3 steps to GOOD SUCCESS

Three Steps to Perfection

In this world and in any world there is, there are three (3) levels of existence.

The inception/conception

The proclamation

The action/actualization levels

These levels are the processes through which things become.

Genesis 1 says “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth” How did God create the Heavens and the Earth? Did God use physical labour to create all these things? Did he have to ask for any help? The Bible goes on to say “and the earth was without form and void. Darkness covered the face of the Earth, and the LORD said, “Let there be Light…”

God, the almighty created man (You and Me) in His ‘Image and Likeness’ image is like a picture of something in an exact form and likeness is like a strong similarity of something to another. So God made man to look and be like him; to rule.

Why is it then that man cannot rule over circumstances and all things as it is said in the Bible? “For all have sinned and fallen short of the GLORY of GOD” (Romans 3 : 23)

Sin was/is the reason man became mindful of fear, shame and pride. When God created Eve out of Adam, the bible said they were both naked and knew no shame. At this time, they were both pure and inviolate. But after the disobeyed God and ate the forbidden fruit, they became aware of the things God did not plan for them to know. Adam said “I heard you and I was AFRAID because I was NAKED” fear and distraction comes from the sinful mind which God does not want us to have.

The three steps are the guides to salvation and renewal of the mind. ” do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12 : 2)

So the renewal of our mind is what keeps us in line with the perfection of God’s will for us which as the bible tells us, are of good and not of evil.

STEP 1 (INCEPTION/CONCEPTION) THINKING

Before anything becomes a thing, it first of all has to be conceived. The beginning of the planes, cars, houses, electronics, ideas and everything is the mind. People think, wonder about a thing and how it may be achieved.

Whatever is not thought about will not become! The bible says as a man thinketh in his heart so is he. Whatever you conceive, it is what your life in general is moving towards. You may not reach the destination in a time you expect, but by the conception of it, you are on your way there.

So if you are on a heavenly race, you will set your mind on the things that are good and those things will bring you to goodness and mercy, all the days of your life.

(Philippians 4: 8, Matthew 6: 33, Proverbs 23: 7)

STEP 2 (PROCLAMATION) SPEAKING

Whatever comes out of our mouth has power over our lives. The bible says in Proverbs 18: 21 that “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” so the things we speak of especially often are very powerful.

Jesus said “Not the things that go into the mouth defiles a man but the things that comes out of the mouth…Matthew 15: 11.

So we ought to be mindful of the things we speak of, for they are the things that will manifest in our lives eventually. So when we lie, say we are broke, sick, tired of life, angry, hated and all that, these things will try not to leave us. Better we speak life into our own lives. Say I am blessed, I am strong, God is with me, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me…and so on (Positive words only)

(Matthew 17: 20,  2 Corinthians 4: 13)

Remember, the things we say are also like prayers waiting to be answered.

STEP 3 (ACTION/ACTUALIZATION) DOING

Faith without works is useless – James 2 : 20

The bible, the word of God has not endorsed any form of laziness. A man must first make his field before he makes his house

Whatever we desire, however great it is, there is no reason to sit, watch and wait. No! we ought to work towards our dreams. If you want to build a huge house, you may not even have money for a brick yet but you have a gift/talent God has given to you which you can start with by using it to get some change and some more, as time goes on, your efforts and God’s grace will meet at a point where they will become unstoppable progression of success. The old wise man said “The Journey of a thousand miles begins with a step” and it is also said that “good luck is when preparedness meets opportunity” so we ought to be ready at all times to work with God’s grace which goes about freely to ALL men.

So when we conceive a good goal, we meditate on it and proclaim it with our words, in line with the word of God and take actions towards achieving these things; actions that do not degrade us in the face of God, our success will be guaranteed.

The question now is How patient are you?

