Post by Category : Bible Study

Avoid These Impersonators of God 0

March 30, 2020 Alex Oluwasakin

Most Christians are aware of the dangers outside our Christian faith. This is especially so as God has warned us about many of them. Equally important if not more so are the dangers that loiter within the faith which the word of God stridently warns us about. Especially poignant are the dangers pose by those who are unbelievers but who will claim to be. People who will claim to possess the gifts and authority they do not have. People who will heap titles upon themselves while being devoid of any relationship with the Lord.

Virtually every level or position within the Christian faith have been and will continue to be counterfeited. And many of the gifts of the holy Spirit have such people attempted to mimic too. Hence, we are warned of false Christs, false apostles, false prophets, false teachers and many more.

But how many of us pay much attention to such warnings?

Many profess to be Christians while continuing to live a carefree, nonchalant lifestyle as if the Lord will not come again as He promised. And because of this carelessness of allowing things to go unscrutinised there abound much that is false amongst believers in the church.

Today, I want us to remind ourselves that these dangers are real and are around us. We need to be careful, so we don’t fall victim to the perpetrators. We want to focus on a particular position and gift that of the prophet and prophecy.

Specifically we want to focus on the false prophets.

This is especially poignant at this time when the pestilence named Corona virus 19 (COVID-19) is rampaging the whole world. And many false prophets are brazenly proclaiming various falsehoods in the name of God.

Impersonating God

The false prophets were and continue to impersonate God.

To impersonate someone is to pretend to be that person in some way most often with intent to deceive or defraud. And the reputation of the one impersonated is brought into disrepute.

Hence, when a person attempts to impersonate God, he is trying to bring the name of God into disrepute. This is the high class of calling the name of the LORD in vain!!!

Some of those who impersonate God may not have thought of it or might not even realise that is what they are doing. But ignorance or sincerity is no excuse for impersonation.

However, the false prophets are different in that they usually know they have no relationship with God but still want to profit from associating with God. The actions of the false prophets are deliberate and calculated to cause maximum exploitation of the would-be vulnerable victim while they gain whatever temporal advantage that is their goal.

The average believer in Christ believes in God and would want to obey God. But oftentimes when things are not going the way expected or a person faces some difficulty or challenge, there is desire for solution. Such desire could become desperation as anxiety and fear take hold. At such a time, one seriously needs to know God is there.

Not that God has ever left but our problems have a tendency dull our senses and to make us feel God is not there. It is at such vulnerable moments that the false prophets pounce purporting to speak the word of God.

This is what makes them dangerous and wicked: They prey on the vulnerable at their moment of most need offering snake disguised as fish!

God is everywhere and rules everywhere

The behaviour of the false prophets often show the state of their heart. It is as if they think that God is only near that is, operating only in heaven, and is not seeing or ruling in faraway earth where the people and the false prophets live. Thus, because of the wrong perception of God, the false prophets think God is not seeing the evils and wickedness they are doing to the people. They seem to locate God and limit Him to a specific place.

This was also how the Syrians thought of the God of Israel.

“And the servants of the king of Syria said unto him, Their gods are gods of the hills; therefore they were stronger than we; but let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they.” (1Kgs 20:23).

But they were wrong and were the worse for it. For the LORD answered to their foolishness and unbelief,

“And there came a man of God, and spake unto the king of Israel, and said, Thus saith the Lord, Because the Syrians have said, The Lord is God of the hills, but he is not God of the valleys, therefore will I deliver all this great multitude into thine hand, and ye shall know that I am the Lord.” (1Kgs 20:28).

And then went ahead to confounded and destroy them (1Kgs 20:29-30).

Like the Syrians the false prophets are wrong to think that God is limited to one place are the worse for it too.

Though you profess to be a Christian, is your attitude revealing that you are restricting God to a specific location or situation?
That there are things you think and act like they are beyond God?

Please, think again least you are allying with the false prophets, the impersonators of God.

But whatever the false prophets and others may think, the truth is that God is a God that is both near at hand and a God that is far off. Unlike the false gods and idols of the ungodly the living God is omnipresent.

Indeed, God knows everything about us as He is present everywhere (cf. Ps 139:1-10).

Hence, when God asked the rhetorical question,

“Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off?” (Jer. 23:23).

The truth and the expected answer is that God is both at hand and afar off. Yes, God is present everywhere.

Desperation breeds vulnerability

The false prophets are able to deceive oftentimes because of the ignorance of their victims. Many of their victims lack the basic knowledge of God and of their Christian faith. Many are thus weighted down because of their problems and challenges. Some of these challenges are serious and do not lend themselves to easy solutions or to the means available to the ones with the problems.

In their desire to solve the problems, such ones become so anxious and fearful that they begin to doubt God. They become desperate. And in desperation they often are willing to accept any help they think might solve the problem. They thus become vulnerable to the exploits of the false prophets.

The false prophets work in secrecy and encourage their victims to take their word as the word of God. They tell their victims that they are the oracles of God as they claim to speak “prophetically.” They claim to be able to “decree” things from the spirit realm to appear in the physical as they make declarative statements purportedly backed up by God.

There is also the element of fear. Fear of the false prophets because of their constant boasting of being messengers of God with spiritual powers with which they could bless or curse anyone.

Hence, many of their victims are usually too afraid when their problems have not been solved or the promises of the false prophets fail, to report or expose such ones. Many of the victims cannot think of exposing the false prophets even when they are convinced of their falsehood for fear of being cursed or being branded as agents of the devil attempting to harm “God’s anointed.” So, the victims will keep quiet and relocate to another place or congregation as so as the opportunity comes.

How desperate are you to achieve your goal?
Are you so desperate as to be willing to accept any solution even when the source is ungodly?

No one can hide from God

The false prophets may think God is not seeing their evil activities, if they do, then they alone are deceived in that wise, for there is nowhere or anyone hidden from God.

Hence, the question God directed at them,

“Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord.” (Jer. 23:24).

Yes, God fills heaven and earth. He fills the whole universe with His omniscience, providence and power. God is separate from His creation but is intimately associated with it. Obviously, if God is everywhere, as truly He is, no one can hide from Him even if they try.

In the word of God, the psalmist tells of the experience that is common to all and asked the question with an obvious answer:

“⁷ Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? ⁸ If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. ⁹ If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; ¹⁰ Even there shall thy hand lead me, And thy right hand shall hold me. ¹¹ If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; Even the night shall be light about me. ¹² Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; But the night shineth as the day: The darkness and the light are both alike to thee.” (Ps 139:7-12).

And for those who will dare to think they can hide from God and even make strenuous efforts to make their make-belief seem possible or believable, God in graphic language and in no uncertain terms confounds their lies as He says:

“² Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them; Though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down: ³ And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; And though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, Thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them.” (Amos 9:2-3).

Again, to the questions God asked,

“Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.” (Jer. 23;24).

The obvious answers are that No, no one can hide in secret places where God cannot see Him, and God truly fills heaven and earth.

It is preposterous for the false prophets to think they can hide from God. It is the height of delusion to think that the God who made the ear will Himself not hear, and that He that made the eyes will not see (Ps 94:9). Unbelievable as this may seem, this is how the false prophets conceive of God.

In spite of whatever the false prophets may think, God actually heard, and continues to hear what they say. For even there are false prophets in our day too.

God had neither spoken to nor sent these false prophets. Yet they claim to have heard from God and were speaking the very word from God. That is why they are false.

They are claiming credibility by name-dropping!

What is name-dropping you ask?

Ever been in a conversation with someone and the person casually mentions the name of a celebrity as if they are bosom buddies just to gain some credibility and to make you feel he is somebody.

Meanwhile this person is neither an acquaintance nor is he known by the celebrity whose name he dropped in his conversation with you. That is name-dropping. This is what the false prophets try to do.

The false prophets know that on their own they are very light like the chaff of rice before the wind. They mention the name of God in their attempt to gain credibility with their would-be victims.

Because God had neither spoken to nor sent these false prophets, whatever message they were claiming that He had spoken to or sent them with was false.

Purveyors of false dreams

Amongst their devices for deceiving people were dreams. These false prophets claimed that they had dreamed, meaning that God had spoken to them by dreams when, in reality, He had not. They were saying that they had received prophetic communication by dreams.

In the days of old, dream was one of the means through which God communicated His word to His chosen prophets and Apostles (Num. 12:6; Deut. 13:1; Joel 2:28). It was this fact that the false prophets attempted to exploit then, and they still do today. They were claiming (and this was out of deceit) they had received communication from God for their would-be victims.

Is there any of us here reading this who is so naïve or ignorant as to suppose that God can only see things in heaven and not see things on earth?

I hope not!

Our God sees every and all things.

Hear the word of God:

“Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.” (Heb. 4:13).

Remember, we are not to be ignorant of the devices of Satan so that he does not take advantage of us (2Cor 2:11). We are not to be ignorant of the devices of his agents too.

Here, the specific device is the false claim by the false prophets of receiving communication from God by dreams.

We have been warned that:

“there were false prophets also amongst the people, and even as there shall be false teachers among you” (2Pet 2:1).

Yes, false prophets exist in the church today as they existed in the days of old.

Watch out for them least you become a victim

Please note that it is not dream that is being condemned here, but the fact that God had not spoken to these false prophets through dreams, but the false prophets claim that God had spoken. Rather than keeping quiet, God informed the false prophets that He heard what they were saying,

“I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.” (Jer. 23:25).

A corrupt heart given to evil

The activities of the false prophets revealed that they had a problem of the heart. This is the heart of the matter: They had not and will not yield their hearts to the living God. Their hearts were given to their evil ways rather than to God. This is why their nefarious activities were persistent and not a one-off thing. Rather, it was the habit of these false prophets to claim God was speaking through them to profit from their victims.

But the false prophets prophesy from the ungodliness in their heart. They thought and they deliberated on whatever they wanted to say or to do and went ahead to carry out their intensions. They had a particular preconceived outcome they wanted. They then devised the means to achieve that outcome without recourse to God or the welfare of their intended victims. This has been their modus operandi from the days of old, and even to our day.

Deception was their stock-in-trade, their occupation and the means by which they not only earned their living but attempted to earn a good reputation by claiming association with God!

God repeatedly spoke against their evil activities and even commanded them to stop. Yet, they persisted in their wayward ways as they pursued filthy lucre.

And God even put it to them as to when they were going to stop their evil activities,

“How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart.” (Jer. 23:26).

The false prophets deliberately decided to deceive. They knew what they were doing, knowingly wanting to deceive others. Prophet Jeremiah, the true prophet of God seemed frustrated and impatient here and asked this question.

It is like you and I will ask the question:

How long a known wicked person is going to be allowed to continue with his wicked activities before the authorities will apprehend and bring such a one to justice?
Or How long will God wait before He will judge such a person?
Shall these prophecy-merchants and false minsters be allowed to continue to deceive the gullible people?
For how long?

The crux of the matter

The false prophets in addition to behaving as if God does not exist, were attempting to mar God’s reputation by their false claim of association with Him. But that is a subterfuge for their main goal: To cause the people of God to forget God. They wanted to replace God in the lives of His people. They were ready and willy to do whatever was needed to achieve their goal.

God has always known the heart of man. And God knew the hearts of the false prophets. Even in the best of times and in his best behaviour, God’s indictment of human beings remains true:

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jer. 17:9).

Such level of wickedness in the ordinary fallen man would seem to go up a notch in the false prophets!

But God knew their purpose: To cause God’s people to forget God’s name by their dreams.

And that is a very serious thing with God! And concerning this same issue the Lord Jesus Christ solemnly warned,

“¹Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come. ² It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.” (Luke 17:1-2).

To many people, dreaming is being spiritual or communicating in the spirit. Many claim that whatever they dream comes true never mind that they have no genuine relationship with God. Many are ever ready and willing to take a dream and its purported meaning over and above properly interpreted written word of God!

And there are people who claim to specialize in dream interpretation. This is what makes many susceptible to deception as they cannot distinguish true communication from God from false communication from their own mind, a demonic activity or the mind of the false prophet.

There be many that want to know what will happen tomorrow. Many want to know beforehand the outcome of a decision they are about to take. Such are in the main ignoring the written word of God as they turn to these fortune-teller-turned-prophets for answers. The false prophets in turn are aware of the propensity of many so-called Christians to want guidance even if it is dubious and involves extra-biblical sources.

The false prophets therefore project themselves as having the ears of God and as such having specific word for every person’s situation. This is the veritable fertile milieu upon which the false prophets thrive.

