***NEWSFLASH*** The Love of Father God

The Love of Father God by Pastor Musa Bako will be released by 29th January. Endorsed by Pastor E.A. Adeboye, general overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, who says of the book " ... I urge you to please read The Love of Father God and glean the life- changing teachings contained within. You will experience the unconditional love of the Father, learn to maximize the power of choice, and gain a good understanding of the redemptive plan of God for your life ..." .

Email pastor.musa@victory-assembly.org to request an order form so you can pre-order copies for delivery during the first week of Feb, or for collection from FaithCentre on or after Sunday 26th Jan.

What better gift to give to you loved ones on valentines day?

2012 The year of His Glory

God is saying:

1. I will take over and work out my perfect plans. I must take the glory for all things I do.

2. I will exalt myself over all forces and in your life. You must give me the glory due onto my name. For I am your God.

3. Harvest is here. You will walk in my power, will experience my goodness. Walk before me and incline your heart to my wisdom.

4. Do not be afraid of them. Do not let your heart be troubled. I am your firm foundation.

5. I will make the rivers to bust their banks but fear not. The waters will bring you to your rest. I will be glorified.

6. 2012 is the year for the family. Strengthen your family.

How committed are you

Your commitment is attractive; it will make room for you

“For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. In this you have done foolishly; therefore from now on you shall have wars.”
(2 Chronicles 16:9, New King James Version)

A successful person is the person who is seeing good results and increase in what he does. He is steadily making progress towards the goals he has set for himself. He is not stagnant. He is moving forward and is making impact. A failure is not the person who has failed before. A failure is the individual who is not achieving anything at all and is resigned to it. He is that person who sees himself as low class and he feels inferior. He does not recognise opportunities and has no expectations in life. A failure is a person who has put his hands on several ventures and nothing is producing for him. He has accepted failure as his destiny. God does not want anybody to be a failure. You can be a very successful person too.

One of the fundamental keys to success in life, be it business, career, studies, marriage or any relationship is commitment. The scripture says that the Lord’s eyes run to and fro throughout the ends of the earth to show Himself strong on the behalf of those whose hearts are committed to Him. God will only reveal Himself in your situation when you are committed to Him. Similarly, anything that you are committed to will always produce results for you. Anything that God gives to you, whatever it is, has the potential to make you wealthy. God never gives anything, connects you with anybody or bring you into a place if it cannot add any value to you: for the Bible says in Proverbs 10:22 “The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.” There is nothing that the Lord gives you to do that cannot bring increase to your life.

Whatever you have now can bring increase to your life. Whatever you are doing now can bring you great increase. The people you have in your life now that are God sent can contribute to your greatness in life. Everything and anything that God has put in your hand has the potential to make you great in life. Moreover, nothing will be released into your life until you give it your commitment. It is not the place you reside that determines your destiny. As a covenant person, you can make it anywhere. It is not the name or the kind of job you do that determines how high you will rise in life, I have seen professionals of high standing fail in life, and with the same token I have also seen uneducated people go into small scale businesses which have risen to be big capital ventures. The secret of success has nothing to do with the title of the job you do, or the description of the duties it entails. The secret is in the help of God and our commitment to whatever we are doing.

Anything God gives you has the potential to increase you but the thing will not release into your life what it contains until you give it your commitment. I see commitment as the resolution which an individual makes to give himself to something, to stay with the thing no matter what, and give to the thing whatever it places demands on, until it yields his expectation. Therefore, for you to have a successful marriage, for you to qualify with very good grades, for you to have a great relationship with your fiancé or fiancée, for you to achieve business breakthrough, or rise to your peak in your career, you will have to make a resolution to stay with it no matter what, and be willing to give what it places demands on until it yields for you.

This Kingdom is Superior

Colossians 1:12-13
"Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: [13] who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son".

The church is a kingdom, the Kingdom of Jesus. We come into this kingdom as we give our lives to Jesus and make him the Lord of our lives. In the Kingdom of Jesus we are as citizens and heirs. The citizens of this kingdom are not under the power and domination of Satan. Satan no longer determines their destiny. The kingdom of God determines our wellbeing and welfare, not the kingdom of darkness and not the situation or circumstance that we find ourselves in.