We do not become successful by obsession. We become successful by meditation. Think entirely positively about your dreams and talk to God and people about it. Be contented with things but not satisfied to stand in a place. Be patient with God as He always is with us and then…GOOD SUCCESS

(Joshua 1 : 8; Habakkuk 2 : 3; Phil 4 : 19; James 2 : 14 - 26)

Have a blessed weekend!

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Bringing the Lost Sheep to The Master

It’s not an easy task to talk to friends about taking the path of Christ. I have seen a few quotes here and there like “If I haven’t told you about Christ forgive me for being a bad friend” “If I wish you well, I will pray for you” and so on. It is our duty as Christians to help familiarize our friends with the gospel of Christ. Christ is the way of Love, the means to peace, the road to joy, the beginning of Salvation.

As God’s children, we must work hard to overcome all fear, complex or pride and look for a means to bring God’s lost children home. One after the other, as time offers the chance.

Most times, we only tend to speak about Christ with those who are already saved and are progressing in the Kingdom of God. However, these people are good company but they’re not the ones who need our attention and time. In Mark 2 -

” ¹⁵ While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. ¹⁶ When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

¹⁷ On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Jesus made it clear that He DID NOT COME for the saved but for the unsaved. Every sinner while having the opportunity of breathing (living) is as important to God as the righteous man. Remember the parable of the prodigal son? God celebrates the coming of a lost child.

(2 Peter 3 : 9)

It is said that our assignment is to spread the Gospel. Take a look at the Education system in Nigeria. People go to class and listen to teachers, yet, they fail. This is because the teachers teach for people to hear. No demonstration, no interest in every single individual’s success in school. If we post on Facebook and twitter, read the bible and even evangelize without particular interest in persons, it’s hard to catch a lost soul. Because so many people post religious messages on social networks and people hardly have any interest in reading long stuffs unless of course they are on the journey of salvation.

There are some ways to help the lost find Christ.

·         Feeding the Hungry. When Jesus saw that the people he was teaching were hungry, he gave them food. (Matthew 14: 13 - 21). You can’t really show love without helping people. Especially people who lack something you can help them with. Be it food, clothes, money, a job, shelter, your time, advise, a helping hand etc. So we should feed people’s needs as this is a sure way to reach their soul. Whoever comes to us in need of anything, we should give when we can and when we can’t, we must find kind words to soften their fear; WHEN WE CAN’T! (Matthew 5 : 42 – Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you)

·         Living by example. Jesus said “I am the way the truth and the life, no one come to the father except through me”. All who have accepted the Christian religion have accepted that Jesus is the one whose teachings they wish to follow. Jesus did live a simple, illustrious life for us all. Fearing no condemnation, praying when in pain, rebuking the devil when tempted, caring for the sick, poor and little children, etc. when Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan, He said to the lawyer who was testing him, “Go and do the same, so you shall live”. Meaning whoever does according to God’s will, will Live. Doing God’s will brings success and contentment. These things attract men of all calibers to people. You see great men respect honourable Pastors, Priests and Prophets because they live exemplary lives. To bring people close to us, we need to live by example.

·         Finding a way to attract them to God. One of my favourite quotes in life is “there is always a way out”. (Mark 2 : 4)

·         Praying for them (Matthew 5 : 44)

·         Checking on them from time to time. Jesus came to the world not because of himself; he came because he loved us. He came to us before we went to him. So we ought to visit our friends from time to time to see how they are growing and how we may help them.

·         Having open minded conversations with them. Let them give us their opinions. Understand where they are coming from because we have been somewhere around there before. It is not by our own understanding that we have salvation but by God’s grace. So don’t be hypocritical and rebuke people for lacking understanding. Just listen, we may even learn a lot from what they have to say.

·         Understanding and being non-judgmental (James 3:17-18)

·         Testifying to them (Acts 11 : 14)

·         Just be good (Proverbs 16:7)

God be with Us All In Jesus name (Amen)

Your Breakthrough is On It's Way

by Joyce Meyer - posted August 12, 2013

A man's mind plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps and makes them sure. Proverbs 16:9

Our mind plans based on what we know or think, but God often leads us in an entirely different direction. We only know a little and we base our plans on what we know, but God knows everything. He knows the end from the beginning and will always direct our steps in what will ultimately work out for our best, if we will cooperate with Him.