Both the false prophets and their followers in-tow want to be seen to be spiritual. They put on an air of spirituality. They tell their dreams to their neighbours that is, to others as they see this as an indication that they are “spiritual”, and that God is communicating with them.

With reputation of spirituality thus built, the very adept amongst them go through a process of self-promotion and elevation and become self-appointed prophets. These then began to use their devices of supposed communication from and with God to deceive the ignorant and the gullible. They do this with the intension of deceiving such ones to make them think they are prophets of God.

These false prophets had the examples of their fathers to follow. Their fathers were led astray and away from God by false prophets. They followed Baal, the God of the Canaanites. This was in spite of repeated commands and warnings from God to not do so. They were therefore following in the footsteps of their fathers:

“And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and forgat the Lord their God, and served Baalim and the groves.” (Judges 3:7).

And further,

“which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal.” (Jer. 23:27).

Similarly, the false prophets of our day have forgotten the name of God. They are following in the footsteps of mammon, human philosophy, false religion and idols while all the time shouting at the top of their voices that they dine with God all the time!

Whose footsteps are you following?
Where are such footsteps leading you: towards God or away from God?

The word of God has nothing in common with the false prophets

The difference between the false prophet and the word of God is that between the chaff and the wheat.

The false prophets had the propensity to indulge in dreams often imagined or concocted with intent to deceive. God spoke directly to the uselessness of this futile exercise. God considered the false prophet with his dream to be chaff while His word from His prophet is considered to be wheat:

“The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord.” (Jer. 23:28).

Chaff is the worthless husk removed from the wheat during processing. The chaff is of no nutritional value for humans. It is a waste fit only to be blown away by the wind or be burnt with fire. The wheat is the nutritious food for man and is separated from the chaff. When it comes to nutritional value the wheat nourishes and is desired, but the chaff is useless waste.

Similarly, when it comes to spiritual matters, the true prophets of God speak the true word of God that is of high value to the people of God and are to be desired. But the false prophets with whatever word or dream they have, are light and useless like chaff. They are to be rejected as they are blown about by the wind of their insatiable appetite for exploitation of the vulnerable.

They will ultimately end in hell if they persist in their ungodly activities. But meanwhile, refuse to be numbered amongst their victims.

It is because the genuine prophets truly spoke from God under the power of the Holy Spirit that their words are part of the Holy Scripture till today.

As we are told,

“For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” (1Pet 1:21).

The right thing to do was and is still for the false prophets to stop dreaming, give their hearts to God and follow the truth. And the true prophets of God to continue declaring the word of God to His people. Obviously, the false prophets continued with their dreams.

Hence, God told them if they wanted to continue to dream, they should continue. And at the same time the true prophets of God who had the word of God were to continue that word faithfully. Let the false prophets continue with their dreams till their judgement time.

But God would let them know that what the false prophets were doing made them like chaff while the true prophets in contrast would be like wheat. This is a down-to-earth foundation-destroying metaphorical description of the false prophets.

Dreams of the false prophets are chaff. You should not believe them. Do not follow them!

Do you recognise the real word of God as oppose to the false words of a false prophet?
Do you recognise the devices of the false prophets as opposed to the true message of God?

As there is no comparison between chaff and wheat, there is no comparison between the falsehood of the false prophet and the true word of God.

The word of the false prophet may seem comforting temporarily as he seeks to deceive for his own gain, but it will never stand for long. His intension is to draw disciples after himself and thereby lead such people away from God through some concocted spirituality that appeals to such people. People who are discerning soon find out his falsehood and run from him.

To those who follow false prophets

It is important to understand that in addition to speaking about the false prophets, the Holy Bible also speaks of some of the traits of those who follow them or fall for them. They are people who are looking for miracles, signs and wonders instead of the truth of the word of God. Oftentimes they have a need or a problem which have made them become so desperate as to accept any purported solution.

They are more often than not people who have abandoned the word of God as too difficult to obey and have put their own righteousness in its place and are only asking God to bless or approve what they have designed themselves.

The word of God is as clear as daylight:

First in the Old Testament.

“³¹ And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness. ³² And lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not.” (Ezek. 33:31-32).

Then the trend continued into the New testament,

“³ For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; ⁴ and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” (2Tim 4:3-4).

Evidence of the truth of both these passages of Holy Scripture are abundant for all to see in many sections of the church in our day. The false prophets have become brazen in their evil pursuit and have come so adept that they draw thousands of such professors after themselves wherever and whenever they put up a show!

Be ware and take care so you or your loved ones do not inadvertently become victims of the false prophets.

The way forward?

Fortify yourself! How?

Fortify yourself with the word pf God!

The word of God: a panacea against false prophets

False prophets do not self-identify. So, nobody will walk up to you to say he is a false prophet. So, if you are still wondering or you still need to ask the question:

“What shall we do when lies are spoke as truths, and prophets oppose prophets?”

Do exactly as you do in preparing your food: Separate the chaff from the wheat.

Separate the false words of the false prophet from the truth of God, using the word of God as revealed in Holy Scripture. Make yourself a student of the bible under the ever-present presence of the Holy Spirit.

All believers have been warned told and warned that they will know the false prophets by their fruit (Mat 7:15-20).

Where do you find that?

Within the pages of Holy Scripture.

Therefore, the written word of God is a panacea against false prophets and their exploits.

The word of God

But what about the word of God?

God’s word is all powerful. The LORD God Almighty spoke the universe (visible and invisible, known and unknown into existence. It converts the souls, makes the simple wise, rejoices the heart, and enlightens the eyes (Ps 19:7-8). It accomplishes whatever God pleases and prospers in the thing He sends it (Is 55:11). And He uphold all things by His powerful word! (Heb. 1:3).

What are you being told by whoever?
Whatever title such a person may arrogate to himself/herself, does his word conform to or contradict properly interpreted Holy Scripture?
Or does it contract it?
Is this person claiming to be more authentic spiritual revelation, equal to or superior to the written word of God?

Beware indeed!!!

The word of God came through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The prophets of old spoke by the Holy Spirit. Hence, the word spoken by any genuine prophet of God will not contradict the written word of God as the Holy Spirit is the source of both. God is not the author of confusion (1Cor 14:33).

The word of God is as a fire.

But in what sense is God’s word like fire or hammer?

Fire consumes the chaff (as in Jer. 23:28) and so God’s word will consume the false prophets (Mat 3:12). “My word” which is “wheat” (Jer. 23:28), that is, food to the true prophet and his hearers, is but a consuming fire and a crushing “hammer” (Mat 21:44) to the false prophets and their followers (2Cor 2:16).

The false prophets

The word of the false prophets may be known by its promising peace and prosperity in sin. They comfort those living in rebellion to God by twisting the word of God as promising them grace to continue in sin! So contrary to the word of God which tells us:

“¹What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? ² God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” (Rom 6:1-2).

Do not be deceived. No human being has grace to continue in sin no matter how close to God and anointed such an impostor may claim to be. If someone is encouraging you to continue in your wayward ways, promising you grace as you remain deep in sin instead of pointing you to Christ and encouraging you to repent, know that such a one is an agent of the devil spewing the message from the pit of hell.

Simply put, such a person is an impersonator, an evil and dangerous one at that!

Run, I say again, run as fast as you can from such least you be consumed by the fire that will consume that false prophet!

Remember God’s word again

God’s word burns and breaks the hard-hearted (Jer. 20:9).

Yes, God’s word is also like a hammer.

In what sense is God’s word like a hammer?

The words “fire” and “hammer” are used here as figures of speech.

Like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces, God’s word breaks the stone-hard heart and brings it to the place of repentance. It identifies the heart that is beyond redemption and shatters it into smithereens, and beyond recovery.

Thus, God spoke to the false prophets and others who might venture to walk in their footsteps that if they had not known they should now know as He asked the rhetorical questions the answers to which were obviously a resounding “Yes”

“Is not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?” (Jer. 23:29).

For many reasons false prophets are abhorrent in the sight of God.

A foremost reason is because they try to pervert an attribute of God: His Omniscience. They attempt to impersonate God through pretending that they genuine agents of God when they are not. They claim to know the mind of God and in addition that God had commanded them something He had not.

The omniscience of God is that attribute of God by which He knows all things past, present and future perfectly without needing to learn anything new.

God’s Complete knowledge

God’s knowledge is so complete that even the hairs on our heads are numbered (Mat 10:30). He knows the numbers of the stars and calls each by name (Ps 147:4). God knows things that are hidden from human beings, and we are to stay with only the things He has revealed (Deut. 29:29).

There are things which God has purposely hidden from us and it is not for us to seek to know those things (Acts 1:7). The true in Christ is not left in the dark about things of God for we are told:

“Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.” (1Cor 2:12).

Origin of God’s knowledge

God’s knowledge originates within Himself. Hence, no one had directed the Spirit of God, or been a counsellor have taught Him (Is 40:13-14).

Result of God’s knowledge

God’s knowledge is all-encompassing. God cannot and does not make any mistake in anything anywhere anytime. Though God created all of creation, in terms of relationships, God knows those who are His and those who are not (Num. 16:5; John 10:14; 2Tim 2:19). And since nothing is hidden from Him, God is able to judge the right judgement (Eccl. 12:14; 1Cor 4:5; Heb. 4:13).

In addition to their attempts to pervert the omniscience of God, the multi-various sins of the false prophets include but are not limited to:

Gaining credibility by false association

People who prophecy falsely are trying to gain credibility by associating themselves with God. They recognised the majesty of God but realised they do not measure up to His standard. God does not know them nether do they know God. But they make the claim that God is speaking through them anyway. So, they want to make gains they will otherwise not be able to make by claiming association with Him.

Making God out to be a liar and therefore untrustworthy

By claiming that God spoke to them when He did not, the false prophets set themselves up to fail. And when they fail it may thus look like God has lied when He actually did not know them. Hence, claiming that He spoke to them or sent them when He did not could eventually give God a bad name especially amongst the unbelievers and gullible Christians too.

It is a very serious thing when someone walks up to you or stands before you and says, “God spoke to me” or “the Holy Spirit said to me.” Many believers thoughtlessly say these things without realizing what they are doing. Each time you say, “God said” or “the Holy Spirit said” when they have not, you are being a false prophet! You are inadvertently putting yourself in a situation where your failed pronouncements can make God look bad for a thing for which He has not been part of.

The statement “God told me to tell you” or “the Holy Spirit sent me tell you” or other combinations, all of which have the same end-point that: God is commanding you to do or not do something through the person speaking to you, has brought terrible sufferings to many. And many lives have been ruined because such people spoke falsely calling in the name of God when God has nothing to do with their evil enterprise. All they are after is to prey on you to their own advantage. Be careful not to be part of that evil racket

Be careful not to be found to be impersonating God. Again, remember the Lord Himself speaking:

“²¹ “And at that time if anyone should say to you, “Behold, here is the Christ,’ ‘Behold, there he is,’ do not believe him! ²² For false messiahs and false prophets will appear, and will produce signs and wonders in order to mislead, if possible, the elect. ²³ But you, watch out! I have told you everything ahead of time!” (Mark 13:21-23).

And this command and warning of the Lord is to us present day believers too, this chapter 13 of Mark ends with:

“And what I say to you, I say to everyone: Be on the alert!” (Mark 13:37).

The prayer of the true child of God should be as in Ps 119:18:

“Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law”.

Please remember that the false prophet still has the name, “prophet” but now with a notorious appellate, “false” appended.

The appellate “false” is a powerful characterisation that undercuts whatever the depth of the foundation of the credibility the false prophet may lay claim as it reveals the root of all he is and does.

None of us can know the false prophets as much as God does. It is therefore our wisdom and to our good that we take due cognisant of what God has detailed concerning the false prophets in His word.

This is not an exhaustive list but a glimpse of the profile of the false prophets:

They are profane (Jer. 23:11). They are defiled and are therefore not messengers of the true God.
Their wickedness is found in the house of God (Jer. 23:11). They operate amongst Christians too.
God has seen folly in these false prophets (Jer. 23:13).
They prophesied in Baal (Jer. 23:13). And in our day they prophesy by divination not by the spirit of God.
They cause the people of God to err (Jer. 23:13).
They commit adultery (Jer. 23:14).
They walk in lies (Jer. 23:14).
They strengthen the hands of evil doers (the wicked) (Jer. 23:14).
They make the people vain (Jer. 23:16).
They speak the vision of their own heart and not out of the mouth of the LORD (Jer. 23:16).
They say to those who despise God that God has said they shall have peace when He has not (Jer. 23:17).
They say to everyone who is walking after the imagination of his own heart that no evil shall come upon him (Jer. 23:17).
They had not stood in the counsel of the LORD, had not perceived and heard His word (Jer. 23:18).
God had not sent them, yet they ran; God had not spoken to them, yet they prophesied (Jer. 23:21).
If they had stood in the counsel of the LORD, and had caused the people of God to hear the word of God, then they would have being turning the people of God from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings (Jer. 23:22).

