KEY SCRIPTURE: Deuteronomy 6:5 “And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might”.

In our previous study, we looked at loving God from a general viewpoint. We would consider loving God in the light of the born-again Christian.

Every Christian is born by the Spirit of God and God is His father. He must relate to God from his spirit. John 4:24 “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth”.

To relate well with God, you must understand who you are in reality. You are a spirit living in this body. Rom 8:10 teaches that if Christ be in you, the body is dead, but the spirit is life or alive. This simply means, your flesh no longer controls or leads you. It is your spirit that leads and controls you.

With this understanding, the things of the flesh and its appetites would not be your focus, but the things of the Spirit. (Col 3:1-3).

With such a renewed mind, you can focus on God. Take time to meditate on His goodness, His faithfulness, and His superabundant grace lavished on us. He left His throne to become a man, and suffered untold shame, pain, and divine rejection to make you and I, God’s blessed sons. This should drive you to worship God, for worship is love expressing itself. Take time to minister and magnify the Lord. Such love would cause you to live with the reality of God’s presence all the time. Please read Psalm 63:1-8.

The Psalmist says my soul, thirsts for thee and my flesh long after thee.

God lovers are men and women who are high flyers in life. God adorns them with honor and glory. Daniel was a great God lover and his achievement in life is yet to be beaten. David’s successes can’t be contested for generations to come. Men like Paul, Stephen, Peter, and many in our day have stood out because of their uncompromising love for God.

CONFESSION

God is my focus in life. My greatest delight is to honour him, pleasing Him in all I do. My life cannot be ordinary, I can only make exploits in this life.

THOUGHT: LOVING GOD MAKES YOU SHINE LIKE A STAR IN THIS LIFE

FURTHER STUDIES

1 Corinthians 2:9 ” But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him”.

1 John 4:18 ” There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love”.

KEY SCRIPTURE: “Deuteronomy 6:5” And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might”.

Jesus said, the greatest commandment is to love the Lord, thy God with all thy soul and with all thy might. Man’s heart must necessarily be filled with something. His heart may be occupied by the created things or by the creator. Men have woefully kicked against the instruction of God and have,” changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.”(Rom 1:25).

To love is to worship, for love gives of itself to what it cherishes. This is exactly what happens in worship.

Failure to love God with all your heart, mind, and being is the misery and sorrow of mankind. The picture portrayed by the writer of Romans 1:18-30 is rather gloomy. Men become servants of ordinary creatures, misusing their bodies in very shameful ways and, in the end, receiving the reward for their folly.

To love God is to love peace, liberty, dignity, and true spirituality. Loving God would naturally lead you to love all humans in spite of their race, religion, status, or whatever condition that person finds himself.

The absence of peace in our societies is a direct manifestation that we have very little love for God.

Everyone who truly loves God is free, for it is only in God that there is true liberty. Let me make myself clear, God has revealed himself presently in His Son, Jesus Christ. (John 14:6 Heb 1:2) We relate to God by submitting to the Lordship of Jesus over our lives. Our Lord Jesus is the only one who sets men free,

Consider what He says about those who love Him.1 Corinthians 2:9 “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him”. God has so much for all who sincerely love Him. Turn your heart totally to the Lord of your soul, our Lord Jesus Christ, so you can live out what God intended you to be.

PRAYER

Heavenly Father, my life is a vessel unto you, and Jesus is my Lord. I love the Lord Jesus with all my heart and soul. My neigh6bor is also cherished and loved sincerely because that is your will for me.  Thank you, Father, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

THOUGHT: WE BECOME TRUE HUMANS WHEN WE LOVE GOD IN TRUTH.

FURTHER STUDIES

Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose”

Psalms 145:20 “The LORD preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroyed

KEY SCRIPTURE: Hebrews 5:7 ” Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death and was heard in that he feared;”

 Prayer is a virtue, which is as vital for our victory in life and effectiveness as Christians.

We take a study into the prayer example of our Lord Jesus.

Our Lord Jesus was a man of prayer. (Remember we learned that He was fully God and fully man). Our key scripture says IN THE DAYS OF HIS FLESH. He demonstrated His humanity in His prayer life. The Lord offered up prayers with great passion. It was heartfelt. James 5:16 AMP…..the heartfelt prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. It is dynamic and can have tremendous power…..”

It was this disposition to pray consistently that caused the disciples to ask Him. Luke 11:1 “…..as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, …”The Lord Jesus was an extremely busy man, with crowds always around Him, yet he never failed one day in not communicating with the Father.

