RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD

Philippians 3:9says And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith

What is the definition of righteousness? According to 1 John 3:7 (NIV), righteousness is doing the right things. The reason why God counted Abraham’s faith in Him as righteousness was because it was the right thing to do. It is the right thing to have faith in the One who the bible says with Him nothing is impossible (Luke 1:37). Righteousness is simple doing the right thing. It is righteousness to obey one’s parents (physically or spiritually) because the bible says in Ephesians 6:2-3: honor your father and mother that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth. It is also righteousness for wives to submit to their husbands just like the church submits to Jesus and the husbands to love their wives to the extent they are willing to die for them just as Christ gave up His life for the church (Ephesians 5:22-25) . Just like it is the right thing to work hard, it is the right thing to attend services on time and pay out tithes. This is why we all need to go to God from time to time to ask for forgiveness and the grace to be righteous because James 4:17 says therefore to him that knows to do good and does it not ,to him it is sin.

Many of us misunderstood Paul in Philippians 3:9 when he talks of the righteousness which is of God by faith. By this we assume that once we are Christians we are righteous and no matter what we do it is not a sin. This is the big lie! What Paul meant was the justification we received through the atonement made by Christ not justification received as a result of following the Law of Moses. If it was so that once we receive Christ as our personal Lord and savior we are righteous and whatever we do is not counted as sin, Paul would not have asked the believers in Rome that shall we continue in sin and ask for grace to abound – Romans 6:1. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new. The old things include love of sin, their sensuality, pride, vanity, levity to mention a few. The new things are a new course of life, both of faith and holiness, a new way of serving God through Christ by spirit. We cannot do what is not right and say our righteousness is of God .Righteous in God means we are made right through our faith in Jesus .Prior to our conversion, all our righteous is as a filthy rag according to Isaiah 64:6 because we are unclean but once we accept Jesus, we are washed with the blood of Jesus and we are made clean from all uncleanness. From that day, our righteousness becomes of God. Remember 1 John 3:7 says He that does what is right is righteous. Anyone who claims to have giving his life to Christ and still indulges in sin is not righteous.1 Peters 1:17 says be ye holy for i am holy.

PRAYER POINT: Father, please help that my obedience to your word is total.

Conquering fear and anxiety

Proverbs 12:25 anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, but a good word makes it glad.

Fear is a terrible thing. First of all it is from the devil.2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Everything from the devil is intended to rob, kill and destroy – John 10:10. Fear leads to indecision, it prevents victory, it hinders progress, it prevents the manifestation of God’s glory, and it hinders us from fulfilling God’s destiny for our lives to mention a few. According to Proverbs 12:25, it leads to depression. In some instances fear has led many to sin against God, Romans 14:23 says whatever is not of faith is sin.

To conquer fear and anxiety, we need to deal with the source of fear before dealing with the fear itself. What we tend to do is deal with the fear and not the source. In Acts 4:23-31 the disciples could not preach the gospel because of fear of persecution .How did they conquer this fear? They conquered the fear by the dealing with the source which was lack of boldness. In Deuteronomy 7:17- 21, the bible advises on how to handle fear.

Stop focusing on the size of the challenge or problem. Concentrating on the size of a problem or challenge only leads to more fear and makes God smaller. The reason why the armies of Israel could not secure victory over the Philistines in 1 Samuels 17:1-50 was because they focused on the stature of Goliath not the ability of God.

Stop concentrating on how to solve the problems yourself, it only leads to worrying. Take it to the Lord in prayer.1 Peter 5:7 says cast your cares upon Him for He cares for you.

Remember the past victories the Lord has secured for you or the testimonies of people who had the same problems and solved it

Remember the way God secured victories for you in the past.

Remember that the God who secured that victory or solve that problem will solve the current one.

Remember that the great and awesome God is with you and nothing happens without God’s consent – Matthew 10:29.

ACTION POINT: Do not allow fear in your life.

The power of appreciation

Psalm 150:6 let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise you the Lord.

