I love the title of this blog post. And just in case you are trying to make sense of it, it should actually read; ‘What has He Said to You?’ 🙂

Today, I share a very interesting and familiar story in John chapter 2. This is a story that some Christians {I choose to believe it’s not a critical mass} who indulge carelessly in alcoholism often present as excuse for getting drunk {and losing their Christian cool}. They would often say ‘Jesus’ first miracle was at a wedding where He turned water into wine {so please allow us drink ourselves to stupor} 🙂

It is also the story commonly used by preachers and promoters of luxurious Christian living to support their position. They tell us ‘Jesus’ first miracle was a miracle of luxury; so Jesus didn’t have an issue with luxury’ –I agree completely {only just attain your luxurious living in a godly way} 🙂

Well, in this blogpost, I will not be sharing on alcoholism or living in luxury as a Christian, I present to you; Jesus’ first disciple, the one who believed in Him before He was conceived – Mary, wife of Joseph the Carpenter and biological mother of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

“And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with with Me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” John 2: 3-5.

In all recounts of the life and times of our Lord Jesus Christ on earth according to the 4 Gospels, we find Mary, His mother, initiating the first miracle. Someone asks; ‘Grace, why is this important?’

There is a trend we see in Christianity; people naturally migrate towards (and chase after) signs and wonders! While some follow names of a ‘big’ Pastor or name of a ‘big’ Church, others follow ‘prosperous men of God’. Another group follow a cause, a spiritual gifting or calling. I believe I am in this last group, and closely guided by Apostle Paul’s admonition in 1 Corinthians 11:1 (“be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.” KJV).

You see, the pattern of follower-ship observed today in Christianity didn’t just start, Jesus’ followers didn’t follow blindly. They either believed and followed what they judged as fulfillment of prophecy, or they followed attesting miracles performed by Jesus Christ. In John 2:24, Jesus showed He understood why men followed Him; He understood the superficiality and fickleness of the human nature;

“…many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man” NKJV

So if man’s loyalty, commitment and ‘follower-ship are informed by a personal gain’, did Mary’s believe and follower-ship represent an outlier? What did Mary see to even entertain the thought and harbor the imagination that Jesus could turn water into wine? If she hadn’t seen Jesus perform a miracle before then, what was her conviction founded on? 🙂

These are my thoughts;

Mary had seen and experienced the spoken word transform into a whatsoever!

Patiently read with me the long (and extended) narrative of Mary’s conception day;

“The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Listen carefully: you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great and eminent and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob (Israel) forever, and of His kingdom there shall be no end.” Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin and have no intimacy with any man? Then the angel replied to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you {like a cloud}; for that reason the holy (pure, sinless) Child shall be called the Son of God. And listen, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month. For with God nothing {is or ever} shall be impossible. Then Mary said, “Behold I am the servant of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word“. And the angel left her. Luke 1: 30-38.

Halleluyah!

There are too many exciting (and distracting) insights from this scripture, but I will not be distracted 🙂

How on earth does a spoken word become a Child?

How on earth does water become wine?

Answer: Not an earthly act!, it’s supernatural 🙂

Mary had experienced the spoken word transform into a Child in her womb. A Child she gave birth to and watched grow. The same Child now sitting at a wedding where guests would probably soon become disgruntled and lose their ceremonial feel. Mbanu! {dialect exclamation for ‘Naaa’} The same Word that became a Child can become wine 🙂 Nay, not just a child, not just wine, it can become anything (good) we conceive it to be!!!!

Halleluyah!

So my question to you today, whether, you are barren, feeling confused or hopeless; …….. What-so-ever has He said to you to do?

From this post, we see 3 things to do towards getting a ‘whatsoever’

1. Conceive the word (just like Mary).

2. Assent to the word (say ‘be it unto me according to Your word)

3. Act on the word (whatsoever He asks to do, do it).

It doesn’t matter how long it takes to manifest, the word shall become ‘it’.

