Month: January 2012

Posted in OUR WORDS

LYING TONGUE

Posted on by Uplifting Christ

All liars will go to hell. Revelations 21:8. It is difficult to differentiate between the truth and a lie in our days. We all lie sometimes; it is hard to control the tongue when it starts to lie. The truth is the tongue doesn’t lie. It comes from the heart according to Matthew 15:18. However, the tongue must be controlled to prevent lying to one another. Most Ministers of God are not telling the truth. Politicians are doing the worse. Husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, children, brothers, sisters, friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, etc are all lying in these last days. I pray to God everyday to give me the strength, and power to always tell the truth as much as possible without any intimidation. The scripture tells us God hates lying lips. Proverb 6:19. And lying tongue is abominable to Him.

I have been trying to find out why people lie to people, as well as lie about themselves. I have had practical experience before where someone kept on lying most of the time just to cover up; most people call that “white lie” which they tell not to hurt someone. When you tell a lie not to hurt a friend, family, lover, spouse, business partner, etc today, you are going hurt them more in the future should they get to know truth. The truth hurts but I guess that is what we all need.

Jesus is the truth, so anytime you tell a truth, you are declaring your stand with the Lord. Satan has no truth in himself. He lied to Eve, and so many great people. He is a liar. Anytime you lie, you declare your stand with Satan. From today, know that your words determine who you stand for; either for Jesus Christ, or Lucifer.

Two years ago, the media asked Tiger Woods a question in an interview. The question was How did you fool so many people for so long?  I was amazed at his reply. He said “You know, Tom, I fooled myself, as well. As I said, I lied to a lot of people, deceived a lot of people, kept others in the dark; rationalized, and even lied to myself…”

I have learnt a lot from Wood’s answer; “I fooled myself…even lied to myself”. You will treat others the way you treat yourself. If you lie to yourself, you would lie to others. If you keep on hurting yourself, you would hurt others. If you can’t forgive yourself when you do wrong, you would find it hard to forgive others when they do something wrong against you. Most people don’t know who they truly are. They try to please people; such is lying. They deceive themselves. Learn to appreciate who you are, where you are from, what you have (gifts or talents from God). When you cheat yourself on some basic things in life, you would end up cheating on people you meet.

In this New Year, let your Yes be Yes, and your No, No; anything beyond this comes from the devil. Matthew 5:37. God hates lying lips and All liars will go to Hell.

Posted in HOPE, SOUL FOOD

LIFE IS A RACE

Posted on by Uplifting Christ

“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us…” Hebrews 12:1

This summer, the world’s focus would be shifted to London for the Olympics games; London 2012. Countries all over the world would come to participate, and cheer their athletes to victory. What matters most in the end is the number of medals each country would win. That would distinguish winners from losers. Although athletes engage themselves in many events, the one I really enjoy watching is the long distance events. They require perseverance and endurance to finish. During such events, athletes starts well; everyone proves to win in the first two to three laps but when fatigue starts accumulating, the muscles begin to ache, when every step they take tells them to quit, that is when most of them look at the multitude cheering them up. And remember all the encouraging words they heard from their presidents, friends, and families. From my perspective, anyone who crosses the finish line is a winner, though not all receive the medals.

The life we live on earth is a race. Like London, the earth is the place for the event. There are forces (seen and unseen) that cheer us up to victory, and forces that seek our defeat. That is why we need to know where we belong, whether for Jesus, or Satan and his demons

We are not the first generation to run this race. There have been several people who came to run and won with medals, and others who failed to win. The good news for us is that Heaven is constantly watching and cheering us to victory. God is watching as we run this race. Jesus, Joseph, Daniel, Elijah, Samuel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, Peter, John, Paul, Joshua, Esther, Mary, Ruth, etc are all watching and singing songs for us to run well. These guys did run the race, won, and they are enjoying the benefits thereafter. They stood firm when Satan and his demons tried them in various ways to prevent them crossing the finish line. My motivation each day is if these people could run well without any Bible, computer to read daily devotionals, listen to podcasts, etc then I can do better with the Holy Ghost on the inside. We are more fortunate to have their stories as a guide. We have computers, smart phones, etc with which we can easily link up with other athletes to see and hear how they are faring.

