The Guide To Life And Successful Living

The Creator of the universe, Almighty God (The trinity of God the Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit); has provided us with the user manual or Guide to Life and Successful Living - The Bible. Hear this:

And at the harvest, the delicate herbs and spices, 
the dill and cumin, are treated delicately. On the other hand, wheat is threshed and milled, but still not endlessly. 
The farmer knows how to treat each kind of grain.
  He’s learned it all from God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
 who knows everything about when and how and where… (Isaiah 28:27-29 The Message)

You need wisdom to solve life’s challenges and problems as they come. You cannot use the same methodology to solve every challenge. You cannot use the methods you used last year or even five years ago to solve today’s challenge.  You need daily nuggets of wisdom from God. Isaiah 28:29 says, “The Lord of Hosts is a wonderful teacher and gives the farmer wisdom”.

The Bible also advises that whatever you do, in love or business or other areas, do not “yoke yourselves with unbelievers, thus piling up your sin" (Isaiah 30:1). If you  trust Pharaoh, you will be disappointed, humiliated and disgraced because “he can’t deliver on his promises to save you” (verse 3).  The relationship might appear to hold great promise at the beginning, “yet it will turn out to your shame – he won’t help one little bit!" (verse 4). You will labour hard "and Egypt will give you nothing in return! For Egypt's promises are worthless!" (Verse 7).

Isaiah is astonishingly rich with wisdom.  The lesson is that you must always touch base with the Creator’s manual to gain the know-how for the different situations that life plays up.

What is the role of the  third person of the Trinity in all of these? In John 16:4, Jesus explains: “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me.”

You must gain courage as a believer because “We are surrounded by the walls of his salvation” (Isaiah 26:1).  Above all, the user manual assures us that  “he will keep in perfect peace  all those who trust in him, whose thoughts turn often to the Lord!” (Isaiah 26:3).

I Am Bold And Strong

The Lord my God is with me wherever I go, therefore,  I am bold and strong and I banish fear and doubt! (Joshua 1:9)

I carry God’s life-giving spirit within me. I am therefore a life-giver myself – light of the world and salt of the earth.  The Lord of Hosts; God of the Angel Armies dwells within me. He is none other than creator of heaven and earth. In me resides the very same power that raised Christ from the dead. But sadly, oftentimes I forget these facts. This is usually to Satan’s advantage because instead of seeing myself as God sees me, I often allow the lethal duo of Fear and Doubt to dominate. These two are debilitating spirits because when they take over a victim, it is lethal. They inject venom into the system of their target akin to how serpents operate.  

First of all Fear completely paralyses the victim; the person becomes incapable of taking any good decisions or actions. Doubt ushers in confusion, and immediately, peace takes flight. Thus, together, doubt and fear defeat and vanquish their victim by causing him /her to utter words completely opposed to what God’s word  says about that person. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks, remember? The victim becomes a paragon of the condition that James describes: “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways” (James 1:6-8 ESV).   

The antidote?  Lets look at Joshua again; chapter one and verse 8 – “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”

I declare that the Lord  my God is with me wherever I go. Therefore, I am bold and strong and I banish Fear and Doubt from my life, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

This is the Secret

This is the Secret

"AND THIS IS THE SECRET: that Christ in your hearts is your only hope of glory.... That you will have the rich experience of knowing Christ with real certainty and clear understanding. For God's secret plan, now at last made known is Christ himself. In him lie hidden all the mighty, untapped treasures of  wisdom and knowledge. I am saying this because I am afraid that someone may fool you with smooth talk. For though I am far from you, my heart is with you, happy because you are getting along so well, happy because of your strong faith in Christ. And now, just as you trusted Christ to save you, trust him, too, for each day's problems; live in vital union with him. Let your roots grow down into him and draw up nourishment from him so that you go on growing in The Lord and because strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught. Let your lives overflow with joy and thanksgiving for all he has done". (Colossians 2: 2-7. The Living. Bible - Paraphrased).

These are the words of Paul in his letter to the Church at Colosse. Powerful words. Christ in our hearts is our ONLY hope of glory. So, whatever else we may spend our time doing, we must desperately seek to know Christ. We must let our roots down into him and absorb all the nourishment we need to be strong and vigorous. As we search, we begin to unearth 'mighty, untapped treasures of wisdom and knowledge.' Why leave the real thing and expend energy chasing shadows? Jesus is the word. We must search the word of God more dedicatedly than we seek the things of life. If you have Jesus in you, you have life anyway and remember, he is our only hope of glory.

You need to take that step today to know Christ with real certainty and clearer understanding. Clarity comes as you spend time with the word of God and in sincerity seek to know him deeper. The Holy Spirit is our  ever present Teacher and Helper.

If you can give your life to Christ, and trust him to save you, surely you can surrender to him each day's problem; starting with today's, no matter how gigantic it appears to be!