Welcome back!

This is the 4th part of this blog post series.

So far we’ve said that God is interested in having His children stay physically healed and He made adequate provision for this. Secondly, healing is first spiritual but should manifest physically. Thirdly, Jesus’ pain, agony and death wasn’t just a spiritual experience, he took it all in His body.

In the last part, we considered 5 reasons Christians experience symptoms of sickness.

In this part, as promised, I answer the question; ‘Grace, where is my healing? I am a Christian, filled with the Holy Ghost but I have symptoms in my body, where is my healing?

As already discussed, we were/are healed. Our default state is that of being healed. The fact that sickness and disease pop up in our bodies does not change our healed status any more than an accidental sin changes our salvation status. Our salvation is eternal (Hebrews 9:12), so is our healing. The fact that we experience physical symptoms of sickness in our mortal bodies, does not negate the truth of our healing.

If we ever wake up to a strange symptom in our body, we must remember that our healing is in His Word and By His Stripes.

In His Word;

The Word is life to all our flesh. To experience healing through His Word, we read, study and meditate on it day and night (Joshua 1:8). We speak and confess the Word (to ourselves and others), we lay hands (on ourselves and others) as we proclaim the Word, we command sickness and disease to leave in the name of Jesus.

By His Stripes;

We established earlier that Jesus received the stripes, bruises and wounds on His physical body. If we are healed by His Stripes, then our healing is also in His Stripes.

“and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “take, eat; this is My Body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of me” 1 Corinthians 11: 24 NKJV.

Every time we partake of the Lord’s Table, we symbolically take in healing from His Broken Body (His Stripes). Little wonder Jesus recommended we partake as often as possible.

The price Jesus Christ paid for sin and sickness is irrevocable. It was also the ultimate price; total and complete. He paid it once!! The power of God is within us. Healing is within us. We are healed.

So if you are born again, but you are experiencing any symptoms in your body, there are 2 things you have to be consistent with as you walk in your healing.

1. The Word

2. The Communion.

Thank You Lord for Your Word.

Thank You for Your Body.

I declare that by Your Stripes I am healed.

Amen!

Get My Book On Healing; “When The Doctor Says No”

To learn more about our healing benefits in Christ Jesus, follow this link to my book, “When The Doctor Says No” available online at https://www.amazon.com/When-Doctor-Says-No-Word/dp/1704859166/ref=pd_rhf_se_p_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=7

The Book is available in two formats; kindle and paperback. It is also available for order online from all amazon market places, meaning that the Amazon shop in your neighborhood should be able to supply you.

Why Christians Sometimes Feel Sick.

So far we’ve said that God is interested in having His children stay physically healed and He made adequate provision for this.

Secondly, healing is first spiritual but should manifest physically.

Thirdly, Jesus’ pain, agony and death wasn’t just a spiritual experience, he took it all in His body.

We ended the last part with a promise to search the scriptures for answers to this question: ‘Grace, I am a Child of God, but I still have symptoms of sickness and disease in my body, where is my healing?

The answer to this question is actually the thrust of this series. I am as interested in it as you are.

But before we get into that, I believe it is pertinent to first answer the question of; ‘Why do Christians experience sickness at all? We are Children of God, saved, righteous, filled with the Holy Ghost, healed by His Stripes, why do we still fall sick?’

Well, I searched the scriptures, and found 5 possible reasons why a Christian may fall ill.

1. We live in a physical body which becomes worn and torn from use:

We are spirit beings but communicate with the world around us through our body. Our hands, feet, brain, eyes, ears, etc are various parts of our body which help us function on earth. God told Adam, ‘I give you the earth and all that is in it, use it for your good and remember to ‘tend and keep it’. We must make efforts to tend and keep our physical bodies. We should give more attention to ensuring it stays protected and preserved. We should eat right; God recommends more of plant-based food (Genesis 1:29 & 2:16), get some exercise, take advantage of the ‘little’ profit exercise gives the body (1 Timothy 4:8), manage your emotions (longstanding anger and bitterness can be detrimental to health) and get good rest.

