Monday, May 28, 2018

Conquering Sin

Knowledge of Sin

“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts” (Romans 6:12 NKJV).

Brethren, I (Brother Glenn) am reposting this article because of time constrains. We will be making some great articles available in the next coming weeks. Also, kindly subscribe to our email subscriptions by entering your email address. We have received two Visions please read it either by clicking on the link above and learn and be warned in Jesus name or please read it below!

Vision Of A Spiritually Battered Christian (25/03/2018)
 
I Brother Glenn had a vision during the early hours of above date regarding a servant of God (known to us) who fell into a terrible state of spiritual dormancy. In the vision, the Lord showed me that the brother (John, not real name) was covered in painful sores or boils like Job (Job 2:7) while he (brother John) was bleeding profusely from the mouth. Looking at the brother, I could sense that he had no strength left to stand on his own. In fact from my position, I could only see that some invisible hand was holding him up and the Lord revealed to me that it was because of his faith in the Lord that he was still standing. I then heard him pray to God saying, "God please forgive me for my many sins and help me get right again with you". I also heard him in his prayer addressing Satan being the cause of his fall (Luke 22:3-4) in fact the brother yielded to every kind of temptation without offering any resistance. Now, through this vision, the Lord is encouraging the Church to pray very hard for the ministers of the Gospel who are struggling under the weight of sinful desires
 
Vision Of Christ's Judgment Seat (27/05/2018)
 
Again, on the above date I (Brother Glenn) received another vision. It appeared as if we (ministers of the Gospel) were standing before the Judgment seat of Christ. This was a very real experience! The scene changed and in this vision, I found myself in a very big Church building with many members. I saw the Pastor preaching the Word of God, and every time he preaches a message to please the congregation it displeases the Lord because he draws attention to himself and the Word of God is being ignored. What he was building upon the foundation which is Christ (1 Corinthians 3:11) was with wood, hay or straw (1 Corinthians 3:12) and not with precious stones as expected.
 
While being in the same Church, I heard a Praise and worship song being sung by a praise and worship leader, as he sang from his heart to the Lord it pleased the Lord, I could tell by the joy I felt. But when he sung to please the crowd by changing the tone of his voice, it would pleased the crowd and though it sounded attractively beautiful it irritated me and I knew that it was displeasing to the Lord and this too will be considered as a measure of this praise and worship leader's ministry service to the body (1 Corinthians 14:26).
 
While standing there at the Lord's Judgment seat, I saw another brother approaching the throne and being Judged for his work in the ministry. I could tell from the brother's body language, he didn't want to be there in fact neither could he avoid not being there. There, it was revealed to him that his work in the ministry counted for nothing because he abandoned his work and calling. In other words, he went and hide his talent(s) in the ground and he will be considered worthless (Matthew 25:18-30).  In the vision, I could feel the brother's hopelessness, shame and despair.
 
By concluding this vision message, let us not abandon our calling and ministry service in the Lord as we will not escape facing him on the DAY of reckoning.
 
How Sin Defiles Us

Back to our article, we are strongly encourage you brethren to please not disregard this message or any other messages we shared on this platform. As a ministry, we personally heard the Lord said that every message in His name results in blessings and spiritual progress for every Christian. Now  briefly, this article is not a debate on whether humans are born with sin and how sin entered each of us. We also don’t need any special knowledge or an advance study to understand or identify sin. What is a sin then? Simply stated, it is all kinds of wrong doing against the will and commands of God. The Bible declares that all humans (without exception) are born sinners (Psalm 51:5; 1 John 1:10). Therefore, we only become aware what sin is when knowledge of a particular behavior is being revealed to us (Romans 7:7; John 16:8). In other words, as the Apostle Paul acknowledged, “For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died” (Romans 7:9 KJV). Now, here the Apostle is addressing born again Christians saying accountability resulting in consequences springs to live and two natures manifesting, the fallen nature or the nature of the new man (Galatians 5:17).

Often, we hear some Christians saying, ‘I am struggling to stop doing this or that’ and this is a clear indication of a conviction in the life of the person. The conviction is genuine, but the weakness is so strong that it forces us to give up all hope of ever overcoming the stronghold. This undoubtedly has led countless Christians operating on the ‘lukewarm mode.' In other words, they have faith, the conviction (by the Holy Spirit), but they enjoy the ‘pleasure’ of the other nature. We may say that a person is expressing a repentant attitude by acknowledging a weakness and that is true. However, is this sorrow leading us to repentance and abstinence from the wrongdoing (2 Corinthians 7:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:22).

