I would have done it. So I asked him how and it happened to be the use of one of the 'function keys'. I've been using a laptop for years and working with MS Word for even longer but I had no idea such a shortcut exists. (I won't share the shortcut so I don't expose my ignorance #wink#. It's selfish, I know :D)

Also, I got to know of a particular button on the TV remote control that makes life easier when navigating back to the previous channel I was watching, thanks to my one-year old daughter who changes the channels at will. It's the "back" button! Just like the MS Word, I've been using this same control for quite some time and I had no idea such a button was on it talk more of knowing the function. This is largely cos I never read the manual! Before my husband showed me the button (yet again, I know... He's a smart man lol), I would always punch the number of the previous channel in order to get back to it and that was laborious cos I used to get the number wrong more often than not. The painful part is such a time could be the climax of a particular scene :( But now, I simply press the "back" button! Although the button was there all the while, I was ignorant of it's function.

Same applies to us as human beings. I am convinced that no one appeared on the scene here by mistake or just to add to the numbers. I believe God had a reason for sending you to planet earth. The question is "do you know the reason?" Normally, to know the use of a thing, you don't ask the thing, you'd ask the manufacturer and the intention of the manufacturer for creating the product/ instructions on how to maximise the product are spelt out in the MANUAL.


So if you haven't discovered why you appeared here, I invite you to ask your manufacturer - God! I'm sure when you ask, he will answer and you'll be pleasantly surprised. Dr. Myles Munroe says "where purpose is not known, abuse is inevitable". Don't abnormally use (abuse) your life on things that don't count. Find your purpose in God. The beautiful thing is we have an advantage over inanimate products like my remote control. We can not only refer to the manual, which is the Holy Bible, we can ask the manufacturer Himself. For you to have the boldness to do that though, you need to be Born Again- believe in Jesus Christ and confess him as your Lord and Saviour AND also making up your mind to forsake your old ways. If you haven't done that, just talk to God now. You could choose to say the following prayer:

"Dear God, I come to you today. I believe Jesus died for my sins and I confess Him as my Lord and Saviour.  Forgive me my past sins and write my name in the book of Life. Thank you for I am Born-Again. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen."

He's waiting...

Go on and fulfill destiny, champ!

God bless you.

Who is my Neighbour?

I remember from way back year 2000/1 when I signed up for the Accounting Technician Scheme classes in my Country. One of the modules I had to write was Business Law. And I can almost picture my lecturer standing in front of the class in his suit asking "who is my neighbour?". The definition he gave us was : Your neighbour is anyone affected by your actions. And may I add "your inaction"

These days, we are all so busy with our lives; jobs, businesses, children, husbands, academics, that we barely notice what is going on in the other person's life.  'Everyone is busy' is  mostly the excuse for our inaction and nonchalant attitude towards the next person. And that's a fact; everyone is busy but I think it's not too much to take a break from our busy lives once in a while to be a blessing to the next person. Most of us don't even say hello to our next-door neighbour. How would we know if something went terribly wrong with the person and we needed to call an ambulance to save his or her life if we cared less?

It's important to note that it's not only our actions that hurt; our refusal to act or negligence can equally hurt deeply. You can imagine a situation in which the response of a witness to a crime scene could either make or mar the life of the accused. A refusal of the witness to speak in that situation can have grave consequences on the defendant.

So I urge us today to act, to show love, to speak up! It is popularly said that "silence means consent". If you are silent about what you should have spoken against or people you should have spoken for, it means you agree to the situation. Of course, when dealing with such issues and people in general, wisdom is to be applied.

I'll leave you with the admonition of Jesus : Love your neighbour as yourself. Mark 12:31