The kingdom of Jesus is superior to all the world kingdoms and is superior to the organised kingdom of darkness in all its forms and shapes. The gates of hell can never prevail against this kingdom, the church will continue to grow and extend it's boundaries no matter the attack against it and the people of this kingdom will reach their ultimate destiny.

The citizens of this kingdom are to obey God more than man no matter the cost and are required to live and die for Him just like patriotic soldiers would do. Soldiers go to war and are willing to die in defence of their nation; a believer must also be willing to suffer and die for his Lord. Our kingdom, this kingdom is superior!

Making Decrees

Kings don’t whisper and mumble decrees; they speak them out for all to hear.

Spiritual forces cannot hear decrees which are whispers and mumbles. Only God can hear your heart. When you are speaking to spiritual forces you need to make them hear you. When you doubt your words, spiritual forces know and don’t obey. You need to speak confidently and with authority to spiritual forces.

God is on your side. He says you shall say a thing and it shall come to pass. You shall say to this mountain to move and it shall come to pass. The Bible says signs and wonders shall follow those who believe, one of the signs is that they will command devils to leave and they will obey.

Believer, its time to start believing and speak out loud to those forces. It shall be done In Jesus Name!

A Living Sacrifice

Romans 12:1

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.

God values sacrifice, He appreciates it when we are making sacrifices for Him and not doing stuff for Him only out of convenience. When we make saceifices to God, they comes to him as a sweet smelling savour. God enjoys it when we can go out of our way, out of our comfort zone to do something for Him. Sacrifice is precious to God; when David discovered that he said he would never give to God that which will cost him nothing. There are givings and then there is a sacrificial giving. A lot of people like to do things when it suits them, they only do things that make them happy at a time that they want to do it but Bible says “Greater love has no man than this that he lays down his life for a friend”. The laying down of life is the sort of worship that moves God most. The night Solomon overtook God’s measurements of the temple with his sacrificial giving, God appeared to him and said, “Tell me what I can do for you”. The night Abraham went out of his way and laid down Isaac his only son, his only heir, his all for God, God swore that he would multiply Abraham and bless him abundantly.

God enjoys sacrifice. Every believer needs to learn to make sacrifice. You cannot expect God to show up all the time and meet your need and increase you when you are not sacrificing anything. It took God sacrifice to make you who you are today, it took God sacrifice to make you born again, and it took God sacrifice to bring you into relationship with Him. It will take you making sacrifices for you to get to where God is seeking to take you to. In our passage above, we read about Paul pleading with the brethren and saying, “I beseech you to make your bodies into a living sacrifice”; the most reasonable sacrifice one can make is the sacrifice of self. If God can have you as a sacrifice then he can do anything with you and he can do anything with what he brings into your life. If God can have you as a sacrifice he can trust you with everything he brings into your life; every blessing, every increase, every promotion, everything. Paul says the sacrifice of yourself is your most reasonable service to God. It is the highest form of worship. It is the highest form of devotion. This is the deeper level of relationship that one can have with God. The believer must be totally sold out to God, totally abandoned to God; totally available to God.