There is power in appreciation. One the thing appreciation does is it opens door. Because of what God did for Solomon , he offered a thousand burnt offering to say thank You. All odds were against him to succeed David on the throne . Why ? David – his father and king preferred the younger of brother of Absalom – Adonijah for his good looks (1 Kings 1:5-6) , besides that he was a product of adultery which caused the death of an innocent man ( 2 Kings 11:1-27) and to make matters worse he lacked wisdom - a must have for any king .God was so impressed with Solomon's appreciation that He asked him what shall I give to you? In 1 Kings 11:28 , Jeroboam got an opportunity to serve before the king and he decided show appreciation by working very hard. The king noticed this and made him the officer over all the labour force of the house of Joseph. Another man who knew how to show appreciation was Paul. After all the evil he had done, Jesus called him to ministry . He was so thankful so he decided to show Jesus his appreciation by committing his life to evangelism. The Lord decided that if Paul will appreciate Him like this then He will anoint him so mightily that aprons from his body will be able to cast away demons – Acts 19:12 .Appreciation does not only open doors but it keeps doors that are already opened open indefinitely or permanently .After Solomon 's first offering , the Lord visited him and blessed him .Solomon did not take the Lord's visit for granted so he decided to appreciate God for His visit. During the temple dedication he brought an offering of 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep to say thank you. God accepted the offering by sending fire from heaven to consume the offering . After this God blessed Solomon to the extent that silver was considered worthless during his reign -1 Kings 10:21.Jeroboam continued to work hard and the Lord made him king – 1 kings 12:20 .Paul did not rest on his oars but kept on appreciating God by working hard. The Lord took him to see his reward while he was still alive ,1 Timothy 4:8

Lack of appreciation Is deadly. One thing it does is it shuts door. An opportunity arose for Nabal in 1 Samuel 25:2-44 to show appreciation to the people who helped protect his shepherd and sheep in the desert and he refused .The Lord put an end to his journey on earth. In Luke 17:11-19 is the story of the ten lepers Jesus cured. After they received their healing , only one returned to thank God . While the other nine were only cleansed , he was the only one that was made whole which meant every other sickness in his life- physically,materially ,maritally were taken care of.

It is very important we all learn to appreciate God and appreciate people God has used to help us. How do you appreciate God ? Thank Him .According to Psalm 150:6 one way to appreciate God for the gift of life is by praising Him When we pay our tithes we are simply appreciating God for giving us a job and the good health to do the job. Lets appreciating our bosses and employers by working hard to support the Organization. Lets appreciate people who help us by telling them thank you. When people lend us things lets return it in time ,this is part of showing appreciation. Couples should appreciate each other – the wife should humbled her self and the husband should love her. Children should appreciate their parents by studying and passing with good grades. One important way to appreciate our salvation is by witnessing about Christ to our friends and family.

ACTION POINT : Learn to appreciate God, People and opportunities.

Underneath are His everlasting arms

Deuteronomy 33:27 the eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them.
From reading Isaiah 40:12 we get an idea of the size of God’s palm. The bible says He measured the waters with the hollow of His hands in other words all the waters in the world can fit into His palm. A palm that can hold the waters in the Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean and other Oceans, rivers in the world is not small at all. Joined to those palms are His long arms. Deuteronomy 33:27 describes His arms as everlasting or endless in length. His arms are so long that He is able to lift a young boy from slavery to become the second –in –command to the most powerful emperor on earth ( Daniel 6:3) . Also with His arms, He lifted the most foolish man on earth – the man was so foolish he even agrees that he is foolish to become the wisest man that ever lived. This man spoke three thousand proverbs and wrote one thousand and five songs (1 Kings 4:32).With this everlasting arms , He took a boy – the last born in his family and made him the number one citizen in Israel ( 1 Samuel 16:3-13). Abram wasn’t just an idolater; he came from a generation of idolaters. A generation of people that practises what God calls an abomination but He lifted him from idolatry and made him a friend. Because His arms are everlasting your promotion has no limits. With His everlasting hands He will take you as high as His hands can reach. This season God will lift you up from sickness to health, poverty to wealth, from no anointing to heavy anointing in Jesus name, Amen.