The false prophets will be punishment

God therefore indicts and denounces the false prophets for who they are and what they do (Jer. 23:9-40).

Hence, like every wicked person, the false prophets will not Go unpunished. So false prophets may continue in their ungodly and nefarious activities. Whatever are the gains and successes they may seem to have now are ephemeral. The chaff is separated from the wheat, gathered together and is then burnt with fire in the end. Similarly, God is not slack concerning the false prophets. Rather, God will judge them at the right time.

If they fail to repent and forsake their wickedness, the false prophets have only the fearful judgement of God to look forward to.

The promise of God concerning the false prophets is sure to be fulfilled:

Their way shall be to them as slippery ways in the darkness where they will be driven and fall therein. For God will bring evil upon them on the day of their visitation (Jer. 23:12).
A grievous whirlwind of the LORD had gone out in fury and shall fall upon them (before the LORD the false prophet is wicked) (Jer. 23:19).
The anger will not stop until it had executed the thoughts of God upon the false prophets (Jer. 23:20).

I encourage you to re-examine the basis for your lifestyle as a believer in Christ.

Are you perchance enhancing or support any false prophet in his rebellion against God?
Does your attitude portray you as a false prophet?

Remember that false prophets are just one group among the impersonators of God.

It is important that you are not an associate of any of them nor should you be seen in the same light as them.

Please, this is a very serious issue before God. Act now before it is too late.

Ensure that you are not by any means aiding or abetting false prophets.
Ensure that you yourself are not inadvertently portraying yourself as a false prophet.
Encourage anyone who may be following false prophets to break their relationship with them.

By so doing you will avoid being an impersonator of God nor aiding or abetting of them.

May the Almighty God keep and bless us all, in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

I pray that the LORD will deliver any of His children from the clutches of the false prophets and heal them. He will protect His children from false prophets. He will expose them where they cannot be protected and then be made to face justice even in the here and now before the ultimate punishment at the coming of Christ in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

To the unbeliever

Though we have been talking about the false prophets.

But how about those who are still living in their sins and in rebellion to God?
The unbelievers?
Are you saved that is, are you a believer in Christ Jesus?

If you are, I pray the LORD will keep you and onto the day of the Lord in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

But if you are not yet a believer in Christ, if Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the only begotten Son of God is not yet your Saviour and your Lord why not?

Please, that is a serious question that demands a serious well-thought-out answer. This is the time of grace.

Where will you spend eternity?

If the call to the world comes to you now, you will not be able to defer it. It is a call all of us must answer but each person at his or her own time and turn. The decision you make now has eternal consequences that you will not be able to make once you exit this world.

Hear and accept the invitation extended to all by the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth himself:

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Mat 11:28-30).

And the step to take to accept that invitation of the Saviour:

“If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Rom 10:9-10).

“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13).

Please, I urge to:

Arise now and confess with your mouth that the Lord Jesus had come in the flesh and died for your sins, confess that He is now your Saviour and Lord, and, believe in your heart that God had raised Him from the dead. Confess your sins to the Lord now. That is what it means (and for want of a better way to say it), to accept Jesus Christ as your Saviour and your Lord.

May the LORD God Almighty accept and keep you in the name of Jesus, Amen.

Bible Study, Christian Conduct, Exhortation, Feature, Salvation

One Tough Command That Must Be Obeyed! 0

February 16, 2020 Alex Oluwasakin

Many times, we focus on our needs, not that it is bad for us to ask that our needs be met by God. He Himself has promised us that much. Problem comes when we use the degree to which our needs have been met as the standard for judging the health of our relationship with God.

Thus, you find that those who consider their needs to be more than met see God as good and that they are pleasing Him in whatever they are engaged in, even if such engagements are spoken against in His word.

On the other hand, those who seem to be struggling to have their needs to be met, even when they are engaged in things obviously in the will of God often either doubt the goodness of God, their own good works for God or even their relationship with God.

We forget that no matter what, in this life, somethings are just very difficult for us. Some are even not meant to be no matter how much one desires them!

It even becomes quite perplexing for us when we discover that many things that we are commanded to do as believers in Christ are very difficult if not impossible.

Because of such difficulties or seeming impossibilities, many have tried to excuse their failures concerning certain commandments of God. They will usually claim that God will understand their failings, or they may try to re-interpret the word of God to fit their own ideas that make them feel comfortable.

But the truth is that whatever God has commanded, He expects His people to obey.

God gives us difficult things to do because He is willing and have indeed made provision available for such to be accomplished. We only need to realise our utter dependence upon Him and then ask for the help we need to do that which pleases Him. Hence, our difficulties and challenges should point us in the direction of God and cause us to depend more on Him.

The Lord Jesus Christ had numerous teaching sessions with His disciples. His disciples were those who believed in and committed themselves to following Him as their Saviour and Lord. Many of such teaching sessions were held in public with members of the public often in multitudes in attendance. One particular teaching session seemed to have been more popular than the others and is commonly referred to as the sermon on the mount. In addition to the disciples, the public was present as a mixed multitude (Mat 5:1-2).

As the Lord taught the disciples on human relationships, He began to correct the errors in their thinking and attitude. Manu of such errors emanated from the rabbis, religious and political leaders who hid under the guise of the traditions of the elders as they taught human opinions and other things to make the laws of God of no consequence.

Some of these teachings of the Lord are found in Matthew chapter 5 (especially Mat 5:21-48). The Lord was speaking on relationships. So, here he speaks of one relationship everyone abhors. A relationship which everyone has in one shape or another. This is one relationship too many for numerous people believers and unbelievers alike. Yes, the one relationship which many wish either does not exist, or will just disappear with a wave of the of the hand as you make of an irritating fly!

Indeed, numerous people actually spend a large proportion of their resources trying to eradicate this relationship wherever they think it exists whether real or imagined. And many so-called ministries, so-called ministers and industries have arisen whose exclusive preserve and reason for existence is the promise to somehow make this relationship disappear in the life of anyone who will buy into their errors. Yet this relationship clings tenaciously to thriving life in the midst of the cacophony about it.

While the purveyors of deception smile all the way to the bank as they live lives like rock stars, their victims continue to groan and moan as they ever search for means to at least mend the deep holes made in their financial pockets.

But in the passage that we are going to look at the Lord focused His attention on one of the many relationships. This relationship that piques even the most self-controlled amongst us is that relationship with the enemy.

Perhaps you never thought of it this way but truly you have a relationship with the enemy. This relationship is of such importance that the Lord of glory focused His attention up it. It is so important that His followers have a clear idea of this relationship.

Hear the Lord yourself:

“But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” (Mat 5:44).

Let us look at one of the very difficult command, one which if I say is one of the most disobeyed commandments will not be an exaggeration.

“But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” (Mat 5:44).

The passage of which this verse forms a part (Mat 5:43-48) occurs within the section of the Holy Scripture commonly referred to as the sermon on the mount which spans Matthew 5:1-7:29.]]

To say that the Lord’s teachings of a new and higher standard of inter-human relationships were as radical and unacceptable in the days He taught them to His disciples even as they are today is no exaggeration.

How easy are you finding the Christian lifestyle?

You have heard

The Lord first reminded the disciples what they knew. They were not being taught for the first time about their enemies. It was not a strange topic of discussion for them.

His audience, the disciples were adult Jews and the multitudes were made up of majority of Jews brought up in the laws of Moses. Most of them would also have heard and some would have known the additions and other interpretations their religious leaders had added to the law.

This was why Jesus reminded them:

“Ye have heard that it had been said” (Mat 5:43).

The religious leaders when adding their own additions and interpretations to the law still spoke as if God was speaking. This was so as to gain credibility amongst, and obedience from the people.

The Lord knew of their deception to present their ideas as the law of God. Hence, He openly rebuked them as He quoted the prophet Isaiah to refute the errors:

“–Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition–” (Mark 7:5-13).

How true that this is what many people are doing today: they refuse to come to God so they can continue with their way of life unhindered!

What the law commanded:

“Thou shalt love thy neighbour” (Mat 5:43).

The is what the law commanded. For the Lord was quoting the law:

“Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord.” (Lev 19:18).

But what the religious leaders added

“and hate thine enemy” (Mat 5:43).

This is the part added by the religious leaders, and is the part of what the Pharisees, and the Lord referred to as “the tradition of the elders” (Mat 15:2; Mark 7:3, 5, 8), and for which the unbelieving Saul of Tarsus, was zealous before his conversion (Gal 1:14).

It is as if their thinking was that if you love your neighbour you must do the opposite to your enemy. They possibly forgot that their neighbour could be their enemy or they did not understand who their neighbour was.

This is one command that natural man will find attractive, for it sounds reasonable to wipe out someone who otherwise would like to harm you. The law of self-preservation, if there is anything like that, would demand this to be right too. Hence, many would be eager to obey this than to love their neighbour. But this was not what God would want, and the Lord set out to correct the error.

A radical departure

Then comes our verse,

“But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” (Mat 5:44).

The Lord now speaks with authority, and not as one of their religious leaders, and even the people recognised the presence of this authority (Mat 7:29; Mark 1:22). But as might be expected, the religious leaders who were supposed to know the law questioned, and then rejected the authority of Christ (Mat 21:23; Mark 11:28).

The true disciples are in mind

He spoke to His disciples, not the fickle-minded multitudes that followed Him. The disciples of Christ are given this command to obey. They are the ones to carry out this command while they face the hostile actions of the enemies.

Remember, this,

“Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” (Mat 16:24).

This is for those who will truly follow Him according to what He commands them not according to their own ideas and desires.

This is a serious issue for seriously minded and committed ones. The Lord was not suggesting good behaviour or giving good advice. Rather, He was commanding them, compelling them as to what they should do concerning a specific issue: their enemies. Their response to entities they are aware to be their enemies. The obligation is upon the disciples of Christ and not on their enemies. That obligation is to obey their Lord in all circumstances.

Are you one of those committed to following the Lord as His disciple?

Remember that He is the Word of God. He is the Son of God who came to fulfil the law. And He is above the religious leaders and the tradition of their elders. In spite of their refusal to believe, He was the Messiah they had been waiting for, and He demonstrated His authenticity in both word and deed.

Enemies are human beings

The enemies are the enemies of Christ and the disciples. They are numerous both spiritual and human.

Enemies here are human beings who are antagonistic to God and to the people of God. These are human beings at enmity against God. Often their thinking is since they cannot hurt God, they can try to get God through harming you. Hence, your credentials that qualify you for earning these oftentimes vicious enemies is that you are a child of God, you are a disciple of Christ. These enemies act like a hostile force against you and your interests. They do this sometimes to see if they can stop God in your life by making you to sin.

Do you realise that you may be sinning by hating your enemy?

You need to realise that if you are a true child of God your enemy is also an enemy of God. More often than not you will have enemies simply because you are a child of God and not because you have wronged anyone in particular.

It is true that Satan the devil is the archenemy of man, he is the adversary especially of the believer in Christ and may even hide behind humans who act as his instrument for his nefarious activities. But this passage is focused on human enemies of the people of God. Flesh and blood enemies and not some phantom in someone’s imagination.

How do I know these enemies are humans?

Remember, God never says and will never say we should love the devil or do good to the devil or any of the evil angels or demons that follow him. Rather, the believers are to resist the devil.

“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (Jam 4:7).

As we are further taught on the pages of Holy Scripture:

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Eph. 6:12).

And the weapons for that resistance we are told,

“(for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)” (2Cor 10:4).

To deal with the devil and his hoards know the weapons and use them. And if you suspect another human being as a potential tool in the hand of the devil, then address the strongman behind that visible enemy with the weapons God has provided to believers for that.

But here the enemies the Lord was drawing the attention of His disciples to are our fellow human beings we can see and interact with during our daily activities and are the ones classified as neighbours and or enemies.

Remember, love is what you choose to do.

