When Jesus submitted himself to baptism by water in the River Jordan he said to John the Baptist that he had to be baptized to fulfill all righteousness. It was therefore very significant that after he had gone into the water the heavens were opened and John saw the Spirit of God descend like a dove and light upon Jesus and a voice from heaven say This is my Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased (Matthew 3 15-17)In this New Year we seek to obtain God’s approval and commendation in all we do. His approval also refers to his acceptance and his favourable regard for us
In seeking to walk in divine approval we must first of all completely devote ourselves and our lives to God .The days of wishy washy half baked compromise filled Christianity must pale out as we seek divine approval on our lives. If the Lord is God then let us serve him with all of our lives .We cannot have his approval if our commitment is not complete. It is indeed a privilege to serve him and if we are going to be the light and the salt of the earth then we must submit fully to his lordship. Joshua gives us a cue when he says As for me and my House we will serve the Lord (Joshua 24 v15) The syndrome of giving excuses for not serving God fully and living as if we are doing God a favour by worshipping him must pass away like a used page in our live which has given way to a new page. For us to have God’s approval we must recognize that he is the potter and we are the clay and he will and should mould us the way he wills. This is what will give practical meaning to our being crucified with Christ and yet living (Galatians 2 v20) Read More...
From the Heart of The General Overseer - A Word For The Week
From The GO's Heart - 59
Let the Word spoken by Christ the Messiah have its home in your hearts and minds and dwell in you in all its richness as you teach and admonish and train one another in all insight and intelligence and wisdom in spiritual things and as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs making melody to God with his grace in your hearts (Colossians 3 v16) Amplified Bible
The renewed mind leads to a transformed life and this transformed life is characterized by new habits. We must allow God’s Word to dwell in our hearts and minds and the only way by which this can happen is by developing new habits of meditating on the word of God and also studying the Word. We must do this until God’s Word permeates our minds and into our hearts, such richness of
God’s Word will then be reflected in our teaching others from his Word. This must be one of the new habits we must develop as a direct result of the renewal of our minds. When we teach others God’s Word it will bring about a change in our character. We have also to develop the new habit of encouraging and admonishing one another from God’s Word. This means we must consistently study God’s Word to know how to speak a word in season and how to encourage others who may be going through challenging situations or whose love for God and his work may be waning. Our language must change to reflect the renewal in our minds. We must additionally develop the habit of training others using the insight we receive from meditating on God’s Word. This must be a deliberate and well planned activity which will have the effect of making disciples in line with the Great Commission. The wisdom to do all this will come from diligently studying God’s Word and making it our priority
As we seek to live transformed lives emanating from minds that are continually being renewed we will also need to develop the habit of praising God. Such praise must be in spite of or notwithstanding our circumstances. We must be able to align our lives with the admonition of the psalmist to praise the Lord with all our innermost being (Psalm 103 v1)Such praise is reflected in singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs and also making melody in our hearts to God with his grace. This is a habit we need to develop as we seek to renew our minds. When we sing and praise God we affirm that all things will work together for our good. We affirm that our God is awesome and great and almighty. We affirm that he can do all things and take us out of captivity to total liberation and we also affirm that our lives arte hid with Christ in God. We will then be able to bless him at all times with a dance, with stringed instruments, with the fruit of our lips and with our substance.
We must allow God’s Word to change us and enable us to manifest new habits that will ultimately reflect our faith and confidence in the Lord