How Bible Men Turned from Sin to Obedience

Let us consider King David, after receiving a prophetic word from the prophet Nathan for the sin of adultery that he committed, he humbled himself by acknowledging his sin, repented and obeyed the Lord never to repeat the mistake (2 Samuel 12:13). As we know, adultery is regarded as a very shameful act in society, but even this sin is forgiven and if a person has repented from it then he or she is set free from it (John 8:36).

Also, when King Manasseh sacrificed his sons and practiced sorcery, witchcraft, and divination, bowing down and worshipping idols provoking God, he suffered the consequences of his sin (2 Chronicles 33:3-13) but after repenting never to return to his old practices, God was moved with compassionate love, and he received forgiveness and his kingdom back.

Furthermore, we can mention the zeal of Zacchaeus for repentance when he declared that he was ready to make restitution for his past mistakes and returned what he owed people (Luke 19:8). Also, Job when he realized that he accused God of punishing him unjustly (although he was a very pious man, he was not considered sinless) repented and God forgave him (Job 42:6), and we know the Lord always rewards obedience with blessings (Blessings article). Additionally, when the Apostle Paul, after persecuting the Church acknowledged the error of his ways repented the Lord forgave him and his testimony as a reformed sinner led to the conviction, repentance and salvation of countless people then and now (Acts 9:11-18; Philippians 1:20-26). Therefore, by considering the circumstances of each person mentioned above, we see a common feature that they were all convicted, which led them to repentance and obedience.

Overcoming Sinful Cravings

Earlier, or above we mentioned that some Christians battle to shake off certain attitudes and cravings because the attractive force to the craving is simply too strong to resist. Resulting in them succumbing and fulfilling the need and only to emerge with the symptoms of the sin which are guilt, regret and no peace (Genesis 3:7-8). Let me add, from my experience in the ministry and working with people in ministry work, I observed that the pleasure-seeking Christian always walks around with guilt. They are weight down by anxiety because although they have the conviction, they do not exercise their faith to reconcile with the conviction leading to repentance. In this case, repentance means turning away from the sin and its pleasure. What I mean is this, fulfill the conviction which operates with faith by acting to avoid the fulfillment of the craving. Thus, this way you overcome and conquer sin.

Kindly allow me to encourage you further, if multiple and habitual sins are present in your life, you will often feel that you are powerless to resist the cravings. Don’t stress; God knows what you are experiencing, just continue to pray but resist the temptation to indulge. The urge to indulge will be so STRONG and mouth-watering that you may not see beyond the pleasure, but you still have the option to say NO! (Genesis 3:6). Some brethren wrote to us sounding hopelessly discouraged and saying that they don’t think God has forgiven them or even hear them pleading for mercy and that they will never make it to Heaven. That is not true, such thoughts are from Satan, God hears us when we pray for help (1 John 5:14), and it pleases Him when we acknowledge that we need His help against sin. If we persevere and be consistent in resisting the sinful craving we are secured victory against sin (Genesis 4:7). Being a saved sinner myself, I know the ingredients we need to receive personal deliverance and victory against sinful habits are faith, prayer, Bible reading, Christian fellowship, courage, consistency, and faithfulness. I can guarantee you that practicing this daily will be an occupation to perfection leaving no room for acts that corrupts our behavior (Ephesians 4:7). But if we allow sin into our lives, Satan will rob us of peace, blessings and ultimately Heaven. Satan has fallen (Luke 10:18)! Don’t fear him, conquer sin and you have him under your feet (Romans 16:20).

We would like to extend an invitation to anyone who does not know the Lord Jesus Christ yet, or of you are not born again, to pray our suggested prayer on this link Prayer of Sincere Repentance
by faith and follow the Lord (Matthew 4:19). You may also contact us for any questions or comments about this article or our ministry.

Blessed Regards in Christ our Lord
Brother Glenn.

Monday, May 21, 2018

The Evidence Of God In Our Lives Is LOVE

Love Is All Encompassing

And he answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself" (Luke 10:27 ESV).