Proverbs 16:25 says, "There is a way that seems right to a man and appears straight before him, but at the end of it is the way of death. God's ways may not always be quick, or according to our desires, but He does have an appointed time, and it will be the right time. In other words, God has an appointment with your circumstance, with your breakthrough, with your answered prayer.

Suppose you make an appointment at the doctor for 11:45 on a certain day. You've had that appointment for a long time and been waiting for it. If you show up in the doctor’s office at 9:00 a.m., it wouldn’t matter how frustrated you got, you would still have to wait for your appointment until your appointment time.

In Acts 1:6, 7, some of the disciples said to Jesus, “Lord, is this the time when You will reestablish the kingdom and restore it to Israel?" In other words, they were saying, “Jesus, tell us when You’re going to come back. We want to know when these things are going to happen.”

Jesus said to them, "It is not for you to know the appointed time. Only God knows the appointed time."

So if only God knows the appointed time and if we believe He loves us, then why can’t we believe that at the appointed time we’re going to get our breakthrough? We can prove that we trust God by enjoying our lives and being peaceful while we wait.

Love God Today: God has an appointment with your breakthrough - so be patient while you wait.

WORD OF GOD

BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD...DON'T LIVE IN STRUGGLE, I WILL MAKE A WAY WHERE THERE IS NO WAY. FOR THOSE WHO BELIEVE, THEY HAVE POWERS TO BE CALLED MY SONS. HE WHO HAS EARS, LET HIM HEAR...FOR I HAVE GIVEN YOU MY WORD, IN THE BEGINNING WAS MY WORD, AND MY WORD IS ME, AND I AM LOVE, SO THOSE WHO ARE MADE OF MY IMAGE AND LIKENESS ARE ALSO PRODUCTS OF LOVE. HALLELUJAH!

WORD OF GOD

BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD...DON'T LIVE IN STRUGGLE, I WILL MAKE A WAY WHERE THERE IS NO WAY. FOR THOSE WHO BELIEVE, THEY HAVE POWERS TO BE CALLED MY SONS. HE WHO HAS EARS, LET HIM HEAR...FOR I HAVE GIVEN YOU MY WORD, IN THE BEGINNING WAS MY WORD, AND MY WORD IS ME, AND I AM LOVE, SO THOSE WHO ARE MADE OF MY IMAGE AND LIKENESS ARE ALSO PRODUCTS OF LOVE. HALLELUJAH!

A Christian: A Christ like person

The Character of a Christian

It is the will of God that man will be as Him, striving towards heavenly perfection. This is why in the beginning, God made man in His image and likeness. When men lost their way and He saw the hopelessness in our self-righteousness and ignorance, He sent His only begotten son to set us free from the bondage.

Jesus came and lived an exemplary life for all who would believe and follow His way of life, would become the Children of God and heirs of His kingdom, Heaven. This is why through Christ we now have the grace of having God’s Holy Spirit inside us for direction, prayers, communion, communication, etc.

Being a Christian does not mean attending Church services and bearing Hebrew/Jewish names. The word Christian in the dictionary means “based on or believing in the teachings of Jesus Christ”. I prefer to define a Christian as someone who admires and adopts the behaviours, teachings and character of Christ.

Who is Jesus? While on earth, Jesus was many things as a person but what made Him the One known Prophet believed in was the fact that He was truthful. Jesus was so truthful that even those that doubted His claims of being the son of God and a King were tight lipped whenever He preached and taught the word of God in the synagogues (Mark 12)

Jesus said, “I am the way the truth and the life, no one come to the Father, but through me”  (John 14:6)

The Way: A way is the direction followed to a particular place or a character or style of doing something. So wherever Jesus went, however he went about doing good, telling the truth, feeding the hungry, praying for the people, healing the sick, preaching the gospel, dining and showing love to the sinners and those that persecuted him, that is the way of a true Christian; The way of Jesus.