My challenge to you is not the question of whether you are born again or not, its not about your frequency or activity in church but your level of sacrifice of yourself. You must look into the level which you have sacrificed yourself to God. God is calling on you to put yourself on the altar, all sold out to God? He is calling you to completely hand over all that you are to God. To what extend can God stretch you? It’s easy for people to get born again these days; we just lead them in a simple prayer, “Dear Jesus I believe you are Lord, I believe Jesus died and rose from the dead, forgive me my sins and come into my life. Write my name in the book of life, Amen”, and then we say that they are born again. However, a believer in Christ must go a step further. A believer must come to that place of complete abandonment to Christ, a place where he is totally, completely, all sold out for God. When you have given your all to God, it affects your commitment to God, you become so attached that you can go all the way for Him. You become so committed to God that you can lay down anything for Him. You become So committed to God that you are willing to suffer for him. You pass that place where you are dealing with God simply because of what you expect him to do for you. You come to that place of deep commitment, such that you love him more than your life, you love him more than your family, you love him more than your career, you love him more than your possessions, more than your relationships, and you love him more than anything this world can offer you. You become available and willing to go all the way with Him even if it will result in rejection, even if it will result in persecution or result in losses. There is this level of sacrifice that if you can come to, God enjoys relationship with you and He unfolds to you the deep mystries of the Kingdom; the believer must move to that height. Matthew 10:37 Says “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me"
Jesus says he that loveth father or mother more than him is not worthy of him. Anyone who loves their son or daughter more than him is not worthy of Him. And he that takes not his cross to follow after Jesus is not worthy of Him. He that losses his life for Christ’s sake will find it. When you have given yourself as a sacrifice to God in a way that is acceptable to Him it shows in your commitment and willingness to lay down anything. And suffer anything for him. When you are deeply committed you can go all the way for him even if you will suffer persecution and you come to that level where Christianity is no longer a “bless me - bless me quick relationship”. I believe in prosperity, healing and success but I don’t believe that it’s the first priority of our relationship with God. A believer should be willing ant time to lose hi job, his relationship, his investment, and all assets all for the sake of Christ. To him God comes first and not what this world can offer him. If God would just reveal to you that you would not prosper financially would you still love him? If God shows you that you are going remain single for the rest of your life and never get married, would you still dance and celebrate like you do? Would you come to church' would still give the tithes, the offerings and the seed of faith? Some people have tied their relstionship to what God can do for them and they leave church every time they think God is not doing for them the things they desire. They get angry with God, they keep changing church every month or every season if they are believing God for something and the pastor is not delivering it. It more easy these days to attract people to Christian conferences when the teachings are going to be about prosperity, deliverance from enemies, 7 steps to supernatural breakthrough and how to attract favour than when the teaching is about Holy living, sacrifice, missions and evangelism. The church has changed. Are we trully followers of Jesus? For he says if you will come after me and have dealings with me, you must be willing to take up your cross and follow me. In following Jesus you may sometimes be required to suffer pain, persecution, to suffer shame, to suffer loses. It is not always "Rosy Rosy" as it’s been taught. Sometimes in following Jesus, it can be rough and tough.

1 Peter 4:12. Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.

A lot of us want to be part of the churches blessing , Christ’s healing, Christ’s breakthrough, Christ’s supernatural health, but we don’t want to be part of Christ’s sufferings. When people suffer some people conclude that they must have sinned, but you should think it not strange when you pass through the fiery trials. When his glory shall be revealed you shall be glad with exceeding joy. Your relationship with God must be more than what He can do for you.

Matthew 16:24, 25 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.

Christianity is also about self denial, committing to God and following the way to Christ even at the expense of your comfort, at the expense of your career or expense of everything of this life. You have to be sold out as a living sacrifice, You have to be able to say “I am all yours God,” and that no matter your condition or circumstance. Whether God heals you or not you must declare "I am committed Lord". Whether God increases your finances or not you must declare “I am committed Lord”. No matter what happens to your relationship you must still be able to say “I am committed Lord”. Christianity is about loving God that deep, you must never forget that in your followship with Him. Jesus says “If any man comes after me let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me for whosoever shall save his life shall lose it and whoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it”. A lot of us only want to follow God and prosper in this life; we do what we do so we can have bigger houses, expensive cars, and expensive holidays. However, a lot of us who have loads of money in this life may go to Heaven only to discover it is all vanity upon vanity. Prosperity, increase, greatness, the place of influence all make more meaning when the person is a living sacrifice, a vessel on the altar that God can do anything that he desires with the person. Someone once said this and it blessed me, “Wealth in this life is of no value if it will not affect your Heaven”.