Love is strong affection for another. It is an affection based on benevolence. It is an act of the will. While love is not primarily of the emotions, it has much emotional content. It is not how you feel but goes with a lot of feelings. It is a “doing” and not a “feeling.”

The command by the Lord to love here shows that what is asked for is not natural. It is not what a person will naturally choose to do. This is especially borne out by the objects of that love. Humans naturally love those whom they like and perceive love them. Love in such situations is more of a prorated thing. You love to the level you feel someone loves you.

Speaking naturally and from the human point of view, one can say this, loving one’s enemies is a herculean task, something impossible from the natural man.

But the Lord commands to do what is not natural because He speaks to the spiritual man, the born-again child of God who has the Holy Spirit resident in him. To such a one is made available the resources of heaven.

So, what are the things required to be done?

We are to love them. Here the love commanded is that based or appreciation and right regard. It is not something to be done flippantly or half-heartedly. Rather to be done excitedly and cheerfully! Are you kidding me! You say. But I am not joking neither am I pulling your leg. You are to love these people seriously.

How did I know that you asked?

Because in doing this we will be emulating God, our heavenly Father (Mat 5:45). And God does nothing half-heartedly. Rather, God does everything joyfully and excellently.

To bless is to invoke divine care for someone. To speak well of and favour that person. We are to invoke God’s blessings upon them and to ask God to bless them! As far as God is concerned, for another human being, it is “Bless, and curse not” (Rom 12:14).

To curse is to cause injury or harm by means of a statement regarded as having some supernatural power, because a deity or supernatural force has been evoked. A prayer or invocation for harm or injury to come upon someone by a deity. It is the evil or misfortune that comes as if in response to imprecation or as retribution. Hence, this is not just words but includes the desire to carry out the intentions.

This is not talking about the rather common idea of asking someone to stop using abusive language by saying stop using “curse words.” This is serious business as it speaks of people who actually believer that there is the supernatural power of a deity empowering their words as they speak malicious words in anger over their perceived enemies. The enemy is perceived to be so evil as to deserve the most horrible punishment possible that a deity can inflict! This is more than just words as it involves desires, intentions and actions.

To do Good is to speak to and do things to and for them that are to their benefit.

Hate is extreme dislike and aversion usually deriving from fear, anger, or sense of injury. To hate is to dislike so strongly with the implication of eversion and hostility. Just mentioning the name of the one so hated sends the blood of the hater boiling!

Pray that is, speak to God about and for them: Entreat, implore God on behalf of someone which despitefully use you.

Despiteful that is, expressing malice or hatred. To be despiteful is to mistreat with the implication of threats and abuse.

To Persecute is to harass or punish in a manner designed to injure, grieve, or afflict specifically to cause to suffer because of belief. To persecute is to systematically organise program or event recurrently to oppress and harass people.

If there is one word that can describe the varieties of enemy action, it will be persecution. The enemy persecutes in a diversity of ways: It often raises up false scholars, false teachers, false prophets to name a few to pervert and to corrupt the word of God in attempts to lead the people astray and possibly into apostasy.

Failing in that, but often in addition, fanatics are raised up who then physically pillage the properties of believers and even physically attack them leading to grievous bodily harm and even death. Ultimately the desire of the enemy is to do maximum damage, and all his resources are calculated to achieve that goal often at whatever cost.

The Lord knew what He was talking about

The Lord did not speak in uncertain terms. Rather, He spoke with certainty and mentioned few of the enemies and the actions of the enemies and how the disciples were to respond. This teaching was radical to say the least that day. It is even more so in our day. To many today as it was in those days, this is unreal. You cannot be serious!

Specific enemies and their acts representative of a wide spectrum of enemies and enemy actions that could be directed against the people of God are mentioned here. Many more are enumerated on the pages of Holy Scripture.

The enemies curse and imprecate evil on the believer in Christ. They desire the doom of the believer in their intentions, planning and actions. They hate the believer with cruel hatred, detest and viciously pursue the believer. At every opportunity, they despitefully use the believer.

They revile, insult and otherwise abusively entreat the believer in Christ. They persistently persecute the believer. They molest, harass and trouble the believer persistently. It is a continuous and unrelenting pursuit that is premeditated and have the goal of either destroying the one being pursued, and failing that, to make life as unbearable for the believer as much as is possible. They will elicit and avail themselves of any help they can get in this ungodly enterprise.

Remember, the righteousness of the believers in Christ is to exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees (Mat 5:20). As usual the Lord is not in the business of asking His followers to do things that are easy. Of course, if things demanded of the believer are easy there would be no need for God’s help through the Holy Spirit.

So, the Lord meant real enemies who meant to do you and other disciples harm are to be loved by His disciples! There is no getting around it. The Lord Jesus Christ asked, rather, He commanded His disciples to love their enemies. There are no get-out clauses, no loopholes, and no exceptions.

The Lord came to fulfil the law

All these corroborate the testimony of Christ as He said:

“¹⁷ Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. ¹⁸ For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” (Mat 5:17-18).

Obviously, He was talking about the true law devoid of the additions of the traditions of the elders. Hence, this teaching and command.

Do remember that the Lord was not talking from the comfort of a house like someone who did not know what he was talking about. In addition to His rightful position as the Lord with authority, He had experienced the evils enemies are capable of more than any human being. Yet He did not repay evil with evil to those enemies.

The ultimate demonstration of this love was His volunteering to go to the cross and while He hung in agony and excruciating pain as He was dying for the sins of the same enemies that cried crucify Him, he prayed for the same enemies as He said:

“Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).

His foremost apostle gave more details:

“¹⁹ For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. ²⁰ For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. ²¹ For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: ²² who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: ²³ who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: ²⁴ who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” (1Pet 2:19-24).

Part of the law the Lord came to fulfil is to love our neighbours as ourselves. That neighbour may be a friend or an enemy. Again, the Lord is our supreme example. We are informed that while we were sinners and still in enmity against God the Lord died for us (Rom 5:8).

On what authority is your practice of Christianity based: the word of God or the traditions of men? Please, check!

Love for the enemy is a trait of the children of God

Perhaps some of them were playing dumb: hearing what he said and knowing that He is Lord, they still asked a question.

Why must we love our enemies?

As if in answer to that unverbalized question, the Lord further said:

“that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Mat 5:45).

This is not saying that this will make believers become the children of God. You do not become a child of God by your works. Rather, you do those good works because you are a child of God. The believers are already sons or children of God through salvation by Jesus Christ. Rather, now that they are children of God, obeying the commandments of God, in this particular case, loving their enemies, demonstrates them showing their resemblance to their heavenly Father.

You are still a little child to God

Though you are an adult, you are still a little child in the sight of God. Hence, He takes care of you as a little child in His family meeting you at every point of your needs. He is the reason you are still alive despite all that life has thrown at you. You may not realise it, but you are weathering all adverse situations because of His everlasting arms beneath you.

Remember when you were growing up about 5-8 years old? Mummy said do something. You ask why? And she answers, because mummy says to do it. And you did it because mummy or daddy said so. I am sure if you have brought up children, you also have used that “because mummy said so” or “because daddy said so” cliché.

Further, remember what the Lord said about entrance into the kingdom of God?

“And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” (Mat 18:3).

And I put it to you that irrespective of spiritual growth and accomplishment for the Lord, you are the Lord’s little child. So, you do this and many other things because your heavenly Father says to do it! And that settles all dissentions.

Further, the apostles regularly addressed adult believers in Christ as little children (cf. Gal 4:19; 1John 2:1, 2:12, 3:18, 4:4). And believers are admonished to,

“as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.” (1Pet 2:2).

As children of God, believers in Christ are to go the extra mile. They are to do much better than unbelievers (Mat 5:20, 41). This can only be possible because Christ is living His life through the believer (Gal 2:20). Such have the grace that is due to the divine life they possess through the presence of the Holy Spirit resident in them. As we are told, the believers are partakers of

“the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2Pet 1:4).

Believers have the character trait of peacemakers who are blessed, called children of God, and also followers of God who are referred to as His dear children (Mat 5:9; Eph. 5:1).

Similar to many of the things He commands believers, God first demonstrates such by or in Himself. Hence, because He is Holy, He says believers should be Holy. And here, he first demonstrates His none-discriminatory action in terms of provision for all His creation. He is truly the God of providence.

As in the physical climate or weather, God had the ability to be selective as He demonstrates in the way different areas have different weather at the same time. But such selection is not usually on the basis of the location of evil and good people as all people in any particular location experience the same weather at the same time.

Similarly, in spiritual matters, generally people groups are not singled out as a whole for punishment. Though God punishes the wicked and evil person, we may not always know the process by which His judgements upon the ungodly are carried out in the interim before the final judgement.

Please remember that though believing children of God cannot be perfect as God is, God still demands our sincere best rendered faithfully.

Many believers will want to please God because that is the right thing to do even when they might not even know what to do.

Now a powerful contrast

If the fact your Lord commanded, and obeying enables you to demonstrate your similarity with your heavenly Father, may be the desire to avoid a notorious appellate will do the trick!

Humans like good accolades. Many even go out of their way to court such praises. The average person would be happy and thumb his chest in elation if commended as being Christlike. But not many especially amongst the children of God would like a negative appellate. This brings us to the next verse.

“For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?” (Mat 5:46-47).

To love the one who loves you is the way of the natural man. This is what is most natural and usual for every person: love them that love you.

What goes for love, goes also for greetings in all its different forms. Even the worst of men (this is what these tax collectors had become to the Jewish society of Jesus’ day), would greet only their brethren. And believers are definitely expected to do better than even the best of men!

The Lord speaks to this nature of man because He knew man (John 2:24-25). Most people do things for reward.

But Christian character as reflected from God goes beyond doing what is natural or commonly expected as the earthly nature of man. The Christian has been regenerated and has the Spirit of God living in him. He is therefore to walk in the Spirit. It is the indwelling Holy Spirit that empowers and thus enables him to put his body under subjection or control and thus go beyond and above his sinful nature.

Again, the Lord demonstrates His knowledge of man: man does things for reward or the potential for reward. In that day, to be likened to the publicans was a powerful negative appellate. To be described as a publican was one of the terrible things you could say to a Jew.

The publicans

But who were the publicans?

Why were they so hated by the Jewish society?

The publicans were also called tax collectors. Ordinarily the tax collector is someone who collected taxes for the government.

In that day, the term “tax collector” was a term of abuse as here (Mat 5:46; and Mat 18:17). It was also a foil to the hypocrites (Luke 3:12; 7:29). It was also joined in vituperative apposition to “harlots” (Mat 21:31-32). They were commonly referred to as “sinners” as they were lumped together in the phrase “tax collectors and sinners” (Mat 9:10-11; 11:19; Mark 2:15-16; Luke 5:30; 19:2-10).

In the areas ruled by the Roman empire, contracts for collecting taxes in a region were usually given to wealthy foreigners through a bidding process. The agreed amount of tax was paid in advance to the Roman government by the bid winner. He in turn then sub-contracted specific smaller geographical areas to subcontractors. The subcontractors further subcontracted to lower level contractors too. These then hired local inhabitants to which he contracted smaller geographical areas to collect the taxes.

This arrangement provided ample opportunity at several levels for considerable personal enrichment through the unrestricted inflation of taxes and toils as a portion of whatever was collected went into the pocket of the collector.

One of such local inhabitants is Zacchaeus called a tax collector who amassed wealth in the Jericho area (Luke 19:2-10). They collected much more than was required and pocket the excess themselves. Hence, they were perceived to be corrupt. In addition, the local tax collectors were seen as traitors who were collaborators with the enemy of the people, the Roman government.

The only standard for the believer is God.

And finally, the Lord commanded:

“Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” (Mat 5:48).

This is the crux of the matter, the glory of God and becoming godlike.

To be perfect is to be complete, to be matured. It does not mean to be flawlessly perfect which is impossible for us believers until the final glorification in the presence of Christ. But in our current state on earth, each believer is to through the enablement of the indwelling holy spirit to aspire to Christlikeness.

This calls the believer to engage in things that are not natural to humans, but which God has commanded and thus made are possible to those in whose lives Jesus Christ is Saviour and Lord.

And whatever character traits of God we are to aspire to are glimpsed from the personality of Christ:

“For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Col 2:9).

He is the one who had come down to earth to declare God to man, and to reveal Him to whoever He will (John 1:18; Luke 10:22).

A very tough command indeed

If we are honest with ourselves, we will agree that it will infinitely be much easier to obey the command of the Lord concerning love amongst believers,

“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.” (John 13:34).

