The description of Jehovah, given by John in Revelations 4:3, paints a picture of His magnificence, splendor and greatness.

“And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald”.

Honestly,…. I don’t even get a full grasp of John’s description of God and his choice of qualifying adjectives….

So I decided to consult my dictionary 🙂  …

This is all so awesome, fascinating and precious…awww

It leaves me with a picture of a God that is beautiful and who lives in the midst of beauty!!!

Little wonder then, all His creation speaks beauty…

 

In Psalm 139:14 David describes himself as marvelous; having being made fearfully and wonderfully.

And I say same of myself; that I am beautiful, having being carefully and beautifully crafted and knit together by the hands of a beautiful God who dwells and reigns in beauty!

And where the light of His beauty shines, only beauty shows forth as a reflection His splendor, His magnificence and His grandeur.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines light as;

“the form of energy that makes it possible to see things…”

The Lord Himself is Light (John 1), that cannot be comprehended by darkness. Simply meaning that; when God shines as the Light that He is, darkness becomes confused, consumed and dissipates swiftly…….giving way for God’s beauty and glory to be seen by all. Halleluyah!

The light of His beauty shines through me, my home,  my children and through everything that concerns me. All around me is a reflection of His beauty!

I am Beautiful without apology!

 

 

 

Knelt down by my bedside and prayed;

‘Father, I have been working very hard for you; sharing your word,  bringing counsel and hope to so many. And now,  faithful father, bless me in return. You said in your word that a laborer is worthy of his wages, You said it Father, so fulfill your word. Pay me for my labors of love. I pray in Jesus name, Amen.’

 

That’s it! I thought to myself as I got up from praying and dressed up for work. Great expectations filled my heart most of that day….

But as days passed and nothing happened,…. no alert on my phone neither did I receive a confirmation email from my bank of a credit transaction on my account, my countenance began to change…

So I decided that one kneeling at the bedside was just enough, ……I will  not go down on my knees to say that prayer a second time!! naaaa.

So instead of kneeling down, I chose to mutter my prayers under my breath. I reminded Him of my request o’er the past few days for which He’s yet to give a response…But still no response.

As my expectations almost turned into desperation, I could hear Him laughing……I wondered why He’d be laughing at such a serious issue (I was getting somewhat annoyed at this point).

I listened day after day for a response.

Then one day, I heard Him ask; ‘do you get paid for working in your father’s house? Are you not an heir to your father’s inheritance?

I was completely disarmed!!

‘No please father, pay me, please don’t talk about working in my Father’s house or inheritance’, I cried……. Just pay me Father.

But instead of responding, He brought to my remembrance Jesus’ answer to His parents in Luke 2:49

“Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s Business? ”

It dawned on me in that moment; ……….Its my Father’s Business!

And like Jesus said in Luke 4:18;

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captive and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed”

This is Kingdom Business. And all that my father has is mine. I am an heir of the kingdom.

C’mon brethren, get busy with the Kingdom Business, and do that with an ownership mindset and attitude!….

 

Except otherwise stated, all Bible quotations are from the New King James Version ( NKJV).

The Pentecostal cliché’ ‘God is in control’, no doubt provides some sort of comfort and succor for its users.

But is God really in Control? Does God even want to be in control? 🙂

We’ll try to give a balanced view to this…..

We learn in the early chapters of Genesis that after God spent some days creating the Heaven and the Earth and everything in it, He created Man.

Why did God create Man?

For 3 main reasons in my opinion;

1. To take charge of everything He’d created
2. To populate the earth, and
3. To fellowship with God

“Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in our image, according to our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over everything that creeps on the earth”  Genesis 1:26

This was a kind of discussion between the Godhead {‘Us’} in the above text. God the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost agreed to create man to have dominion.

And because this was, ..call it; ‘a private family discussion’, God handed man his job description post creation;

“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 everything that moves on the earth”.   Genesis 1:28.

So far, I don’t see a picture of a God that wants to be in control of everything! Do you?

I think that if God desperately wanted to be in control, He would not create man in the first place. I mean why create someone to contend powers with?

