Salvation: In Three Dimensions. What Does It Mean?

[Greatness4life]

1 Thessalonians 5:22-23;
''Abstain from all appearances of evil.
And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly;
and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and
body be preserved blameless unto the coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ''.


These were the prayer of Paul to Thessalonians' Church but more also for everyone that have come to knowledge of Salvation in Christ Jesus. In these prayer he (Paul) mentioned the three aspect of human being or should I say what we were made up of which were SPIRIT, SOUL and BODY.
So, what could have been at the back of Paul's Heart while praying these prayer? or could just be an ordinary or usual prayer mounted by Paul's mouth? or could it be the heart bit of the Father (God) toward His Children? What does these prayer means?
To really understand these prayer we need to enter into that which the Holy-Spirit revealed to Paul concerning these (Sanctification of spirit, soul and body).
And I want everyone of us to participate in this discussion by sharing the understanding the Lord has given or will yet give to us concerning this issues. I hope by God's grace I will be able to convey some of the things the Lord has taught me in this regard starting from the Book Genesis to Revelation.

I will love to say to everyone that, we should endeavor to pray before posting and as we are also reading through the posts let us turn our heart to the Holy-Spirit on area we don't understand, so that He might teach us the truth of His counsel.

Once again, you are all welcome.
"And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly;
and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and
body be preserved blameless unto the coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ''.

 

[Greatness4life]

The Salvation that Christ offer Us

''Lord Jesus, You are the Light that shineth that no darkness can ever comprehend. We ask for Your Light in this regard that You will illuminate our Heart to understand Your word and eternal purpose of our existence.
Dear Lord, open our eye to see the revelation in Your words so that the Truth of it may set us free from any darkness that hitherto has covered us.
Oh, our Heart be enlighten to hear the voice of Your God and pay attention to His word, let hardness and stubbornness be remove from thee. I ask You Lord, may our heart be teachable in Jesus Name''. Amen


I wanna appreciate everyone that will participate in this discussion and also to let you all know that I am open for your contributions and corrections where it seems because I have not yet arrived. I am still on a Journey of Knowing My Savior indeed just like everyone of us.
And to this, I will love everyone to be open to the Lord and pay attentive hear to Him alone in all that will be posting because is of no use when you are not directed back to the Savior Himself.
All I want to do here is to direct you back to Him not to anything but Him alone and I trust God for that.
1 John 1:3 says:
''That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ''.
Amen.




The salvation that Christ offer to us is a complete salvation which cover both our Spirit, Soul and Body. In this regard Bro Paul was praying for all Christian which I will like to paraphrase like this:
''May the God of peace Sanctify Whole/completely in Your Spirit, Soul and even in Your body so that none of the component of your being be missing(as a Christian) at the appearance of Our Savior, Jesus Christ''.


Question???


So, where did the Paul get the understand of this prayer that He prayed for the Thessalonian Church? and what was the heart bit of Paul for praying this kind of prayer for Thessalonian Church because this kind of prayer wasn't mention anywhere else?
Well, I will have love to go into all the details of this but that will be shifting from our major topic in this thread. May be the Lord will permit that later.

Now to our Subject, the Prayer Of Paul signify that as a Christian I MUST be Sanctify both in MY SPIRIT, SOUL AND BODY. And these suggest to me that I have a Spirit(human spirit), a Soul(Human soul which is different from my mortal body) and a Body( which is visible for all to see).

Lets pick it one after the other.

SALVATION OF MY SPIRIT


Matthew 11:27-28:
Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest to your souls.

There are Five things I want us to pick form this verses:

The first one is an INVITATION TO COME.

Secondly, is I(JESUS) WILL GIVE YOU REST.

Thirdly, a commandment for those that had come which is TAKE MY YOKE.

Fourthly, YOU MUST LEARN OF ME. Why? because I am meek and lowly in heart.

Lastly, YOU SHALL FIND REST TO YOUR SOUL.



