INVOLVING YOURSELF IN MINISTRY

We were created for God’s own good pleasure. We were formed by his own hands, each one of us. Our make and design was made by him for his own satisfaction. This implies that we don’t live for our own pleasure or to please ourselves but to please him. He created us in his own image and likeness so that he can have fellowship with us but sin has alienated us from God. Yet still he desires to have us and to give us what he has originally designed for us.

Therefore we are recreated in Christ unto good works which he foreordained that we should walk in them. It is quite a natural thing for a new born Christian to have that desire and passion to be involved in working for the Lord. With all zeal and enthusiasm the newly born believer goes all out to serve God wholeheartedly. He does not hold back anything at all.

However, in all these he is tempted to use his or her natural abilities and strengths to please God. In that sin is inevitable and that becomes a big challenge. A challenge that has the potential of sending the once faithful believer to a place of frustration and backsliding. He tries to use his strength to please the Lord but it does not work the way it had been. The Scripture says without faith it is impossible to please God. We must relate to God in faith and that is the way we can please him.

Some believers are only happy that they are saved and remain satisfied with that. They don’t involve themselves in any work of ministry. As you know, the devil finds work for an idle hand. A sinful lifestyle begins to creep in on such a Christian and before he realizes he is deep in sin. Many believers are in sins that have entangled them because they have decided to stay away from ministry. Some are also using their activities in the church to cover up for their secret sinful lifestyle. This kind of lifestyle is a serious contention between light and darkness and in fact leaves the believer with a lingering mental battle with sin. Scripture says be sure of this; your sin will find you out.

Talking about involving yourself in ministry I mean that your zeal for the Lord’s work should not dwindle. Apostle Paul said do not be lacking in zeal but continue in your spiritual fervor serving the Lord. You have to be on fire in the service of God with your strength and abilities drawn continually from God. In Acts 6 the Apostles ordered that some be put in charge of serving tables so that they can give attention to the ministry of the word and prayer. Don’t be quick to judge that what those disciples were asked to do at the tables was not important. No, because if they had not done that the growing dispute among the Hebrew and Greek widows would have defeated their whole purpose of winning the lost.

However, we notice in later scriptures in the book of Acts that Philip and Stephen were involved in the ministry of the word and prayer. In all your work for God if it is only full of activity, that is moving about here and there without ministering the word and praying you can easily backslide. As a growing believer who took seriously and passionately the ministry of the word, in this I mean evangelizing frequently and prying for lost souls, I noticed after some time that I was not so conscious about sin anymore. The thought of whether I have committed any sin today or not was not there. This was because I was so consumed with saving the lost and the various ways and means to do that. When you involve yourself in ministry in such a way the devil does not get to tempt you with sin let alone inflict you with guilty conscience.

I have come to agree more with the Scripture in 1 John 1:7 which says that as we have fellowship one with another the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. Having fellowship with one another is fellowship in the Gospel. This kind of fellowship causes the blood of Jesus to work on our behalf cleansing us from sin. Our consciences are purged from dead works and sanctified unto the work of God. Involve yourself in the work of ministry so that you become a useful tool in the hand of the Master.

DEALING WITH THE DEVIL’S ACCUSATIONS

The devil accuses us of sin, that is breaking God’s laws. A previously committed sin or trespass gives the devil the boldness to accuse us. Therefore accusation is when the devil makes us feel unworthy of God’s glory and pardon although in actual sense he has forgiven us. It is the devil’s weapon against believers and any believer who is caught in the web of guilty conscience as a result of the devil’s accusations will not excel in doing the things of God unless he deals with this missile that is always fired at believers by the devil.

The Devil or Satan is called the accuser of the brethren. He accuses us before God and also in our minds because of committed sins. This makes a believer feel worthless and undeserving of the Lord’s pardon and if care is not taken this believer may backslide because of such guilt. Sin soils the pure white garment of the believer hence making him unclean and driving the presence of God away. When one sins the devil takes advantage of this to make believer think that God is very displeased with him to the extent that he has rejected him and in no way forgive him because of the gravity of the sin.

God is merciful and compassionate. When Adam and Eve sinned a guilty conscience caused them to hide from the Lord’s presence. They gave the excuse that they were naked but in actual sense they felt they did not deserve to come into the presence of such a loving Father who had lived peacefully with them but whose law they had broken. Despite all this the Lord sacrificed a lamb and used the skin to cover their nakedness. This lamb is an image of Christ who shed his blood to cleanse us from our sins.

What do we learn from the story of Adam and Eve when they sinned against God? The first is that God does not reject us despite our sins. He comes to us and always has a lamb at hand to slay and to use his skin to cover our nakedness. God is love. He does not point an accusing finger at us neither does he condemn us. He looks beyond our trespass to bring to us the remedy of forgiveness. The second is that he does not force repentance on us. Anyone who receives his forgiveness it becomes his own. The sacrifice has been made and the sin forgiven yours is to accept.

Sometimes it might be a sin that has grown into a habit because you are too weak to overcome it. As hard as you tried you have not been able to overcome it and the guilt keeps piling up. In your mind the devil keeps on accusing you. He calls you a sinner and says you are dirty and that your entire attempts to work for God and to please him are not ending up in anything. I have a message for you- quit using your own strength. Do you realize how many times you have tried to stop that sin or addiction without success? Your weaknesses become so obvious to you the harder you try to stop sinning. It is not that you don’t confess your sins to the Father and ask for his forgiveness. In fact you weep and even promise God that that was your last time. But before long you are in it again and you feel so sorry and you realize that your strength is finished. You are tempted to think that God no longer can pardon you. If this is your story then listen to this.

