HEARING GOD

            Ever wondered if God speaks at all? Like, is God just in heaven, enjoying with the angels worshiping Him; such that He is so far away for Him to hear you or even speak to you? Does God care enough to have time to listen to all you have to say? My dear you have to understand that the reason you can speak is because God speaks, and you can only listen because God listens; after all, you are made in God’s image. God does love talking and speaking (i.e. communicating) with us – men. So how does God speak and how can we ensure we hear Him speak.

            You see previously, God has spoken with the audible voice. Check out the Israelites, they heard God speak audibly from Mount Sinai. Ask Abraham, Moses, Elijah, Isaiah and the other Prophets, they did hear God’s voice. Friends consider this: ‘does God have a preferred way of speaking?’ Remember the discourse between Jesus and the woman at the well in Samaria, Jesus said God does not enjoy being worshiped in physical temples; so our Father does have a preference. One thing that links all the ways God spoke to man after the fall of Adam is this: they heard God from outside. The voice of God had to be audible to them because though they related with God, God was still external to them. God’s presence lived in buildings, arcs and stones in that period. So something physical needed to be involved for them to hear God.

            Jesus enlightens us on how to hear Dad very clearly. Three times in the ministry of Jesus, we see written that God spoke audibly. At His baptism, God’s audible voice came to John the Baptist: (John1:32-33; Matt.3:17; Note: John and Matthew’s Gospel explain and make us understand the accounts of Jesus’ baptism in Mark & Luke. The person that saw the spirit descending on Jesus was not the crowd gathered around but John). It follows then that the voice spoken was not to Jesus, but to John who needed to see and hear to believe in his heart and afterwards proclaim: John1:36. Again at the transfiguration, the voice of God came physically to Peter, James and John, not to Jesus, nor the prophet and the law-giver who were with Him. Finally when Jesus prayed in John 12:28-30, the audible voice from God, came not for Jesus but for the people who were gathered around. So, how did Jesus hear God during His prayer? We know Jesus heard God when He prayed; in fact Jesus was always in prayer and always hearing God. John 12:49 confirms that every word Jesus said was gotten in the place of communion with our Father! Again when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, He didn’t start praying, rather he continued in prayer; to understand see John 11:41b. Jesus had already conversed with God within Himself before He spoke those words and God had also responded; hence He said thanks to God for all the men around to hear (vs.42).

            So again, how did Jesus hear God? Jesus answers first by telling the woman at the well in Samaria: ‘God is a Spirit, and He prefers to be worshipped in spirit’. That is the place of communion – hearing and speaking – with God that God prefers most. Know this, that man is a spirit, and has a soul (the mind for thinking & emotional components for expression) and man lives in the body. So the real you is the spirit; you don’t have a spirit, my dear friend, you are a spirit. Hence God said, let us make man in our image; and God is a? ……. So the utmost place of God communing with His sons is within. The best way to hear God is to hear God speak to the spirit that you are; to use ehm ehm ‘unspiritual English’: it is to hear God speak to your spirit. This is the core of the sheep hearing and knowing the voice of the shepherd (John 10:27&4b). How do I know this is the most excellent way of God speaking to us now? Well, Romans 8:16 clarifies that the place where we receive the witness and confirmation that we are actually God’s sons is in our spirits, not in our minds or bodies; the mind and body takes time to catch onto this knowledge. Again, Philip’s experience with the Ethiopian man, the spirit spoke to Philip to minister to the man (Acts 8:29). How did God speak? By the spirit of course and therefore, how do you think that Philip heard? Through his …….. Also, Peter heard God speak via the agency of his spirit communing with God’s spirit (Acts 10:19). So dear friends you want to hear God’s voice frequently? Don’t just yearn to hear a physical audible voice with your ears, rather allow yourself to be trained to recognise when God talks to your spirit, for there ain’t anything physical about this. This is why Peter said faith is involved when we have not seen Jesus yet we believe in Him (1Peter 1:8); same way faith is involved when you have not seen God and you hear him speak to you in the spirit. After all, speaking with God and hearing God speak – prayer, is part of the components of worship; & God is to be worshipped in spirit and in truth.

