Current world events have made virtually every individual on earth stop to think and reflect on life. There has been a dramatic change in life as we know it. It is clear that the world needs a Savior.
Known by Jesus
But now that you know God –or rather are known by God- how is it that you are turning back…? – Galatians 4:9 NIV
On the Final Day the entire human race is going to stand before the Lord Jesus to hear what He has to say about them. We’re all going to be separated into 3 groups:
- Those who know Him and are known by Him
- Those who know Him but are not known by Him
- Those who don’t know Him and are not known by Him
What group will you fall? Wait! Before you answer let us expound on them a little.
Knowing God’s Will: The Romans 12:2 Way
If you’re like me then you have a ton of things you have been bugging God about. You want to know exactly what He is saying about certain things. You want to know God’s will. You’ve prayed but haven’t gotten the desired results. Lucky you, the Holy Spirit has shown me a way, the Romans 12:2 way.
Many bible verses talk about knowing God’s will and I’m sure they all make sense and they all work but Romans 12:2 explains it quite beautifully:
Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God – what is good and is pleasing to Him and is perfect.
– Romans 12:2 GNB
If you skimmed through the scripture above please go back and re-read it.
The end game of Romans 12:2 is knowing God’s good, pleasing and perfect will but there are 2 steps to take before we get there:
- Stop Being Worldly
So basically how Romans 12:2 works is that God goes into our mind, clears out the clutter and then fills it with His own thoughts. Very simple, right? But before that happens we’re instructed to stop being worldly. That is, stop thinking the way the world thinks. The world is lost and depraved and people’s thoughts are desperately wicked. Human thoughts ridiculously contrasts God’s thoughts. If we were to put a figure to how far the human mind is from God’s mind it would be nothing less than 149.6million kilometers [please let that sink in]. And this is just the distance between the sun and the earth. God says our thoughts are a lot farther from His than that [Isaiah 55:9]. So you see, the godless human mind is not exactly the best place to draw from. So stop listening to the world. The world is crazy and godless. Their idea on sex, marriage, career etc. and even God Himself is grossly flawed. Want to know God’s will? Start by acknowledging that the world is wrong about everything and chose to not listen to nor conform to its standards.
2. Renew your Mind
So now that you know that all you learnt about sex and love from Instagram and TV is probably flawed, what next? It’s time to renew your mind. Remember, renewing your mind means changing the way you think. So how can you renew your mind?
- Study God’s word for yourself. Please pick up your bible and read it! You may not know where in the bible talks about your next career move but God does. Be intentional and read hoping to find out what the bible says about your situation and I promise you will find it.
- Surround yourself with godly material. Trying to know God’s will for your career? Listen to godly teachings on career. Read articles online. Read a Christian book on choosing the right career. Have conversations with experienced Christians who have glorified Jesus in their careers. Try to find out what God has been saying to others about this topic and weigh it with what you have learnt studying the bible on your own.
- Pray! Don’t pray randomly, be specific. Dedicate some special prayer time to find out God’s will about that particular issue. Pray concentrated prayers. And pray expectating to hear from God while you’re praying. If you haven’t yet learnt to pray so as to hear God speak then seek guidance for this.
Renewing your mind is a process and it must be done intentionally. You will never know or accept God’s will about that situation if you don’t let go of what you already know and surrender your heart to Him.
“…Then you will be able to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” NLT
The Romans 12:2 way is simple and proven. Want to know God’s will concerning marriage, relationships, jobs, career, ministry, other people, your church, or anything at all? Use the Romans 12:2 way.
Take it as a project, select a situation in your life today that you need God’s guidance. Follow these steps and you will surely succeed. When you do pick another project to embark upon.
I look forward to hearing testimonies from you as you apply the Romans 12:2 way in your situations today.
Jesus is God video by Dayo Termas
And Thomas answered and said unto Him, My Lord and my God. – John 20:28
Dear dear Christian, I know you know that Jesus is Lord. But do you also know that Jesus is God?
