Working out your salvation in fear and trembling

Philippians 2:12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

How does one get saved? Is it by saying the prayer of sinners? Is it by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ as stated in Acts 16:31? Could it be by calling on the name of the Lord as stated in Romans 10:13? The first step to salvation is repentance. Without repentance there is no salvation. The bible says in Matthew 4:17, from that time Jesus began to preach and to say “repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” After Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost, the people asked him, what shall we do to be saved? He told them repent and let everyone of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ – Acts2:38. After the healing of the lame man at the beautiful gate, people converged to the see the lame man and Peter used the opportunity to witness about Jesus. In his sermon, he said in Acts 3:18, “repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. Brethren without repentance there is no salvation. 2 Peter 3:9 says The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Philippians 2:12 says work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Does is it mean after I am saved I still have work to do in keeping my salvation? Yes. There are many who believes that once we are saved heaven is guaranteed. It is the biggest lie from the devil. Jesus Christ said in Matthew 10:22 that whoever endures to the will be saved. It is true that we saved by grace according to Ephesians 2:5 but Matthew 24:13 says it is only those who endure to the end that will be saved. Why do we have to work out our salvation with fear and trembling? The reason why we need to work out our salvation with fear and trembling is because salvation can be lost. The grace that brings salvation could be abused. Romans 6:1 say what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Romans 6:15 says what then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? Certainly not! The grace that brings salvation can also be frustrated. Paul says in Galatians 2:21 I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. Abusing the grace of God or frustrating the grace can lead to withdrawal of grace which eventually means fall from grace of God. According to Galatians 5:4, it is possible to fall from the grace of God. It is also possible to miss the grace of God, Hebrew 12:15.

Many have argued that once we receive salvation we are sealed with the Holy Spirit according to Ephesians 1:13. It is very true but remember that Ephesians 4:30 says and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. If we grieve the Holy Spirit, He will leave.

ACTION POINT. Do everything possible not to grieve the Holy Spirit. Study Ephesians 4:25-32 and it tells us what to do to avoid grieving the Holy Spirit.

What is in your record ?

Psalm 56:8 - You number my wanderings; put my tears into Your bottle; are they not in Your book.

Several years ago I had an experience that changed my life forever. I saw myself in something that looked like a room but there were no walls. I was there waiting to go before God for Judgment. While I was there I had the opportunity to go through my records. I saw all I had done and I was very disappointed. I saw when people evangelized to me and I made fun of them. I saw many other terrible things I did like fornication and clubbing and all that. I also saw when I gave my life to Christ and how I was still not fully committed. Although I had stopped fornicating ,stopped having girlfriends , started going to church more often but my standing with God was still funny. I never witnessed because I was too shy, never participated in church activities because of one flimsy excuse or the other. I was very disappointed in myself. I saw one or two good deeds I did like help an elderly lady carry her bag and others but it was almost zero compared to the wrongs I had done. I knew myself that if I attended judgment that day the decision will not be in my favor so I began to cry and begged God for a second chance. Thank God He answered.

Sir /Ma there is a record in heaven for everything we do on earth. Matthew 12:36, Jesus said “But I say to you that every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the Day of Judgment.  A day is coming when we will stand before God to answer. A day is coming when our records will be read back to us. Might I ask you this question today, have you ever considered what is in your record? There are many who say there is no heaven or hell, it is a big lie! There is a heaven and a hell. Many who postpone the day of their salvation will see the number of times they have postponed the day of their salvation on that day. Many who do not evangelize will see on that day. After I saw my record, that day I decided the contents must change. I decided I have to put my records in other. You can do the same too friend.

Today why not re-commit your walk with God .Pray the prayer of repentance again and commit to putting things right with God.

Dear Jesus, I believe that You died for me and rose again on the third day. I confess I am a sinner. I need your love and forgiveness. Come into my heart. Forgive my sins. I receive Your eternal life. Confirm You love by giving me peace, joy and supernatural love for others, Amen.

PRAYER POINT: Father , as from today give me the grace to please You and do Your will.

PRAISING GOD

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

There are few things that move God on the throne and one of them is praises. Every time God moves on the throne, something happens and at times the earth shakes. Isaiah 66:1 gives a brief description of God’s size when it says He sits in heaven and uses the earth as His footstool. Due to His size the earth cannot carry His weight so every time He moves the earth shakes. That’s part of the reasons why the Psalmist say in Psalm 68:1 let God arise and His enemies be scattered. If you were about to fight a man and every time he takes a step towards you the earth shakes, will you not run ?Exodus 15:8 says the blast of His nostrils is enough to part a sea. If you suddenly find out that the blast of nostrils of the man you want to fight can part a sea, will you want to stand before him in combat? In Acts 16:16-40, Paul and Silas began to praise God in chains and God moved. The bible records that there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. In 1 Samuel 4:5, the children of Israel praised God and shouted and God moved which caused the earth to shake. Every time we praise God, He rises on His throne against our enemies. One secret to victory is praising God.

Psalm 150:6 says let everything that has breath praise the Lord. The fact that we are alive is a reason to praise God. We might be going through one challenge or the other but that should not hinder us from praising God. Only the living have prayer requests, only the living get hungry , only the living has needs and wants . The dead have no stimulus. The elders have a saying when there is life there is hope. We can only reach our goals when we are alive. We can only win battles when we are alive.

ACTION POINT: Thank God for the gift of life, when there is life there is hope.

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.