            Joel speaks of the ways God speaks to us today (Joel2:28). God still speaks today in dreams and visions. So my dear, understand that God does speak in diverse ways, but when it comes to the place of 1 Thess. 5:17 where you are to pray as a believer without any interruption, and the place of Luke18:1 where you are to pray always, without stopping then you’ve gotta hear God as frequently as Jesus did as illustrated in john 12:49 (NIV). So God does speak, He is speaking and he will keep on speaking, you simply have to be aware that your spirit can actually hear God and already does hear God. When you become aware of this, your mind will start to get the words of God that your spirit hears. Dear friends, this is but a minute tip of the iceberg in the teaching of hearing God speak, so after reading this if you do have questions or objections, please feel free to bring it up.

HELP!!!! I PUT GOD FIRST ON MY PRIORITY LIST AND HE HAS TAKEN UP ALL THE SPACE.

Yeah, I know you may be wondering why that may be a problem.

 Well… Let me explain.

Sometime towards the end of last year, when the Holy Spirit was dealing greatly with me, panel beating my life to adjust to His own plan, I began thinking about the idea of having God as first on my priority list.

I thought “God cannot just be first on my priority list or on my everyday things-to-do list. I mean, if He’s first, what comes second. As in, what is close enough to God to come second on that list?”

And then I thought again “is there anywhere in the Bible that calls God the First in something, without saying He ends it too?”
So with my knowledge of the Word, I did a quick check –

He is First AND the Last – Revelation 22:13

Beginning AND the End – Revelation 22:13

Alpha AND Omega – Revelation 22:13

Author AND Finisher – Hebrews 12:2

Well, Hebrews 5:9 calls Him the Author of eternal salvation, without saying anything about Him being the finisher of it. But I mean the writer of Hebrews didn't waste much time before he referred to Him as “Finisher” of our faith in chapter 12. So yeah, nothing – nowhere.

“Hmmm…” I thought, “So it goes to show that if I put God first on my priority list, I cannot just leave Him as first, and then get on with other things. I kinda have to put Him as last too.” 
Well, it seemed to me like He’s all encompassing; ‘cos, if He’s First and He’s Last, whatever comes in between gets sandwiched by Him. Right? OK, I see.

Then again, that explanation didn't go so well with me. I knew I was hitting the nail somewhere, but I didn’t know where or how. So I kept thinking. I assumed that my things-to-do list or my priority list was a “scale” of preference list, with the heavily weighted items topping the list. I imagined that if I “weighed” GOD – (the Almighty, God of all the Universe, Commander of the Lord’s Army, the Rock, God over all kingdoms, King of all kings, Lord of all, Master of Heaven, Great and Marvelous, etc. you know what I mean) – on my scale of preference, it was going to read Error, dash-dash-dash, and then it’ll go beep beeeep beeeeeep.

 Haha!!!!!!

I began to realize that God cannot be weighed. He cannot be compared to anything – anything at all. I realized that if I put God on my priority list, He will leave no space for anything else. He doesn’t share. He either has me or does not have me at all. 

I read months later in John C. Maxwell’s Life@Work that if you put God first on your daily things-to-do list, you will not get around to anything else in the day. He’s gonna take up all the space, all the time, everything.

So rather than list God as first, I now choose to put Him in the center – Center of everything. 

Max Lucado, in his book, It’s Not About Me, mentioned that when God looks upon the earth, He doesn’t see me. He doesn’t see you. He sees Jesus. He went on to describe Jesus as the Center ‘C’ of life.

You know, I read that book a long while ago, and never really understood what He meant by Jesus being the Center ‘C’, until I started getting serious with my piano lessons. I realized that the Center C (or Middle C) on the piano keyboard is the master of all the keys. It doesn’t look any different from the other white keys, but it is not on the same level as the other keys. All the other 35 white keys and all the 25 black keys on my five-octave keyboard know it. The Center C, itself, knows it. They know that without it the music is too high or too low. They know that without it there can hardly be a balance in musical pieces. The Treble Clef revolves more than halfway around it; the Bass Clef revolves the other way around it. The Center C is the key of all keys and yes, it sure knows it.

 My piano tutor, when he was giving me lessons about the middle C, thought he was offering piano lessons; little did he know that he was opening my eyes to a spiritual truth that would stick with me forever.

Jesus is my Center ‘C’.

