John 17:16. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Well friends, it’s the last day of August, which means summer is on the way out for another year. Chuh! And the cold weather has already begun to show its face with overnight lows of around 15 Celsius. But nonetheless, this Thursday morning has opened with bright sunshine and blue skies. And I did see the double full moon last night. Yay! The big, bright full moon in the arms of the darker one. The bright one at the front, covered about two thirds of the darker one in the back. Something like when the new moon sits in the arms of the old moon. What a genius planner and designer is our great God!
And though life might not be going exactly the way we desire it, it could also be worse, and with His awesome help we can also make it better. So please, let’s give Him some sincere thanks and praise for allowing us to see another miraculous day on His planet Earth! Please pray with me: ‘O God of our forefathers, today we offer up a plethora of praise and thanks for all the good things you’ve done on our behalf down through the years, especially the sending of your Son, Jesus Christ to die on the cross at Calvary so our sins could be bought with the price of His precious blood.
We know that was an extreme price you had to pay, but pay it you did because of your great, unconditional LOVE for us, and we thank you sincerely for it, and promise that we will do our best to live up to your Word and make you proud of us. This we pray in the name of your Son, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ! Amen!’
Oh my brethren, we owe our God so much that we can never repay Him, even if we live several lifetimes. But now is the time when we seriously need to step up to the plate and bat our best innings, because our wonderful world is in such a disastrous and chaotic state and only we believers can effect some sincere and positive change to it. The evildoers are happy with it going down to hell in a handbasket, and we can’t allow that to happen without putting up serious resistance.
That’s our bounden duty! That’s what Christ commissioned us to do; to spread His gospel around the world and behave in a certain manner that would cause others to want what we have; that’s salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. And I don’t like harping on it, but the truth of the matter is that we’re definitely not doing as good a job as we ought to, otherwise our world would not be in the mess it’s currently in. Too many people are turning away from God to embrace Satan’s evil ways because of our lackadaisical, apathetic, doh-care attitude. That’s because too many supposed believers are too enamoured of the things of the world and are behaving like the world.
Remember what Christ said on the matter to the disciples and therefore to us also? ‘If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would LOVE his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.’ (John 15:18-19) Yes friends, Jesus made it very clear that His followers were not of the world, and therefore the world would hate them like they hated Him.
And He felt so strongly about the subject that later on He offered up an ardent prayer to the Father on it, saying: ‘And now I am no more (no longer) in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee, Holy Father; keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. …I have given them thy word, and the world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil (one). They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them (set them apart) through thy truth: thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.’ (John 17:11, 13-19)
It couldn’t be any clearer my fellow believers: we’re supposed to be IN the world, but not OF the world. And if there’s no difference between us and the unbelievers, how can they ever turn to Christ eh? Our behaviour and speech ought to be different to theirs, so that they can see that we have something different, something better and come to desire it.
Ah mih people, so much of the world’s misfortunes have occurred because Christ’s body, His church, has stood by and done nothing to rectify the wrongs being committed. And you know that if you see wrong and do nothing to right that wrong, then you’re just as culpable as those committing the wrong. And as a divided and disunified body, the church of Christ is culpable of a whole lot of wrongs, because we’ve stood aside and watch the evildoers perpetrate them and have done nothing to stop or rectify those wrongs. That means there’s a whole lot of blood on our hands too.
But we can turn the situation around, if we’d only get together, be unified and fight the devil as one, large, whole body, not as small groups or individuals. We need to wake up though and realize the seriousness of the situation, stop sitting on the fence and get a move on for Jesus, if we expect our children and grandchildren to enjoy a better world than we have. Friends, Jesus is waiting, waiting patiently, but anxiously for us to get together and light up the world with His truth! Let’s not keep Him waiting any longer nuh.
And our God is so wonderful that He’s even bestowed undeserved blessings on us so that we can do His earthly work. So, we can’t say that we don’t have the tools to perform our duties. We call them our Thursday Blessings, and we can activate them by simply declaring (yesss!!!) them aloud. So as one strong and sincere voice. ‘I declare that I am blessed with God’s supernatural wisdom and receive clear direction for my life! I declare today that I am blessed with creativity, courage, talent and abundance! I am blessed with a strong will, self-control and self-discipline!
I am blessed with a great family, good friends, good health, faith, favour and fulfillment! I am blessed with success, supernatural strength, promotion and divine protection! I am blessed with a compassionate heart and a positive outlook on life! I declare that any curse or negative word that’s ever been spoken over me is broken right now in the name of Jesus! I declare that everything I put my hands to, will prosper and succeed! I declare it today and every day! Amen!’
Now, let’s take those blessings and get out into the world and use them just as generously on others, as the Lord bestowed them on us. Much LOVE!
…it’s time for believers to stop talking…and get on with the action…show the world our good works in Christ’s name…
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