Brief Update: Brethren, we would like to express our sincere apologies for the subscription's emails which did not go out during last week. This was brought under our attention by some concerned brethren. Upon investigation, we discovered that our email ‘feedburner’ was not active and we have NO IDEA why our email subscribers’ information was not active. With our limited skills, we have created another ‘subscribe’ tab towards the top right hand corner of the home page. Please re-insert your email address and confirm your subscription by clicking on the link that you would receive to confirm your subscription in order not to miss out on the Lord’s messages.

How often are we justifying our actions and words before people but in the sight of God we are only wasting our time (Job 38:2).

If you read a little Further you will find out that the man asked who was his neighbour? He certainly knew and might have chosen the easy part to love his family relatives or friends but not his neighbours ,this was a test actually for him when Jesus replied to him recalling a story to him.

I believe that Christians should Always take it in consideration to humble themselves and do their best to follow Christ.

We have come to an important time as He is approaching and is nearer each day to come for his children.

Let's get back to the title "love the Lord thy God ..". We understand that God is Pure love, it is then a prerequisite to love him back and to trust Him with our own mind and our own soul fully.

Again, if we could achieve this in our own strength then we would not need God. This is why the Holy Spirit is present and encourage us through the scriptures to follow Jesus steps. What can be achieve without love? Nothing.

There is more as we grow in Christ we find out that all comes from him and the will of Jesus in our life is what matter.

We must learn to thank God in all situations because of our love towards Him but also because of the warfare around us. Did you know we are surrounded with Angels but also with evils spirits we thank God that he gave us all authority ,the problem is our belief system and practical Christianity.

To love God is to respect and honor all men as it is said in the bible. Don't worry about your enemies just love and pray for them God is aware even before you utter a word to him .This is how we love him, putting into actions what he said and being instructed by His word through the bible.

Stephen's death is a great example: What kind of Spirit Dwelt in him? of course the Holy Ghost was dwelling in him.

His answers before he died was that God may not count their sins as he was stoned to death, Heaven opened, God knew about his situation and God was glorified in Him (Acts 7:55-60) declares,

"But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together[b] at him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep."

There will be a time when people will begin to speak to him within and will have this consciousness of it that He is living within us.
How Love Reveals Christ In Us

The Lord Jesus said, "I will be with you and in you" this is not only a fellowship but an everyday intimacy. This is where God the Father wants his children at" (John 14:20).

When we consider the scripture Luke 10:27 requires time and effect but mostly a sincere heart is what the Lord Jesus Christ is looking for ,our willingness toward him then of course it is part of our faith toward him. Again the Holy Spirit will help us to achieve this because there is so much temptations in our days.

Once you have been touched by Jesus's love even if failure comes you naturally turn to the Lord for forgiveness and you are willing to continue in him.

Our strength comes from the Lord, in time of need he is the only true friend to know and to understand you perfectly.

In General some people are looking for knowledge or wisdom ,Solomon talk about it and says all is vanity, it is like running after the wind ,why would we want knowledge for? To impress others? So in some portion we need her , even knowledge is dangerous without practising it. We thank God that He gives as we need her.

" Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away" (1Corinthians 13:8-10). 

Some may use it for their own agenda but some also will use it to help others showing them the path of Light.

As you know there is no greater love than to give his own life for his friend we talk here of sacrificing our own time for others.

All begin in Love (Agape)and should finish in Love(Agape) this is the Christian life, the bible tells. One day there will be no more knowledge or prophecy because all will know the Lord in His Glory we Will know him fully within and without.

If you were blessed by this message, kindly share it. We would also like to encourage those who are not Saved yet to consider repenting and accepting the Lord in their lives by praying this  Prayer of Sincere Repentance. For any questions or comments on this article or our ministry, please contact us.

Godly Regards

By: Brother Patrice and reviewed by Brother Glenn

Monday, May 7, 2018

Why Gossiping is Bad For Christians

Why Christians should Not engage in Gossip

“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen” (Ephesians 4:29 NIV). Also

“Whoever would foster love covers over an offense, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends” (Proverbs 17:9 NIV). Again, "A gossip betrays a confidence; so avoid anyone who talks too much" (Proverbs 20:19 NIV). Also, "A perverse person stirs up conflict, and a gossip separates close friends" (Proverbs 16:28 NIV).

