Sunday Message Summary, 12 December 2021
GOD has already given us everything we need to live in holiness, purity, righteousness, and cleanness, to live the supernatural life as the children of light here on Earth. It is not because of anything we have done or anything we can do, but GOD has called us by His own glory and virtue (2 Peter 1:3). It is by this glory and virtue of GOD that we have already been given exceedingly great and precious promises (2 Peter 1:4). There are many Christians however, who, though they know the truth, might be barren or unfruitful and are not possessing these promises and blessings. Excess knowledge does not equate to results, but it is understanding the knowledge that leads to results. Therefore, we need an understanding of how to walk in the promises of GOD.
How then do we appropriate these blessings? Firstly, we should be serious, making every effort, doing everything to ensure that we possess by faith what GOD has already made available for us. When something is ours, it will not come to us automatically, but we must access it by faith. Furthermore, we must grow in the spirit. We have the fruit of the Spirit, which is the nature, the character that the Holy Spirit imparts in us, but that nature and character must grow. We have to exercise our faith for us to grow in the spirit (2 Peter 1:5 AMP). We should be diligent, doing everything that we can to appropriate what has already been appropriated for us by Christ. We make our call and election sure by the nature of GOD that is in us manifesting itself from the inside (2 Peter 1:10).
If the fruit of the Spirit is in us and we are growing therein, we will grow in knowledge in Jesus Christ. This is critical because the promises and blessings of GOD come by first receiving Jesus Christ, and then growing in the knowledge of Him. When we grow in the knowledge of Jesus, we will neither be barren nor unfruitful (2 Peter 1:5-8). If we do not have the fruit of the Spirit growing in us, we are spiritually short-sighted and in some instances spiritually blind (2 Peter 1:9), but if we grow in the character of Christ, an access will be supplied to us into everything that GOD has for us (2 Peter 1:11). One of such fruit of the Spirit is self-control.
Keeping and guarding our hearts is self-control (Proverbs 4:23 AMPC). Christianity is not lifestyle modification, nor behavior modification, but it is transformation, and such spiritual growth happens in the heart. What comes from the inside of the person is what matters, so we therefore cannot go around blaming external circumstances (Mark 7:20-23). Often when Christians are enroute to the blessings and promises, the devil attacks and they fall, however a Christian who has self-control knows to stand on the Word and God’s promises. When we are faced with temptation, the devil comes to close our eyes to the reality of what we might be losing if we do not stand, but we should be motivated because our standing is not in vain, and we will receive what has been promised. To do the will of GOD requires discipline and self-control (Hebrews 10:36). To live blessed and victorious lives, we need to do away with everything that prevents us from living right for the LORD, and we need to repent from the sin that easily ensnares us (Hebrews 12:1).
To live blessed and victorious lives, we need to do away with everything that prevents us from living right for the LORD
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