Quickly can we expatiate on those point.

The first call that God gave to everyone that have ever lived to themselves is an INVITATION TO COME and this calls were not meant for the righteous but for the sinners who are burden down with loads and labor of SIN and SINS. And all that Jesus requested from them was to come so that the may be free.They simply has nothing to do than to obey the invitation from Christ and as they obey Him, He respond to them by taking off their BURDENS and in return He give to them REST.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THEY DON'T HAVE TO LABOR FOR THIS REST, LIKE I SAID, THEY DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING THAN TO ANSWER THE INVITATION FROM HIM. AND IN OBEDIENT TO THAT HE GIVE THEM FREE OF CHARGE REST.

So what does this mean to us? It simply mean that while you and I were walking in our own ways, carrying all manners of load of SIN and committing SINS, Christ invited us to come and be saved.
And here He gave us Rest not that we merit it but out of His unconditional Love and Mercy He releases REST for us.

Here we obtain grace and mercy from Him and relief come into OUR SPIRIT.
The Peace or Rest we obtained from here is for our SPIRIT because it is not a physical thing but Spiritual.

I can rightly say that, we found Peace with God in OUR SPIRIT, the communion and fellowship with GOD was restore on the day that we gave our life to Christ.And by and by Our spirit man experience salvation and immediately our conscience receive LIFE.

SO OUR SPIRIT IS SAVED FROM DARKNESS AND FROM BEING CUT-OFF FROM THE LIFE OF GOD.

But that is not enough according to what Christ was saying here, He's saying that, having gotten that you need to move to stage two of My word which is TAKE MY YOKE UPON YOU.

''But Lord why will You do that? You saved me from one yoke and burden, and now You are saying that I should voluntary TAKE YOUR YOKE(which is another yoke) UPON ME. Aah?????!!!!'' :shock-animated:

Let me stop here, hoping by God's grace I will continue tomorrow from where I stopped.

''Please as you read this seek the Lord for more understanding because I know that there is more to it''.


Till then, God bless everyone of us in Jesus name. Amen

 

[Greatness4life]

Continuation on Salvation Of My Spirit

''Once again, I want to appreciate the Lord for given me the grace again to share on this topic. For this cause, O God of all gods, King of kings and Lord of lords: Praise, glory, power, mighty, adoration, dominion, authority belongs to You alone. For You alone at worthy of all praise''.
Thank You for everything.


After posting yesterday, I felt the Lord want me to shed more light from other scriptures concerning this issues.

So today, I will continue from Genesis 1:1-3:

''In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.
And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
And God said, Let there be Light: and there was Light''


2 Corinthians 4:6

''For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our heart, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ''.


There are two thing I want us to know as we follow on in verses and in this topic.

The first one is this:

THE MYSTERY OF GOD'S WORD IN THE BIBLE CAN ONLY BE PROPERLY UNDERSTOOD WHEN THE LORD OPEN OUR EYES TO SEE WHAT IS BEHIND GENESIS CHAPTER 1.


Secondly:

FOR YOU TO UNDERSTAND THE ETERNAL PURPOSE OF GOD FOR YOUR LIFE AND FOR THE HUMANITY, THIS CHAPTER ONE OF THE GENESIS IS OF GREAT IMPORTANT TO BE UNDERSTOOD.


Back to our topic:


The first question i want us to answer is this:

Can God create something that is void, formless and full of darkness?

If your answer is NO:

Then what caused or made it to become like that?


And if you answer is Yes:

Then How could it be so?.


This verse 1-3 of genesis speaks only not of the creation of Heaven and the earth but more of our race as human being.

What do I mean by that?