Talking about Rest, I believe Christians need to give more time to rest. God Almighty rested on the 7th day, the whole day. He created the world in six days and rested on the 7th. Simple arithmetic just tells you that for the 144 hours God worked, He got 24 hours rest. And I mean rest from all work (whether secular or kingdom work). God is wise, spirituality is His domain. So do not confuse the need for rest with not being spiritual or not maximizing grace. I have come to see that sometimes, the remedy for some illnesses is sleep….Long deep sleep! It gives your body time to recover from tear and wear then you can work again. Get your 7th day rest 🙂

2. Sin brought sickness:

Deuteronomy 28 lists sickness as one of the curses of the law, a penalty for not keeping The Lord’s commands. There is a link between sin and sickness.

In John 9:3-4 Jesus told His disciples this;

“Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him…….” NKJV.

And if we remember well, almost every time Jesus healed someone he leaves them with an admonishment ‘go and sin no more‘. The good news for us as Christians is that we are carriers of the righteousness of God {through Christ} and we have the Whole Armor of God to keep well kitted at all times.

3. The devil is on a mission to keep Christians oppressed and depressed;

John 10:10a tells us this much

“The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy..” NKJV

Thank God Jesus stripped him of all powers and gave all power to us. Our victory is in the name of Jesus Christ through faith in God’s Word.

4. Set up for God’s glory:

Going by Jesus’ response in John 9:3-4 above, some challenges can come to us (from the enemy) but end up as a set up for God’s glory; revealing the power of God to heal, save and deliver to, the us and other brethren.

5. Misuse of the Lord’s Supper;

“For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.” I Corinthians 11:29‭-‬30 NKJV.

I never understand how Christians comfortably harbor unforgiveness for so long. Truth is; feelings of anger, hurts and even envy come to everyone irrespective of level of spirituality, question is; ‘how do you handle them? That’s one way to measure the depth of your spirituality. Do you push them aside quickly or do they continue to define your relationships?

Jesus discourages service in His name while there is unsettled dispute between brethren. He says keep your service and sacrifice; I don’t need it. It is more important to Me that you’re living at peace with all men:

“leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”
Matthew 5:24 NKJV

Clearly, Jesus gives higher priority to mercy, forgiveness and love than giving, service and sacrifice (Luke 11:42).

Remember the 2 greatest commandments?

“Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”
Matthew 22:37‭-‬39 NKJV

And 1 Corinthians 13 says all spiritual giftings and manifestations amount to nothing without love.

Love is the greatest of all!

Loving God is actually much easier than loving man. God is love Himself. He gave His Son to die for sin even before we knew we were sinners. He supplies all our needs. He protects us, etc etc. So we shouldn’t only be boasting about our love and reverence for God, we should boast more our love walk.

But man? he is inherently and desperately wicked ?. Having a preference to retaliate, cause harm, etc. (Jeremiah 17:9). That’s the natural man!

The rebirthed man is different because He has God alive in him. He reflects the life and Love of God.

He can love the unlovable man just the way God loves. That is agape.

I love how Galatians sums up the entire commandment of God;

“For the whole Law [concerning human relationships] is fulfilled in one precept, “You shall love your neighbor’ as yourself [that is, you shall have an unselfish concern for others and do things for their benefit].” But if you bite and devour one another [in bickering and strife], watch out that you [along with your entire fellowship] are not consumed by one another.”
GALATIANS 5:14‭-15.

If it still takes you a long time to push hurts and bitterness aside, work on it. But while you sort these out, steer clear of The Lord’s Table. Why eat yourself to weakness, sickness or death? 🙂

So, these are some of the reasons Christians become sick.

The good news is; you may become sick but you don’t have any reason to stay or remain sick because Jesus Christ paid the eternal price for sickness and disease. We are/were healed by His Stripes. That healing is available and accessible always

We should constantly work at taking care of our physical bodies, stay clothed in the whole armor of God, remain conscious of our righteousness in Christ and steer clear of The Lord’s Table if we have to.

