Are you led by the Spirit?

Even if you are a rich man or woman with trillions of dollars, you still cannot buy or bribe God to give you eternal life, healing or any of the other gifts which only God can give. All gifts from God come only by our obedience, which means we are to be exclusively and directly led by the Holy Spirit. Godly things cannot be purchased with money or with any other thing such as diamonds, gold or silver. Jesus says “If any one hears my voice and opens the door (of his heart), I will come in and eat (all spiritual things) with him, and he with Me (meaning He will direct you and I by His spirit) – Revelation 3:20.

Knowledge is nothing if you’re not led by the spirit of God. Knowing the Bible is nothing unless you are led by the Holy Spirit and our life is nothing unless we are led by the Holy Spirit, of the triune God.  We need the spirit to get the right understanding of scripture; it is also the spirit that empowers us to overcome the enemy in his tracks as we prayerfully stand in the Word. Romans 8:14 ‘for as many as are led by the Spirit of God; they are the sons of God’. Being led by the Spirit of God is the ultimate standard whereby we may know someone is a son of God. This raises the question, "If you aren't led by the Spirit of God, are you not born again?" It is true that everyone who is not born again is not led by the Spirit of God and everyone who is born again is led by the Spirit of God but that needs some explanation, being led by the Spirit does not cause us to be a son of God, but being a son of God causes us to be led of the Spirit. Every believer does have the Spirit of God to lead him but that doesn't mean every believer heeds His leading. In context, Paul has just spoken about denying the flesh through the power and leading of the Holy Spirit. Now he is simply pointing out that every Christian has the leading of the Holy Spirit available to accomplish this.

We hear ministers that are excellent speakers, I love that but if the message they bring is not given to them from God through the Holy Spirit, that message is meaningless and does not fully serve for the kingdom of God. Also as ministers of God, we should always watch lest we become men pleasers in our ministries. (1 Corinthians2:4-7) 4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.6 Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought:7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: In a sense, God has communicated His wisdom in code so that no one can perceive it except those to whom the Holy Spirit reveals it. The Holy Spirit offers God's wisdom to every person starting with the revelation of their need for Christ as their Savior. If they receive that truth by putting their faith in Jesus, then they receive the mind of Christ in their heart. They also receive as much revelation of the things of God as they will believe and receive. If a person rejects the revelation the Holy Spirit seeks to give, then God's wisdom remains a mystery. That person is denied access.

BELIEVE NOT EVERY SPIRIT (1 John 4:1)

I’ve written many articles across the internet as well as given some testimonies to people and in churches of experiences called visions. In this article, I want to point out my understanding of visions according to the Bible. So then, what really is a vision? A vision is a supernatural presentation of a visual (and many times audible) message from God to the mind of a person. If a person is asleep when this happens, then it is a dream or what the Bible calls a night vision (Genesis. 46:2; Job 33:15; Daniel. 2:19; Acts 18:9) and is seen not by our physical eyes, but is a mental image.

When a person is awake and sees a vision, it is the Lord showing him something in his mind's eye, even though to the person it may be so real that he actually thought he saw it with his physical eyes. In the case of Ezekiel (Ezekiel. 8:1-11:24), others were present when he had this vision (8:1) but they were not transported "in the visions of God" to Jerusalem (8:3) as he was. Ezekiel's body stayed put while he experienced being transported to Jerusalem in his mind. In Acts 12:9, Peter didn't think that what he was experiencing was real, but thought he saw a vision. This leads us to conclude that a vision is not a physical reality, but a spiritual happening.

A trance and a vision are the same thing according to Numbers 24:4, 16 and Acts 10:10, 19. In a trace or vision a person's physical eyes are open and usually fixed into a stare, but they are not receiving the normal physical images. Instead they receive direct supernatural images from God.

The transfiguration of Jesus is called a vision (Mathew. 17:9), and is therefore possibly something that didn't suddenly happen physically. Instead, the disciples' spiritual eyes were opened to glimpse the glory of Jesus that was always there, but that they had been blinded to when looking through their physical eyes. This would be the same thing that happened to Elisha's servant when the Lord opened his spiritual eyes to see the horses and chariots of fire surrounding them (2 Kings. 6:17).