You know, it is true that the Bible tells us, that Satan practically asked God’s permission to tempt Job’s faith for a while (please note that the whole drama between Satan and Job was targeted at getting Job to curse God, to forsake God, to say; ‘Oh, this thing is not working’, or ‘why have I wasted my time serving an unseen God who cannot even save’ etc).

But I see a picture of a Job who was in total control of his faith. His faith was well guarded and he was in control of his speech, his actions and his reactions!  And the Bible records in Job 2:22;

“In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong”

Job’s faith in God did not fail.

A few days ago while studying my Bible, I came across this scripture;
“Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan asked to for you, that he may sift you as wheat” Luke 22:31

Again, we see Satan asking for permission to deal with Peter!

And as Jesus continued, once again, Satan’s target is made clear;

“But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren”. Luke 22:32.

My heart sank as I read that scripture and the reason is pretty obvious….

I expected Jesus to say, ‘Peter, look I have told Satan to steer clear of you, that you are my disciple,…the rock!, etc. But the Lord said nothing of sort…. Did you see Jesus plan for Peter’s temptation by Satan? Please did you see it with me?

Jesus is just gonna pray for Peter that his faith fail not!!!!

This was really saddening…..

But from that scripture alone, we can learn the following

1. Satan targets a Christian’s faith (doesn’t matter the depth, or type of temptation or trouble)
2. Jesus advocates and prays for us constantly
3. Jesus would not fight the fight of faith on our behalf (He already conquered Satan and gave us all authority).
4. Jesus expects us to win the fight of our faith.
5. When we win our fight of faith and come back to Jesus (when we don’t forsake Him, or curse Him, or leave Him), our faith becomes strengthened, and we are expected to strengthen our brethren.

God does not abandon us when tempted or troubled by Satan, no He doesn’t. He is with us and in us, and He constantly prays that our faith fail not.

“…I will not leave nor forsake you”    Joshua 1:5

He is with us always, through the waters and through the fire. Halleluyah!

So I ask again, friends; Is God really in control of everything? Is there no role for man to play?
Come to think of it; would any parent really want to have a son that they fully control? Wouldn’t that mean building up disaster for a future daughter in-law and the world? I think I want to raise children with some level of independence, but again, with some ‘check’ system in place.

Consider again; when God said in Deuteronomy 30:19;

“…that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live”

Again, God allows man to make his choices, but quickly advises him to choose Life. That’s what we call crunje’ in Nigeria….

It seems to me that this ‘God is in control’ disposition of most Christians is borne out of ignorance and sheer laziness. The undertone or bad side to this is that Christians are not exercising their faith, are not growing and cannot strengthen any other brethren.

Imagine if at the time David faced the Bear, that he folded His hands and just responded with a ‘God is in control’ thing, he’d not have been alive to kill the lion, and then to deliver the Israelite from Goliath the terror! David’s confidence, grew through his experience, but he had to make the decision to put his faith to work. He took control of the situation through faith in God.

We certainly cannot control the many challenges life throws at us daily, but we can choose and control our reactions (actions and speech).

 

Thank You Father,

Because You have made us ‘more than conquerors’ through Christ. We can do all things through Christ. We walk in victory through Christ, we overcome sickness and disease through Christ. Our faith is secured, unshaken in your ability to deliver, provide and protect. We take control as you’ve commanded us by faith in Christ Jesus.

Amen.

 

This article was originally published on my Facebook Page “Talk with Grace Obomanu” on 19/01/2016.

Except otherwise stated, all Bible quotations are from the New King James Version (NKJV).

 

 

 

 

 

Because the quotation; “be anxious for nothing…” emanates from the Bible, I can categorically assert that anxiety is not from God.

God is not schizophrenic to command us not to be anxious, and then turn around and bathe us with fear and trembling at life’s issues.

This then begs the question; what’s the source of anxiety?

If I could be honored with a one-on-one discussion with you, you’d most likely identify the sources of your worries as; ‘what to eat, what to wear, school fees, children, etc…

So is God unaware of these sources of worry and anxiety?

No He’s not, and we see in Luke 12:29, that God has us fully covered!

“And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind”.

So why doesn’t God give us everything we need all at once?