I don’t have to put Him as first on my priority list; and get done reading my Bible and praying in the morning, and then get on with my day – with numbers 2 and 3 and 4 and … and last. No, I don’t! I can carry Him along with me everywhere, in everything. Or better still, He can take me along with Him everywhere and in everything He wants me involved in. He can be in the center, with all things pointing to and from Him – He can be the Author TO Finisher of my faith; He can be All in All in my family; He can be Lord and Master over my relationships; He can be First TO Last in my career – He can and is and will be everything from everything to everything in my life. He isn’t just first on my list. He runs through from number 1 TO number last. 

So, away with the priority list! I’ll put other things on it, but my Jesus. He doesn’t belong there. He rules over everything in my life anyway. And He knows He does. He is my “Center ‘C’ Jesus”. I love to call Him that.

HEY LOOK, I THINK I’VE GOT A GREAT FIRE INSURANCE PLAN, OR DO I?

There’s something that just started bothering me lately. I’ve heard it all my life but it started becoming much of a bother after I had this really great encounter with the Holy Spirit. The encounter so changed my life that all I wanted to do was to love God, bask in His love and presence, please Him, and enjoy eternal life right here on earth.

So, when I hear people make statements like “please, don’t let me sin, I want to make heaven”; or “I will just forgive that girl because of God. I don’t want to go to hell because of any stupid person”. Haha… that’s funny. If you’re forgiving her because you don’t want to go to hell, don’t you think calling her stupid may get you right down there?
People have gotten the message of Christ completely twisted. Jesus preached bringing the Kingdom of Heaven down on earth, and His sole aim of coming was to reconcile us back to God; not after we get to heaven, but right from here on earth. That’s why Jesus came. While reconciliation with God will save us from eternal damnation in hell, avoiding hell was not the main message of Jesus’ gospel.

God desires a love relationship with you. He loves you sooooo much and He wants you to let Him love you. He wants you to yield to Him, allowing Him to work in and through you. He wants you to do greater works than Jesus did here on earth. He wants to talk with you, reveal things to you through His word and through His Holy Spirit living inside of you. He has not given you a spirit of fear – not even of hell fire, but He has given you a spirit of love, of power and of a sound mind. If all your salvation means to you is a way of escape from hell, then you cannot give God pleasure, meaning you cannot fulfill your purpose for being created, according to Revelation 4:11. And if you can’t give God pleasure, it means you don’t have faith in Him (Hebrews 11:6). So really, you’ll find out that being afraid of hell and doing “all YOU can” to avoid hell may just be what will get you in there. From my Bible, I learn that the finished work of salvation requires that you believe that God has indeed saved you from your sin, and you allow Him to work in and through you while here on earth. It requires absolute faith and trust in Him (in His work through Jesus’ sacrifice).

I’ve been reading a lot about old time reformers – John Wycliffe, John Hus, Martin Luther, etc., and while I read about these great men, all that keeps running through my mind is “what would have made this men leave everything they knew and had, and oppose such a formidable force in their times solely for the sake of Christ?”

I mean if salvation is such a great fire insurance plan as some deem it to be, it should have kept John Hus from being burned on earth because He proclaimed Christ, and should have kept John Wycliffe’s bones from being exhumed and burned long after he was dead. If it is such a great fire insurance plan, it should be able to keep some of your works from being burned, according to 1st Corinthians 3:15.

In church this Sunday, the prayer leader asked us to pray this way: “Father, give me the grace to run this race; I don’t want to go to hell fire.” While this is not entirely a bad prayer, I consider it a very shallow request. There are other reasons the Bible gives for running this Christian race well, none of which states running away from hell as a reason.
Hebrews 12:1-2 tells us to set aside every weight that easily besets us and RUN with patience the race that is set before us LOOKING UNTO JESUS the author and finisher of our faith. 1st Corinthians 9:24-25 says we should run TO obtain an incorruptible crown.

So a more appropriate request may sound something like this: “Father, give me the grace to run this race to the end that I may spend eternity with you.” OR “Father, give me the grace to run this race and never take my eyes off you while I run” OR “Father, give me the grace to run this race and enjoy a great relationship with you while I’m still here on earth” OR “Father, give me the grace to run this race, and take as many people as I can along with me, until we get to the finish line”.
Yes, your salvation will keep you from eternal damnation in hell fire. But…

SO MUCH MORE THAN THAT God wants a love relationship with you. He wants you to enjoy eternal life right from here. The “life abundantly” that Jesus talked about in John 10:10 starts NOW.
So rather than fear hell, embrace eternal life which Christ gave to you. Let His Spirit live and work in and through you, so that you will always do His will. Find out where He is working, submit to Him, do what He asks you to do, and join Him in His work. Trust me, you’ll be on a great enjoyable journey to heaven, even hell will know that it has lost you completely and forever to God.

