Come praise the Lord (come praise the Lord) all yea servants of the Lord (all yea servants of the Lord), who stand by night in the house of the Lord, lift up your voice (lift up your voice) to the holy place, come praise the Lord(come praise the Lord) come praise the Lord(come praise the Lord).//Father we declare that we love You, we declare an everlasting love for You 2x.

Father this is our confession this morning, that we love Lord, we declare our everlasting love for You. Jesus, who/what can separate us from the love of God nothing will be too strong to separate us from the love of God (Rom 8:3-39). Father, help us we pray Thee in Jesus Name. Faithful Father, we are before Thee again to reverence Your Name and to honour You. Father come in Your honour come in Your glory and make this time unique we pray Thee

Have Your way again in our heart and make us beautiful we ask in Jesus Name.

Dearly beloved, how are doing today? I hope you are not overwhelmed with recent event happening in and around you? It is very important to remind ourselves of one thing that is needful. And that is living closer and walking daily with God. Don’t lose focus of whose son/daughter of who or where you are going, very important.

Going back to our faith development class, we stop at the stage three on September 6. Today, we will be considering the next stage in faith development as propounded by Fowler which is stage four and is called Internalization. People at this stage realize that they are ultimately responsible for their spiritual growth. They must feed themselves. They cannot be dependent on stimulation from other people. Nor do they want more Christian fast food from conferences.

Models and mentors serve as external reminders of what they were becoming when dependent on others. Now the categories and content of their faith are filled almost exclusively by their own actions. Their lives are being changed because they themselves actively seek to have the Holy Spirit change them. Contact with others is important for community and mutual encouragement, not for spiritual milk.

Faith in God simple put is a personal responsibility of an individual though aided at a time but must be standing at some other time so that performance of that which God said shall come to pass. Why am saying that?

At this stage in our Christian growth, we receive miracles without confessing faith or strong conviction that is God at work in us drawing us closer and near to Himself, at some other time, we are aided by the counseling’s of others around us, their testimonies about what God is doing. Then come to the stage where we must prove that we know whom we believe in. and this stage is so vital as we grow in the faith (Heb 11:6).

Beloved, todays teaching will bring us face to face again the need to grow in faith. We must take responsibility of our standing in Christ Jesus lest we keep struggling or being deceive by our arch enemy- devil (Job 1:6; Rev 2:10; Zech 3:1; Rev 12:10).

The book of proverbs chapter 4 warned us sternly about what to believe. It is a chapter that you must use as a guide if you want have a sound mind and live happily too. Verse 2 and 4 said ’For I give you good doctrine,… Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live.’ Can you please read verses 10-13, what did it say? What is verse 20-23 saying? Verse 23 of proverbs is one of the cardinal point of this ministry, you must guide your heart with all diligence.

Beloved, have you notice that every success or failure emanate from the heart. So the giant you desire to become comes from your heart through actions. That is why you must guide your heart lest the wrong things or word filters in and that will spell trouble for you. The devil can only attack through the thoughts that you process in your heart.

I am speaking now from experiences beloved, guide your heart. Failing to do that, spells doom to say the least.

In our study text for today, Apostle Peter is telling you to get our mind ready for action. You must discipline your heart else you get it all wrong. Discipline our heart to think on the right things as was instructed us in Phil 4:8. Getting focus on what is ahead, forgetting what was behind.

The faith we are teaching is the substance of things hope and that hope is set completely on the grace to be brought to you at  the revelation of Jesus Christ according to the Word of God before us today:

Therefore, get your minds ready for action, being self-disciplined, and set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.—1 Peter 1:13

 

Your mind is a wonderful thing! You can memorize life-changing passages of Scripture that can undergird you in your daily life; you can meditate upon God’s Word, discovering His magnificent truths; you can discern between truth and falsehood; you can recall God’s past blessings.

Some of God’s most effective servants were those who disciplined their minds for His service. Moses, educated in the best schools of Egypt, assembled the books of the Law for the Israelites. Isaiah used his scholarly mind to write an exalted prophetic book in Scripture. Paul learned under Gamaliel, the outstanding teacher of his day, and it was through Paul that God presented much of the theology found in the New Testament.

Sadly, many Christians today do not exercise their minds to be of service to God. They allow others to do their spiritual thinking for them. If they can find their theology from a book, they will not bother to study God’s Word themselves. If a speaker makes an authoritative statement, they readily accept it without verifying whether it is biblical.

Paul urged Christians to strive for maturity in their thinking (1 Cor. 14:20). He said there was a time when his spiritual thinking was immature, but he had prepared his mind to know and understand the great truths of God (1 Cor. 13:11). He had not allowed others to do his thinking for him. When you became a Christian, God renewed your mind (Rom. 12:2). Be certain to use your mind in a way that brings glory to God.

Yes and that is the only way you will please God. Beloved if Christ bids you come, will you follow Him? Let’s get going:

“And they follow me.” John 10:27

We should follow our Lord as unhesitatingly as sheep follow their shepherd, for He has a right to lead us wherever He pleases. We are not our own, we are bought with a price—let us recognize the rights of the redeeming blood. The soldier follows his captain, the servant obeys his master, much more must we follow our Redeemer, to whom we are a purchased possession.

We are not true to our profession of being Christians, if we question the bidding of our Leader and Commander. Submission is our duty, cavilling is our folly. Often might our Lord say to us as to Peter, “What is that to thee? Follow thou Me.” Wherever Jesus may lead us, He goes before us. If we know not where we go, we know with whom we go.

With such a companion, who will dread the perils of the road? The journey may be long, but His everlasting arms will carry us to the end. The presence of Jesus is the assurance of eternal salvation, because He lives, we shall live also.

We should follow Christ in simplicity and faith, because the paths in which He leads us all end in glory and immortality. It is true they may not be smooth paths—they may be covered with sharp flinty trials, but they lead to the “city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”

 “All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep His covenant.” Let us put full trust in our Leader, since we know that, come prosperity or adversity, sickness or health, popularity or contempt, His purpose shall be worked out, and that purpose shall be pure, unmingled good to every heir of mercy.

We shall find it sweet to go up the bleak side of the hill with Christ; and when rain and snow blow into our faces, His dear love will make us far more blest than those who sit at home and warm their hands at the world’s fire. To the top of Amana, to the dens of lions, or to the hills of leopards, we will follow our Beloved. Precious Jesus, draw us, and we will run after Thee.

Beloved, to be led and to follow on is also a walk of faith, if you trust your leader well enough it might be very difficult to comply with him/her. So be ready to follow obediently every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God and you be glad you did. And finally guide your heart and prepare it also the Word of God to thrive on it. Praise the Lord.

The walk of faith is a personal responsibility, take note.

Remain blessed in the Lord.

today nation

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IFEOMA OHONDU is the founder of the MattersoftheHeart foundation, a platform where issues affecting our everyday life are discussed and where necessary proffer solution. She is part of the end time army, who will not break their rank to fulfill the urgent call of God upon her life by declaring His word to the helpless, the doubting, the comfortless and the dying world. The world will experience great restoration and healing in the Word of God through her ministration. She is a voice to emphasize key spiritual truth about Faith, Healing and Encouragement.