Even with the help of the Holy Spirit, loving fellow believers have not been easy for many. Hence, there is much strife, divisions, cliques and party spirit reminiscence of the Corinthian church of old (1Cor 3:1-10ff.) in the churches in our day. So, look up to the Lord to see you through as you make sincere efforts to obey Him.

Do bear in mind that from the point of view of the Lord He was not asking us to do anything extraordinary. Rather, He is asking us to do that which should be, though it is not, natural to us as children of our Father in heaven (Mat 5:48).

The Lord lived what He commanded

The Lord Himself was to demonstrate what He commanded His disciples while he hung on the cross. Despite all the humiliation, severe beating, and the excruciating pain He must have been in, He prayed for those who crucified Him out of envy and hatred:

“Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.” (Luke 23:24). He says that it is for the disciple to be like his master (Mat 10:25).

His disciples demonstrated obedience

Stephen while being stoned, in excruciating pain and at the point of death prayed for those who were killing him:

“And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.” (Acts 7:60).

God’s standard remains the same

God’s commandments are universal to all His people in all ages. The same standard was demanded of the old testament believers. They were to give their enemies food if hungry and water to drink if thirsty (Pro. 25:21). I would venture that this passage is more than just food and drink.

Remember that love is a central tenet of the kingdom of God. It is a core trait of a genuine believer in Christ. The true child of God manifests lives a life of love. This bears repeating: love is entrenched in both the Old and the new covenants.

“³⁷ Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. ³⁸ This is the first and great commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. ⁴⁰ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Mat 22:37-40),

It appears that the second great commandment, rather than excluding enemies includes them. Or I should say that it does not distinguish between friends and enemies.

Christ Himself died for sinners while they were yet at enmity against God. Hence, in the new covenant believers in Him are commanded to follow His example. Believers are commanded to love one another as Christ loved them (John 13:34). They were to be known to be disciples of Christ by the way they showed love (John 13:35).

But the disciples of Christ are in a better covenant that demands a higher standard. Hence, they were to love their enemies in this new dispensation as it was from the beginning:

“⁴ If thou meet thine enemy’s ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again. ⁵ If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him.” (Ex 23:4-5).

And

“¹⁹ Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. ²⁰ Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. ²¹ Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Rom 12:19-21, cf. Pro 25:21-22).

This should be expected since it is the same God that is sovereign over both the Old and New Testaments, and that His standard has remained the same.

As love for the enemy encompassed the care of this known enemy. Even to taking care of the enemy’s valuable property:

“⁴If thou meet thine enemy’s ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again. ⁵If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him.” (Ex 23:4-5).

So, it should continue with the disciples Christ. We are to do the same as people of God.

Identify with positivity and not notoriety

If the positivity of being commanded to love their enemies so as to be like their Father in heaven is not enough to ensure their obedience, the notoriety and negativity associated with the much-hated publicans will perhaps shock them out of their lethargic practices of their traditions of the day and into obedience of the tough command.

Certain misconceptions, what loving you enemies does not preclude:

Loving your enemies does not preclude you protecting yourself.
Loving your enemies does not mean close association.
Though we are informed that acts of kindness towards the enemy will be like pouring burning coals upon them, we are not told the details of how this pans out when it comes time for God to deal with them (Pro 25:22; Rom 12:20).
Hence, you are not to keep one eye open hoping to see the burning coals raining down on your enemy as a result of your acts of love towards them.
That is, do not let the motive for loving your enemies be your expectation that God will soon punish them.
Remember, God sees your heart and can know if your love for your enemy is genuine or not.
Indeed, we are told that God may even stop the punishment of the wicked if He sees you rejoicing at their misfortune! (Pro 24:17-18).
You should not be afraid of the possibility of God answering your prayers for the welfare of your enemies. Do not be a Jonah in this wise!
Loving your enemies does not prevent or protect from persecution. So, do not see loving your enemies as potential advance payment against persecution.
It is only God who can make your enemies to live in peace with you (Pro 16:7).

Your willingness and faithfulness demanded

The difficulty of a commandment has no bearing on our responsibility as believers in Christ to keep that commandment. Therefore, it is not a question of whether we have the capacity to perform any of the commandments. It is our willingness that is required.

Why should we children of God love our enemies and do these things?

Because God commands us to love them.
Because God demands our obedience as His children.
Because God alone gives us the grace to be sustained in the midst of the enemies.
Because God says the punishment of the enemy is His exclusive preserve: vengeance belongs to Him exclusively.
Because God has “made all things for Himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil” (Pro 16:4).
Because God alone knows all the enemies and all their abilities.
Because God alone restrains the enemies so they cannot do all the evils they want to do.
Because God alone restrains the enemies so they cannot do all the evils they are capable of doing.
Because God alone commands and even the devil obeys.
Because God alone knows the reason for the existence and the assignment of the enemies in your life.
Because God alone is a righteous Judge.
Because God alone loves us like no other human can.
Because God alone can and does protect and keep us secure.
Because God alone has the power over and above all the enemies.
Because God alone has the power to answer prayers and He can set aside any imprecation you may invoke against your enemies.
Because God promised that the wicked shall by no means go unpunished.
Because doing these recognizes God’s sovereignty: He exercise His right to do as He pleases.
Because we affirm God’s right to treat all alike if He chooses to do so.
Because obeying these conforms to the mind of Christ (Phil 2:8).
Because our obedience shows the unsaved something different from what they are used to, and which is more than they are capable of doing (Mat 5:46-47).
Because doing so tries and proves our obedience.
Because it gives God the opportunity to work on our behalf.
Because it forces us to examine ourselves intently as to our faith and spiritual growth.
Because living this way takes spiritual maturity and the more we live this way, the more we reflect Christ (Mat 5:48).

Believer in Christ, are you willing to obey your Saviour and Lord?

I pray that your sincere answer is yes.

When you choose to obey, then the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, who is there to help and to assist our obedience will enable you to do what you need to do to please God. Though, the commandment to love our enemies is quite hard, we have the Holy Spirit to help us.

Hence, tough as this commandment may seem, and it is truly hard, the true believer in Christ has no excuse not to keep it. For as he walks in the Spirit, he will not fulfil the desires of the flesh (Gal 5:16). And the Holy Spirit will supply the supernatural enablement to do this difficult task.

The Lord commanded you to do it knowing that in your natural self, you will not be able to do so. In a sense His hard-to-obey command is an invitation to you to come and be dependent upon Him for the enablement to do His will. He knows you intimately. He knows all the enemies to the depth you cannot. More than that, He superintends both you and all the enemies.

Then, He went ahead a gave His Holy Spirit, who will then empower you to do that which is beyond your natural ability. It is because of the Holy Spirit in their lives that the people of God are able to have peace and joy in the things of God (Rom 14:17) and, God’s commandments are not burdensome or grievous to His people (1Jhon 5:3).

Do not rely on yourself to walk your Christian journey.

Rather, depend on the Holy Spirit. Ask the Holy Spirit for help Now. Remember, He is the comforter who comes alongside you to help you. And you will be able to love your enemies as or Lord commanded.

So far so good for the believer in Christ, the child of the living God. God ever watches over all His children. He restrains their enemies while He gives His children the grace needed to obey Him and overcome every onslaught of the enemies for the battle belongs to the LORD who is Man of War who is always victorious.

But what if you are not yet a believer in Christ?

Please understand that the above concerns the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. They can with the help of the Holy Spirit and the written word of God, and a humble spirit be able to be obedient to God, even in the worst of circumstances. This is because what God demands of His people can only be done with the help of God who superintends the lives of His people.

So, if you are not yet a believer in Christ, if Jesus Christ is not yet your Saviour and Lord, the above may sound to you as unreal or a fairy tale. But I assure you it is real and not a fairy tale. And better still, you can come in and have what genuine believers in Christ have.

How?

By becoming a born-again child of God:

Accept God’s verdict concerning human beings:

“All have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). And that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).

That is, in the opinion of God, we all fall short of His standard. Further, our sin has earned a deserved wage which is death or separation from God in hell.

But while we are still in our sin, God took the initiative to reconcile us with Himself as we are told:

“But God commendeth His love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

Yes, while we were all still in our sin, God showed His love for us by sending His only Son, Jesus Christ to die for us. God gave Jesus Christ to the whole world (John 3:16). So, all we need to do is to accept that Christ has died for our sin by standing in place of us.

We do this by doing what the word of God commands all would-be believers:

“If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Romans 10:9-10). “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13).

Everyone who appropriates the sacrifice of Christ is acceptable to Him. And He Himself extended the invitation to all:

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30).

So, I encourage you to appropriate the finished work of Christ and confess Him as your Saviour and Lord NOW!

I prayer that God will accept you into His household through Christ in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

%MCEPASTEBIN%

Bible Study, Christian Conduct, Doctrine, Exhortation, Feature, Salvation

Beware that your attitude does not portray you as one of the foolish (ungodly) 0

January 13, 2020 Alex Oluwasakin

I do not think there are many people who would want to be thought of as a fool. And I doubt very much if anyone, especially one who is a believer in Christ would want to be spoken of as giving the appearance of a fool. But any believer is vulnerable if not susceptible. It is therefore important to watch against potential slip ups. To help us, we shall look at and try to learn from the life of one of the believers of old.

In the book of Job God testified to the enviable qualities of the man Job. Job was the servant of God. There was none like him in the earth, a perfect man. And Job feared God and eschewed evil (Job 1:8). It was God who initiated the conversation that led to the problems of Job.

At the end of the first conversation, God gave Satan permission to afflict Job, but to spare his life (Job 2:6).

As a result of being allowed by God Satan went to work with a vengeance. He must have been shocked to his bones to hear God’s permission to go out and do what he does best: to do as much damage including grave bodily harm to job. One can be assured that this personality would go to the maximum limit allowed. He immediately went to work with unfathomable zeal. Little wonder then that as a result of and at the end of the Satan’s acts of aggression, Job had lost ALL except his life and his wife.

Yes, Job had lost ALL:

He had lost all his property.
He had lost all his children.
He had lost all his wealth.
He had lost his enviable position in society.
He had lost his health.
Everything was gone, and he was in a terrible state.

Job’s wife was there too!

What is seldom mentioned is that in all his plenty and adversity, the wife of Job was equally affected, and she stayed with him. Even when she is mentioned, it is often in bad light and many even speak of her in venomous outbursts of vituperation.

The personal situation of Job was so terrible that he was now sitting outside on a heap of ashes, scratching his rotten sores with a potsherd (Job 2:8).

Do remember that Job was not privileged to know that God held a council meeting with the sons of God in heaven in which he was a prominent item on the agenda, neither was he informed of what transpired in that meeting (Job 1:6-12; 2:1-6).

Only the readers of this book down the ages, including us are given that privileged information. We are reading the story after the events and many therefore frequently think they would have acted differently and better were they in the place and position of Job.

A wife in agony

“Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die” (Job 2:9).

It is important to remember that this was a woman married to Job in a covenant relationship. She had lived with him for a long time and was the mother of his 10 children (7 sons and 3 daughters). The wife of Job knew him very well. She knew his devotion to God to be real, and not a pretension. Naturally Job also knew his wife very well.

Job’s wife had enjoyed the period of prosperity with her husband and so was not a stranger to God’s goodness in their lives. But she lost everything, and even her husband though still alive was now a caricature of his old healthy self. She was now a woman deeply grieving and finding adversity with her husband unbearable. Hence, she spoke out of the depth of her sorrow and grief. She was in agony with apparently nobody to help.

Her husband’s attitude towards their calamity must have been a big area of perplexity to her. She just could not understand how someone in his position could still be talking positively about God!

Integrity: (in this context), spotless character in regard to God; blamelessness before God.

God Himself testified to Job’s integrity before Him though Job and his wife were not privy to that testimony given by God at the council meeting.

Job’s wife knew Job was still maintaining his relationship with God. That he had refused to charge God with error or wickedness. Hence, her question. She was like asking:

Are you still maintaining your integrity?
Are you still continuing to have faith in your God, the God who has done all these terrible things to us?

She asked the question “Dost thou still retain thine integrity?”, knowing fully well that Job was still faithful to God, and that he was still refusing to blame God for their calamity.

The serpent’s strategy re-enacted

Remember the adversary uses the same strategy of questioning and undermining the integrity of his would-be victim all the time.