1.            He prayed during His baptism (Lk 3:21)

2.            He prayed and fasted forty days and forty nights (Lk4:2)

3.            He frequently rose up a great while before the day to pray (Mk 1:35)

4.            He prayed through the night all alone (Lk 6:12)

5.            He prayed on the mountain apart deep into the night (Matt 14:23)

6.            He prayed in agony at Gethsemane (Lk 22:44).

7.            He prayed for all His disciples, past and even us in (John 17)

All these demonstrated His unflinching dependence on the Father during His earthly ministry. The results and impact of His ministry as a direct reflection of His prayer life are there for all to see.

Jesus has shown us the true life of prayer, and we must learn from him.

Do you want to make a real impact on your world? Are you having unnecessary barriers to your life and ministry, then do as He did. Pray as if all depends on prayer and work as if all depends on working. This was the Lord’s approach to life, and He was an immense success.

PRAYER

Thank you, heavenly Father, for the privilege of prayer. As I pray, I enter into a closer relationship with you, bringing transformation to me as well as affecting changes in the world around me.

THOUGHT: CONSISTENT FERVENT PRAYERS BRING GOD’S HAND TO ASSIST YOU

FURTHER STUDIES

Matthew 14:23 ” And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.”

Luke 3:21 “Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened”,

KEY SCRIPTURE: Mark 1:15 “And saying, the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel”.

Believing in God is the most positive virtue to exercise. The Bible says all things are possible to those who believe. (Mark 9:23). Believe in God awakens every dying energy in you and makes you keep winning all the way through. Unbelief in God is the worst of influences that can operate in men. Unbelief is what causes a man to marry a dog or a man to use his neighbor for a money ritual. Every ‘foolish’ thing or act can be committed by men in the face of unbelieve in God. Unbelief would awaken every negative power or force to cause you to fail. Believing in yourself is a great deception of the enemy.

True belief in God begins with repentance from all deceptions of the enemy. And accepting whatever God says in His word. The Bible calls it, renewing the mind in Rom 12:2. As we feed our lives with the word, believing whatever it says our lives are transformed into higher levels of being or experiences.

God’s word is a mystery. It has a supernatural potential to make us whatever it talks about. Believing whatever we have read brings about this experience. Many people have heard so much, yet they remain the same, why? They do not believe what they have been hearing or listening to. Through believing these exceeding great and pressures promises, we become partakers of the divine nature and escape the corruption that is in the world, through lust or unbelieve (2 Peter1:4). There is a force and power of decay that sin released into mankind and in creation as a whole. (Rom 8:2) Believing in the word sets up in us a higher law that totally renders this power of decay inoperative and makes us free (Mark 16:15-17).

The meaning of belief in the Ghanaian languages simply means to take and eat or swallow. It also means to place your survival on it. Dare to believe whatever the word of God tells you. Please spend some moments to meditate on what Psalm 119:89-90 says “Forever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven. Thy faithfulness is unto all generations: thou hast established the earth, and it abideth”.

Lastly, the power in the word is set into operation by saying or speaking forth that which you have believed. (Rom 10:9&10,2nd Corinth 4:13).

CONFESSION

I believe in God my Father, I believe in His revealed word, and the word makes me what it talks about. I have been transformed from an ordinary human to a superhuman state through my birth into Christ. I reign in this life by grace.

THOUGHT: TO BELIEVE IS TO CAST YOUR LIFE ON GOD AND HIS WORD, WHICH PLACES A DEMAND ON THE INTEGRITY OF GOD TO RESPOND.

FURTHER STUDIES

Romans 12:2 ” And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God”.

2 Peter 1:4 ” Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust”.

KEY SCRIPTURE: Psalms 78:19 “Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?”

In our previous study, we learned that believing is our decision to accept what God has revealed about Himself. This gives birth to faith in the heart. (Rom 10:17)

Our opening verse shows us that the Israelites, in spite of all that God did in Egypt and in the wilderness failed to believe in Him. Why? Because they were so full of themselves.

 Lesson; to really trust in the Lord, you must put yourself aside.

King Saul was a man full of Himself and so failed miserably (1st Samuel 22:7&8), while David was so selfless and was therefore very successful. (I Sam 24:6).

Many Christians in spite of their status, whether a pastor or church member, may find themselves in the shoes of King Saul. Go to the prayer centers, churches, etc. and you will find a great number of people there. Many are worried and disturbed looking for this or that. Their miserable state is all because they are so full of themselves and cannot trust the Lord. There are some pastors who can’t forgive a wrong committed against them because they are so full of themselves that, they can’t, submit their will to what God is saying. A lot of Christian marriages are on the brink of failure because one party or both can’t kill their egos to accept what God says to him or her.

You can’t trust in the Lord, so long as you are full of yourself. Jesus said, if you would come after me, you must deny yourself and take up your cross (Mark 8:34). Put yourself aside. Throw away your ego and then you can accept the word of God which will bring you deliverance, peace, and success.