When God created the Heaven and the Earth, they were perfectly created - which equal to When God created Man(Adam) And Woman(Eve) they were also perfectly created. Genesis 1v1 & 1v27
But in verse 2 of chapter one, the heaven and the earth became void, full of darkness and without form. Which also means that the Man and Woman God created, something entered into them and also turned them to Void, formless and full of darkness. Gen. 1:2 & 3:5-24.
Why? When Adam and Eve partook in the eating of the fruit of Knowledge of good and evil, Darkness entered into them, they became void and formless which means their perfection was corrupted by SIN and the LIGHT of God in them became DARKNESS. And from that day on they became slave to another Master(SIN).


In genesis 1:3;

And God said, let there be Light: and there was light


The same thing applied to you and me. It was on the day the Lord commanded His light to shine upon us that we receive the knowledge of the gospel of Christ and on that day all we did was to turn back to Him in repentance after that, what happened? We received the Light of God again. (''For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our heart, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ'').

I hope we understand, for this can only come by revelation from the Lord. In-fact, in following God I have come to understand that most of His Mystery were revealed in the Book of Genesis 1,2 & 3.

I want us to put it in mind that, The personality that corrupted the Heaven and Earth was revealed in Genesis 3 and he did the same thing.


Let move on to other chapter of the scripture I felt the Lord want me to touch also.

John 3:1-7;

There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.


This man came to the Lord with all his years of reading and understanding and it amazed me when the Lord was speaking to him that he didn't understand what the Lord was saying at all.

''And this portrait to me that, no matter how one study the bible or the word of God, without Him (the Lord Himself) revealing the truth that is behind it, one can never understand it though one may developed in doctrine and tradition but the life in it will not be given''.


So, this means every word of God must be taken back to Him for understanding.

Now, I will like us to notice somethings in the verses especially what the Lord said: In verse 3 & 5;

3. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
5. Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.


So let pick those highlighted words one after the other:

1. Jesus said we cannot SEE the Kingdom of God unless we are born again.

2. He went on to say, we CANNOT enter the the Kingdom of heaven except we are born of WATER AND OF THE SPIRIT.

Now lets expatiate on them.

The criteria for you and I to SEE God's Kingdom is through the born-again experience which occurred the day we give our life to Jesus.
And that experience like I said before dealt with our SPIRIT-MAN, because is with the eyes of our spirit that we see the kingdom of God and believe it in our heart not with physical eyes.

So, on the day you and I gave our life to Christ. We saw the Kingdom why because we saw the King of the Kingdom. And a Kingdom doesn't exist without a King. Right?

Now to the second point, Jesus was also saying that It is not enough for us to see the Kingdom, there is a need for us ENTER into the Kingdom we have seen.

But to enter is it by born-again? NO!!.
The born-again experience was to open us up for that Kingdom and cause us to see the goal that is lay before us. And that goal is ENTERING INTO GOD'S KINGDOM!.


Now, how do we enter into that Kingdom since we are born-again and qualify for it

This now brings us to where we stopped.

THE SALVATION OF MY SOUL.

 

[Greatness4life]

How I wish to continue now but time will not permit me.
Hoping by God's grace and mercy we will continue from where we stopped tomorrow.

I love to pray:

Dear Holy-Spirit, illuminate our heart and give us understanding concerning all that we are sharing. Where we don't understand please explain it to us in the language that we will understand. Lead us into a closet with You, where You always give life to them that seek You. So that, Your counsel and purpose will be achieved in Jesus Name. Amen.

 

[Greatness4life]

Salvation Of My Soul

Once again i wanna appreciate the Lord for been able to come and share again as regard the Gospel Of His Kingdom. And I want to apologies for not able to come online yesterday as I promised.


Today, we'll be continue from where we stopped and before that lets take a quick reveiw on what we had shared before.