In the next part, we’ll answer the question of ‘where is my healing?’ 🙂

Get My Book On Healing; “When The Doctor Says No”

To learn more about our healing benefits in Christ Jesus, follow this link to my book, “When The Doctor Says No” available online at

https://www.amazon.com/When-Doctor-Says-No-Word/dp/1704859166/ref=pd_rhf_se_p_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=7

The Book is available in two formats; kindle and paperback. It is also available for order online from all amazon market places, meaning that the Amazon shop in your neighborhood should be able to supply you.

Stay Blessed & My love always.

Hi there,

We conducted a mini survey to assess performance of our articles and you obliged us your time and responses. Thank you.

Essentially, the survey sought to know how readers perceived our write-ups and we provided the following options;

1. Good storytelling
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4. Emotionally appealing
5. Others (pls specify).

Results were as follows;

• 100% of respondents chose option 2
• 16% chose 1,2,3 &4
• 50% opted for ‘Others’ and thought our articles were Simple and Didactic.
• Another 16% volunteered that graceobomanu’s blog was ‘Impactful’.

We thank you for your feedback. We’ve noted areas for ‘possible’ improvement as led by God. We promise to get better and better.

Stay blessed & My love always

Grace Obomanu.

Welcome back! Trust you had a good week…. 🙂

This is the second part of this series. As a way of introduction, I am providing answers to some fundamental questions about healing and salvation.

God is interested in having His children stay physically healed and He made adequate provision for this. Secondly, salvation is not only spiritual; a spiritually born person who feeds well {on the Word} eventually exhibits traits of the spirit physically. In the same vein, and because healing and salvation come as one package, healing is first spiritual but should manifest physically.

We have 2 reference scriptures for this series;

1 Peter 2:24 (NKJV)

“who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness- by whose stripes you were healed.”

Isaiah 53:5 (NKJV)

“But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.

To formally commence our learning on the subject ‘By His Stripes‘, we first provide some basic definitions; look again at the Isaiah 53:5; we see ‘bruised’, ‘wounded’ ‘stripes’.

As used in the reference scripture, ‘stripes‘ mean; a bruise, a wound from a stripe, to beat to pieces, crush, smite, humble, oppress.

‘Wound’ is an injury to a living tissue caused by a cut, blow, or impart, which typically cuts or breaks the skin.

‘Bruise‘ is an injury that appears as a discolored area of skin on the body.

What do we see here?

These descriptions point to a physical, bodily experience. Yes, Jesus definitely felt the spiritual and emotional weight of crucifixion, but reality remains that He was physically tortured.

His body was cut. The stripes were not imaginary; he was lashed so much that His skin broke. The nails pierced His skin as they passed through His hands, and the spear certainly pierced his skin.

1 Peter 2:24 says; He bore our sins in His own body.

Jesus’ pain and agony wasn’t just a spiritual one. He took it all in His body, so that my body can stay healed, intact, unbroken.

Sickness was part of the curse. Jesus paid the price and bought my eternal redemption (Hebrews 9:12). I shouldn’t be thrown into prison for the same offence more than once.

Sickness came as punishment for sin. Jesus paid fully for it. I needn’t pay again.

My healing was bought complete

My healing is spiritual

My healing manifests physically in my body.

Someone asks; ‘Grace, I am a Child of God, but I still have symptoms of sickness and disease in my body, where is my healing?

Let’s search the scriptures together for answers….

Join me next time.

Get My Book On Healing; “When The Doctor Says No”

To learn more about our healing benefits in Christ Jesus, follow this link to my book, “When The Doctor Says No” available online at https://www.amazon.com/When-Doctor-Says-No-Word/dp/1704859166/ref=pd_rhf_se_p_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=7

The Book is available in two formats; kindle and paperback. It is also available for order online from all amazon market places, meaning that the Amazon shop in your neighborhood should be able to supply you.