Secondly with His everlasting arms He comforts .No matter the challenges life throw at you , it does not matter who is pushing you or seeking your fall , you will always fall In His hands . You can never sink below the everlasting arms. You might be feeling so low or life has treated you unfairly but remembers that you can never fall lower than his hands. There are things that hinder Him from carrying us or make Him to drop us after he has carried us. One of them is laziness .Proverbs 12:24 says the hands of the diligent shall bear rule. Proverbs 10:4 says Lazy hands makes a man poor. Another thing is pride .Proverbs 16:18 says prides precedes a fall or destruction. James 4:6 says God resists the proud and give grace to the humble. A major one is ungratefulness. This is why at times He is hesitant to carry some .He has giving many good health and they refuse to witness. There are many who talk to Him daily but after their promotion they get too busy to the extent they no longer have time for Him. We can not use His blessings as a reason not to have time for Him.
PRAYER POINT: Father , Please take me to the top with your everlasting hands.

Counsel

Proverbs 11:14 where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.

Proverbs 11:14 highlights the importance of counsel. It is a deciding factor in success. A synonym for counsel is information. A wise man once said "if you are not informed, you will soon be deformed". Proverbs 4:7 says wisdom is a principal thing. What is wisdom? Wisdom is the application of information or better still the application of counsel. From every way we look at it the value of counsel is immeasurable. One the reasons why people make mistakes in choosing the right partner in marriages or business or profession is largely due to lack of counsel. Many have started businesses without getting counsel, they say ‘brother A is selling bag so I must sell bag’. Many sisters have fallen into the wrong marriages because of lack of counsel. All because a brother can speak in tongue or wears suit every Sunday does not mean he is a bor

n again. There are a lot of problems that could be averted if only people ask questions or get counsel. The bible even says Ask and it shall be given to you, Matthew 7:7. Without counsel failure is almost inevitable.

Asides from getting counsel, the quality of counsel we receive determines the pace at which we attain success and the quality of our success. Not all successes are good. There are good and bad successes. The source of our counsel is also important. Taking a marriage counselling from someone who has never been married before will lead to a disaster or business counselling from someone who has never done business. That is why most married women who take marriage counsel from their spinster friends’ end up regretting so also married men who to take advice on how to treat their wives from their bachelor friends. There are various ways to get counsel; they are through the Holy Spirit, people, bible, books, seminars, lectures, conferenences and other Christian literatures. It is very important that we check the source of our counsel or who or where we take counsels from. A counsel from a fellow who does not fear God is bound to lead to problems because his counsel will lack the fear of God. That is why need to be very careful of the success books we read. What does a man devoid of the Holy Spirit know about good success? Any success devoid of living a righteous life is not good success according to Joshua 1:8. Seminars that emphasizes on ten ways to do this and that and not been spiritually filled or the Holy Spirit offers little or no benefit.
ACTION POINT: Check the source of your counsel !

Untapped Potential

1 John 4:4 - You are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.

From the moment of salvation we receive the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:9 says anyone who does not have the Holy Spirit is not is not of Christ. According to Ephesians 1:13-14, the Holy Spirit is the seal of salvation for all those who believers. Also from the moment of salvation one receives power. Acts 1:8 says but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. Once the Holy Spirit enters a man, he begins to do what ordinary man could not do. He begins to achieve what ordinary men could not achieve. In 1 Kings 18:46, the Holy Spirit came upon Elijah and he outran the chariot that was pulling the king. In Judges 14:6, the Holy Spirit came mightily upon Samson ,with his bare hands he tore a lion apart as one would tear a piece of paper. In Daniel 6:3, the Holy Spirit was so evident in the life of Daniel that everyone said He had the Spirit of excellence. The Holy Spirit enabled Jesus to achieve so much within a short period. Acts 10:38 says how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power , who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. Every miracle Jesus performed was the work of the Holy Spirit. According to Romans 1:4, the Holy Spirit was responsible for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Potential to achieve all what Jesus achieved, Daniel achieved, Samson achieved combined with what Elisha achieved is in us, is in every believer. Romans 8:11 says the Holy Spirit who raised Jesus from death dwells in all believers. This is why the author of 1 John 4:4 says greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world. What is in you is enough to cause satan and his host to run at your sight! Whether you believe or not the witches and wizards are scared of you. As a Christian you should not be scared of spiders. Because of what is inside you, if you sit for an exam with Einstein and other world geniuses, if you will study hard enough you will score higher marks than them. The Holy Spirit that ensured that Jesus did not fail in any endeavour is also in you and will ensure you do not fail in that endeavour.