God is looking for a living sacrifice, somebody who is sold out for God, so committed that he can do anything for God, go all the way for God, subject himself to any situation just for God, someone who is not just about what he can get. “Heal me, block that person, and twist that person’s neck, kill my enemy… “. You need to be willing to let God take you out of your comfort zone, interrupt your plan, change ypur path, touch your investment. God will love to make you wealthy, yes even a multi millionaire but Christianity is not all about being a multi millionaire. God is calling the believer to come to that place of sacrifice. Some of us are not in that place of sacrifice yet, until we get there, there are some things God can not show us as we are not completely sold out. If God just comes to you and says you are going to be a missionary in Iran and you will serve there for 10 years and in the 10th year they will behead you, can you take it or will you be praying, “no God, I will live long and not die, and you will bless me, promote me and kill my enemies”. But God is calling for us to come to that place of a living sacrifice where we are so committed to God that we can do anything for Him and we can go the way of persecution all for him. When our heart feels like that for God then our faith starts to make meaning and God can then trust us with anything. The church today has stopped teaching self denial and has replaced it with teaching self comfort and personal breakthrough. Are we truly followers of Jesus?

Welcome to 2011: The year of ABUNDANT GRACE AND INCREASE

Happy New Year!

2011 is THE YEAR OF ABUNDANT GRACE AND INCREASE

May the grace of God be so lavish in your life and cause you to increase.

2011 in going to be an interesting year and REALLY LOADED, it will be eventful; a lot of things will unfold within 2011:

1. In 2011 there will be peace for them that trust God, but for others it will be a year of confusion and fear.

2. If you are lukewarm and compromising 2011 is time to get back on fire for God. God will be rewarding faithfulness.

3. You will find help where you don’t deserve or expect it. People who naturally would kill you will fight for you in 2011.

4. I see “nobodies” being lifted and coming into the limelight. God will be promoting people whom men say are nobodies.

5. I hear “Comfort Ye My People”, it will be somebody’s best year ever. From as far back as you can remember this will be the best year yet.

6. Life may continue to be harder and tougher, but in the midst of the challenges God will give abundant grace and make room and some people will still be increasing.

7. There will be many loses but in the midst of them, many will gain new grounds. Many people will raise to a new height.


This is your year. 2011 is another year of new beginnings, a start of the journey to a new height. The devil can not keep you stagnant, the devil cannot keep you down; you will break through to a new height.

My prayer for you is that when the clock strikes 12 on the 31st December 2011 you will be alive and kicking and celebrating in a watchnight service. The devil can’t kill you, the devil can’t kill your loved ones.

May you in 2011 march through this land, recover lost time and regain ground. In this one season, may you overtake and become what you were meant to become over many seasons.

God Bless You.

The Love of Father God

“Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.” (1John 3: 1).

God is a God of love,
His nature is love.
He cannot but love and cannot operate outside love.
Everything God does is based on His love for us,

It was his love for us that made Jesus took on flesh and became one with humanity.
It was his love for us that made Jesus become sin and in our place died on the cross, went into the lowest part of the earth and paid in full the penalty for our transgression.
It was His love for us that drew us near to God and enabled us to believe and to accept Jesus as Lord and Saviour and by His love He made us sons of God.

Having a good understanding of God’s love and the extent which He went to demonstrate that love will strengthen our relationship with Him;
it will empower us to engage life with boldness, and to look to the future with assurance.

God’s love is eternal: by His eternal love, it means that He cannot but love and He can never stop loving.
We know that there was never a point at which He stopped loving anybody. So even while we were living our lives without any regard for Him, He continued to love us.
He had never stopped loving.

Also by His eternal love, it means that His love for us is unchanging and unconditional, that is to say, there is nothing we can do to make Him love us more and there is nothing we can do to stop Him loving us.
We cannot merit God’s love, and we cannot make Him stop loving us.
We must never think that by living right, by giving to the poor or by being involved in some charitable work or the work of the ministry, God will love us more.

The nature of the love of God is that even without all these things, He loves us all the same.
When we do all the right things, they are for our own benefit and not for God’s benefit.
Nothing we do can change God in any way, whether good or bad.
What we do can only affect us, they make us experience more of God’s love or they keep us further away from it.