Observe the serpent in the conversation with Eve in the garden:

With Eve:

Eve was in a place of plenty. A place where all their needs, including regular fellowship with God were met. Yet, the devil came there. Knowing what God has said to Eve, he said,

“Yea, hath God said?” (Gen 3:1).

With the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Lord was in the wilderness. The wilderness was a place of deprivation, preparation and testing. The Lord was fasting as part of the preparation for His soon-to-be lunched ministry of Salvation.

So, further down the line, the devil used the same ploy with the Lord Jesus Christ. Though, he knew Jesus to be the Son of God, he still went ahead to challenge that truth. He wanted the Jesus to use His privileged position to attain an aim in a manner contrary to the purpose of God. He said,

“If thou be the son of God” (Mat 4:3, 6).

Notice that the questions and statements are calculated and framed in a way to create doubt in the hearer. They are coiled like a powerful spring that will spring up with force as the intended victims tries to prove the devil wrong. In attempting to prove the devil wrong or reject his insinuations, the would-be victim actually falls into the snare of the devil!

The devil was saying to the Lord, “you are the Son of God eh! I know but put your power into action for me to see me now!”

Remember that Eve was wallowing in abundance, while the Lord was in a 40-day fast. They were both confronted by the tempter with things that would be quite enticing and irresistible.

The situation of the believer matters little to the devil. All he is concerned with is the possibility of success in whatever he wants to do concerning his would-be victim. Hence, being in plenty or lack is all game to him.

Yes, the devil makes his moves at the moments of maximum vulnerability! The time he is most likely to succeed in his deception against his would-be victim. He presents his case in a most believable way, attractively packaged to make it seem to be in the best interest of the would-be victim. It is done in ways and situations that even others, especially some in the inner circle of the would-be victim will join in to put pressure upon the intended victim.

Hence, in this case, seeing the possibility of the failure of the friends of Job, next one to try to ally with himself was Job’s unsuspecting.

And so, the devil did not stop with Job nor with his three friends. Rather, he got around to the human being closest to him, his wife.

Who else could Job have trusted other than his wife?

Job’s wife was advertently acting doing what the devil wanted

The heathens around them were in the habit of heaping curses upon their idol gods when they thought such false gods had brought misfortune and evil upon them. Job’s wife would have seen them berating and reproaching their gods on many occasions.

Job as the head of the family is the one with authority to call time on the family’s relationship with God. Through him, both blessings and curses come. And in this case, all the calamity that befell the family was because his faithfulness pleased God but angered Satan. It led to God allowing him to be further tested by the devil.

And he is the one who could end their relationship with God. Hence, she was asking her husband to do the ultimate: curse God and let Him kill us out of anger and save us from this miserable life!

What she might have forgotten because of her deep sorrow was that Yahweh, their God was the true God and not an idol. The idea was that Job should make an end of everything, because by what had happened to them, God had proved to be unworthy of their devotion and worship.

What worse thing could befall them other than what they had suffered?

It is better to die and end all than to live such a miserable life she must have thought. Anything else but this horrible existence!

Be aware and beware for suffering and pain can do much damage to a believer’s thinking.

So, mind your thinking and words when you are in unpleasant circumstances.

Job’s wife’s words would have had very heavy and devastating impact on Job, even more than whatever Job’s friends might have said to him. She was the closest to Him, the only one after God that he could trust, and rely upon. His long-term confidant. And so, to hear her spoke like she did would ordinarily have deflated Him.

Job’s faith showed forth in dealing with his wife

But he showed that he was really a man of faith as he refused to lash out at her.

Job demonstrated perseverance in His faith and trust in God. But Job’s wife misconstrued his perseverance as possibly religious fanaticism. She might have thought Job was blindly refusing to face the reality of their very desperate situation.

She showed her bitterness against God by lashing out at her husband. Her action would have been another terrible blow to Job, her husband.

Notice that, though Job and his wife were unaware of what was going on in the heavenly council: The suggestion of his wife that Job should curse God was exactly what Satan had twice predicted in the presence of God that Job would do if God should allow him to attack Job (Job 1:11; 2:5).

Job cautioned his wife

“But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.” (Job 2:10).

Her husband, who was in addition to the loss of their children and all their material wealth, was in serious physical sickness responded but not in harsh tone as some would have.

Foolish here means spiritually ignorant or undiscerning of spiritual things. Someone lacking understanding or even the capacity for understanding, implying a willful moral insolence and impudence and disobedience to the law of God. See also Deut. 32:6; Ps 74:18.

Notice that her husband, Job, did not call her foolish. No right-thinking believer should call his wife foolish, neither should the wife her husband. There should be no derogatory language between spouses under any circumstances.

Rather, Job was cautioning his wife. It is as if saying, be careful now. Do not speak like one of the foolish women.

Foolish women here likely referred to the heathen unbelievers around them. Job was cautioning her not to let her situation overwhelmed her to the extent that she would disparage and charge God with error.

Who is the fool?

The fool is the one who has said in his heart, that there is no God.
The fool is the one who worships idols and other false gods.
The fool is the one who claims to be a Christian while living contrary to the word of God, and says it is neither God’s nor the devil’s business.

Brother, sister, how do you speak? Like one of the foolish?

Please, speak as one of the wise ones.

Job’s next statement was framed as a question:

“What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?”

It was as if Job was reminding his wife of who she was in God, and their previous blessings from God. By his statement in put to her as a question, Job was not being a fatalist who resigned to the will of an unknown God.

Rather, Job recognised the sovereignty of God over their lives, and indeed, over all of creation. He believed nothing would happen to them except God allowed it. He trusted God so much that despite their terrible situation he continued to believe that God knows all things, and especially in their situation, that God knew what He was doing.

His life is the life of one totally submitted to God. In spite of his own personal pain, he found time to be the pillar of support for his wife. Hence, he was still able to be gracious towards her.

Job remained faithful

Through all his travails Job remained faithful to the only true God.

In all this did not Job sin with his lips:

Try to picture the level of personal agony he must have been in because of his sickness, add to that the loss of all he possessed except his wife. And all friends and relatives had deserted them. He had lost his high status in society. Yet, he refused to charge God with error. Though in serious pain, he did not sin!

Only the true and living God could see a person through what Job and his wife went through and still remain in faith to the Living God.

Observe that this strongly positive affirmation of the God-pleasing character of Job that, “in all this did Job sin not with his lips”:

Proved Satan’s prediction wrong: Satan had twice predicted to God that if Job was attacked severely enough, Job would curse God.
It also vindicated God’s confidence in Job, and God’s words about Job (Job 1:22, Job 1:8, 11; 2:3, 5).

How would you have fared? Or should I ask how you are faring now? Yes, how are you faring in the face of your challenges and troubles?

Brother, sister, how is your relationship with God.
In what ways may Satan be challenging your integrity before God?
What may the devil be predicting concerning you before God?
Will God have such confidence in your integrity or faithfulness if Satan were to argue in the court of heaven that he be allowed to attack you to test your faith in God?
If such were to happen, or perhaps, is already happening, how will you respond?
Like Job or like Job’s wife? Or like the friends of Job?

Please, this is a serious issue. Do not dismiss it flippantly. As the Word of God counsels, examine yourself to see if you are still in the faith!

Rather than berating God as some would have, Job confidently affirmed that trouble (evil) as well as good come from God. Scripture confirms the same (cf. Eccl. 7:14; Lam 3:38). This is in contrast with the view of most people, including Christians.

Problem is no indication of the absence of God

Many people’s view is that bad things happening means the very existence of God is questionable. For if God truly exists and have all the powers ascribed to Him, everything should just be good, and with the complete absence of evil or trouble.

Many Christians even claim if bad things happen to you, you are either not a true Christian, or have some hidden sin in your life, or you are suffering from the sins of your ancestors or the enemy is just more powerful than God! Many of us still have many friends who are not wiser, and oftentimes worse than Job’s friends. Just be aware!

Have a serious problem is not always an indication that God is not there or that God is angry with that person. We should as fallible human beings be humble enough to admit that we don’t always have the answer as to why bad things happen to people.

Such humility will help us to at least reduce our numerous but often ungodly speculations. It will help us to resist from giving grievous advice like the friends of job in our attempts to sound spiritual while only clutching at powerless finger-piercing straws.

Such humility will help us to the realisation that oftentimes when a person is undergoing suffering or mourning a loss just being there but keeping our mouths shut from speaking unhelpful platitudes is more needful.

Remember the Word of God: Even the hairs on your head are numbered, and you are of much value to God (Mat 10:28-31).

Later, Job affirmed to his friends that he would retain his integrity till death (Job 27:5). Christ was to, much later affirm this principle of openly confessing one’s allegiance to God, and to Christ (Mat 10:32-33). And apparently that was what Job did: He remained openly faithful to God till the end.

Not all are called to be a Job

Job was a human like any, and all of us. I have heard that uncountable times. It is true that Job was a human like us. What is probably not true is to in our zealousness to help to assume that everyone having a serious issue is called to be a Job. It is thus important to recognise that though the destination is the same for all genuine Christians, the race and track for each are different. But whatever the case may be, the LORD gives enough grace to be sustained so that His perfect will takes place.

Indeed, how many of us could have stayed true to God if we were suddenly thrown into Job’s position?

Consider where you are now, and the things you think you are going through:

How is your relationship with God?
How are you bearing up under the burden if you are carrying any?
Could you have gone further than Job’s wife and taken the laws into your hands?

Watch where you look for help

It is natural to seek help when there is a problem. It is better still to have help that can help prevent a problem from taking place. Sometimes, in spite of all the best efforts or even because of the best efforts problem occurs. And the need to seek help arises.

Please, be careful where you look for help. Do not look for help in places where there is none. There are places that have the appearance of righteousness but are actual citadels of wickedness. Those who go to such places receive no help but are fleeced. They end up spending all their livelihood on wolves in sheep’s clothing and their false promises that profit nothing, and the situation will in all probability get worse like that of the woman with the issue of blood before she met Christ (Mark 5:25-26).

Rather, affirm your faith in the LORD as you seek godly counsel.

Be grateful to God that in His wisdom, not many of us are called by God to be a Job.

Remember, Job’s wife stayed with her husband till the end and they were restored together.

What if there is no evidence of blessing?

Each person has his own idea of what things should be present to indicate the presence and blessings of God. Sometimes, such criteria are man-made and may even not have any support from Scripture. But many still insist on them all the same!

So, what would you do when you are in that place where though you are a believer in Christ, there is no evidence of God’s presence, and blessing, as in this case of Job?

How long do you think you will stay true to God before seeking additions, and or alternatives?

This is especially important in this day of benefits Christianity. We have a deluge of prosperity gospel, instant gratifications, and so-called instant miracles.

Please, it is important to look intently at yourself and sincerely re-evaluate your relationship with the Lord and make necessary adjustment.

While not everyone is called to be a Job and his wife, each of us have our place and time of testing.

Believers respond differently and so, need to grow

Remember that, both husband and wife were believers in God and had walked with God for many years. God had been very good to them. But suddenly as if from thin air, they were both beset with an overwhelming tsunami of calamity, though the husband more so, as he was also physically afflicted in his body.

Both were grieving due to their devastating loss. Yet, their response concerning their faith and trust in God were so different. One possible reason for this may be their different levels of spiritual growth. We must always realise that though we may all be true believers in and followers of Christ, we are all at different levels of spiritual growth. The response of the individual Christian to a situation will be commensurate to that person’s level.

This is not to say some are super spiritual while others are not.

At the base level all are fallible. At the Spirit level all can avail themselves of the help of the Holy Spirit. In-between, each person must make use of the means for spiritual growth that God has graciously provided so that he can grow towards spiritual maturity rather than remaining “babes in Christ” (1Cor 3:1).

Each should strive to get to the level thus described, “¹⁴ that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; ¹⁵ but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ.” (Eph. 4:14-15).

As people of faith in God, and followers of Christ, we must have faith and trust in God in both prosperity and adversity, even while we are unable to understand why bad things happen.

Watch for you may not be better than Job’s wife

From the foregoing, we have seen a behaviour that could best be characterised as akin to that found amongst the ungodly and which should to be that of a believer in God.

Job cautioned his wife against anything that could have such appearance in her. It was as if Job, her husband of many years who knew her well warned her to watch herself so as not to fall into the trap of the devil because of her grief.

What will be foolishness on our part as New Testament believers in Christ?

That calls for serious reflection on your part. This is so you do not find yourself inadvertently manifesting a type of behaviour that ordinarily is a preserve of the ungodly. And who is there to graciously caution you as Job did his wife?