The scriptures clearly state that Abraham (Genesis. 15:1), Jacob (Genesis. 46:2), Balaam (Numbers. 24:4, 16), Samuel (1 Samuel. 3:1, 15), Nathan (2 Samuel. 7:17; 1 Chr. 17:15), Isaiah (Isa. 1:1), Ezekiel (Ezekiel. 1:1; 7:13; 8:13; 11:24), Daniel (Daniel. 2:19: 8:1-27; 9:21-24), Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel. 2:28), Zacharias (Luke. 1:22), Peter (Acts 10:10, 19), John (Revelation. 9:17), Ananias (Acts 9:10), Cornelius (Acts 10:3), and Paul (Acts 16:9-10; 18:9; 2 Corinthians. 12:1), all had visions. Although the word "vision" is not mentioned, the criteria of a vision was met with Elisha's servant (2 Kings. 6:17) and Micaiah (1 Kings. 22:19-22).

We should also note that the devil with his deceit can bring about fake visions meant to lure the believer from the will of God or to strengthen the unbeliever’s heart in wickedness and give him reason to stray. Many religions are a result of this kind of deceit. One that I’ve so often had, is people who claim that they’ve seen a vision of Mary ‘the mother of Jesus’ Mary did not save any one-it is Jesus that bore the sins of the human race, was smitten and hang on the cross to accomplish the salvation plan of God and not Mary. Yes she did a good work but it is Jesus that ought to be worshiped. Whatever the vision you get , you’ve got to try it with the word – Is it in line with the word of God?  The ‘Bible’ -

1 John 4:1 ‘Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. The Word of God also speaks against false dreams of false prophets (Jeremiah. 23:27-32; 29:8; Zechariah. 10:2).  

Glory to God!

Eternal life-only through Jesus Christ

The world is governed by many laws and principles plus many other  things that bind humanity, that at times  we can’t change or stop –death is one those feared by many. At least even those that don’t fear to die fear to lose a loved one. But then if we get hold of the goodness of God, all this fear diminishes. We’ve seen even great people die- giving us complete assurance that we also will die some day whether at 100 or 150 years. –Hebrews 9:27 - ‘And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:’

The ideal thing should be to think about eternal life that God provides us through His Son Jesus Christ, the fact that we can’t change God’s plan of us dying some day, is not the end. Many people do not believe in God because their minds have been blinded to the reality that they have a spirit that will face God one day, be judged and be sent to hell for eternal condemnation because of their refusal/reluctance to respond positively to the word and the will of God.  – Acts 17:31 – ‘Because he has  appointed a day, in  which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man(Jesus) whom he has ordained; whereof he has  given assurance unto all men, in that He has raised Him from the dead’.

The flesh is temporary but the spirit lives on even after the death of the body – again, I will say -the way you respond to this word is what makes the difference .God is expecting us humans to completely give in to His Word just as we can see in Joshua 1:8 ‘This book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate therein day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written therein : for then you shall make your way prosperous and then you shall have good success’. God is not interested in lukewarm Christians (believers) - Revelation 3:16 ‘So then because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, will I vomit you out of my mouth’.

We (humans) are so good at planning for what we’ll eat tomorrow, dress, the better house we want – name them, but we forget/reject  to plan for eternal life which we can get only through believing in the Word of God- Jesus Christ(John 1:1-11). If we’d work as hard in the spiritual as we do in other areas say, the sciences – I believe even the gates of hell would swallow fewer people, because as matter of truth – God loves all of us; Bible says it in Mathew 18:14 ‘Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish’.

Even parents; as you equip your children with skills and education to sustain their future – think about doing something that will help your kid fight a good fight and finally secure a place in the heavenly paradise, not that you’ll leave everything else! No, but as you do what ever you do, think out something!!!!!!!  John 14:6- ‘Jesus says to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by me’. God has not provided any other way by which your kid may reach heaven but by Jesus, does he Know Jesus???!!!