The Bible records that the Israelites failed to learn the simple lesson of trusting God for each day’s need. God supplied their daily meals (meat at twilight and bread for the morning). And God specifically commanded them not to take more than was necessary for each day (Exodus 16:19).

No left overs!  Those that refused to listen to the word of the Lord were greeted by worms by the next morning.

I believe that God is committed to providing all our daily needs.

Jesus directs us to pray thus; “give us this day our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11) or “give us day by day our daily bread” (Luke 11:3).

To successfully live as God desires of us, Psalm 3:5 is highly recommended 🙂 ;

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding”.

Little wonder then that in Philippians 4:6, apostle Paul provides the antidote to anxiety and worry;

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God”.

And in Psalm 112:7, we see the man who will not be afraid or anxious of evil tidings coming to him;

“he will not be afraid of evil tidings; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord”.

Let me just note at this point, that God is not against savings or planning, neither is He against against us having more than enough.

Proverbs 13:22 tells us that;

“A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children…”

And also, Paul tells Timothy (and us) in 1 Timothy 5:8 that;

“…if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever“.

So God expects us to save, and to have more than enough to give to others. Therefore, the principle we should walk away with, reading this article is that;  we need to learn to trust God and not be anxious. When we trust Him to provide every day’s need, we display our assurance in His sufficiency for all times.

But you know, honestly, it can be pretty difficult  to live a ‘worry-less’ life as Christians. It’s almost as if we’re lazy and irresponsible, so we try to figure out everything, and this gets us really worked up!

Living a worry-free life is learnt

Sometime, not too long ago, the Lord started teaching me how not to be anxious. Having stayed out of work for almost a month because of ill-health, I decided to just ask for my annual leave since I still required more time to fully recuperate. But my boss wouldn’t hear of it. A few days after putting in my annual leave request for approval, a memo appeared from somewhere stating that leave requests must be turned in at least a month before the due date.  I was more upset than disappointed for more than one reason…..

As you can imagine, I thought my boss incited that memo, so I spent hours wondering and worrying over why he’d do such. But God didn’t want me losing sleep over that.

At some point, I heard clearly in my spirit; ‘Grace, what exactly do you want?  I realized then, that I hadn’t even said any word of prayer about the issue…..

Immediately I responded that I just needed approval for my leave. Then I heard again; ‘you’ll get your letter’.

I stopped myself from wondering how that would work out.

The next morning, I managed to get to the office, and headed for the head of administration’s office to ask about my letter. The officer in charge confirmed my fears; my boss refused to approve my leave request.

My file was called for just to confirm to me that my boss hadn’t appended his signature. And truly, he didn’t.

The interesting part though, is that somehow, to everyone’s surprise, my leave letter had been typed, signed and kept safely in my file!!! It fell out as we searched for the page my boss was supposed to have signed. The head of administration simply handed it to me, saying she’ll pretend she didn’t see it.

I got my letter without sweat as the spirit of God had spoken to me. Praise God.

I refused to respond to flesh and didn’t go flash the letter at my boss! I didn’t even discuss it. He was served a copy by the administration department.

 

We ask today, that you teach us Lord to trust you fully each day. Anxiety and worry will have no place in our lives. Amen.

 

Except otherwise stated, all Bible quotations are from the New King James Version (NKJV).

 

 

 

 

 

 

The parable of The Sower in Luke 8, as narrated by Jesus Christ, was to teach His disciples how possible it is for the word of God to be preached by one man (the Sower) to a group of persons at the same time and yet have different impact depending on the state of the heart of the recipient (the soil).
So, Jesus described 4 kinds of recipients; a rock, thorns, ‘way side’ soil and good ground.

Is it okay to assume that the Sower went out on a particular day as usual, with some seeds in his hands which he dropped as he walked along? So the seeds dropped on different kinds of soil as he walked along….right?

I believe a similar thing occurs when we all sit under a bible teaching in church; different people walk away with different revelations determined by the current state of their minds!

In this write-up, I want to draw attention to what Jesus said in Luke 8:11;

“Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God”.

Jesus clearly described God’s word as seed.

I got some dictionary definitions of ‘seed’…

• “the fertilized ripened ovule of a flowering plant containing an embryo and capable normally of germination to produce a new plant”.
• “an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering known as the seed coat”.