There are two forces in operation in the world; the force of good and the force of evil.
The force of evil which is satanic is behind curses which results are sickness and all diseases, barrenness and miscarriages, poverty, insanity, misfortunes and the lack of ability to achieve any meaningful thing in life.
The force of good is behind blessing which is the function of the work of redemption.
In redemption we have victory over curses and all the devises of Satan.

Never forget that what happens to any man is always determined by these two forces however, it is the man’s own behaviour or choices that determine which of these forces can have control over his life.
You must come to understand that every behaviour or action of man and every choice that he makes has its consequences.

God will never curse any man; curses already exist, they are the by-product of disobedience.
They come automatically through disobedience.
Everything in life operates under a law.
There are two laws that govern our wellbeing: the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus and the law of sin and death.
The force of life flows naturally when we accept the love of God and obey God but death is let loose when we operate under the law of sin and death.

God does not have to curse anybody; our behaviour attracts either blessing or curses. Am I saying that God never does anything bad to anybody?
Yes, He never does anything bad to anybody because both good and evil or blessing and curses cannot come from God, (James 3: 10-12).

If you are a child of God, and you walk in disobedience, He will chastise you as a father would his children but he will not put a curse on you to teach you a lesson. As a father, would you put a heart attack on your child to teach him a lesson? Would you make him bankrupt to make him humble? Or would you cause your daughter to have miscarriage to teach her the need to learn to listen to you?
God will never put sickness on you, and will not kill your spouse or children to punish you.
He will not make you have a car crash, lose an eye or become paralyzed to discipline you.
These are all the works of evil and not of God, (James 1:16-17).

Through chastisement, God will convict you of sin, may take away your peace to bring you to repentance, and may expose your sin to bring you to godly sorrow, or even make your prayer to be hindered but will not put cancer on you.

Behold what manner of love the father has conferred on us, love so rich, love so selfless, love enduring, love undying, love never ever so displayed.

(excerp from my new book coming out soon - look out for it)

Musa

The More Excellent Way - Part 2

1Cointhians 13: 1 - 3, 13

There are three Greek words that have been translated as love, but they actually mean three different kinds of love, they are Eros, Phileo and Agape.

EROS

Eros is the kind of love that exists between man and wife, it is sexual in nature. What happens in a marriage relationship is that the man’s first of all sees the woman, gets attracted and desires to share his life with her because she is beautiful, well built, and looks sexy. On the other hand, the woman wants him too may be because he is tall, masculine, handsome, and looking like the real man, and like he can protect her. Eros or sexual attraction is okay, it is also a gift from God and is very necessary in making a good marriage but it is not the excellent way, it is not the God kind of love. I suggest that nobody should want to marry somebody if he or she does not feel sexually attracted to the person.

PHILEO

Phileo is the kind of love that exists in a family. It is the kind of love that exists between parents and children, between brethren, between the children and their uncles or aunties, and so on. Family members care for each other, and are willing to provide, support and protect each other because they are related, they are a family. It is the family connection that is the motivation. With Phileo, an outsider cannot enjoy what an insider can get. Phileo is good, it is good to have a special place in your heart for members of your family but phileo is not the excellent way.

AGAPE

This is the kind of love that originates from God. It is actually the nature of God. That was the kind of love that God demonstrated when he gave Jesus. John 3:16; that was the kind of love Jesus demonstrated when he gave his life for humanity. It is eternal and unconditional in nature. Agape is the kind of love God commanded us to show to one another.

“A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another” (John 13: 34)

Agape does not love somebody because there is a relationship that connects them together either sexual or biological. Agape loves without a string attached. Agape is never mindful of nationality, colour, status, behavioural flaws or short comings, and it is never self centred. It is the unconditional love, the more excellent way, the God kind of love. Jn. 3: 16; Rom. 5: 8.

The characteristics of agape

Agape has no deception (without dissimulation). Rom. 12: 9. In other words, it is not facial or faked. It comes from the heart. It is not the kind that smiles at you when you are there but says something else about you when you are gone. There is no hypocrisy in Agape.