Brief Update: Brethren, you may have noticed that we updated last week's article by removing the top section of the article. Well, this was not done because what we reported was wrong, NO! we stand by our convictions, instead we were motivated by love for the body of Christ and also to avoid the spirit of bitter divisions, malicious gossip and hateful feelings. Furthermore,  in the coming weeks, I will be writing an article on the spirit of divisions II and you would not want to miss it as it will be packed with experiences to help you identify the root cause of divisions and the damage it can causes to the Church as a whole.
 
Division Through Gossip

Coming back to today's message, In the early 1990s, I shared an apartment with about five friends who were born again. Since we were all Christians, it was not hard to get along. Our love for the Lord and the scriptures helped us maintain a caring attitude for each other. The brotherly love we exchanged for one another was genuine and uncompromising. How beautiful the innocence of those days!

This strong brotherly bond and the unity of those days were greatly envied by the devil so he ‘planted’ a gossip amongst us (Matthew 13:25). It is common practice, to infiltrate the opposing camp one needs to learn the ways and practices of the opposing side, and being unaware of this scheme, we welcomed a messenger of Satan who knew our language. Let me qualify this statement, although the Lord loved and died for all people, some through their works are children of the devil (1 John 3:9-10). With people being easy ‘prey’ and a soft target for the devil, he makes his works and personality known through people, and to identify him; there would always be an element of evil (John 8:44).

As it was, the ‘brother’ who joined our fellowship brought with him a poisoned tongue heavily filled with malicious words of slander and gossip and within a week or so, our brotherly unity and relationship greatly deteriorated with the result that we could not bear being in the same company. By being in that state, the seeds of conflict and hateful feelings had its roots in us, and this ate away whatever love and trust we had for one another. Through this experience, I learned that the unfortunate position why there are so much hatred, gossip, and slander amongst Christian, it happens because love for others became cold in us. As a result of this condition, it serves to deepen bitter rivalries and divisions amongst us.

Rebukes from the Lord to Gossipers

I don’t think there is a ministry without a gossip. There were gossips in the Old Testament (Numbers 12:1), and the Apostle’s Paul and John equally struggled and rebuked gossips (3 John 9-10; 1 Timothy 5:13). For being kind to rebuke and correct some brethren we too had slanderers and gossips amongst us. On some occasions, the Lord exposed and strongly rebuked those went around spreading malicious gossip.

Often, the Lord revealed, that the motive of the gossiper is to transfer a spirit of dislike and hate for others, with the result being that people act loveless towards the victim(s) of gossip. The intention of a gossiper is to influence another to join in to belittle and hate another person. There were specific instances, where the Lord revealed the exact scene and words said to Charis to shame the gossiper and to warn and discourage others from being a gossip.

Also, in our witchcraft article, the Lord exposed both the identity of Satan and the spirit behind the gossiping attack against our ministry. Therefore, this wave of malice, which manifests through gossip is best defeated through prayer and by ignoring it, like Daniel showed (Daniel 6:10). We are commanded to love and pray for those who persecute us through gossip (Matthew 5:44). Additionally, some would say, ‘why did you mention the names of same people in your articles, is that not gossip’? No! They were identified by the Lord to warn you against the deceitful teachings they proclaim.

Furthermore, below we will be sharing with you how malice drove some folk to succeed in a campaign of gossip. As an ingredient, gossips only needed to be motivated by a spirit of jealousy, a desire to oppress others, the pursuit of self-interest and harboring a grudge that issued from hateful feelings.

How Gossip and Slander Destroy Peace and Brotherly Unity

· When Adam and Eve dwelt peacefully in the Garden of Eden, the devil, who is the father of gossipers, he planted a seed of gossip against God’s command which led to the fall of man (Genesis 3: 3-5).

· We further see how King David’s kingdom was threatened by a spirit of gossip through Absalom, for his famous words, "… If only I were appointed a judge in the land...” led to a widespread and negative campaign of gossip against David (2 Samuel 15:4). Although Absalom’s rebellion was from God, (2 Samuel 12:11) we must understand that God withdrew His hand of protection from King David with Satan, through Absalom and others seizing the opportunity to cause division (2 Samuel 15:13; Job 1:9-10). This same spirit later possessed Sheba son of Bicri, and this threatened the stability of David’s Kingdom (2 Samuel 20:1-2).