A striking and not to be missed commonality between these different definitions is the ability of a seed to reproduce independently.  That is to say that a seed has an intrinsic ability to transform into a full plant of its own kind (given the right soil).

Some people still grapple with the fact that Jesus derived no genetic contribution from an earthly being (man or woman) as a zygote, like I posited in an earlier article; ‘Could it Have Been A surrogate Birth?’

But today, we learn differently.

The word of God as seed has the ability to reproduce and intrinsically grow (on its own) when founded on a good receiving soil.

Considering Jesus’ birth again, I believe Mary’s heart was a good soil, and from the moment she said; “…let it be to me according to your word…” (Luke 1:38),  she became conceived by the Holy Spirit, which took the form of flesh and grew in her (1 John 1:14).

Jesus is the word of God in human form, sent down from Heaven (John 1; 1 Corinthians 15:47).

John 1:3 reads;

“…all things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made…”.

If God made all things through the word, does that not suggest that as God’s children, even we can make anything we want through His word? 🙂
Except otherwise stated, all Bible quotations are from the New King James Version (NKJV).

Can there possibly be any blessing from the Law?

Romans 4:15 says;

“because the law brings wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression“.

The only reason the law breeds wrath is because no man has been able, or can successfully keep it! Meaning that the law inadvertently introduces sin and Paul reiterated this much in Romans 7:7;

“what shall we say then? is the law sin? certainly not! on the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said; ‘you shall not covet‘.”

In Timothy 1:8; we find out that the law is good!

“But we know the law is good if one uses it lawfully“.

Quickly, let me draw your attention to Deuteronomy 28:1-14.                 The ONLY law we see all through that reading is in verse 1;

“if you Diligently Obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe all His commandments…..”

Wouldn’t you say this is a rather tricky singular law?   I mean it is all encompassing, and to ‘diligently obey the voice of the Lord’ implies doing everything He commands!!

This brings to mind, Jesus’ Two Commandments;

1. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind…..
2. …You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”          Matthew 22:37-39

Deuteronomy 28: 3-14, gives a picture of a bumper harvest of blessings emanating from obeying the law, while in Galatians 3:13,  every curse of the law in Deuteronomy 28: 15-68, seems to have been rendered null and void for every believer in Christ Jesus, while the Blessings of the law are preserved (selah).

Praise God that His promises of blessings endures forever and they are mine to enjoy for always because I believe that Jesus Christ paid the eternal price for every sin (Hebrews 9:12).

I declare today that every blessing of the law is mine through Christ Jesus and I receive them by faith.

Amen.

 

Except otherwise stated, all Bible quotations are from the New King James Version (NKJV). 

 

 

 

Can there possibly be any blessing from the Law?

Romans 4:15 says;

“because the law brings wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression“.

The only reason the law breeds wrath is because no man has been able, or can successfully keep it! Meaning that the law inadvertently introduces sin and Paul reiterated this much in Romans 7:7;

“what shall we say then? is the law sin? certainly not! on the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said; ‘you shall not covet‘.”

In Timothy 1:8; we find out that the law is good!

“But we know the law is good if one uses it lawfully“.

Quickly, let me draw your attention to Deuteronomy 28:1-14.                 The ONLY law we see all through that reading is in verse 1;

“if you Diligently Obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe all His commandments…..”

Wouldn’t you say this is a rather tricky singular law?   I mean it is all encompassing, and to ‘diligently obey the voice of the Lord’ implies doing everything He commands!!

This brings to mind, Jesus’ Two Commandments;

1. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind…..
2. …You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”          Matthew 22:37-39

Deuteronomy 28: 3-14, gives a picture of a bumper harvest of blessings emanating from obeying the law, while in Galatians 3:13,  every curse of the law in Deuteronomy 28: 15-68, seems to have been rendered null and void for every believer in Christ Jesus, while the Blessings of the law are preserved (selah).

Praise God that His promises of blessings endures forever and they are mine to enjoy for always because I believe that Jesus Christ paid the eternal price for every sin (Hebrews 9:12).

I declare today that every blessing of the law is mine through Christ Jesus and I receive them by faith.