Agape is pure 1Peter 1: 22. It never wishes anybody evil, it does not think evil of anybody and it is not selfish. For instance, Agape does not go into a relationship just for fun, for sex, or for wealth. It is pure. There is Eros in every marriage, but as Christians, Eros should not be the only factor in our relationships. In marriage there must be a combination of both Agape and Eros. I have heard people say about their spouses, that ‘I am only obeying God marrying this person, I really don’t particularly like or feel attracted to him or her. Don’t know what they think about God, but He never gives to anybody what he will not appreciate. He says us too not to cast our pearls to swine because they are not going to value it.

Agape is fervent 1Peter 1: 22. In other words, Agape loves with intensity, passionately, and dedicatedly. Agape can be persistent; it never gives up on people. Agape loves no matter what happens. Heb.13: 1; Prov. 17:17.Sometimes the people you love the most are the ones that will hurt you more and some may never even respond to your love. Some of them may even be blunt enough to tell you how disgusting they think you are, and that they don’t need you, and how they hate you and wish you were dead. But agape never gives up. It keeps on loving despite all because it is fervent (ardent).

Agape is fearless 1John. 4: 18. If you love somebody with agape, you will not live with him in fear, I mean you will not nurse the idea that one day he is going to hurt you. In Agape, You will never live with the person in fear because there is no fear in agape. In agape, you will not have the fear of losing him to somebody else because there is security in the agape love. You will not be afraid of what people will think about your relationship with him, so your commitment to each other will not be a secret.

Agape is selfless. 1Cor. 13: 4 - 6; Jn. 15: 13. It places others first, it seeks to protect the interest of others; it seeks to make others happy even at the expense of self. Agape makes sacrifices for others.

Agape does no ill to its neighbour. Romans 13: 10. For instance, (a) agape will not say or do anything that will harm or hurt another person; it will not destroy another man’s image or reputation. (b) Agape will not think evil of anyone and will not wish any one evil. (c) Agape will not defraud or take advantage of any one. (d) Agape will not stand in the way of another man’s success and will not fail to contribute what is in its power towards the success of another, it does not withhold a blessing due unto somebody. Agape does no ill to its neighbour.

Agape forgives. Proverbs 10: 12; 1Corinthians 13: 5. If your love for somebody is the God kind of love, you will find nothing too great to forgive him; you won’t hold grudges, malice, or bitterness against him no matter what he has done against you. Agape has the power to let go anything that is hurting, it has the power to behold an enemy and treat him with kindness.

Agape is a giver. John. 3:16; 1John. 3: 16 - 19, and it gives lavishly. Agape is extravagant in giving and it gives even to an enemy. Romans 12: 9; 20, 21. Actually agape treats no one as an enemy. It deals with an enemy as it would to a friend. Matthew. 5: 43 - 48; Ephesians. 6: 12; 1Peteter 5: 8.

Agape serves. Galatians 5: 13. It does not compete to be better than its neighbour; instead, it paves way for its neighbour to rise to success. John 15: 13. The servant spirit is about living your life for others and working to make other people comfortable and happy in life. Agape seeks to make its neighbour a better person; it does not strive to be better than its neighbour. We are called to be servants to all people; we all can be our best. Matthew 20: 20 - 25. To be a true servant, you must deal with the following. Firstly, you must get rid of self centeredness. Secondly you must get rid of your competitive attitude; I mean the one that will not mind pulling down another in order to rise. And thirdly, you’ve got to consider yourself of no reputation Philippians 2: 6, 7. E.g., your educational qualification, social status, family name or back ground must be sacrificed to Christ. You must be able to reach out to people irrespective of their background and no matter what you have achieved.

Agape is an intercessor. If you’ve got agape in your heart, it will not make you feel comfortable if your neighbour is not what you believe God wants him to be and you will want to stand in the gap to see him become.