Love always.

Scripture References:

who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness- by whose stripes you were healed.” I Peter 2:24 NKJV.

But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. Isaiah 53:5 NKJV

Sometimes Christians want to provide a comfortable explanation for 1 Peter 2:24, it’s wisdom to be careful with doing that. Scripture should not be interpreted in the light of one’s feelings, emotions or experience. If someone tried to apply the Word on healing to themselves but failed, this shouldn’t make for a twisted interpretation of scripture. God’s word is the Truth, the Way and the Life. God’s Word doesn’t change with circumstances but remains the same yesterday, today and forever.

I ventured on a “Christian” blog not too long ago where there was a heated debate on the meaning of ‘healed‘ in ‘By His stripes you were (are) healed‘ as seen in our reference scriptures. A good number of persons supported the idea that these scriptures speaks only of a spiritual healing experience with no physical manifestation. Their assertion as I understand it, stems from their understanding that healing and salvation come as one package. They further infer that since salvation is spiritual (referring to man’s spiritual rebirth necessitated by the fall of Adam) then the healing mentioned in 1 Peter 2:24 is also spiritual.

I agree/disagree.

I agree, as recorded in Genesis chapter 3, that as a result of Adam’s sin, sin and death were introduced into the world and sadly, both spread to all men (Romans 5:12).

When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. Romans 5:12 NLT.

The good news however is that in Jesus Christ, God made provision for every spiritually dead descendant of Adam to become spiritually alive (1 Corinthians 15:22).

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.
I Corinthians 15:22 NKJV

This is the spiritual rebirth spoken of by Jesus to Nicodemus in John 3: 1-17. As soon as someone becomes born again by confessing Jesus as Lord and Saviour, he becomes a brand new creation, a new spirit is birthed and the old sinful nature done away with.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
II Corinthians 5:17 NKJV

The argument for ‘1 Peter 2:24 healing’ being spiritual (and not physical) is often posited to support the fact that in Christ we have been healed from the illness of sin. Again, I agree that we have been delivered from sin (and its consequent death), but I disagree that ‘1 Peter 2:24’ is only spiritual. Sin was not an illness but a part of the curse. The curse (sin, sickness and death) came through Adam.

Below, I share my thoughts on 1 Peter 2:24 by working through a few questions.

Question #1 : Did God only plan a spiritual healing for man? Has He no interest in man being physically healed?

Let’s see some scriptures below;

“Beloved, I pray that in every way you may succeed and prosper and be in good health (physically) just as (I know) your soul prospers (spiritually).” 3 John 1:2. AMP.

“..for they are life to those who find them and healing and health to all their flesh.” Proverbs 4:22 AMP.

“when evening came, they brought to Him under the power of demons; and He cast out the evil spirits with a word, and restored to health all those who were sick (exhibiting His authority as Messiah).” Matthew 8:16

So from 3 John 1:2; we should enjoy good health physically, from Proverbs 4:22; God made a provision for healing (through His word), and from Matthew 8:16; Jesus healed all that came to Him with phy sickness.

God is interested in having His children stay physically healed and He made adequate provision for that. God’s Word is health to All our flesh.

Question #2 :Is salvation really only a spiritual event?

The newbirth is a spiritual experience. The day you got born again, there was no obvious change in your physical appearance. Your skin color didn’t change, there was no change in any part of your body. However, you received a brand new spirit; you received the nature of God- you are a creation, you are righteous, you are holy, you received all the attributes of the Spirit in your spirit. You were born of the Spirit of God. And when you get receive the baptism of the Spirit, you become filled with the Holy Spirit.

As the mind is renewed continually with the Word, physical expressions of the fruit of the Spirit are experienced and expressed.

I am yet to see an event and experience that so powerfully transforms, remolds, and positively changes a life as a daily walk with Jesus Christ. That’s why people could tell that the disciples have been with Jesus post resurrection.

