Stress: The Silent Killer

Post 105

Stress is a killer and is the biggest silent killer in recent times. Many diseases are linked with it or are compounded by it. Stress has devastating consequences on one's health.

If you allow yourself to be killed by stress especially marital and relationship challenges, life continues and you are the loser. Do not take life too seriously.

There are 4 thought patterns that make life stressful.

1) Self-blame e.g. 'I locked my car keys in the car. How foolish i was?

2) Blaming others e.g. 'How could my wife be so callous?

3) Urgency e.g. I cannot wait for the panel beater. I have to force the car door open'

4) Worrying. Most of the things we worry about or fear about never happen. Then, why do we worry e.g. worrying whether your spouse will separate from you or divorce you?

45% will never happen because stress often results from tiredness.

25% of our worries concern old decisions that cannot be altered.

12% relate to health which gets worse through worry.

8% of worries relate to criticisms that are largely untrue.

10% of our worries are legitimate indicating that life has real challenges that can be tackled when we eliminate senseless worries and anxieties.

When you are tempted to worry, first ask yourself what percentage group your intended worry belongs and you will discover that most of the time, it belongs to the 45% group. Your worries will never change the outcome of a thing.

It will not eliminate tomorrow's troubles but will steal today's peace and rest. Stop worrying about what you can go wrong and focus on what can go right. Stress can be killed by patience and being positive.

Resist anxieties (Philippians 4:6). Do what U can do and leave the rest in God's hands. He is in control and will work out the best for you (Proverbs 3:5-6) (Ecclesiastes 3:11)

Ayodele Adegbulugbe.

www.xtianrace.blogspot.com.ng.

Lagos, Nigeria.

Prayers for a New Heart

Post 104
Prayers for a New Heart

 The heart of a man is full of evil:

Genesis 6:5 says ‘’ God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.’’

Jeremiah 17:9 says, ‘’the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

Mark 7:21-23 says ‘’ Far from within, out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornication, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.
All these come from within and defile the man.’’

 God assesses us by the state of our hearts:

1 Samuel 16:7 says, ‘’…for the Lord sees not as man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, for the Lord looks on the heart.’’

Jeremiah 17:10 says, ‘’ I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.’’

2 Chronicles 16:9 says, ‘’ for the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards Him.’’

Deuteronomy 5:29 says ‘’ O that there were such a heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children forever.’’

 Only those with clean hearts can see God.

Matthew 5:8 says, ‘’ blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.’’

Psalm 15:1-2 says, ‘’ Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?
He that walks uprightly, and works righteousness and speaks the truth in his heart’’

Psalm 24:3-4 says, ‘’ who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in His holy place? He that has clean hands and a pure heart’’

Psalm 51:17 says, ‘’ the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou will not despise.’’

 God has promised to give us a new heart:

Deuteronomy 30:6 says, ‘’ and the Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou may live.’’

Ezekiel 11:19 says, ‘’ and I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh.’’

Ezekiel 36:26-27 says, ‘’ a new heart will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and give you a heart of flesh.
And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them.’’

 King David, the only man in the entire Bible described by God as the ‘’man after My heart’’ prayed to God to give him a clean heart:

Psalm 51:10 ‘’ Create in me a clean heart, O God and renew a right spirit within me.’’

Prayers as follows:

• Blood of Jesus, purify my heart in Jesus name (Matthew 5:8)
• Blood of Jesus that cleanses from sin (1 John 1:6-7), cleanse my heart of all evil, deceitful and ungodly thoughts in Jesus name
• Lord God, circumcise my heart and the hearts of my children to love you with our hearts and our souls that we may live (Deuteronomy 30:6)
• Lord God, give me a heart that will be perfect towards you (2 Chronicles 16:9) in the name of Jesus
• Lord God, give me a broken spirit and contrite heart (Psalm 51:17) in Jesus name
• Lord, put a new spirit within me, take away from me the stony heart and give me a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 11:19; 36:26-27) in Jesus name
• Lord God, let the power and the grace to follow you to the end with a whole heart like Caleb and Joshua rest upon me in Jesus name (Numbers 32:12)
• Lord God, give me a heart that will love and fear you all my days in Jesus name (Deuteronomy 5:29).

Ayodele Adegbulugbe
www.xtianrace.blogspot.com.ng
Lagos, Nigeria
Phone: +2348035978352

The Door (John 10:9)

Post 103

John 10:9 says ‘’ I am the Door: by me if any man enters in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture.’’

We are likened to sheep under the care of the Shepherd, Jesus Christ who is also the door for us to enter into our pen. Entering through Him, our souls shall be saved from danger, death and destruction. 