No excuse for unfaithfulness

What Job’s wife said was unbecoming and bad. She seemed to think that Job had good reason to rebel against God in view of all they had lost. And many us were we in her shoes would have done the same if not worse. Hence, her question, and the following statement. Job, her husband knew and understood her. And he was able to show that he was not serving God for profit.

New Testament believers have an even more obvious or objective thing to look up to: The suffering and sacrifice of Christ on Calvary on our behalf.

And because the believer’s sacrifice and persecution cannot be compared to that of Christ, it will be foolish to claim any excuse from not being faithful to God.

This is not to shy away from the pain and suffering of believers in this world. Such are real and are often devastating. However, as the word of God makes clear, whatever level of suffering and deprivation a believer goes through in this world can never be compared to the glory and blessings that await the believer in the presence of the glorified Christ.

Hence, as a believer in and a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, you should recognise that there is no excuse for being unfaithful to your Saviour and Lord. Rather, ask the Lord for more grace in time of need.

God always have use for His children

God has and will always have use for His children. Job’s wife calling Job, her husband to end it all by cursing God is akin to saying God had no use for them anymore. She was deep in sorrow and grief, with her understanding clouded by her grief. She was wearied and tired and she seemed not to have the strength nor the will to want to continue to live.

She therefore looked for the quickest way to end it all: There was no point to continue to live a miserable existence. “Let us make God angry so He can kill us” she might have thought.

Thankfully, God is not man. He is too powerful, long-suffering and merciful to act precipitately or irrationally. But Job, her husband was an example of patience in the face of adversity.

Job’s faith should challenge you and me and indeed, all those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. For as in the case of Job whom God used to confound and silence Satan, God still wants to use His children for His glory in the way and by the means He chooses at His appointed time. It is therefore unreasonable and possibly foolish to think that because of being in adversity, God has no further use for us.

Never let adversity make you forget the goodness of God

Job’s reply to his wife showed that though his anguish was intense, he still remembered the goodness of God. God had been good to them with all they enjoyed in the past.

Though one’s circumstances could change dramatically, God never changes. God is always good even when our personal circumstances wants us to think otherwise.

And as New Testament believers, God has and continues to demonstrate His love for us through salvation, daily provision, protection, and good promises for the future. It is therefore foolish to forget the goodness of God when we have problems or challenges that are not easy to resolve.

As I often encourage us, you should never question what God had spoken or given to you in your steady state when trouble or difficulties come. God is always good and true.

Do remember:

Satan will do his best to make you charge God with error.
Satan will come, and especially at periods of vulnerability:
- He will try to sow doubt.
- He will try to tempt us with foolish questions.
- He will try to make us draw foolish conclusions from incomplete and corrupt information.
- And he will try to urge us to urgent precipitate and unwise actions that could make our situation worse if not irredeemable.

But never forget who you are in the Lord, neither forget whom your Lord over your life: God not Satan. So, whatever the circumstances may be, we should remember who we are: Job never forgot who he was. Job never forgot who God was for knew he had a living, all-powerful redeemer (Job 19:25). Though his current situation was terrible, Job knew his future was bright (Job 19:25-27).

We the New Testament believers have our future in the hands of Christ. This is a surer promise of bright future based upon His finished work on the cross. Therefore, we should be careful that our walk or anything in us does not portray us as one of the ungodly around us.

There is a possibility this could happen. Hence, the need for more grace in time of need. Determine not to allow any circumstances to cause to appear as a fool before God.

Are you getting weary? Are you becoming discouraged? Does your situation seem overwhelming? It can happen. But please ask the Lord for grace to help in time of your need.

The LORD will always supply enough grace for the circumstances He allows in your life. He did it for Job and his wife. He did it for our Lord Jesus Christ in Calvary.

He is still on the throne and reigns sovereignly over ALL: the visible, the invisible, the known and the unknown of ALL He created. You are of much value to Him. He will do it for you too. Just ask and believe.

So far so good for the believer in Christ, the child of the living God. God ever watches over all His children.

But what if you are not yet a believer in Christ?

How?

By becoming a born-again child of God:

Accept God’s verdict concerning human beings:

“All have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). And that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).

That is, in the opinion of God, we all fall short of His standard. Further, our sin has earned a deserved wage which is death or separation from God in hell.

But while we are still in our sin, God took the initiative to reconcile us with Himself as we are told:

“But God commendeth His love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

We do this by doing what the word of God commands all would-be believers:

“If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Romans 10:9-10). “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13).

Everyone who appropriates the sacrifice of Christ is acceptable to Him. And He Himself extended the invitation to all:

So, I encourage you to appropriate the finished work of Christ and confess Him as your Saviour and Lord NOW!

I prayer that God will accept you into His household through Christ in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

%MCEPASTEBIN%

Bible Study, Christian Conduct, Christian Conduct, Exhortation, Salvation, Uncategorized

Enduring Things to Pray for Yourself and Others 0

November 28, 2019 Alex Oluwasakin

Many Christians often wonder what or how to pray. Some pray mainly about physical needs or getting rid of enemies both real and imagine. It is clear that each person loves himself more than others. It is also obvious that each person is much loved by at least one person though more probably by several persons. Each person in turn loves at least one person much and more often several persons.

It should then be expected that a person would find it not so difficult to know what to pray for his loved ones. But this is far from being the norm for many. In fact, the prayer of many for their loved ones can be described as “bread and butter” prayer.

Typically, such prayer in essence will say, destroy all their enemies, let everything they touch become successful, let them never have any trouble, wherever they go let everybody be just smiling at them and be doing whatever they want!

Learn to Pray and Please Pray!

When one desires to learn about something, he goes to the best source or an expert in that area. The disciples of the Lord wanted to learn how to pray. Whom did they turn to? The best in the business, the Lord of Lords Himself! What a privilege! What a truly once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be taught in person by the Lord Himself! We do see the evidence of what they learnt from their Lord and our Lord in the records they left for us.

Like the apostles, every true believer in Christ should learn as much as possible about pray and should actually and practically pray as a lifestyle.

So, we turn now to one of the apostles. Every Christian could learn so much from the prayer life of the apostle Paul. It is true that the Lord Jesus Christ called him to suffer for His cause. The Lord mandated Ananias one of His disciples in Damascus to go to the blind Saul of Tarsus. Naturally, Ananias was afraid to go near a man of such notorious persecutor of the church.

But the Lord reassure him and let Ananias in on His plan to Saul of Tarsus:

“¹⁵ But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: ¹⁶ for I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.” (Acts 9:15-16).

And how prophetic and true that calling came to be! Perhaps this was why the apostle had so much grace abounding in his life as he himself later said,

“But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” (1Cor 15:10).

But through all his travails he was a true man of prayer who ever requested this same one thing from all, “pray for me”, “remember me in your prayers.”

The apostle Paul was in prison for no criminal activity but for preaching the gospel. Though his physical freedom was curtailed, his mind remained free and actively engaged in spiritual affairs. He still cared much for the churches of Christ. He particularly loved the Philippian church. He made it known that this was the only church to have ministered to him while under serious persecution in Thessalonica in spite of their own poverty and hardship (Phil 4:14-16).

There are numerous things to pray for and about, but we shall look at only a few that are for enduring things.

Let us take our reference from the epistle to the Philippians, specifically, Phil 1:9-11, which from the AV 1873 reads thus,

“⁹And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; ¹⁰that ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ; ¹¹being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God.”

Believer in Christ, Pray That Your Love and the Love of Other Believers May Abound (Phil 1:9).

The apostle said,

“⁹And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment.” (Phil 1:9).

That your love and theirs (that of your loved ones and other believers in Christ) may abound.

This is not blind love that the world is peddling. One often hears in the world that love is blind and so, they fall in love. Little wonder then that as they easily fall in love, and their love is blind, when their lust regains its sight, they then fall out of love!

But the love in the word of God as detailed within the pages of Holy Scripture is the God kind of love and it is not blind. Rather it is based and thrives on knowledge.

God loves the believer in Christ. The believer in Christ is to love God and to love his fellow believers in Christ too.

God kind love, divine love

God’s love of us is not deterred by His knowledge.

On the part of God, God knows every detail of us humans. He still chose to love us in spite of His deep knowledge of us. God’s love for us is not deterred or hindered in any way by His deep and comprehensive knowledge of us. I dare say that God’s knowledge of us and the rest of His creation causes His love for us to thrive. Because God knows us so well, He is able to love us more than we can imagine.

He demonstrated that love for us by allowing His Son, Jesus Christ to die for us while we were yet still in our sins (Rom 5:8). There is nothing about us in our past, present or future that God does not know or that will surprise or shock God. Nothing in us can commend us to God or make us worthy of His love.

God knows how fickle minded the average believer can be even when he is shouting at the top of his voice about his strong and undying faith in God and love for God.

When the Christian is claiming that he will never compromise or sin against God, God already knows and prepares for his recovery when he stumbles as surely as he would.

Remember king David? Remember apostle Peter?

So, God loves all His children with all their flaws, frailty and proneness to error. He goes into extraordinary length to provide for and protect them. This is divine love.

It is the same divine love that God exhibits that He demands from His children.

Remember, “Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy?” (Lev 19:2). It is also, “love divinely because I your LORD I love divinely!”

All genuine children of God should reciprocate His love as best as they can towards God and towards their fellow creatures.

Believer’s love of God should increase with the knowledge of God

On the part of us humans, our love of God is small even at the best of times. Our love for God is small probably because our knowledge of God is small and very limited in scope. Most if not all seem to love God because of His gifts. Hence, many exude much joy and jubilation when they feel they have been blessed by God. In circumstances like that they often make promises that are way out of their league.

So, it is not surprising that when the weather changes and winter sets in or storms of life, joy departs swiftly and heaviness and unbraiding of God takes its place. This should not be, but it is because this Christian has limited knowledge of who his God is.

Most of our lack of love for God and fear of the unknown is because of our lack of the knowledge of who God is. Please this knowledge is not brain or mental knowledge. This is not talking about how much you can quote scripture or how much you can bamboos the uninitiated with your, “in the original Greek” or in the “original Hebrew.”

Remember, the devil can and does quote Scripture but that has not led to his repentance!

The knowledge spoken of here is the knowledge of God in the heart. It is not just about feelings and experience. It is about the word of God written upon the tablets of your heart.

Love for fellow humans

Christian love ought not be hindered by the knowledge of the object of that love

This is the worse area when it comes to love. For love in human language is “open-eye” love. That “eye” is full of greed and selfishness. The eyes are open, they open only to the flaws and perceived short comings of the human being, and the advantage that can be gained from the other person. In such focus, the individual forgets or papers over the cracks that are his own flaws. Hence, what enables the average person to love is the perceived benefits from such a relationship. For as long as the perceived benefits or advantages are obtained, the love seems to hold as the flaws are overlooked.

This is God kind of love

But the Lord commands and expects the believer to love God and his fellow humans.

“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.” (John 13:34).

That is, this love is to be a reality in the life of the Christian. This love of fellow believers is one of the signs of being genuinely born again (John 3:3, 5), child of God for we told by our Lord again,

“By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” (John 13:34-35).

This love is the self-sacrificing love as demonstrated by the Lord Himself in coming to die for us. It is not the love that anyone can do at will or work up.

But it is divine love and has God as its source. And so, we are exhorted,

“⁷ Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. ⁸ He that loveth not, knoweth not God; for God is love. ⁹ In this was manifested the love of God towards us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. ¹⁰ Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. ¹¹ Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.” (1John 4:7-11).

Further, “We love him, because he first loved us” (1John4:19). This God kind of love is produced by the Holy Spirit (Gal 5:22) working in the hearts of those who belong to the Lord. This love is not one that a person falls into.

Rather, it is a conscious, intentional decision to show kindness and generosity, not based on feelings or emotions, but rather it is discerning (John 13:34).

It is discerning for it is the knowledge of doctrinal and practical truth, judgement that is, spiritual perceptiveness involving spiritual sight, spiritual hearing, spiritual feeling and spiritual taste (John 4:23-24; 6:63).

Hence, true spiritual knowledge of God brings a certain level of spiritual insight into His ways which enables the Christian to love God and others more.

Therefore, the prayer to pray is that you and all other Christians will continue to display divine love ever more and more and that love should be exercised in full knowledge and all discernment as enabled by the Holy Spirit.

Where there is no love there will be mistrust and fear. Fear has torment. Perfect love casts out fear (1John 4:18).