Divine healing is divine! It is first spiritual (you have to see it, believe it and receive it) then it becomes evident in your physical body.

So, yes! salvation and healing came as one package, both are spiritual encounters and surely both manifest physically to be appreciated by others.

Please join me again soon in the next part.

My love always.

The next interesting thing for me about how God would want man (who He made in His Image) to relate with the world around him is to Subdue the earth. Again, we see that in Genesis 1:28.

“Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Genesis 1:28 NKJV.

To subdue as used in the above scripture is to conquer, keep under, bring into subjection, to bring into bondage.

It also means to tread down, to quieten.

So God is saying to man; ‘control the earth’.

This is certainly not the same as dominion, which we described before as reigning or ruling in calm confidence.

The way I understand subdue from Genesis 1:28 is to determine how events around us impact us. Shhhhh. ?.

So many scriptures come to mind at this point, but probably the one that clearly describes subdue for me is Mark 4:39;

“Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm”. NKJV.

A storm or raging sea shouldn’t be a threat if the disciples and Jesus were safely home or ashore. A turbulent sea at this time threatened the disciples, disturbed their peace, brought them fear and unease and was completely unpleasant and unwelcome.

Jesus subdued it. He quientened it, He put it under control.

Many times we first respond with fear, we worry about bad experiences coming at us than tackle or face their source. An initial startle can occur, but hey! let the Holy Spirit bring to our remembrance what the Word of The Lord says about that situation, then like Jesus we stand up and just say ‘shhhhh’.

But we’re not gonna know what to say unless we had deposited the word in us. In fact, the only way we’re ever going to fully reflect the Image of God (as He made us) is by constantly looking into His Word.

It is in the Word we know;…..

“And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
Matthew 16:19 NKJV

And we know….

“Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
Matthew 18:18 NKJV

And yes we know……

“that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,”
Philippians 2:10 NKJV

That’s how we take control, that’s how we’ll rule in dominion and that’s how we’ll know what blessings He has for us.

Second Corinthians 3:18 tells us clearly that we’ll only become the Image of God as we continually look into the Word.

“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of The Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” NKJV.

To fully reflect His image in dominion, in control, in being productive and fruitful, we have to continually behold His face, through His word, without any veil or limitation, then His glory will be evident through us.

Thank you for staying with me through this study.

Stay blessed.

Welcome back. This is the second part of this blog post.

We saw that God made man in His image, His image being an expression of how He appears in His ‘physical’ form, how He relates with the physical world. How the world ‘feels’ or ‘sees’ God.

We saw 2 things about how God relates with the world;

1. He reigns in dominion- In calm, confident, loving display of control and dominance.
2. He sets in motion a system for fruitfulness and multiplication- ignited by the blessing.

Now, if God relates with the world in these 2 ways and he made man in His image, then God expects man to relate with his world same way. Genesis 1:28 introduces man to the blessing and although God pronounced the curse because of Adam’s disobedience, the Lord Jesus Christ restored man’s dominion and the blessing (Galatians 3:13-14).

A blessed man has potential for limitless productivity, fruitfulness and multiplication.

To continue today, let’s look at 2 interesting scriptures…..

Genesis 3:17-19;

Then to Adam He said, “because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying; ‘you shall not eat of it’, cursed is the ground for your sake, in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken, for dust you are, and to dust you shall return”. NKJV

And Genesis 1:28;

“Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it, have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. And God said, ‘see I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food.”

We see that with the blessing, the earth and its resources are obligated to yield multiplied increase, whereas with the curse, man can only bring out his meals through toil and sweat until he eventually dies.

Lord!!!

We find another description of the blessing and the curse in Deuteronomy 28:2-14, and 28: 16-57.

If there is one scripture I don’t like reading, it is Deuteronomy 28:16-57! It is heartbreaking! I mean Curse is bad. I don’t want anything to do with the curse.

Curse smells of lack, hopelessness and death.