CONFESSION

I am born of God and have put away the former nature. I am absolutely free of self and ego, so I submit daily to God’s word. My life is sweet and beautiful for I live for the Lord.

THOUGHT: BELIEVING IN GOD, RESULTS IN FAITH IN HIM AND DETERMINES OUR LOT IN THIS LIFE.

FURTHER STUDIES

Ephesians 4:22 “That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts”

James 4:7-8 “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double-minded.”

KEY SCRIPTURE: 2 Peter 1:5 ” And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge”;

For our next series of studies, we will be considering various moral virtues.

 A virtue is a good quality in men and is also admirable. The first of these virtues to look at is belief in God. This may appear very simple and unimportant, yet it is the foundation upon which every other virtue rests or stands. In actual fact, the Lord says without it no one can please Him (Hebrews 11:6)

The main sin for which men would be judged and cast into eternal damnation is unbelieve in God. (John 16:9) “Of sin, because they believe not on me “;

 Believing is not an act of God in man, but a decision of an individual to exercise his or her will to accept what God has said about Himself. When a man acts this way God justifies Him. (Rom 5:1)

God’s revelation of Himself to humanity presently is Jesus Christ. (Matt 1:23, 1st John 5:20)

Believing in Him is true freedom and fulfillment in this life. Every hurt, worry, and pain in the heart is a sign that man has pushed aside this simple virtue. Fear which is a common human trait, that has robbed and terrorized most people, has had that freedom to harass men because man refuses to believe in the Lord Jesus.

Please ask yourself, do I have peace, is there anything that troubles me, do I find it difficult to relate with my neighbor? If your answer is yes then certainly you have cast away that confidence in the Lord. Hebrews 10:35 “Cast not away, therefore, your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward”. It does not matter whether you call yourself a Christian or not, so long as you have emotional pain, then there is something wrong with your belief. Believing in Him is the foundation for all proper actions that go to honour Him, and liberate us from all emotional pain. We must daily and moment by moment submit our wills to His revealed word, so we can be free from the bondage and deception in this life.

CONFESSION

My confidence is not in my reason but solely in Jesus. By Him, I am absolutely free and walk in dominion and fulfillment in this life.

THOUGHT: BELIEVING IN THE LORD, IS A CHOICE, THAT SURRENDERS OUR ENTIRE BEING TO HIM AND REGULATES EVERYTHING ABOUT US

FURTHER STUDIES

Numbers 20:12 “And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them”.

Hebrews 11:6 ” But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him”.

KEY SCRIPTURE:  Heb 12:2 “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God”.

Our Lord JESUS is the initiator of our faith. He is the focus of our faith. The key scripture tells us to look away from all other things, and problems and learn from the example of our master Jesus.

He considered the joy, victory, and fruits of the cross, despised the shame and pain of it, to endure it. Isaiah 53:11 “He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities”.

Our faith is called upon to rise against many contrary situations. We must learn from the example of the author and finisher of our faith. Look away from the situation. It may be grave, demanding attention, but don’t attend to it. Fear and discouragement are a product of focusing on the contrary situations.

Faith is also alert and strong when the focus is on the word. This was the example of our master as well as Abraham. Romans 4:19 “And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb”:

From the example of Jesus, the principle of strong faith is to look away from the problem. Trouble, or challenge to focus on the word of God. FAITH IS ALWAYS A PRODUCT OF THE WORD IN OUR HEARTS and miracles happen as the word in our heart is spoken out through the mouth. (Rom 10:9,10)

CONFESSION

Jesus has shown us the way of faith, I always focus fully on the Word, which brings me outstanding results all the time. No matter how grave the condition maybe I am victorious always.

THOUGHT: FAITH IS ALWAYS A PRODUCT OF THE WORD IN OUR HEARTS

FURTHER STUDIES

Proverbs 4:20-23 ” My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart.  For they are life unto those that find them and health to all their flesh. Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life”

Romans 10:10 “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation”.

KEY SCRIPTURE: John 19:30 “When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, it is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.”

The ministry of our Lord Jesus was an immense success. What are some of the things He did that made His ministry so successful?

Remember He walked on this earth as a man.

1. He lived only to please the father: (Hebrews 10:7). The Lord Jesus said He came to do the will of the Father. We as children of God have resurrected from the dead and are therefore alive unto the Father. (Eph 2:1) We can always please the Father. All we have to do is to make up our minds to do so.

The apostle Paul said in Philippians 1:20 “According to my earnest expectation and my hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed but that with all boldness as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body whether it be by life or by death “. He sought to please the master always.