Amen.

 

Except otherwise stated, all Bible quotations are from the New King James Version (NKJV). 

 

 

 

Words are free, but their impact is so huge. Words can mean the difference between a good and bad experience, between life and death.

Proverbs 18:21 says;

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.”

Proverbs 18:21
https://bible.com/bible/114/pro.18.21.NKJV

This is a republish of this article. The story below happened almost 7years ago. Trust me, I am a changed man now.

Don’t be careless with words. ..

It was almost close of work and as happens often in Port Harcourt City, I imagined that the traffic had begun to build up. To avoid being plunged into the gridlock and jam that many times threatens early pick up of my kids from school, I leave the office a few minutes before close of business (with my boss’ approval ofcourse).

Thank God I made it to their school on time.

My kids and I regularly stop over at a grocery shop on our way home. As we made our way to the counter to pay, the cashier waved us on! I looked at her in utter confusion. On further inquiry to understand her reluctance in attending to us, she nonchalantly said I should go to the next cashier. No explanations offered. ah-ah.

I took her on, pointing out that she could be more polite and nice. She retorted; ‘stand there na,….no be your legs?’ My head spun!! I was already exhausted from a hard day’s job and needed nothing of the disrespect salespersons so quickly rub on customers!

I asked for the shop Manager to formally express my displeasure at her attitude, and just then she accepted to attend to us, but she just couldn’t stop being nasty.

Honestly, I have very limited tolerance for young people who don’t behave well (God is working on this area of my life!).

I realized I’d raised my voice when the attention of other shoppers turned to me. My annoyance wasn’t even at her behavior which is very common with salesgirls, but she cooked up an unimaginable version of what transpired between us to her Manager, outrightly denying that she ever said I could stand there for as long as I wanted and further painting a picture of me as the troublemaker!!!

I was highly infuriated. I heard myself say to her; ‘I give you just one week and you’ll be out of your present position in this shop’. As I said it, I could hear in my spirit; Grace did you really need to say that?….

Even if I could retrieve my pronouncement over this young lady, her attitude didn’t help much as she kept talking, asking who I think I was?

My kids and I stopped over at the shop about a week later, and the young lady was still at her station. She beamed with smiles as we walked past her stand. We just shopped and left. My kids did not fail to observe and call my attention to her continued presence at the shop!! I had no explanation.

A few days later, we stopped at the same shop again, but this time, there was a different person in her slot. When I asked her colleagues about her, I was told she’d been moved to a different section of the shop. And she has not returned to that stand in over a year now.

Was I happy now? Not sure. But the experience left me with an important lesson; the tongue is a powerful tool.

Like James says it: “For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing” James 3:7-10.

The second and not to be missed lesson from that encounter is the power every believer in The Lord Jesus Christ has in his tongue. You just need to apply it appropriately. Jesus cursed the fig tree! (selah).

I have not said ‘go about cursing people who do not behave well or disrespect you’, no. But doesn’t the tongue just make a rather little you big and powerful?

Use it wisely!

Having managed my Facebook page for almost a year now, and finally starting my personal blog, its been an absolutely enlightening journey and experience, many thanks to the generation of social media users who would rather have nothing to do with a God-laden blog or post! (Hahaha..).

A few lessons anyone with a God-given vision may want to learn;

