Casting down imaginations and all that exalts itself against the knowledge of God

O dear believers in Jesus Christ the Son of the Living God, O take heed to the warnings of old. These are the warnings given to us by those who lived with Jesus in his earthly ministry. Learn from it, because you will profit. Observe them, so that your steps are on sold ground.

¹Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you: ² But I beseech you, that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence, wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. ³ For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: ⁴ (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) ⁵ Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:1-5)

These vain ideas were present in the times of the early church and even more now. Heresy and blasphemy has increased even more now. In the name of equality and freedom, the very things that enslave the minds of men and women are now being promoted.

Let me make it real to you:

Some people think its okay to keep on sinning continually, till their time of dying arrives and only then repent. However I’d say ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test’ to such people. Do remember ; Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. (1 John 3:4)

Then there are those that think that worshiping false gods while claiming to be Christian is fine because the Lord God is too loving to judge them. There are in for a nasty surprise in the afterlife for those who cling to false gods won’t enter heaven. Only in Jesus Christ there is salvation. Remember this ; And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

Certain people think of the Lord God as a ever permissive father who will support their evil and selfish deeds, just he loves  them unconditionally, are completely in the wrong. By doing their bad deeds and not repenting for them they themselves have chosen to fall away from the grace of God. Memorize this ; “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.” (Heb. 6:4-6)

Then then are people who want to practice witchcraft while staying in communion with the Lord God. You can either serve the Lord God or witchcraft. You cannot serve both. Do remember this well ; Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

O dear beloved believer in Jesus Christ, these things mentioned above involve discernment and having an active trust in the Word of God. For the doubting its very difficult, therefore do no live in doubt but in faith and prayer in these times.

¹⁷ But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” ¹⁹ It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. ²⁰ But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹ keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. ²² And have mercy on those who doubt; ²³ save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. (Jude 1:17-23)

 

 

Snatch and grab ministry

Sometimes marriage, deliverance, healing and counseling ministries have elements of snatch and grab. Be willing to do it all for the glory of God.

For instance, you get a woman crying to you about her husband going to divorce her due to her fault of sexual immorality. You then pray with her and strongly correct her behavior patterns by preaching the word of God to her. With much prayer and courage you can then approach her husband in presence of elders of the church and see if its possible for him to forgive her and for her to never break his trust again. And God willing they’d both reconcile with each other and live a happy married life. However in the midst of getting back with each other, they don’t thank you! Don’t worry, you’ve just done a snatch and grab operation. Though they didn’t thank you, Jesus takes note of what you’ve done in his honor and will surely reward you for this.

You might deliver a man plagued with evil spirits but since he’s a man of repute he won’t even acknowledge you as the servant of God as he feels his image must be maintained. Never feel bad about that. Simply give thanks that you in the name of Jesus could deliver him from trouble and pray that such a man someday understands the value of his deliverance. There’s no need to be resentful. Just go on to the next person who need rescuing from demons.

Sometimes you might have prayed for a person who is in a dying condition and she got well. Today if she walks by you in church she doesn’t say a little hello to you. Again you snatched her out of the fire. She’s not yet truly thankful but that doesn’t mean you get bitter. Thank the Lord you could work with such a forgetful person and yet God healed her when you called on to his name.

I sometimes have counseled people who were in trouble. They used my advice to make themselves better but never bother to contact me again. I’d still come to know that they were blessed. I felt what is the use of me helping them. Then I realized this goes beyond people. This is my service to the Lord God that I help his people and that’s what matters. This is what made to make a choice that I won’t stop giving counsel to people who come to me for counsel that is consistent with the Scriptures.

In terms of snatch and grab, it’s not about your glory nor your fame, it’s about the Lord God and how you serve him. Receiving thanks and compliments shouldn’t be on your mind. Your desire instead must be that God works through you and in you for the person whom you are rescuing from sin and death.

We are greatly encouraged to snatch people of the fire and of course we are to keep due diligence in the process. Please read the below verses:

²⁰ But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹ keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. ²² And have mercy on those who doubt; ²³ save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. (Jude 1:20-23)

Though the following verses are not a command, I’d still like to mention it as the Lord takes a lot of interest in those he plucks out of the fire and how he wishes that they are sanctified. Please read the following:

3 Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. ² And the Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, O Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?” ³ Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments. ⁴ And the angel said to those who were standing before him, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” And to him he said, “Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.” ⁵ And I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the Lord was standing by. (Zechariah 3:1-5)

Christ be with you as you snatch people out of the fire!

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Prayer points for France (November-December 2014)

One of Western Europe’s largest countries is France. The people are quite creative and jovial. Though you might hear a lot of jokes about the French they are not dumb but in fact are innovative. For instance they invented canned food, the Braille script for the blind, the pasteurization, parachutes and even Aspirin etc. Despite their great traditions, wisdom and art the French are still beset with low faith in God and increase in immorality of all sorts of evil. The French Revolution brought out both the best and the worst for them in areas of politics, religion, economy etc which manifest even to this day. Nevertheless, we are to pray for their well-being and safety in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh (Jude 1:22-23)

Some people need a rescue from going into the fires of hell because their on their own they are bound to fail. We can at times pull them from getting into the fire in many ways. To this effect we can preach the Gospel to them, encourage them to live a holy life unto Christ and pray for them. Even when you can reach to someone in need of a rescue from spiritual deception, you can still at least pray for them.

For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.” (2 Peter 2:20-22)

Remember that it’s better to never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from it. This can apply to France too. Indeed a nation that once confessed faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is in moral shambles. With people shying away from speaking about their faith in Christ and some declaring themselves at atheists and non religious it’s proving to be an ungodly mix. The rise in migrants from non-christian lands adds more unbelievers to the French demographic. Though looking at this from another angle, I see this as a chance to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to people who otherwise would be difficult to reach out to their native regions which might be hostile towards the Christian faith.

Here are the prayer points that you can pray for France though you can also add in whatever the Holy Spirit brings to your mind when praying:

• Pray that prostitution in France is curtailed and eliminated as this results in the subjugation and oppression of women and children. The illegal manipulation of women needs to stop by stopping prostitution.
• Pray that all forms of human trafficking are strongly stopped by the government and police at all levels.
• That illegal immigrants are not a threat to France in any way or form such as economic, terrorism etc.
• That non-christian immigrants are given a free and clear choice to listen to the Gospel of Jesus and accept the Christian faith.
• Pray that the preachers go on to reach out to people of other religion and offer them salvation which only comes from Jesus Christ.
• Pray that the French Christians experience fullness of the joy of the Lord in their private and public life.
• That the dipping church attendance is put to a hold and more people start liking to participate in the church.
• That the French arts such as paintings, statues, fashion houses, music and literature are used to promote peace, harmony, truth and courage instead of vulgarity and vanity.
• Pray for unity and peace among Christians of various denominations in France.
• Pray that all cults and hate movements are a failure. That the works of the Evil One through them are exposed and brought low.
• That the people of God in France prevail against every form of deception that is used to tempt them and weaken them in their personal walk with Christ.
• That all of France’s infrastructure is kept safe and secure including their nuclear installations.
• Pray that there is no misuse of the nation’s resources by any form of corruption in the government, military etc in France
• Pray for good, moral and effective leaders for France.

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Proof that Sodom and Gomorrah is Not a Fairy Tale

 

just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. (Jude 1:7 ESV)

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