· Likewise, Daniel’s colleagues, who were jealous of him embarked on a gossip campaign to destroy his life and career (Daniel 6:3-9). Because Daniel feared God, He would not allow such evil destroy Daniel. Instead of fighting fire with fire, Daniel did not try to defend himself; he prayed, and God rescued him and consequently punished the wicked (Daniel 6:10; 24).

· Diotrephes, a disciple who was driven by self-interest, gossiped maliciously about some of the early Apostles to draw the crowd to himself (3 John 9-10). Undoubtedly, this has become a common practice of many Christians who allowed negative feelings to ‘eat’ away love from their hearts for their fellow brethren.

Why some Christians Go from one Church to another?

I will only provide a narrow explanation based on some answers from the Lord on the above question. We have about three large books of about 188 pages with messages and visions which we received from the Lord through Charis. Additionally, we have just over 70 voice recorded visions and conversations Charis had with the Lord. Together, this makes an invaluable teaching available for the body, which we have shared and continue to share on this platform.

Now for our question above, in some of the conversations in a brief summary, the Lord said some Christians appoints themselves as leaders to control others. The Lord is not particularly pleased when Christian’s move from one Church to the other. The floor crossing to other ministries is a human factor and not from the Spirit (Ephesians 4:2-6). The Lord explained that some people feel insecure, others feel unloved, and others are attention seekers who love large gatherings to show off. Like the Pharisees, they like to pray and worship loud to draw attention to their devotion (Matthew 6:5). I am not saying making a joyful noise to the Lord is wrong (Psalm 98:4). The issue we are addressing is, is your joyful noise directed to God or to show off? Because emotionally, either motive is present. The only difference being is that God is the Judge of the real motive.

I would like to encourage those who are meeting as a small group of believers; small groups are more effective and people are often faithful in attendance and commitment. Also, having been part of small groups, I experienced that the fellowship of small groups delivers genuine and quality prayers, praises and worship to God. The move of the Spirit is evident and we often experiences the manifestation of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. It is also true that smaller groups shows active participation and renders fruitful service. We should therefore, not underestimate the power the Lord has vested in small groups, for they listens to His voice and not the dominant voices of the masses (John 10:27). He only needed Abraham to bless the world (Genesis 22:18). The Lord Jesus only needed 12 men to change the world (Mark 3:14). We don’t have time to provide more biblical examples of the effectiveness of spiritual growth and faithful service to God by a small Christian group. We also shared at length in our Introduction and how this ministry started articles, how the Lord used our small group to reach countless people. We have since maintained our faithfulness.

In contrast, having been part of larger group meetings too. I heard the reasoning of some people why they prefer larger gatherings because some reported that they are motivated by the presence of others. This, I have noticed serves as security and people often feel good to be part of such large crowds. This false sense of security might be deceptive as many people from larger church groups copy the worldly behavior and habits of others (Exodus 23:2).

Moreover, we are familiar with the influence a large crowd can have on an individual, we also know the saying, ‘All of us can’t be wrong’ (Daniel 3:7). True, but we need to be careful! The influence of a bigger crowd usually usurps and limits the individual’s decision making. Which often renders an individual the status of a follower (Acts 19:32).

In conclusion, we would like you to consider the following seven questions and look into your soul while examining yourself. Do you always feel a strong urge to speak badly about other people? Are you often irritated at others to the point of being openly impatient with them? Do you love to know what is going on in other’s private lives? Are you unable to resist a conversation that highlights negative things about other people and so you listen and nod in agreement? Do you find it easy to discuss others negatively? Are you in the habit of using the mistakes of people against them even when you said you forgave them? Do you often ask a lot of questions not out of interest but to evaluate the lives of others? If you answered yes, you might be suffering from a gossiping spirit, a hateful spirit towards others and a loveless heart for your neighbor.

For a solution, you need to repent and pursue deliverance. In our deliverance articles, we mentioned that people do not receive deliverance from a single prayer or confession, but some strongholds get broken through constant prayers, and there may be a need for fasting too (Matthew 17:21).

If you are not yet born again, please pray this Prayer of Sincere Repentance to get you started. For any questions or comments on this article or our ministry, please contact us.

With Christ's love,
Brother Glenn.

Brother Glenn