Others who claim to be doors are thieves and robbers who cannot save any soul as they cannot lay down their lives for their flock. Jesus sealed His love for us all by laying down His life.

Separation from God came through Adam’s sin but reconciliation with God comes through Jesus who died for sin and rose again from the dead and is alive forever. He is the Door to eternal life, having conquered death. 

He is the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6) and no one can come to God the Father except through Jesus.

Ayodele Adegbulugbe.

www.xtianrace.blogspot.com.ng.

Lagos, Nigeria.

3 Things Men Must Do and Continue Doing to Maintain Eternal Life

Post 102

Ø To believe in Jesus Christ, implying complete and continuous obedience (John 10:26)

This expresses an act and a continuous process. One act of faith at inception of the Christian experience and having no more of it will not save the soul of any man. The faith that saves is an ever present and active faith. It cannot cease and still be yielding results. 

Therefore, a believer must always live by faith to maintain his salvation and be saved. In the Parable of the Sower, the seed that fell on stony ground is the believer who heard the gospel and believed for a while but fell away during temptation. Also 1Timothy 4:1 tells about believers who fell from the faith and believe doctrines of demons.

Other Bible verses that emphasize continuous faith and the penalty for departing from the faith include (2 Timothy 2:11-13) (Hebrew 3:6; 12-14) (Hebrews 4:11; 10:23-28) (Jude v5). 

Those who believe in the doctrines of unconditional eternal security and salvation by good works have no claim to eternal life because these doctrines are not supported by the Bible.

Ø Hearing His voice, and not be a hearer only but also a doer of the Word (John 10:27)

Jesus said that all those who hear His voice and do not obey Him are not His sheep. All those who hear His voice and obey Him are His sheep. 

Jesus knows His sheep that follow and obey Him daily. To all those who follow and are obedient to Him, He gives eternal life, and they shall never perish nor be plucked from His hands (John 10:25-29).

The only thing one must do is to come to God through free moral agency and to permit His salvation and keeping power to be manifested. God cannot keep anyone contrary to his will any more than He kept Adam and Eve who willed to sin (Romans 5:12-21).

Ø Follow Jesus Christ (John 10:27)

Following Jesus Christ is not only at the beginning of a Christian life but must be a daily occurrence and throughout life (Mark 8:34). Claiming eternal life without following Jesus is like those Pharisees who claimed to know God and have eternal life which Jesus said was not true (John 8:55).

Ayodele Adegbulugbe.

www.xtianrace.blogspot.com.ng.

Lagos, Nigeria.

The Bread of Life (John 6:35)

POST 101
We eat bread to satisfy our physical hunger and to sustain physical life. Likewise, we can satisfy spiritual hunger and sustain spiritual life by having a right relationship with Jesus Christ, the Bread of Life.

As we eat bread to sustain physical life, we sustain spiritual life by inviting Jesus Christ into our daily walk. He is the Bread which gives us life and preserves from death.

‘’I am the bread of life: he that comes to me shall never hunger; and he that believes in me shall never thirst.’’ (John 6:35)

Ayodele Adegbulugbe.
www.xtianrace.blogspot.com.ng.
Lagos, Nigeria

Phone:+2348035978352

How Salvation Can Be Lost

Post 100

How salvation can be lost

Salvation is not an un-forfeitable possession. It can be lost through free moral agency via one’s carelessness, negligence and disobedience to God and His Word.

Demas was once a Minister and a co-laborer with Paul (Colossians 4:14) (Philemon v24) but he backslid and went back into the world because he loved the present world above God (2 Timothy 4:10).

According to 1 John 2:15-17, anyone who loves the world does not have the love of God in him and if he does not have the love of God in him, he cannot be saved (John 13:35) (John 14:15). It is inconceivable that God will allow those who do not love Him into Heaven for all eternity.

If Demas loved God at one time, how did he become separated from the love of Christ (Romans 8:35-39)? Was God responsible for him loving the world and forsaking Him?

This shows that we have free moral agency after conversion. 

We have free choice and free will powers and we alone can decide to continue with God or to backslide and fail God. We have free will to decide our destiny after salvation just as we did before salvation

There is no verse in the whole Bible from Genesis to Revelations that suggests that God forces or compels anyone to follow and serve Him. Therefore, the doctrine of unconditional eternal security that says when one is saved, he is saved forever even if he returns to willful and habitual disobedience to God and His Word is satanic, a false teaching and a horrendous fallacy from the pits of hell.

John 8:31 says, ‘’if ye continue in my Word, then ye are my disciples indeed.’’