You know, I used to wonder what ‘the blessing‘ really meant until I was introduced to Deuteronomy 28 in Church. You wonder why I was seeking a revelation on the Blessing? Because in pentecostal circles, the phrases ‘I am blessed’ ‘be blessed’ ‘bless you’ ‘remain blessed’ etc are very common everyday cliches 🙂 I am finding out that a lot of Christians use these phrases without really understanding the full meaning.

I have a relation (a pastor) who is always begging for help, always sending messages for assistance and then he ends the message with ‘remain blessed as you give’ !! What happened to his own blessing? 🙂 Is he not consciously trying to gain help by trading the blessing? 🙂 Truly, his messages almost come across as ‘help me, so that you’ll continue to have the blessing‘ 🙂 but obviously, he doesn’t understand the blessing himself. What is a Pastor doing begging for help? Here are the possibilities

1. He is not a Pastor, he is not a child of God.
2. He can be a child of God who is ignorant of his rights and privileges
3. He may be a child of God who does not know how to appropriate the blessing.

Now if we assume that this ‘pastor’ falls under number 3 above, we can try to provide answers to the question we raised in part 1; how can any child of God appropriate the blessing?

1. Apply Yourself: Find some work to do with your hands, because it is the works of your hands that the Lord blesses. (Deuteronomy 28 verses 8 & 12b). The blessing will flow out of your God-given works. True that we have the blessing, but truth also remains that the blessing only becomes evident when we apply ourselves in the areas, fields and places God has assigned or called us to. How do we know someone is blessed? By the increase, abundance, wealth we see around them which are usually products of their investment of time, energy and/or skill. Think about Isaac and Joseph. … It is important to stress that we have to do our work in uprightness, integrity and in the fear of the Lord. I doubt that the blessing will be operational in shady and dishonest deals.
2. Apply your faith: Expect a manifestation of the blessing and consciously pronounce the blessing on the works of your hands-….continually confess and maintain that the works of your hands are blessed. The Bible tells us how God blessed man – …..by saying it……Genesis 1:28; ………”Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “be fruitful and multiply..”. Another way to apply one’s faith is to give out of a seeming lack. Too many Christians are poor in the Church today, not because God was impartial in distributing the blessing, but because some persons have refused to learn from the experience of the widow of Zarephath who rapidly moved from lack to abundance by simply applying her faith (1 Kings 17).
3. Apply the first fruit principle: Be diligent to give a tithe of the proceeds from the works of your hands- Malachi 3:10 commands that we bring all the tight into God’s storehouse to ensure steady supply to His house and then the Lord tells us to dare Him in being faithful with the tithe, as in return He would pour out blessings “.…and try Me now in this, says the Lord of hosts, “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.

Additionally, we should continually give thanks for the blessing through our praise, worship, service and offerings.

Alright, next time we continue to look at other features of the Image of God.

Stay blessed.

“If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” Galatians 5:25

Galatians 5:25 clearly says there is a difference between living in the Spirit and walking in the Spirit.

The Lord Jesus Christ kept His promise in John 14:16; the Holy Spirit is freely given to anyone in Christ who asks of the Father. The Spirit is given to us to equip us with power for the work of the kingdom, to teach us all things, to quicken our mortal bodies, to help us pray according to the will of the Father, to guide us, and more.

Ezekiel 36:27; says that it is also the job of the Holy Spirit to cause us to live according to the standards and principles of God.

“I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and you will keep My judgments and do them.” NKJV.

Does that mean then that everyone filled with the Spirit of God, naturally walks in His statutes, keeps His judgments, does not sin?

Galatians 5:25 suggests otherwise,…… it says someone can have the Holy Spirit living in them and yet the person does not walk in the Spirit (selah).

Two questions we must quickly answer to proceed;

Question 1: What does ‘cause to’ mean literally?

Question: What does it mean ‘to walk’?