1. Hear Him clearly. This marks the beginning of your ‘adventure’ and ‘discovery’ walking with God. Because very few God-given visions are spectacular or fascinating, inevitable thoughts of the acuteness and authenticity of your spiritual hearing may become questionable even to you. The level or depth of development of your ability to hear God and be certain of it, sure comes to play here. Because things may not be moving at your expected pace, one thing that can keep you going  (apart from God intervening supernaturally to keep you focused), is the assurance that you know you heard Him right!
2. Do it exactly as He says to. This is so important because God-given visions may not just make sense at all to the human mind (and sometimes even spiritually!), so the temptation to ‘help’ God package and deliver it in a more likely to be acceptable way is always there. But if it’s a God-given vision, then the only way to go, is the God-given way!
3. Recognize that you are only a steward or custodian of a Godly vision. It is not your vision, and as is commonly said; ‘don’t cry more than the bereaved’.  Stay committed to the God-given plan and present every difficulty you encounter before Him. He’ll fix it.
4. Recognize that Godly visions unfold. So don’t plug your spiritual ears and continue in a unidirectional manner like a train without stops! Although God is unlikely to change the purpose of a vision, Godly visions can broaden and unfold. It is important therefore to stay sensitive and focused on God. People will always offer suggestions on how to improve delivery or achievement of a vision, ensure to spend time in prayer before God until He gives directives on these. God will always respond. Sometimes, it may just require a couple more days of waiting.
5. Recognize that God specifically gave YOU the vision. It can be pretty difficult to convince folks, very close friends, etc to buy into your God-given vision. And there is always the temptation to tag them as ‘unreliable’ or ‘not loyal’. But God didn’t give a corporate or collective vision, why are you expecting a concerted drive and passion from others?  Ask God, like Jesus did to; ‘send the harvesters/labourers’. And if you ever consider expanding the scope of delivery of a God-given vision, identify and run with the folks (or strangers) that have bought into it, than your most trusted friend, otherwise you’d be casting pearls at swines who’d innocently trample it under foot.
6. Statistics don’t always count with God. There are satanic churches with very high attendance but without a Godly presence! Jesus only had 12 disciples (Selah).
7. There is a lesson to learn every step of the way. Do not jump process (es) and cheat yourself. God will build you up as you follow His leading.

Hope these words are encouraging to you as you walk with God towards actualization of His purpose in and through you.

 

Stay Blessed and Love Always.

Grace Obomanu.

A person is certified clinically dead when the two (2) criteria for sustained living (breathing & circulation) have been lost such that the body is unable to carry out its vital functions. So, the expression ‘dead man walking’ can readily fit into an oxymoron description, because it is naturally impossible for a dead man to walk! But I refer here to a man, physically alive and moving but spiritually dead.

You ask what I mean?

Romans 5:12 reads;

“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned”

This verse of scripture suggests the following;

1. That there was once a sinless world.
2. That sin brings death.
3. That sin and death were introduced through one man.
4. That every man received sin and death from this man.

And 1 Corinthians 15:21-22 helps us identify this ‘one man’

“For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in ADAM all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.”

So we confirm from the Bible that sin and death emanated from Adam!

But how did this happen?

Maybe we should start from the very beginning….

In Genesis 2:15-17 God gave Adam a clear and special instruction;

“Then the Lord God took man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord commanded the man, saying; ‘of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you Shall Surely Die’ “.

I want to assume that we all know the rest of the story; how that Adam disobeyed God’s commandment (Genesis 3).

Now, whether it was Eve or the Serpent that distracted Adam from keeping a commandment God originally and purposefully handed down to him, is a matter for another day’s discussion and we might consider that in the future.
But note with me that in Genesis 5:5 Adam lived well beyond the day God promised him he’d die if he disobeyed Him and ate the forbidden fruit.

“so all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years..”

Most times when I put these two scriptures before people I teach, (i.e Genesis 2:17 & Genesis 5:5), I push their imagination a bit, by suggesting that God may have lied! And every time I do that I see horror suddenly spread across people’s faces. Almost as if they want to scream…Blasphemy!! This always amuses me.

But you know, that simple exercise really gets them thinking and they almost always come up with another possible version of what God meant. While some say God implied man cannot live forever anymore, others suggest a ‘spiritual’ death. (this is always an interesting part of my class as everyone would usually have something to say).

So what do I think?

I doubt that God referred to man experiencing a physical death. I choose to believe that man would have died anyway as long as he’d not eaten the Tree of Life (Selah!), which was one of the reasons God gave for driving man out of the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:22).

Having established therefore that Adam did not immediately drop dead after he disobeyed God, and also that, man couldn’t possibly live forever without eating of the Tree of Life, I choose to believe that when God said to Adam “..you shall surely die…”, God referred to the real Adam (his spirit) not his physical body.

Adam died spiritually immediately he ate of that tree, and suddenly became aware of his physical body (Genesis 3:7);

“and they knew they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings”.

And every descendant of Adam is born spiritually dead from a corrupted seed inherited from Adam (Romans 5:12 & 1 Corinthians 15:21). The Bible tells us that; ‘…in Adam all died’.