The accusations of the devil are directed at making us put trust and confidence in ourselves and thus just doing all the religious things in order to please God. He says you are not righteous, you are not holy and you take it as a personal battle and try to fight the devil yourself. As long as you continue to believe in your own strength you would not be successful. Make it the Lord’s battle and you would succeed. Your righteousness is not as a result of what you did or is doing but what the Lord has done for you. 2 Cor. 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Your righteousness is by faith in Christ Jesus. The devil cannot take that from you at any time.

It is Christ who overcame the devil in his death. The devil is completely paralyzed. And it is this same Christ who forgives us our sins. He says if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Have you confessed your sins? then his justice makes him bound to forgive you. May be you might have been confessing this same sin for a long time. Don’t give up brother or sister. Even when Jesus was asked how many times one should forgive a brother who wronged him he answered “seventy times seven times”. Have you exhausted it already?

This is not to say that let us continue sinning because as long as we confess he would forgive us, no. But let us admit how weak we are, how powerless we are against sin and embrace the provision of God in Christ. Philippians 3:3 says for we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit and put no confidence in the flesh. This is it, you must not put any confidence in you natural abilities but all your confidence should be in the Christ and his word.

When you confess your sins believe as the word says that he has forgiven you your sins and indeed cleansed you from all unrighteousness. He makes you as white as snow; without stain, without spot. There is nothing that the devil can lay hold of to accuse you because it’s all gone- totally cleansed and purified. Anything he says to you in your ears or to mind is a lie.

The devil knows that when you know the word of God in this way he is defeated and can never be successful against you. Therefore receive the word with child-like faith. Just as it is believe it and it works perfectly. No need for any gimmicks.

ABSOLUTE FAITH IN THE FORGIVENESS OF GOD

This is my first blog and under the inspiration of God i am publishing a series to help people struggling with sin or any addiction to know what is provided for them in Christ Jesus. kindly continue reading for your own edification.

 “The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” and that is what Scripture says. What you deserve when you sin is the penalty of death but in contrast Jesus gives life. How could this be? 

This is possible because Christ came in as mortal man and having met all the requirements of the law that there was, died and used his own blood to pay the penalty of our sins. The first book of Timothy says great is the mystery of godliness; God was manifested in the flesh, sanctified by the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among men and believed on in the world. How God became man is mysterious. But the Spirit of God overshadowed the Virgin Mary and she conceived and gave birth to Jesus Christ. Since he was not conceived like any other person by the seed of a man but only that of the woman he didn’t inherit the sinful nature from Adam. More so, He was tempted in all ways but yet was without sin.

We see two things here; that he didn’t have that sinful nature. The blood that ran through his veins was pure and without the defect of sin. This is the kind of blood was acceptable on the heavenly altar. That is the only sacrifice that could please the Father and thus cause him to receive us back unto Himself as His own. Secondly, He overcame all the temptations that a man can possibly be tempted with and yet was without sin. God made He who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. If He was able to overcome in such a way then He is the best to teach and provide a solution to the many temptations that send us into sin.

We are saved by grace through faith and not by works. All that was needed to be done was fulfilled by the Lord Jesus Christ. We couldn’t in any way do them that is why in the fullness of time the godly died for the ungodly. The sin of the world was laid upon him on the cross. And here note the word sin and not sins. The word sin used here represents the sinful nature, that which causes us to commit sins. He nailed it on the cross. He did it in our place so that by believing in his vicarious death it becomes our portion. So therefore the way of salvation is simple, Romans 10:10 if we confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead we shall be saved. For with the heart we believe and are justified and with the mouth we confess and are saved. That is how we were saved and one does not become more saved by doing any extra thing. 

We are saved by grace. You may regret and repent of all your wrong doings but in essence you have to believe in your heart the Lordship of Jesus Christ and confess with your mouth that he died for your sins and not only that, he rose up for you. It is as simple as that but very effective. The Lord has made it that by our words we would be accused and by our words we would be acquitted. What you say forms the basis of judgment. Therefore by simply doing what Romans 10:10 says to do you are justified and God accepts it that way without any other ritual. For those who call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

We can have absolute confidence in the forgiveness of God. God forgives and he forgives every sin because it is in his hands to do so. How would I know that God has forgiven me? This is a question that is very important to many people. Now let us consider this. When you have truly wronged your mum or dad and you come and plead for forgiveness you expect to be forgiven. The only way you know that you mum or dad has forgiven is when he makes a pronouncement that ‘I have forgiven you’. We then go on knowing that indeed we have been forgiven. 

It is the same with God. He says if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9 When we have confessed our sins God’s faithfulness and justice is called to book. God is faithful and just and anyone who meets the requirements of his statutes he does not deny justice. He is no respecter of persons and does not show favoritism or partiality as normal humans will do. No matter how grave your sin is when you have believed in your heart and confessed them he forgives without delay or postponement.

You see, God does not put your confession on hold pending investigation or observation. He does not forgive you half-way so that when you have cried and cried then he forgives you fully; no, absolutely not. You know he has forgiven you because his word says so. Now this is interesting, by his justice he does not only forgive our sins but cleanses us from all unrighteousness. Anything that does not give us right standing with God is also taken away. Oh what a great thing to know that God does all these things for us even when we didn’t deserve them. Since the penalty of sin has been paid for he looks upon Christ and does these things free of charge for us.

It is his grace, mercy and love that bring us all these benefits. God is love. In 1 Cor. 13:5 scripture says love keeps no record of wrong. If this is so then God would be unjust to keep a record of all our wrongs committed against him. But he himself is love and thus does not keep record of wrongs. If you confess your sins be sure that God has forgiven you and that he keeps no record of them at all.

God has so exalted his word above all his names so that if you come to God with his word He is absolutely bound to do exactly as He said. Trust in the Lord with all your heart to overcome sin because his word says so.