Posted in SOUL FOOD, TRUST IN THE LORD

ONLY BELIEVE!

20121125-121349.jpg

But Jesus on hearing this answered him, “Do not fear; only believe, and she will be well.” (Luke 8:50 ESV)

Do not fear; Only Believe.

You are called a believer because your job is to Believe. Jesus said “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.“(Mark 11:24 ESV). That means after you have prayed, your task is to believe that you have received it. Jairus wanted Jesus to come to his house to heal his daughter. There were some delay so the unexpected happened. The daughter died. The fact was presented but Jesus on hearing the fact answered him “Do not fear; ONLY BELIEVE.” Fear causes us to doubt God. It prevents us from receiving what God has for us. Remember this saying; “Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. ” (Mark 11:23 ESV).

Then he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts. (Zechariah 4:6 ESV). It is not by our might, nor by our power, but by the Spirit of the Most High God. He is responsible for providing our needs. Your strength cannot do it, and your senses are limited by your environment. You believe the news, the doctor’s report, bank statements, financial report, politicians, your pastors, etc instead of believing in the One who has infinite Power to Keep you. When you walk by sight, You will fear. You will be afraid and may start doubting God’s Power to perform. Jairus believed and his daughter came back to life. I could imagine what was going through his mind on his way back home with Jesus, considering what he had heard. He believed what Jesus said. Friends, we don’t have to believe what people say about our situations. The facts may be on the discussion table but choose to believe what God says. When someone told you there was no hope in your situation, what did you do?

As I stated in “Be still and Move on in October“, Satan will present facts for you to believe his lies. He will try as much as he could to make you doubt God. Fear is a weapon he will use But you should not be afraid for Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.

Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”
He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. (Mark 5:36, 37 NIV84)

Don’t forget your job is to Believe. And to do this, you have to ignore everything that is contrary to the word of God. You have to move with people who will speak faith into your life. Faith is contagious. You have to listen to tapes that will inspire you. And you have to say what the Word of God says.

I want to encourage you to believe what God has said concerning your life. I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. God is our Provider. Only Believe.

God bless us.

Posted in FAITH, HOPE

DEATH IS NOT THE END

Jesus defeated death

For me to live is Christ [His life in me], and to die is gain [the gain of the glory of eternity]. Philippians 1:21. If we live, we live for Christ, and should we die, we die for Him. Either ways, we win. I wonder how many of us today are afraid to die. Someone asked me “at gunpoint, if you are asked to deny you Faith and live, what would you do? My answer was what Paul said; if I live, it will be for Christ, and if I die, I will gain even more.

Why should I be afraid of death?

By the way, we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.

Friends, I want to talk to you today about this interesting topic; Death is not the end. When Jesus sent out His disciples in Matthew 10, He told them in verse 8 that “heal the sick, raise the dead”. Why would Jesus tell them to raise the dead when we all know it is appointed for man once to die? Jesus knew death was not the end. Death was not God’s original idea; Romans 5:12, “when Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.” Death came as a result of sin. Jesus came to destroy sin. He had no sin in Him so He could defeat death. Consequently, He told His disciples, raise the dead.

In John 11, when Jesus heard that Lazarus was dead, He said to His disciples “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going to wake him up.” Jesus is more powerful than death. Jesus wept at Lazarus funeral not because Lazarus was dead but He wept when He saw death which was an enemy of God tormenting God’s children. Jesus knew there was something those people could do instead of crying. He knew with faith, they could bring the dead back to life. Jesus felt the pains when He saw people having perception that death is the end of man. He wept because of their unbelief. He told Martha in verse 40 that “did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”

Death is an enemy of God which comes like a hawk to take God’s children but in the end, it shall be destroyed. 1 Corinthians 15:26 “the last enemy to be destroyed is death”

The good news for us is Death has no power over us because if we live, we live for Christ, and should we die, we die for Him. Either ways, we win. Whether we live or die, we are for Christ. A sinner or an unbeliever is afraid of death because he or she has no hope.

When a person dies, we don’t have to cry. No! We can do something better than crying. Jesus said John 14 “12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. He raised the dead so we can also raise the dead. We have to stand as lights of the world instead of conforming ourselves to the beliefs of the world which are contrary to what the Word of God says.

Although death would come to take as many as it could, we, as believers, must do what Jesus told us to do; heal the sick, raise the dead. The first question a Christian asks a sick folk is; have you gone to see the doctor or GP? Have you taken drugs? If we cannot heal simple malaria, hay fever, headache, etc, how could we raise the dead?

And when we hear about the death of a loved one, the first thing we do is to cry, which is an act of unbelief.

Why do we cry?

We cry because we believe there is no hope for the person again. When you read Luke 8: 49, the Bible says “While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” he said. “Don’t bother the teacher anymore.”  In verse 50 “Jesus said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.””. This, I believe, is what we have to do as believers. Don’t cry and later go in to raise the dead.

From today, be encouraged that you have power to raise the dead. Christianity is not only about prosperity as some folks want us to believe. Our Faith comes with POWER to do all things. Prosperity is just a fraction of it. Jesus said if anyone believes in Him, that person will do the works He did, and even do greater than what he did. I ask myself anytime I read this scripture that “What could be greater than raising the dead, walking on water, feeding multitudes with few loaves of bread, turning water to wine, opening the eyes of blind, casting out demons, overcoming temptation…? We can do more with our faith. God used Paul to do extraordinary miracles in Acts 19:11-12 “God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, 12 so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.”

Death is not the end