Words for Life Articles

“It is not happiness that brings us gratitude. It is gratitude that brings us happiness.”

A grateful man or woman is bound to be content in God.

A grateful attitude towards God is essential to our contentment in Him, not just for the blessings He bestows on us, but for who God is. It is very essential for us to be satisfied with who God is, who He has created us to be.

The minute we cast our eyes off Him and focus on anything contrary to His face, we will become anxious, envious and discontent. In our discontent, we become ungrateful to Him.

RESEARCH HAS SHOWN THAT GRATITUDE AND ANXIETY CANNOT CO-EXIST IN THE BRAIN.

 You cannot be a grateful person and be discontent at the same time.

A grateful person walks in confidence and contentment.

An ungrateful person is always, angry, anxious and envious.

 PAUL PUTS IT THIS WAY

Philippians 4:6-8

6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving,

That is WITH GRATITUDE

let your requests be made known to God.

 Key Scriptures:

John 4: 42

⁴² Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”

1 John 4: 14

¹⁴ And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.

Matthew 3:11 

¹¹ I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Mark 1:8

⁸ I indeed baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.

Through the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Father has provided the whole world the entire package of Salvation and Eternal Life. 

Jesus Christ - Savior (Romans 10:9)

⁹ that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

Ephesians 6:10-13

10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5

3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.

The Christian journey is a journey of faith and adventure, which includes spiritual warfare. Spiritual warfare is the Christian concept of fighting against the evil forces in spiritual places, pulling down strongholds and occupying till Jesus returns.

The Christian therefore must learn to always have their armour on as a good soldier and remember that Jesus is our commanding officer, and we fight according to His rules.

Our battle is not against people, please note. There are times it feels as though the people around us are the enemies. The truth is that our battle is not against flesh and blood but against unseen powers and principalities that operate through the human flesh. These powers cannot operate on their own but look for bodies to operate through. 

The word Holiness for years has struck a chord of fear, of impossibilities in many Christians. To some the word Holiness is unattainable, and some see it as legalism based on their experience.

I am always challenged by scripture and what it represents. Therefore, based on scripture, I do not see Holiness as anything other than what God is calling the Church to. He who has called us is able to complete what He began.

Hebrews 12:14

14 Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord:

I believe that all believing Christians have all been called to a lifestyle of Holiness. Not just called to Holiness but to PURSUE HOLINESS. To strive towards Holiness. This is a call to the Church, to push towards peace with all men AND to live a life of Holiness without which no one can see God.

Paul puts it this way in 1 Thessalonians 4:7

7 For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness.

In Ephesians 1:4

4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,

Coming up to a higher level is the response to God’s invitation to rise up and soar as an eaglein our spiritual walk with Him.

Many believers today are satisfied with their spiritual successes but only few have a hunger to come up higher.

Both Scripture and experience teach that it is you and me, not God, who determine the degree of our intimacy with Him. Every Christian is as close to God as they really choose to be.

As much as many of us will love to build a stronger intimacy with God, we find it difficult to pay the price involved. Many of us settle for a less demanding level of Christian living, because we are not prepared to pay the price.

There is a price to pay in responding to a higher-level invitation, An invitation to a mountain top experience can be costly.

In scripture we find that God is always calling people to higher level for a greater purpose.

In the book of Exodus

Habakkuk 2:4 

“Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him.

But the just shall live by his faith.

Faith in God is a sign of humility.

Romans 1:17

17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”

Living a life of faith is stepping into the unknown, trusting in our God who is beyond our understanding.

The truth be told, Faith is not an emotion. Faith is not a feeling. We have many people around us today who have given up and full of hopelessness. Many are quitting the faith. Many are in despair; they have lost hope and lost any sense of reprieve or getting out of their predicament. They are saying this faith thing is not working for me. They are looking at everything around them and they have given up.Yet scripture says in Romans 1:17

17 For in it In what? In the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is your believe and mine in that Gospel that makes us the righteousness of God because of Christ Jesus and keeps us persevering and hopeful in God. We are made JUST by the blood of Jesus Christ and because we have been JUSTIFIED therefore, we must walk and live by FAITH.

Hebrews 5:4

4 And no man takes this honour to himself, but he who is called by God, just as Aaron was.                                                        

In 1994, I had just been told by my senior Pastor then, that, I was being appointed and to be ordained as the associate Pastor for the church we were attending then, which was also an Elim Church.

This information came to me with mixed emotions as I tried battling my excitement with trepidation wondering if I could fulfil this role. I was not sure I was equipped for this call of God. I was not sure if I had the qualification for it, or was it just a fleshly desire? So, when it came to the ordination / commissioning time, I decided I was not going to attend the ceremony at Westminster Central Hall.

One night whilst singing and praising God in our room, I heard clearly in my Spirit, this scripture from Hebrews 5:4 no man takes this honour upon himself except he who is called of God.