The potential is in all of us. The reason why many of us have not been able to achieve our potential in the Lord is because we grieve the Holy Spirit. How does one grieve the Holy Spirit? Through disobedience to Him. Another reason is our weak spiritual lives. The only way to build our spiritual muscles is through fasting and praying, studying the word of God. Many of us want to be like Jesus but not ready to fast. Jesus started His ministry with forty days dry fasting. Before Moses saw God, he fasted for forty days twice without food. Great power requires a lot of fasting and prayers and study of the word. The potential to exceed the achievements of Jesus on earth is in all of us.

ACTION POINT: Father, help me to rise to my potential in you.

Treading down our enemies

Psalm 60:12 Through God we will do valiantly, for it is He who shall tread down our enemies.

Without God, one will be a laughing stock or a toy in the hands of the enemy. The psalmist says in Psalms 124:1-3, if not for God who had been on our side the enemies would have swallowed us alive. As a matter of fact unless God intervenes there is nothing anyone can do. There is nothing any herbalist, doctor /surgeon, prophet, president or political godfather can do to help us.

There are two categories of enemies. The ones we aware of their existence and the ones we are unaware of their existence. Dealing with the enemies we are aware of their existence is not so difficult, simply take them to God in prayers and that settles it. Dealing with the enemies we are unaware of their existence is almost impossible. How can anyone fight an enemy he or she does not know exist? When we talk of enemies we are unaware of their existence in our lives, we are not talking of witches and wizards. Witches and wizards are small, all you need is just the name of Jesus and they will run. We are talking of enemies within. We are talking of enemies present inside us. An example of such enemy is pride. Many suffering from the spirit of pride do not believe they are proud. Some will even get angry when you suggest it to them. How can such people man fight the spirit of pride in their life? Proverbs 16:18 says pride goes before destruction. Many suffering from anger problems do not know they have the problems. By the time they know they are suffering from anger problems it will have been too late, sometimes it is when they start exhibiting the symptoms of hypertension and high blood pressure. Those in the medical professions have advised that intense and unresolved anger is linked to health conditions such as high blood pressure, depression, anxiety and heart disease. So also is the fellow who laziness is destroying his life. Proverbs 10:4 says lazy hands make a man poor. To a lazy fellow he is just resting or chilling, unknown to him he has been idle for hours whereas his colleagues are busy achieving things. The one suffering from loose tongues do not know he or she has that problems. The fellow would have divulged all their life secrets and plans to vision killers without knowing it. Most people with acidic tongue will tell you they only say things as they are or they are been real but unknown to them that careless use of the tongue is dangerous. According to James 3:6, as small as the tongue is, it is able to take a man to hell.

How can we fight an enemy we are unaware of its existence, it is by linking up with God who can see everything and has the power to deliver us from these enemies. Hebrews 4; 13 says before God nothing is hidden. We might be unaware of the existence of the enemies in our life but God is aware of their existence. That was why He was able to warn Cain of the presence of anger he was unaware of its existence in his life in Genesis 4:5-6. Cain did not heed to the advice and his anger brought a curse upon his life.

ACTION POINT: Father, every enemy within secretly destroying my life and my future please bring it to my attention and destroy them today.