Focus on Jesus. Look unto Him. He is the Author AND Finisher of your faith. He has completed it for you. Just find rest in Him and live. Really LIVE!!!

Bruised But Not Defeated: How I Overcame Temptation on Valentine's Day

BRUISED, BUT NOT DEFEATED: How I Overcame Temptation on Valentine’s Day

“Phew! I made it. I overcame. Praise JESUS…”

Everything in me defied work that Thursday morning. It wasn’t like I had a valentine or expected to receive any gift; but my kitchen begged for help and I had chosen that day – a day of love for many, as a day of chores for me. So, when the driver showed up that morning to take me to work, I dismissed him. I had my own small-scale business, and I was the boss of me anyway. Little did I know that the reality of “an idle man is the devil’s workshop” was about to strike. 

Isaac and I just started dating. You see, we have known each other since we were eight, and we have been good friends since then, but not until recently did we begin to get romantically attracted to each other. Like the 27 year-old adults that we are, we had talked about it and realized that we are each not ready for a committed relationship, so we thought it best to keep our friendship kicking and our relationship with God alive, and dating to the minimum. We made certain rules, the most important being not visiting with each other in private places. We thought we were doing fine until I gave place to the devil. Yes! I had given place to the devil by letting Isaac know that I was staying home that day. 

He pleaded with me to come spend the day at his, and I said a blunt ‘NO’. He thought I was being lazy to get out of the house. While that was one reason, that was definitely not the main reason for my refusal to go see him. Anyway, so he volunteered to come over to mine, and to that request, I again blurted out a firm ‘NO’. Of course, he was confused and nicely, I did explain to him the reason for my decision, reminding him of our most important rule. He said OK. And I was happy.

I reaffirmed my decision to myself and said “Yes! I did the right thing. No! I will not go there. Satan cannot cheat me this time. Didn’t the Bible say flee every appearance of evil?” Smiling to myself, I repeated, “Tumini, you’ve done the right thing.” What I hadn’t considered is that while I celebrated my victory as I “successfully” fled the appearance of evil, evil itself had borrowed an extra set of wings in pursuit of my soul, and was determined to catch up with me.

Having read through my devotional, I finally got out of bed at 10:00 am, brushed my teeth and headed for the kitchen to do some chores. After all, that was my sole excuse for skipping work that day. I wasn’t ten minutes in the kitchen when I heard a knock on the door. I quickly turned off the faucet, wiped my wet hands on my cotton night dress (which I planned to put aside for laundry), and ran to the door. And behold, it was Isaac! Out of shock, I immediately closed the door.

‘What is going on?’ I wondered. ‘Does it mean that while I celebrated my flight from evil’s appearance; while I blessed God in my heart for helping me; while I raised wine glasses in the spirit with imaginary angels to mark my success; while I patted myself on the back and gave myself a high-five for a job well done, Isaac was busy being evil’s extra set of wings, and was live at my door step?’

‘Wow!’ I thought, ‘this has come to me, and I must deal with it. Oh God, help me’. I opened the door for him and gave him a sensational hug. I really didn’t want to let go. Oh yeah, Jesus was right – the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. 

I finally did let go, and headed off to the kitchen. He stayed with me about a minute or two and went into my bedroom to settle himself in front of my computer. I felt a little victorious – like a bruised wrestler who still had the upper hand in a match. At least, I was badly dressed, and doing dirty work, nothing can be attractive about me, right? Haha... Wrong!

I got done doing my work and went into the bedroom to meet him. I drew a stool from the front of my piano and sat beside him, then the touching and holding began. Uncomfortable, I stood up to go take a shower and dress up properly. I thought, “Well, this wrestler is wounded now, but I’m still doing alright, right?” Well………………………… 

I took a shower, dressed up, went back into the bedroom where he was, and this time took over the computer and acted really busy. Bad mistake! I have now learned that it is more profitable to spend your time discussing and doing reasonable things with your significant [or, as in this case will-like-to-be-significant] other than to not do anything. Feeling neglected, Isaac drew the piano stool closer and began touching my left arm, and then my face, and then my other arm, and then my belly, and then my back and I was just getting stirred up and stirred up inside – somewhere; and because I didn’t want to embarrass him and I was enjoying it [in a way], I did not stop him – rather, I reciprocated in similar kind. 

