Chinonso

Many of us claim to love God and believe in his son Jesus Christ but we disown him everyday by our actions or inactions. And remember what St Paul says in Second Timothy 2:12 that if we endure with him, we shall reign with him but if we disown him, he shall disown us.

Actions speak louder than words. Faith without work is dead. In 2 Kings 5:20-27 Gehazi had been a faithful servant of Elisha, he knew and believed that his master had the power of God in him and in fact it was in his presence that God performed many wonders through Elisha. So these miracles were enough to convince him to place all his trust in God and not to worry about material things. But he still disobeyed. He still denied the fact that God could provide everything he needed and went on to collect a gift rejected by his master because of his lack of self control.

Learn how to control your self. Also learn how not to be moved by material things. If not, through your actions, you will deny your faith even before you realize it.

God loved Saul and made him King. God made Saul defeat all his enemies and made him a powerful King so Saul recognized in his heart that God was the greatest and he believed in God. But in First Samuel 13 we could see how Paul let his selfish desires get the better of him. Saul believed and loved God but he still disowned Him through his actions by not completely destroying everything that belonged to the Amalekites.

When we're lifted up, when we are faced with challenges, when we've gained victory and at every point in our lives. We have to be careful of the actions we take, the decisions we make. We may love God very deeply in our heart but our actions or inactions can contradict this and like he did with Saul, may he not disown us.

Happy Sunday Umuchukwu

Christ himself explicitly makes this clear in Luke 14:25-33 that none of us can be his disciple unless we give up all our possessions pick up our cross and follow him. This is a clear teaching and this implies that so long as we are attached and obsessed with our earthly possessions, we can't be disciples of Christ.

At a point in your life, you have to make a firm decision. You have to decide if you want to continue being just a regular church goer with a 'Christian' title or you want to do anything it takes to be a disciple of Christ Jesus. And always remember what Christ said is the first step; detaching yourself from things of this world.

We have so many churches in Nigeria but how many true disciples of Christ do we have? Have you ever sat down to think about your faith? Are you truly a soldier for Christ that nothing can shake your faith in him? Remember, the cross will be very heavy, it will weigh you down, you will cry and be depressed and you will be tempted to leave him. But his grace is sufficient for us and his power is made manifest in our weakness.

Don't just be a member of the congregation every Sunday but be a soldier in Christ's Army who is always ready for any battle.

Happy Sunday Umuchukwu

The love of Christ and the gospel should come freely from the heart. It should not be affected by what we hear people say or what we see. This fire must be fanned by the holy spirit. And when this is the case, it never dies. This is the major reason why most of the early christians were ready to die for their faith and eventually died for it.

Some persons never really loved Christ and they do not necessarily care about the gospel, what drives them is the materialistic gain they will have through the ministry. Sometimes, it works out well for them. And some times, when they do not get what they envisioned, they turn against the gospel and detest anything that has to do with it.

This was what Jesus Christ was trying to use the parable in Luke 13: 22-30 to explain. On the last day, some of us shall say to him “Lord, open to us” but he will answer, “I do not know where you come from.” Then they will say, “We once ate and drank in your company; you taught in our streets” but he will reply, “I do not know where you come from. Away from me, all you wicked men!” This is deeper than we think, and we should meditate on this on a daily basis.

The question is do you really love Christ and the gospel or you have other intentions as to why you decided to open a church or become part of a ministry?

After all your preaching, ministration, singing and miracles, do you truly love Christ? And does Christ Jesus know you? Is your Christianity in your mouth or your heart? Going to church every Sunday for you, is it to slay or to faithfully PRAY?

Happy Sunday Umuchukwu