Wednesday, 29 May 2024
“Examine and test and evaluate your own selves to see whether you are holding to your faith and showing the proper fruits of it. Test and prove yourselves [not Christ]. Do you not yourselves realize and know [thoroughly by an ever-increasing experience] that Jesus Christ is in you–unless you are [counterfeits] disapproved on trial and rejected?” – 2 Corinthians 13:5 AMPC
“So, my friends, try very much to live in a way that pleases GOD. GOD has chosen you to be his own people. Show that you really do belong to him! If you do these things, you will never turn away from GOD.” – 2 Peter 1:10 EASY
I was having a chat with a friend last week about how our church fathers feared GOD, and their fear of GOD was evident in the lives that they lived. It was easy to tell a man of GOD apart even though they might’ve not had the best theology. Today we have believers and pastors that are theologically sound but nothing about their lives shows any kind of fruit. They have all the knowledge but nothing about their lives testifies that they have a relationship with the HOLY Spirit. They have a Scripture to justify their lifestyles and behaviours. It’s what the Bible calls, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof (2 Timothy 3:5).
“O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” Galatians 3:1-2 NKJV. We are saved by grace, and the same Holy Spirit who saved us is the same Holy Spirit who sanctifies us and transforms us into the image of Christ. This is the same Holy Spirit who will usher us into the presence of the LORD when we come to the end of our lives. Our Christian lives are started by Him, facilitated by Him and end with Him.
This life requires discipline, surrender and obedience, we are to obey Him as He leads us and conforms us to the image of Christ. It is when we rightly see Him that we will obey Him and reverence Him. Holy Spirit is GOD! We are to revere Him as we do the Father and Jesus. “So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.” 1 Corinthians 9:26-27 NLT.
This life requires discipline, surrender and obedience, we are to obey Him as He leads us and conforms us to the image of Christ
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