According to the dictionary, ‘cause to‘ means to give rise to an action, phenomenon or action. To make something happen, to bring about, to result in, to produce, to generate, to prompt, to inspire, to induce.

There are different definitions for Walk found in the Cambridge Dictionary, however, I am interested in this one; to move along by putting one foot in front of the other, to go with someone to a particular place (so as to protect them from danger, or show them the way).

Therefore, ‘walk in the Spirit’ in Galatians 5:25 and in Ezekiel 36:27 would mean to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit….. one foot in front of the other.

Apostle Paul in Galatians 5 from verse 1 wrote to discourage self righteousness through a personal effort to follow the law- commands and statutes. Instead, Paul admonishes the Galatians to simply follow the Spirit who already indwells them.

But how do you follow someone?

You listen out for instructions or directions then you act out or obey the person’s directives.

So there is clearly a role I have to play; …. I must listen and act accordingly.
Walking in the Spirit isn’t automatic! If it were so, every Christian filled with the Holy Spirit would be fully expressing the 9 fruit of the Spirit;
-love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, self-control, faithfulness, gentleness.

Personally, I wish this is the case but sadly and unfortunately, there is another stimulus begging for our follower-ship and attention…..the Flesh.

The effect of the flesh on any human can be really profound.

Galatians 5:17 tells us there can be an ongoing battle between the flesh and the Spirit that supersedes our wishes as Christians. Meaning that someone can really really wish to do right, but finds himself/herself doing the opposite. Sounds to me like someone trying to keep the Law- really trying and struggling without success.

There is a way out!

Galatians 5:18 advises us to be led by the Spirit…..to walk ‘in-step’ with the Spirit.

How do we know when you’re ‘in-step’ or ‘out-of-step’ with the Spirit?

“Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” Galatians 5:19‭-‬21 NKJV.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law”
Galatians 5:22‭.
Frankly, out of the 9 fruit of the Spirit, I can only confidently say (today) that I express 4 fully. You can laugh at me or you can do your own maths…..

One virtue I boast of myself is that ‘I tell myself the truth when I see it‘.

Growing up, I probably got more beating refusing to say ‘sorry‘ for an offence I am sure I didn’t commit than for committing the offence or not. I kept saying ‘God would vindicate me….naaaaa….. I got more beating 🙂 Marriage brought me wisdom!! Sometimes, a ‘sorry’ saves you an unnecessary fight {you fix the problem when there is less tension}. Anyway, that’s an aside… 🙂

Point here? …do your maths…..be truthful to yourself.

What’s your score out of the possible 9? Would you say that you are fully walking in the Spirit? You may not be guilty of adultery, fornication, idolatry, uncleanness, murder, drunkenness, etc, but do you express any of the following attributes?- hatred, jealousy, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, envy, do you brew trouble among people or cause people to argue sometimes? Do you lose control always or often?

Galatians 5:19-21 says you are responding to and following the leading of the flesh, you are under the control of the flesh.

Again, it’s not about do’s and don’ts, but about living in the predominance of the Holy Spirit.

I don’t want to go to Heaven without fully expressing all 9 fruit of the Spirit while on earth. I am not sure there will be room to express them in Heaven.

Brethren, we have a decision to make at every point when we walk in the Spirit. Someone offends you, you have a choice how to react; retaliate immediately, defer your retaliation or immediately listen to what the Spirit would have you do. You say, ‘Grace, in that split second? …..so I find too 🙂 ……..in that split second.

Walk in the Spirit- move from giving natural, ‘fleshy’ responses to releasing spiritual responses. Yes we miss it sometimes, but with practice it gets better.

Temptations to be angry, jealous, show that we are in charge, that we cannot be intimidated, or to express ‘self’ in different dimensions will come, but we don’t have to yield when tempted, we choose to respond by the Holy Ghost.

Help us Lord!

And thank You for Your Word!!

Galatians 5:16 says;

“So I tell you, live the way the Spirit leads you , then you will not do the evil things your sinful self wants”. NKJV