The word ‘if’ expresses a condition. The condition for believers to remain as disciples and be free from sin is to ‘’continue in My Word’’

The doctrine of unconditional eternal security is not found in the Bible and is not of God.

Ayodele Adegbulugbe

www.xtianrace.blogspot.com.ng

Lagos, Nigeria.

The Right and Wrong Ways to be Angry

There is a right and a wrong way to be angry. 

The word ‘anger’ means to provoke or to irritate. The faculty of anger was created by God and it is perfectly sinless in itself. This means it is not a sin to be angry but it is a sin to allow your anger to lead you into sin (Ephesians 4:26-27).

The reference in Ephesians 4:26-27 is to being provoked by the Devil to commit sin when angry but one must not yield to such provocation or give place to the Devil to manipulate his anger. Anger is allowed by the gospel but the misuse of the faculty of anger and the other emotion based faculties is what God condemns (Mark 3:5) (Ephesians 4:26-27).

Anger is an attribute of God and of man. God is angry because of sin and is angry with sinners everyday (Psalm 7:11). He was angry with the Israelites in Numbers 11:1 when He was irritated by their complaints. He was also angry with them in Numbers 14:9 when they provoked Him.

Jesus demonstrated holy anger in Mark 3:5 when He was grieved by the attitude of the Pharisees at healing on the Sabbath day. Therefore, anger is not always a manifestation of sin and Satan as both God and man have it and will always have it. As an attribute in man, man must have a lawful cause to be angry else his anger will cause him eternal ruin (Matthew 5:22).

There is holy anger and without holy anger, man will not be capable of confronting and waging war against sin and Satan. It may be futile to be praying for us to be dehumanized but we should be praying for the grace and the power to control the faculty of anger and the other emotion based faculties within the bounds of the Scriptures (Galatians 5:22-23).

Galatians 5:22-23 talks about the fruit of the Spirit and one of the components is self-control or temperance. Though anger is allowed by the gospel, the same gospel tells us to maintain strict control over this faculty. James 1:19 counsels us to be slow to anger, slow to speak and swift to hear and listen. Our anger must not lead us to sinning against God (Ephesians 4:26-27).

Though anger is allowed by the gospel, it is foolishness to be easily angry or annoyed. Proverbs 12:16 tells that a fool is he who makes his anger visible at once when offended while a wise one holds his peace. Likewise Proverbs 14:29 tells that he that is hasty to be angry magnifies folly and foolishness.

 In addition, Proverbs 27:3 tells that ill-temper is injurious to one’s health, reputation and the personality. Ecclesiastes 7:9 tells us that a fool is he who retains anger in him, keeps it alive in him until it incites him to revenge while a wise man quickly casts anger out of his bosom.

Though anger is allowed by the gospel, the Bible has record of men who abused or misused this faculty and brought them into disfavor with God or caused themselves ruin. Prominent examples in the Scriptures include:

Ø Haman (Esther 3:5)

Because Mordecai, a Jew refused to bow before him and show him respect, Haman was angry and in a bid to revenge, he plotted the destruction of the Jews which backfired and led to his fall and destruction.

Ø Cain (Genesis 4:5-6)

Cain’s anger led to envy and the eventual murder of his brother Abel and ended up a fugitive

Ø Simeon and Levi (Genesis 34:25)

Because the prince of Shechem defiled their sister Dinah, Simeon and Levi in fierce and unrestrained anger plotted and executed the cold blooded murder of the prince and all the inhabitants in the city –a horrendous massacre!

Ø King Uzziah (2 Chronicles 26:16-21)

Because this King was resisted by the priests when he intruded into the sacred things beyond his jurisdiction, he became angry and God struck him with leprosy till the day of his death. He started as God’s favourite, mightily blessed by God before he fell out of favour and died in a leper’s colony.

Ø Moses was also God’s favourite but was denied the opportunity of entering the Promised Land because he lost his temper and dishonored God when he was provoked by the Jews at the waters of Meribah

Though anger is allowed by the gospel, Proverbs 22:24 warns ‘’make no friendship with an angry man and with a furious man, thou shall not go.’’ 

This is saying that we should be careful of the company we keep because we can unconsciously imitate and imbibe their spirit and ways and be ensnared. As a heaven focused Christian, you must watch the company you associate with if you want to go in the way of righteousness (1 Corinthians 15:33)

Anger has been defined by scholars as ‘’temporary madness’’ or ‘mental disorder.’ Anger can cause a person to lose the Kingdom of God and send one to eternal hell.

Ayodele Adegbulugbe

www.xtianrace.blogspot.com.ng

Lagos, Nigeria.