And dear non-Christian, Jesus is God. Don’t get offended, get knowledge and get saved.
Anyone who knows me knows that this has been my life message for the past 3 years: Jesus is God. I finally got to record it and share with the world. Please watch, try to learn something and share with others.
Nonso.
Hey Nonso,
I can’t lie, I’m heartbroken. Absolutely shattered. My heart gets so heavy sometimes I can hardly breathe. But this is not about me.
I’m sorry about what happened. No one expected it. I was so happy to see you on Sunday that I gave you a big hug, twice. I had missed you. Now I miss you. I didn’t realize I loved you so much. You were like a brother to me. You’re a great guy.
Who’s going to pray with me on Thursday evenings now?
Who’s going to suggest we spend all our public holidays and free time praying together?
Who’s going to plan the “Set Apart” for the Prayer Unit?
Who’s going to prolong meetings by bringing up prayer point after prayer point?
Who’s going to tell us to not be in a hurry to end meetings because “suntin is about to happen”
Who’s going to be our prophet and tell us the mind of God?
Who’s going to call people out and pray for them?
Who’s going to call me “Great man”, or “Apostle”, or “Big man”?
Who can love God like you did? Who can do the things you did?
You had escaped the fire, why did you go back? Why did you have to be a hero? I know the devil caused the fire. Jesus taught us that whenever we see death, loss and destruction it’s the devil’s work. But I will never believe the devil manipulated you into going back. He doesn’t have that type of hold over God’s children. If he does then none of us would be alive. I know you, the only reason why you went back in there was because you thought God will never let the fire harm you. You went back in faith, and maybe a little too much adrenaline.
I’m not going to say Jesus wanted you gone from earth, but I’m sure He allowed it. Of course He could have gotten someone to stop you from going back inside the conflagration. Of course He could have made you stumble and fall so you would be too injured to go back in. He allowed it, but why He did I don’t know.
I know that Jesus holds the key to death and hell, and for this reason death cannot take any of His own without His consent. And I know the gates of hell will never open its mouth for any son of God to walk in. Hell was not made for children of God but for devils. I know you’re in heaven. I know all these things. But hey, I’m still devastated.
And you know what? It’s our loss but your gain.
You finally get to see our Lord Jesus Christ. How elated you must be!
Speaking of Jesus, please help me tell Him I love Him. And after you tell Him, tell Him again. Tell Him to please keep me from falling and failing Him. Tell Him to give me more of Him. Please, tell Him to keep me from failing Him.
I was going to say See you soon. But I’m sure my mum is reading this and I don’t want her to get scared. So, see you when God says so.
I love you man.
Dayo.
3. Anecdotes of Sharing Tracts
I met the most intriguing young man, Shina, while sharing tracts yesterday. He’s not the kind of guy I’d normally share tracts to. Usually when sharing I deliberately avoid certain individuals: The weird looking people, the hard faced men, the intimidating roadside thugs, the red eyed policemen, the cantankerous market women [who use tracts as tissue papers], the dirty looking beggars and the mentally unstable folks.
What an irony of the gospel of Jesus!
I must have been deceived. How could I forget the words of Jesus in Luke 4:18: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor! The poor had often been neglected. No one cared for them, no one preached to them and no one tried to set them free from bondage. And that’s why Jesus had to come, to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed.
But back to the story, for some reason yesterday as I walked past this dark skinned, smelly and confused looking young man I handed him one of my tracts. I had walked about 150 metres from that spot when he called from behind. It had taken him three minutes of careful consideration to decide whether he was going to bother this tract sharing native wearing young man with his problems. I’m glad he did.