The Truth: Jesus was not a surprise to the people when He came. Those that chose to believe knew about Jesus from the prophecies in the Old Testament and seeing the things He did, fulfilling the prophecies, it was confirmed that Truly, Jesus was and is the Truth of the word of God.

The Life: The life of Christ, an example to those that choose to believe in Him. The Jew that loved the Samarians/Samaritans, at the time, this was like two different sects of people. Today, we have Religious differences and arguments, even fights. But among Christians, there’s still the Division of Pentecostal, Roman Catholic, Anglican, Methodist Churches etc. That even though we all believe in Jesus, we still spend time arguing about whose way of worship is right. When Jesus sat with the Samaritan Woman at the well, she asked Him why Jesus being a Jew would ask a Samaritan Woman for water. They were both observers of God’s word, but they went about different ways of worshiping God and this difference created a wall between Jews and Samaritans.

John Chapter 4

“¹⁹ “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. ²⁰ Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
²¹ “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²² You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³ Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. ²⁴ God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

³⁹ Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” ⁴⁰ So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. ⁴¹ And because of his words many more became believers.
⁴² They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”

When the Samaritans, seeing for themselves that the man who didn’t worship as they did, who wasn’t “supposed” to have a relationship with them but He did anyway, they saw the truth in Him. He didn’t really have to argue or even convince the woman that the way of the Jews was the right one, the Samaritans saw and heard for themselves, and by this, they accepted.

Note that Jesus pointed that even though the way of the Jews was right, it was not the ULTIMATE way. 

God isn’t looking for any particular church, God wants individuals who worship Him in SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH. This is what we must do. There is no reason to compare any sect or people. For Doing Good, feeding the poor, giving to the less privileged, helping those that need it, preaching the good news, living an exemplary life being prayerful and practical in faith, these things are the Habits of true Christians.

Bless you all.

Love, From Mona

How to Show we are Christians (1)

Part 1 (Giving and Leaving All to God)

John 16 : 33 "These things I have spoken to you, that in me you might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world"

A lot of us are afraid to be open, active and behavioral Christians. The main reason is because in our hearts, somehow, we are scared of the opinions of others. What will they say about my past? When I make a mistake, and sin, what will they say? What will they think of me if I am not successful in my business and I claim that God is with me? What will they say when I fall sick and I claim my God is Jehovah Rapha?
What we think of ourselves is far far greater than what ANY PERSON thinks of us. In life, there is always something we do very well, something we have succeeded in doing or accomplishing, something that happens/happened well for us, etc. and as much as there are trials and issues to deal with, there are good things and good times to cheer about. All these good things happen to us from time to time but we often see them as little things, things that don't matter, ignoring the fact that the "bigger things" that we get/see start from the "little ones" we see/get. We must Give ALL Glory to God for everything we get. The verse above tells us, that in Christ, we shall have peace and in the world, we shall have tribulation, but we must be of good cheer because Christ have overcome the world...for us. So even in the face of all the Judgement, Criticism, Hatred, Envy, Failures and all else, we must Stand even firmer, returning ALL Glory to God as Christians in the Knowledge that He does ALL things for us. (Philippians 4:13)

Remember the lepers in the Luke 17? Jesus healed Ten, only one returned. V: 15 "One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice.  He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?  Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?”  Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”

So as true believers, it is expected of us to sing God's praises, testify and let people see what God has done for us. This will let people know that God is working in us. And this also shows that we are not proud people trusting in ourselves but a people who are proud of the grace of our God.

My hope for us today is that we testify to our friends and return to give ALL glory to God for all things and surrender our lives, offerings and issues all to Him who is able. This shows that we identify with God, we believe in God, we trust in God, we expect God's blessings. 

Be of good cheer, have faith and believe, God is working in our lives.

Love, From Mona.