In the very horrible environment where the Philippian Christians were being persecuted, they needed to abound even more in their love for God and for one another. The more knowledge of God they have the more their love would flow more abundantly. This letter from the imprisoned apostle supplied them with more knowledge.

With more knowledge comes better judgement.

Where are you on the knowledge scale where God is concerned?

Remember, biblical love is not blind, rather it is based upon intimate knowledge of God. God has in-depth knowledge of all his creation. Knowing the pivotal place of knowledge, he chose to reveal as much of Himself as possible for man to understand in His written Word, the Holy Scripture.

You should choose to love God as the response of a grateful heart for what He has done for you. You should choose to love your fellow humans in spite of your knowledge of their flaws and failings.

Insight and discernment are nurtured by love and knowledge.

Again, the prayer to pray is that you and all other Christians will continue to display divine love ever more and more and that love should be exercised in full knowledge and all discernment as enabled by the Holy Spirit.

2. Believer in Christ, Pray That You and Other Believers May Approve Things That Are Excellent (Phil 1:10).

“that ye may approve things that are excellent” (Phil 1:10).

To approve is to test, scrutinize as genuine after examination. To certify as alright after testing. Through testing or scrutinizing things that are different, we come to know that which is genuine or true as opposed to what is fake and false.

Hence, believers test things that differ, rummaging through all sorts to sift truth from error, and to discriminate the higher spiritual blessings from the lower material blessings.

The criterion for discrimination, the standard of measure is always the Word of God as taught by the Holy Spirit.

The believers’ choice is choosing the best out of the good. These are the things that are excellent.

There are some that can distinguish precisely more than others in their taste for arts, music, fashion, sports and the like.

But when it comes to spiritual things, they lack discriminating ability and are completely tasteless. They are in many cases not better than if not outrightly worse than unbelievers.

And this is where all believers need to excel, discrimination in righteous, godly living.

When we are dominated and controlled by the love of God, we will want nothing more than to live according to His will. A Christian living according to the will of God, will be able to examine the actions taking place around him and be able to approve or disapprove them for his life.

Unfortunately, many Christians are still easily led astray and tossed from one side to another at will, because they are unable to properly examine the circumstances and make decisions in line with the word of God. This should not be. Determine to improve by cooperating more and more with the Holy Spirit.

Remember, it is not about you having more of the Holy Spirit. Rather, it is you yielding more and more of yourself to the Holy Spirit so He can do all that He wants to do in and with your life!

Love would incorporate the knowledge of God’s truth and spiritual discernment.

In our testing of others, we ourselves are tested. Hence, we are told,

“Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.” (Rom 14:22).

We gain and develop discernment by thinking on heavenly things,

“⁸Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. ⁹Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.” (Phil 4:8-9).

Hence, the prayer to pray is that you and all other Christians may approve the things that are excellent according to the standard of God as you are being renewed in your mind continually (Rom 12:2; Phil 1:10).

3. Believer in Christ, Pray That You and Other Believers May Remain pure and blameless (Phil 1:10).

“that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ” (Phil 1:10).

Whatever you are commanded to do has a purpose, an enduring purpose according to the plan of God for you and the rest of His creation.

There are numerous things competing for your attention. Everyone seems to want a piece of you. They look attractive, reasonable, and often look like things to be desired. But many of these have no enduring value and quite a number of them are there for the purpose of derailing your spiritual journey, and failing that, then to make that journey as difficult as possible.

It can thus be very difficult and challenging to remain uncontaminated by the goings-on around you.

This you ought to be aware of for you should not be ignorant of the devices of the enemy (2Cor 2:11).

You ought to guard your integrity as this in one area where the onslaught of the enemy is often directed.

Integrity is one word that sums up “may be sincere and without offence”

Integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is looking.

This is the hallmark of reliability and faithfulness. You know how much you desire reliability in others. Well, that is demanding integrity.

But how reliable and faithful are you?

Can the Lord look down in your environment and have the confidence that He has a faithful child in that environment?

Remember Job?

This is not about you claiming to be bringing crowds to Christ. Rather, it is about you being found faithful, a person of integrity as an individual by the Lord.

Are you faithful?

Remember there are those rejected in spite of their so-called incredible work “in the name of the Lord” because the Lord never knew them?

“²¹ Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. ²² Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? ²³ And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” (Mat 7:21-23).

There are many that are good at eye-service: They will do the right thing while others are around or looking. But when on their own or in a place where they are not known, they will do something else. They seem to always have an eye towards reward and would do whatever it takes to earn it including hypocritical gyrations disguised as activities.

There are those that are good at working the systems of they world. They pull the crowd, stamped the name “Christian” on whatever they do and assured themselves that they are alright. Afterall, the crowd and the fame are enough evidence that God is behind it all. Or what evidence do you need again! They are the accuser, the accuse, the lawyer, the jury, the judge and the executioner all rolled into one. I tell you what, they only are the ones deceived, the Lord is not.

To be sincere and without offence is to be pure. To be pure is to be of unmixed substance, to be unalloyed, uncontaminated, to be free from falsehood.

Believers in Christ are to stay uncontaminated by the world. God wants believers in Christ to have unblemished character. Being surrounded by ungodliness with all its antics at soliciting the believer to sin is no excuse to become contaminated.

The believer has been amply warned (John 15:20; 16:33; 2Cor 6:17). You are not of the world as your Lord was not of the world (John 17:14, 16). And the world will hate you as they hated your Lord first (John 15:19). This will be especially so, if like your Lord you testify that the works of the world are what it is, evil (John 7:7).

But is your life testifying against the evil works of the world? Or are you are gulping up the allures of the world?

The believer should be transparent in character so the world will see Christ in him. The believer in Christ is to be as Christlike in character as much as possible and not just be superficially plated over with outward religion.

In many areas of life there is the existence of the things that are bad, some that are good and others that are better. The believer in Christ must be able to discern the distinctions to be able to render effective service to God.

The believer must shun eye-service, playing to the gallery, and hypocrisy. These may be the in-things in the world, but they are abominations in the sight of our God before whose eyes all things are open. For before our God,

“Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.” (Heb. 4:13).

Love that is enlightened will enable the Christian to discern the things that are more excellent and to avoid what is questionable or downright wrong.

The Christian must be sincere being utterly transparent, and blameless in view of the coming day of Christ.

To be without offense does not mean to be sinless for Christians do commit sins. But the Christian who is blameless is the one who does not sin as a habit, and when he sins accidentally, he confesses and forsakes the sin, asking forgiveness from God, and from those who were wronged and making restitution whenever possible.

They are “void of offence toward God, and toward men” (Acts 24:16). That is, the believers are neither causing nor receiving offence. It is such a life that bears fruit to the glory of God (Phil 1:11).

“The day of Christ” refers to the Second Coming of Christ and the subsequent judgment of the believer’s works at the Judgement seat of Christ (see alsoPhil 1:6; 2Cor 5:10).

Hence, the prayer to pray is that you and all other Christians may be sincere and without offence, that is, to remain pure and blameless before God till the day of Christ. That all may remain “void of offence toward God, and toward men” (Acts 24:16; Phil 1:10).

4. Believer in Christ, Pray That You and Other Believers May be Filled with the Fruits of Righteousness (Phil 1:11).

“being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God.” (Phil 1:11).

Fruits of righteousness are the fruits produced by righteousness. The Lord Jesus Christ is the true vine, those who believe in Him are the branches. As in any tree the branches are to bear fruit (John 15:1-2).

And indeed, the believer cannot bear fruit without Christ,

“I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” (John 15:5).

Good trees bear only good fruits (Mat 7:17). Christ is infinitely good without any evil. He is pure light. Hence, bearing fruits of righteousness should be intrinsic to the Christian as he is a branch in Christ the light of the world (John 8:12; 9:5). Bearing fruits of righteousness is part of the preparation of the believer towards his appearing before his Lord on the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Believers in Christ will not be judged as to their sins since they have been saved and forgiven. But each believer will appear before the judgement seat of Christ his Saviour and Lord to be judged according to his works.

Thus, for the genuine believer in Christ, though salvation is by grace through faith alone (Eph 2:8-9), judgment will be of works, excluding, the loss of salvation (1Cor 3:15; 2Cor 5:9-11; Jam 2:14-26). Hence, the apostle does not want them and indeed, any other believer to lose their rewards (1Cor 3:14-15).

If we are filled with the love of God, it will produce spiritual excellence, which will produce integrity which in turn will produce good works which are acceptable to God as He is the one who had ordained those good works.

The believer is not left alone to figure out how to do this or to work with just his human ability. Rather, on being saved and born-again, he receives the gift of the Holy Spirit who is his helper and comforter.

Hence, on being born-again, the Christian starts producing spiritual fruit.

“²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, ²³ meekness, temperance.” (Gal 5:22-23).

Notice that there is only one Holy Spirit and He has one fruit, but that one fruit has many manifestations.

One cannot claim to have love and not have faith.

A genuine believer in Christ cannot claim to lack one of these manifestations since the Holy Spirit resides in every true believer in Christ. However, any number of these manifestations may be more apparent than others depending on the level of spiritual development or progress of the Christian. This is especially important since they are divinely conferred attributes designed to transform the believer and to empower him to perform the divinely ordained good works assigned to him.

It is the Spirit of Christ (the Holy Spirit) that produces the fruit in the believer. Since the Holy Spirit only takes what is of Christ to give to the believer (John 16:13-15), these fruits of righteousness “are by Jesus Christ.”

Hence, we are informed,

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” (Eph. 2:10).

Hence, the prayer to pray is that you and all other Christians may be filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ. (John 16:13-15; Phil 1:11).

5. Believer in Christ, Pray That You and Other Believers May Do All Things unto the Glory of God (Phil 1:11).

As Christians, we should live our lives in a way that at all time bring glory and praise to God. God has created all for His glory,

“Even every one that is called by my name: For I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.” (Isa 43:7).

And we are thus informed that,

“The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament sheweth his handywork.” (Ps 19:1).

The life of every believer should declare the glory of God. If we abound in love, excellence, integrity, and good works, we will bring glory to God and fulfil the desire of the Lord who tells us that,

“Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.” (John 15:8).

Glory is the sum of all God’s perfection and the honour for being who He is and doing what He has done as manifested to His creation. And God’s praise is the affirmation of the glory of God by those who recognize it, that is the believers in Christ who are His children, and indeed, His entire creation.

As a believer in Christ, do not wonder any longer about what to pray. Rather, start with what we have discussed thus far. Do not delay any longer. Start right away.

Pray that:

Your Love and the Love of other believers may Abound (Phil 1:9).
You and other believers may Approve Things That Are Excellent (Phil 1:10).
You and other believers may remain Pure and Blameless (Phil 1:10).
You and other believers may be filled with the Fruits of Righteousness (Phil 1:11).
You and other believers may do all things unto the Glory of God (Phil 1:11).

Again, you, the believer in Christ should pray earnestly and continually for yourself and for the body of Christ for enduring virtues including but are not limited to:

The God kind of love,
Excellence in spiritual things,
Integrity,
Fruits of righteousness that result in abundance of good works,
All that the believers are engaged in should be to the Glory of God,
And that in the final day of Christ we all shall be blameless in the presence of the Lord and shall be greatly rewarded.

To the unbeliever and non-Christian

Having come this far, you must by now realised that piece has been speaking to believers in Christ, genuine Christians. These are the ones commonly referred to as born-again Christians. The Lord Jesus Christ is their Saviour and Lord, and they are engaged in the good works that God has assigned to them while eagerly looking forward to the Second Coming of the Lord in power and glory.

But what if you are not yet a member of this group?

But what if you are an unbeliever? What if Christ is not yet your Saviour and Lord? What if you are not yet born of the Spirit?

Then the above may not be expected to apply to you. You are yet outside the fold of believers in Christ. And you cannot be expected to please the Lord and to do things that are only possible with the enablement of the Holy Spirit.

Perhaps you are saying you what to be part of the wonderful people of God who are the disciples of Christ. You want an end to the enmity between you and God.

And having read this piece you see the possibility but are wondering how you can change your situation.

You are asking, “How do I come into the fold of believers in Christ seeing I do not yet know Christ?”

Truly, there is a way out for God has made provision for you too.

How?

By becoming a born-again child of God as demanded and provided for by God:

The invitation has gone out to all human beings including you reading this piece.

Accept God’s verdict concerning human beings:

“All have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). And that“the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).