As Shina spoke I was overwhelmed seeing and hearing how much people actually suffer all through life. In summary, he had just ran away from home and absolutely swore not to ever go back. His father, a “pastor” had six wives and ran a chaotic home. His grandmother was so diabolical that everyone related to her had mental issues, him included. And when she heard at the turn of the year that he had resolved to get help to stabilize mentally she had him tied, flogged again and again, and fed all sorts of diabolical concoctions. As he spoke he finished every single sentence with a “sir” and I tried to get him to stop to no avail.
This young man had been through so much. He was clearly suffering from some sort of mental illness. He kept saying “I need help sir. I need Jesus sir. I don’t know what is wrong with me sir. I know I am not normal sir. I need Jesus to help me and make me normal sir”. I had always thought and heard that the day “mad” people admit they were “mad”, they had been healed. But Shina sounded like someone whose real and intelligent self was being trapped and suppressed by some stronger spirit. His name Shina means “Open Doors”, but every good door in this young man’s life seemed to be permanently shut, and abandoned.
I felt for him deeply and invited him into my church for the Bible Study. A lot of people -from the security lady at the gate to members seated next to him- looked at him askance. But everyone remained decorous because he was with me. He sat quietly through the Bible Study and impressively read aloud scripture when asked to. But he had his head down the entire evening. He was a young man extremely low on confidence.
At the end I introduced him to a Pastor who prayed for him and urged him to go back home. He was obstinate and reiterated that he would be killed by his folks when if he returned. I prayed with him for the third time and assured him that Jesus would keep him unscathed. He smiled [astonishingly] and promised to serve Jesus for life if He does.
I’m certain Shina’s life has turned around and I’m glad God led me to him. Never again will I neglect the poor and disadvantaged. Never again will I share tracts to only people I think can read. The only word needed for this gospel is Jesus. “Jesus loves you, please love Him back” was all Shina heard and he turned to the Lord. May the Lord keep him forever.
Let’s pray for Shina,
Lord Jesus thank you because we believe you are turning Shina’s life around. Thank you because the time to favor him has come. Build him and use him Lord, make him great. And Lord we pray also for all those suppressed by the devil, those suffering so much everyday because of Satan’s wickedness, set them free Lord! And use me to bring light and hope to this dark world. Amen.
2. The Pain of Promise
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient – 2 Peter 3:9
Almost every Christian I know has a personalized promise which they all hold on to very dearly. Do you have a promise from God? I’m not talking of something you conjured up or some scripture you chant mindlessly at church every Sunday. And I’m definitely not talking of something random your Pastor said. I’m talking of a special promise God gave you directly from His lips to your heart.
Promises are great you know. We get very excited when we hear God speak specifically to us about a particular thing. It always feels good to hear that God knows you personally and has great plans for your life. But I’ve found that promises -a great gift from God- can turn into a source of distress in one’s life if not properly managed. As any matured Christian has discovered, promises do not always manifest immediately. It’s almost like waiting is a major part of most of God’s promises. Waiting can be torturous, especially when it’s longer than expected. Sometimes it can be a period of doubt and anguish, but only if we let it.
1. Heaven’s Testimony
And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? – Job 1:8
What is heaven’s testimony of you? Have you ever wondered what God says about you when He’s describing and having conversations about you? Does he boast about you like He did of Job? I believe God does think and talk about us to others, and He wants us to be conscious of this. Jesus even urged us in John 5:44 to “try to win praise from the one who alone is God”. Does God praise you?
I used to cringe anytime I imagined God assessing me because I knew I wasn’t doing enough. My output has in no way been commensurate with God’s input in my life. Well, God must have seen my worry because in October 2017 He decided to tell me what He really thinks about me, or at least what He thought.
Bad to Worse
Evildoers [and imposters] will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. – 2 Timothy 3:13 NIV
There’s a principle in life. We tend to improve on the things we continue to do, whether good or evil. The righteous man walks on a path that shines brighter and brighter until he attains perfection [Proverbs 4:18], while evil doers get more and more evil, going from bad to worse.