But note, that ‘all men are not actually dead physically! Or are they? 🙂

While you ponder on that, let’s quickly consider the encounter between Nicodemus and Jesus Christ (John 3).
Nicodemus was a Jewish ruler in search of ‘sanctification’ and who although perceived that Jesus could sanctify him, was however too used to gaining gratification through lobbying rather than following due process (like so many rulers are today).

Jesus immediately saw through him and said to him, ‘you stop that joke!, don’t attempt to mess around with God’s business. Your fame, position etc cannot help you now, you need to be born of the water and the Spirit. As funny as that sounds, I can appreciate Nicodemus’ confusion as expressed in his question;

“How can a man be born when he is old?” (John 3:4).

This question was a follow up to Jesus’ offer of sanctification for Nicodemus in John 3: 3, 6

“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. …that which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit”.

Apparently, Nicodemus came in flesh form 🙂 so if Jesus is saying he needed to be born again making reference to a spiritual birth, then one can safely assume that Jesus was saying to Nicodemus; ‘hey man, you need a spiritual rebirth’!.

A spiritual rebirth only became necessary because man died spiritually following his disobedience to God’s commandment in Eden.

So then, how does one gain spiritual rebirth?

Jesus answers this in John 3:16-18

“…..that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved“.

The ONLY way to spiritual rebirth, salvation, redemption is through Jesus Christ! You believe in your heart that Jesus came, died and saved you, and you confess your believe with your mouth!

As 1 Corinthians 15:21-22 tells us that;

“For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive..”

That’s the good news! Halleluyah!!

This is the most thrilling part….

God did not take the old spiritually dead you, touch it up a little with His Holy and Pure Nature, to give you a spiritual rebirth. No!

He birthed a brand new spirit within you. Halleluyah!!

2 Corinthians 5:17, tells us that much;

“Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

So the day you give your life, a brand new creation is born in the spiritual realm. The ‘old’ is completely done away with! You become born into God’s own family, where Jehovah is Father and The Lord Jesus Christ is our Big brother!

I am more than excited!!!

Satan tried to mess up God’s original plan of having a pure man in a sinless world. But God has made a way of escape for man in Christ Jesus. Yes, although you were made spiritually dead through Adam, you can be made spiritually alive today through Christ Jesus, if only you can make this simple confession;

Almighty God, I come to you today, recognizing my sinful nature. But more importantly believing that Jesus Christ came and died just to save me. I receive Jesus Christ into my life today and ask Him, dear Lord to come be the Lord and Master of my life. I believe that I am saved through Jesus Christ. Thank you Father. In Jesus name.

Congratulations to you if you said that prayer!!

You have just been moved from the kingdom of darkness and death, into the kingdom of God and His dear Son Jesus Christ (Colossians 1:13). And I join the host of Heaven to rejoice at your birth.

Just like any new born baby, you need to grow! You need to Build and develop your faith in Christ by seeking out a good Bible-believing and teaching church around you. And by continuously looking into the ‘mirror’ of God’s word (The Bible), your entire life will become Christ-like 🙂  (2 Corinthians 3:18, James 1)

We find all over the Book of ‘Acts of the Apostles’, that Water Baptism by Immersion is a crucial step in the Born Again process, as it signifies that we were buried and raised with Christ. (Mark 16:16, Acts 1:5, Acts 19:5, Galatians 3:27, Romans 6:4 etc). Jesus Christ Himself was baptized by immersion (Luke 3:21, Matthew 3:13, etc).

You need to be baptized by immersion just as Christ.

You also need to be filled with the Holy Ghost with an initial evidence of speaking loud in other tongues (Acts 2, Mark 1:8, Acts 10:47 etc). Jesus promised the Holy Ghost to teach us all truth and help us lead fruitful christian lives.

 

Once again, Congratulations!

 

 

Love Always

Grace Obomanu.

 

Except otherwise stated, all Bible quotations are from the New King James Version (NKJV).

The foundation for this particular article was mostly laid through my role as a Believer’s Class II Teach, at The Carpenter’s Church (Port Harcourt, Nigeria).