The bible says in 2Corinthians 13: 5. To examine ourselves and see whether we are still in the faith. The yard stick for that examination is love. If love is not established in your heart, your relationship with the Lord is destroyed, and your faith is dead 1John 4: 7 - 12, 20, and 21. Without love, your prayers will be hindered. The very nature of God is love, so when you allow the love of God to feel your heart, you will be walking in the nature of God. When God says to be like me, or be followers of God as dear children, all He is saying is that you walk in love. Ephesians 5: 1, 2; 1John 4: 7, 8; Matthew 5: 46 - 48. As you walk in love, you act like God. If you walk in his nature, you will not walk in defeat, you will walk in victory. When you are walking in love, you are walk in freedom 1John 3: 14, 15. In the way of love, you cannot be overcome by satan, no demon can afflict you and no demon can prevail against you. Rom. 12: 20, 21. In love, you are covered in God’s fullness, and his eternal life works in you. So you can’t be destroyed the enemy. Ephesians 3: 17 - 19. And you can’t be under the bondage of fear because perfect love cast out fear.

THE MORE EXCELLENT WAY (PART 1)

Text: 1Cointhians 13: 1 - 3, 13

The more excellent way is the way of love. Love is superior to the manifestations of supernatural powers. As fantastic as all the gifts of the spirit are, and we know that God desires for us to walk in them so we can be a blessing to people, however love is superior and more important than they are. We know that the devil can and does imitate the gifts; there are so much of spectacular manifestations out there in the world. Satan can perform them but he can’t walk in love because love is the very essence and nature of God. The Bible says God is love. The pillars that hold the church together and that connect the church to the Lord are faith, hope and love. Faith, hope and love are the core pillars of Christianity, anything that is done outside these will not stand. Faith, hope and love are very important in our relationship with the Lord and in our existence as a Church. However, of the three, the Bible says that love is the more excellent way. In other words, love is superior to faith and hope. Our faith and our hope are anchored by love. God wants our gifts and services to come out of love, love for him first and love for the people he has called us to minister to. The believer is called to be a blessing to all.

The great news is the fact that every born again person can and has the ability to love, for the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. He that cannot love knoweth not God for God is love. God desires that whatever we do should be motivated by love, love is to be the guide to the new creation. Whatever we do that is not born out of love will not receive God’s recognition or blessing. We must be people who love people irrespective of their background, colour, race, sexual orientation and religious affiliation. We are not called to only love the brethren but all human beings. We are not to treat any human being as enemy no matter what they do to us. Others may see us and even treat us as their enemies, but we are not to see them that way.

Ask yourself this questions: why do I do the things that I do, why am I involved with the people that I am involved with? People do things for various reasons, some of the reasons why people do certain things are:

1. So they can be seen to be involved also. (These seek recognition)
2. Some people do things To impress people, or make somebody happy. (These are men pleasers).
3. Some do what they do Because somebody else is doing the thing. (These are followers of people).
4. Some people are purely interested in the material or financial gain that they can get in the thing. (These people work for profit primarily, they are profit centred people).
5. Some people get involved in something because of the honour or prestige that is in the job. (These are position minded people).

Some people do the things they do because they love the Lord and For his love sake, some have left homes and families at his biding to a strange land, lived in tents, in caves and in huts, forsaking the pleasure of life. Some have sold their property, emptied their bank accounts and gave all they had to feed the poor, the widow, and the orphans. Others gave to the Lord to build for him a kingdom on the earth. Some in the face of death, rejected the offer of freedom in exchange for their lives and chose to die, and were beheaded, hanged or burnt alive because of their commitment to him. In their Love for the master they hold nothing back but gave all to make his kingdom great.

If you really love somebody, you find nothing too great to sacrifice for him. If you love God, nothing will be too great to give to him. The Bible says that whatever you do, do it as unto the Lord. (See Col. 3: 17, 23 – 25). If you want to do anything for God, and you want him to accept it, then love for him must be your motivation. Do not serve God because you want him to bless you, make your rich, have a husband or wife, make you get promoted at work, fight and kill your enemies and all that. He will definitely bless you when you serve him, but serve him primarily because of your love for him. Also, whatever you want to do for people, do it out of love and not for what you can gain out of it.


WATCH OUT FOR PART 2