If you asses your life today you should find some good things in them. It may be little things like fellowshipping daily with God, attending church often, giving generously etc. Keep at them, don’t get weary. I can assure you that you as a Christian you will only get better and better, till you’re absolutely perfect like Jesus. On the other hand, are there some not so good things you currently engage in?
The things you watch today, the stuff you listen to, the company you keep, the conversations you have, the places you go, the things you enjoy… Are these things leading you to the right hand of the throne of God, or are they entrenching you further into the world’s web? We must always ask ourselves, will my continuously doing this thing make me a better and better person, or will it make me worse and worse?
While unsaved in the university, I knew people who innocently became curious about getting high. They started off drinking juices mixed with little alcohol. And through wrong influence, indiscipline and ignorance they graduated to the hardest mixtures of alcohol, then drunkenness, then drug abuse, then addiction, then apostasy. This progression may not always be the case but we must be careful of what we engage in. It may go from bad to worse. I advise you to kill anything in you that looks like a serpent otherwise it will turn to a dragon. [Revelation 12:9]
You cannot continually dabble with sin and not get fully sucked into it. Still in university, I saw a particular girl go from having sex with her boyfriend, to having sex with her boyfriends, to having sex with strangers she met at parties, to having sex with rich strangers she met at parties, to going to parties with the hope of meeting a rich stranger who’d fancy her and take her home in exchange for cash, to actually standing on the road outside clubs with prostitutes. Just like that. In about 8 months this girl became a prostitute! Right before my very eyes. But she didn’t get there in a day. No one is born a sex addict, or a prostitute, or a reprobate. If you continually to indulge in sin you WILL go from bad to worse. It’s not rocket science. It’s not some demon somewhere. It’s a scriptural principle.
Remember Demas? Paul’s faithful companion when he was in prison at Rome. In Colossians 4:14 Paul was sending hearty greetings from this young man to churches. But look how he ended up. Some years after he was reported by the same Paul to have departed from the faith “having loved this present world [2 Timothy 4:10]. What a shame. Maybe he started by tolerating a little worldliness. A little worldly friend here, a little worldly music there. Maybe he started with liking worldliness, but with consistency he ended up loving the world which is always followed by hating God [James 4:4]. Bad to worse.
Remember Judas? This man was a demon-casting repentance-preaching apostle of God. But he tolerated greed. This greed turned to love for money. His end story? Fam, this man ended up betraying and killing God. Jesus prayed forgiveness for everyone that killed Him [Luke 23:34]. But not Judas, instead Jesus said by the time He’ll be done dealing with Judas he’ll wish he was never born [Matthew 26:24]. So Judas was the one guy responsible for killing God! What a title to have. But remember, it all started with a little greed. Bad to worse.
I’ve also heard of people who became what they shouldn’t have because of the shows they watched. Some, from hating homosexuality and all types of sexual sin started to love movie characters who lived this way. Then they got comfortable with the sin, and then suddenly “it’s not that big of a deal”. Some have ended up being homosexuals and adulterers themselves, or defenders of such. Bad to worse.
You may be locked up somewhere watching some pornography thinking “No one sees me. Plus it’s just a little porn”. You may be indulging some little sins. You may be hanging out with wrong people. You may be entertaining some evil thoughts. Trust me, you will end up where you don’t want.
You’re not going to keep pampering that one little sin without adding more. No, you will go from bad to worse. You’re not going to remain in that one bad relationship without consequences. No, it will go from bad to worse. “Be killing your sin or your sin will be killing you”.
I once dabbled with sin after receiving Christ many years ago. It started off with a little fun here and there, but I only grew worse and worse. The end result was me becoming a blatantly unrepentant sinner who was heading for eternal condemnation. Thankfully, mercy and grace showed up for me.
Thankfully, our Father has given us all we need for godly living. May His grace lead us from sin and not to sin.
You’re a Christian, don’t be getting worse and worse. Get better and better.
I Love Jesus 