2. The Lord Jesus knew who He was The Lord was not in doubt about who He was. John 3:11 “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, we speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness”.

This knowledge made His faith very effective.

 Philemon 1:6 “That the communication of your faith might be effectual through the acknowledgement of every good thing that is in you in Christ Jesus”

Acknowledging every good thing that is in you means having an exact knowledge of what is in you. Your faith would only be effectual when you have perfect knowledge of what you have in you.

The Bible says he that is from above is above all. (Jon 3:31) Like Jesus we have been born from above and must have a superior mentality to the devil, sin, and failure.

We are light like Jesus knew He was light and gave no place to the darkness.

By the knowledge of who you are, the right mindset would be established within you that would give you the right attitude to succeed.

From this moment always function from a perfect knowledge of who you are. And you would never be found wanting.

CONFESSION

I am an offspring of God. I live to please my heavenly father. I know who I am, for the greater one lives in me. I am a bundle of success and always make great strides in all I do.

FURTHER STUDIES:

John 3:31 ” He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all”

Galatians 1:10 “For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ”.

KEY SCRIPTURE: Hebrews 2:10 “For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.”

The death and resurrection of our master brought us into glory. By His death and resurrection, we have received the ability to live on this earth like He did. His death and resurrection took us from the pit of sin and made us righteous beings.

Romans 4:25 “Who was delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our justification”. In His death, our sin and old man was slain (Romans 6:6).

Through His resurrection, we received a new nature. A righteous nature. We became partakers of the divine nature. We have become sons of God. We have divine abilities residing in us. We can act like our master.

We have become Saviours (Obadiah 1:21) “And Saviours shall come up on Mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; …. You have been made a savior because Jesus died and resurrected. Don’t hide yourself, go out there and talk to the world about our master. He said, heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, and bring deliverance to the captives. You are qualified to do this because there is completely a new man inside of you.

Dear brother or sister the Christian is a peculiar person, a holy nation, a chosen generation called out of the world to show the mighty works of our master (1st Peter2:9,). This is real today because Jesus died and was resurrected.

When Paul and Barnabas healed the impotent man at Lystra, they said, the gods have come to us in the likeness of men. (Acts 14:11b) It is the death and resurrection that has made us qualified.

CONFESSION

The death and resurrection of Jesus have qualified me to assume the divine nature of my Lord Jesus Christ to reveal Him to the world. I am one with Him. If you see me, you have seen Him because it is He who lives through me.

THOUGHT: THE LORD’S DEATH ACHIEVED HIS PURPOSE; A NEW AND VICTORIOUS MAN.

FURTHER STUDIES:

1 Corinthians 6:17 “But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit”

Colossians 1:12 “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light”

KEY SCRIPTURE: John 19:40 KJV” Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury.”

After the death of Jesus on the cross, His body had to be taken from the cross embalmed, nicely wrapped in a linen cloth, and then a tomb well prepared for burial. These were different processes that needed to be done by various persons to the body of Christ. If any of them failed to play his or her role, some big gap would have been created in the process leading to the burial of the body of the Lord.

There is always a kind of work that has to be done for the body of Christ. The general task available to be done for the body of Christ is to win more people to increase the building or forming of His body on the earth. The following is a scriptural presentation of such a work. Ephesians:4 The Passion Translation.

 [16] For his “body” has been formed in his image and is closely joined together and constantly connected as one. Every member has been given divine gifts to contribute to the growth of all; and as these gifts operate effectively throughout the whole body, to finally   build up and make perfect in love.” This is the task for all. Everyone. must play His role. The scripture says we are made perfect in love.

It is rather unfortunate when children of God see the church as a place of going to receive blessings only. Well, we received so we could work along with it. Just as our key scripture says, various things had to be done to the body of Christ before it was laid to rest, we must play our part to the body of Christ.

God has placed certain men and women in the church to help in the training or perfecting of the saints to do work in the body of Christ. Eph 4:11,12 KJV “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:”

 It is the church or members of the body of Christ that is perfected by these special gifts of God, to do the work of the ministry, which would eventually raise or build up the body of Christ.

What is the work of the ministry? This is to win souls for Christ and to establish them to be disciples of Christ. Remember that one becomes a disciple when he becomes stabilised in the faith, has an ongoing commitment to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and has developed the basic disciplines of Christian living and service, so that the lifelong maturing process, is guaranteed as much as is humanly possible.

Dear one, this is the work of God, and you are being raised to do it. Make yourself available to do your part.

THOUGHT: GOD HAS EQUIPPED EVERYONE WITH UNIQUE ABILITIES, GIVE YOURSELF OVER TO BE USED

FURTHER STUDIES

Rom 12:4 KJV” For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.”

John 15:16 KJV” Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.”