In Hebrews 12:2, Paul, one of the greatest runners of all time, advised us to look unto Jesus, who is the author and finisher of our strength. We can’t run this race with our own strength. We have to focus on Jesus who will renew our strength daily. In Isa 40:31 (NIV) “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary…”

Athletes who gave up along the way bring shame to their countries. What the fans expect is victory; they want their heroes to run despite the pains, fatigue, etc. As children of the Most High, we have been enabled to win this race of life.

Jesus knew that one thing that could push us down is weariness. That is why Paul said in Heb 12:3 that “consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” continually worrying over challenges, difficulties, etc will push our focus from the author of our strength and we may give up.

Hear me today, our predecessors didn’t quit, they ran well even at the point of death. They never gave up. Jesus according to Hebrews 12 endured, despising the shame. He wept in Gethsemane, He was beaten, they spat on him, etc yet He endured the cross because of the Joy that was set before Him. Paul said that “for I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” Romans 8:18. Jesus knew that if He could cross the finish line, the reward will far exceed the pains he was going through. Let this be our source of strength each day as we run this race. In verse 3, Paul said consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and loose heart.

The race is only for a temporal period but its reward is eternal, and far exceeds anything better we can ever imagine.

I will close with this; “However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace” Acts 20:24

Posted in CONTROLLING SELF, HOLY SPIRIT, SOUL FOOD

YOUR BODY, GOD’S TEMPLE

Posted on by Uplifting Christ

  “Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” Genesis 2:7

God has designed your body to be His temple; a place where He lives. So often we go to church to worship God, praise His holy name, adore Him, etc. All is good but we should also remember that God doesn’t live in physical structures. “…the Most High does not live in houses made by men” Acts 7:48  He lives in us. Most Ministers of the Gospel spend millions designing the church but pay little or no attention to how members of the church live their lives. My body is His temple, so is yours. the bible says “for we are the temple of the living God. As God has said; “I will live in them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”

Friends, God lives in us. He is with us everywhere we go. He feels our pains. He knows our sorrows. He sees our cry, and it isn’t as if He can’t perform the miracles we need. He wants us to communicate with Him every minute and second. The truth is most of us were brought up to believe that the church is the best place to pour our needs to God. Some of us go to church almost 7 days just to tell God what they need. “My people perish for lack of knowledge.”  I am not against church going. In fact, I love going to church. David said “I was glad when they said unto me let us go to the house of the Lord”

Today, know that God is within you and He wants to have one-on-one relationship with you. He wants you to ask, seek and knock personally. He is your Heavenly Father and knows what you need before you even ask. See Him as a loving Father who is ready to give you what you want.

If you see God as a God, He will be a God to you. However, if you see Him as a loving father, He will be a father to you. As He lives in you, and works in you, He expects you to keep the temple clean. God is neat. He wants to live in a clean environment. He wants you to present your body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to  Him. He considers that as your spiritual act of worship.

Its easy to say “this place is dirty. I can’t sleep here, eat here, and entertain visitors here”. We love decent and clean surroundings. God wants the same from us. Where would He live if we destroy His temple with sin? God is holy. On the cross of Calvary, He couldn’t look at Jesus because of our sins. He hates sin. And if we continue to destroy His temple, He will destroy us. In 1 cor 3:17 “If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; For God’s temple is Sacred, and you are that temple.” Satan knows this that is why he makes us sin conscious to keep us sinning. If you are sin conscious, you become a slave to sin.

In these last days, among the things satan uses to destroy God’s temple is sexual immorality, worldly songs, and lying on phone. On the internet, tv, magazines, radio, our communication, etc. Everything is corrupt. Hollywood has painted the picture that one way to show our love is through intimacy. It has also design clothes that show almost every  part of the body. Music has power. God loves music and lucifer is aware. Instead of using our potentials to sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in our hearts to God, we do the opposite which hurt the Father when He sees from above. Lastly, lying on phone is the order of the day. Some of us, including Ministers of God lie on phone all the time. “The lips of truth shall be established for ever: but a lying tongue is but for a moment.” Proverbs 12:19. “The Lord detests lying lips.” Proverbs 12:22. The scripture encourages us to “come out from them and be separate”1 cor 6:17. we don’t have to live like the rest of the world because God lives in us.

Friends, since we know that God is our father and He lives in us, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God. God loves you. When your fellow human breaks your heart, the pain is so intense that you find it hard to forgive. God loves you. He gave His only son to demonstrate His love for you and me. We have broken His heart so many times in our ignorance. Now we know. If you continue to destroy His temple, your body, He will destroy you in the eternal lake of fire