My conscience pricked and pricked me until I thought my soul was going to burst out of my body. I quickly stood up, as if in urgency. I left the bedroom and went into the bathroom. After a couple minutes, I went back into the bedroom. This time, I sat on the bed. My mood had changed, and rather than admire the guy that sat close to me, I felt disgusted. 

I had just one option. I needed to pray. So while I sat down, angry at myself, and silently mad as hell at Isaac, I talked to God. We both needed his help to deal with each other in this non-relationship that was turning into something else. Isaac noticed my mood, and out of concern, he sought to know what was going on with me. He came beside me again and was already lying on my bed, using my leg as his pillow. I looked at him, knowing what I was about to do, I felt pity for him. I really really like this guy; I didn’t want to hurt him, but to save our souls (James 1:21), I had to hurt him and hurt me (maybe). He is my very good friend, I love him, but I love my [and his] salvation more. I love God even more, and now understanding what Christ had done to save me, I was not going to compromise any longer.

I tapped Isaac on his shoulder and said boldly, firmly, and seriously “get up and leave!” At first, he was shocked, but thought I was just kidding. When he saw the seriousness in my looks, he stood up and headed for the door, while I followed closely behind him. I saw him off past the door and the burglary proof. After I had locked the burglary proof, just before he left, I told him how sorry I was. The hurt and disappointment in his eyes almost made me change my mind; but I was too determined to do the right thing even though it will cost us our friendship. 

Finally he left. I entered into the house, and sat on the couch in the anteroom. ‘Phew’ I thought ‘Bruised, but not defeated’.

Isaac and I have since resolved the issue OVER THE PHONE, of course; and he agreed never to come see me alone again. You know, I thought that he’d get angry and not want even friendship with me anymore. I was wrong. He even respects me the more. Earlier today, being a day after valentine’s, he came to see me at work and gave me two bars of chocolate and a snack… Whether it was for valentine’s or not, I don’t know and I didn’t ask. If it was for valentine’s, I don’t think it was too late. After all, some people in other parts of the world were spending their last hours of valentine’s on the morning of the 15^th day of February in my part of the world. 

A preacher once said, relationships produce power and the devil will fight any relationship that will work against his kingdom. It’s so true.

Remember that as you flee every appearance of evil, you also have to rebuke the devil so he can flee from you too.

Link to Ephesians Bible Study Workbook

Please, find the correct link for the Ephesians Workbook below. Thanks Komi  for catching the error in the previous post quickly.

Ephesians Bible Study Workbook

Ephesians Bible Study Workbook

Hey Guys,

Please, open the link below to access the new Ephesians Bible Study workbook. 

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwXFD0hLB3mqdXNqNlFNb3U0Vnc/edit

Live Bible Study starts at my location later this Saturday evening.  Sign in every week to participate as we go through a revealing study of the book of Ephesians.

And remember to Live new, Act new, 'cos you are New in Christ...

Ephesians Bible Study Commences

Hey Guys,

Ephesians Bible Study Commences in a week's time. We have three locations presently where people are going to be using the manual for their Bible Study. One is at mine's in Lagos/Ogun, another is at Fred's in Port Harcourt, and another is at Timothy's in Abakaliki, Ebonyi. Please, if you will like to use our manual to hold Bible Studies with friends and family, please, feel free to do so, and please  I will like to know about it if you don't mind and send you free hard copy booklets of the manual.

Yes, the manual has been completed and has been sent off for printing (hard copies).

I will post the manual on here as soon as the printing is done. 

I foresee a more interesting Bible Study this season. Please, participate, invite friends to join our blog, as you can see, we need more members. And I highly encourage that anyone who gets done filling their manuals each week should not hesitate to write on here and share their opinions with everyone. 

God has soooo much for us from the book of Ephesians, and satan wants to blind our eyes to God's truth, so that he can continue to hold us bondage. It's time to tell the devil ENOUGH!!! Please, be a part of this. 

 God Bless You!