Quick Review:

1. We have seen from the prayer of brother Paul that it is the will of God for Our SPIRIT, SOUL AND BODY to be saved, sanctified and preserved blameless until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2. We also shared that the Salvation we experience when we gave our Life to the Lord dealt with our Spirit-Man which is the area of our COMMUNION, FELLOWSHIP AND INTUITION. This were what our Spirit is Made up of( Although I did not touched this aspect of COMMUNION, FELLOWSHIP AND INTUITION then, but I believed that as we proceed it will be explain).
3. We also shared that in this salvation we did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to be Saved. That is, we are not saved by our work but by Grace. ( ''For by grace you are saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: It is the gift of God. Not of WORK, lest any man should boast''. Ephesians 2:8-9). The faith we have when we gave your life to Christ, it was Him that provided it, not us. So, we are saved by grace which equal to the obedience to His Invitation to come and Faith in His word which says ''I WILL GIVE YOU REST''(Matthew 11:28).
4. We also shared from the book of Genesis 1, the creation and the fall of Man pointing to the truth in the book of 2 Corinthians 4:6. That when man fell into the temptation from the enemy in the Garden of Eden, he became darkness, void and formless until the day the Lord commanded His light to Shine upon him. (Ephesians 5:8, Colossians 1:13, 1 Peter 2:9). This also point to the fact that as many that are not yet born-again are still Darkness, still in darkness and their life is void and formless though they may be living.
   
5. Lastly, We also looked at the account of John 3:1-5. In which Jesus reveal to us that, for us to SEE the Kingdom of God, We MUST be born-again and for us to ENTER into it there is need to be born of WATER and the SPIRIT. I Also paraphrased that, it is impossible for one to see the Kingdom of God without seeing the King of The Kingdom. So the day we gave our live to Christ we did see the King not with our physical eyes but, with the eye of our spirit.
   

And that is where we stopped.

 

[Greatness4life]

Salvation Of My Soul
Matthew 11:29;

''Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest to your souls''


Psalm 49:7

''For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever"

''The ransom for a life is COSTLY, no payment is ever enough''(NIV).


I will like to make a foot-note that the payment that Christ paid for all mankind to be saved is of great price, no man can ever pay for it.
Moreover, it will not bring Joy to the Lord after we have been saved to remain as a stagnant water which is not moving on in Christ.


''Although we are not saved by work but we are saved for WORKS''.


Ephesians 2:10;

''For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them''.

So there is a Works to walk in. This now bring us to the second stage of our Christian journey, The Salvation of Our Soul.

Components of our Soul


Our Soul comprises of our WILL, EMOTION, DESIRE, MIND(realm of imagination and thought) and REASONING.

These are the area the Lord want us to be saved from so that, we no longer have our own will but His WILL, neither our emotion but His EMOTION nor Our desire But God's DESIRE nor our mind but the MIND of Christ and the last of all His REASONING becomes our reasoning.

For in the Kingdom of God only ONE WILL, EMOTION, DESIRE, MIND AND REASONING existed there is no room for two. And for us to enter into that we MUST done away with our own ways of doing things.

Matthew 11:29;
''Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest to your souls''


Here we come to the third stages of what the Lord said:

TAKE MY YOKE UPON YOU

Now I want us to answer what it means to take the Yoke of Christ upon us.

1. Does it mean attending ''church'' regularly? As someone has rightly said that after one gave his/her life to Christ,the first thing such a person is introduced to is RELIGION and NOT CHRIST.

2. What is even the Yoke of Christ?

3. Should we say, the Yoke of Christ is reading the Bible, praying and Evangelizing?.

These and many more questions the Lord will want us to answer because if we don't know what the Yoke of Christ is, we will just be carrying any kind of yoke thinking we are carrying the Yoke of Christ.

What more will say? I think the Lord will want me to stop here and allow everyone of us to go back to Him and ask Him what is the Real meaning of His Yoke that He want us to take upon ourselves.
For if you and I don't know and understand His Yoke there will be no LEARNING OF HIM rather it will turn to LEARNING ABOUT HIM, in which many of us has grown wing in, day in and day out.

''In my following the Lord, I have found out that we are so quick in learning about Jesus but we are very far away from learning of Him. That's why there are divisions in the body of Christ today. More of theology, doctrines and traditions of the elders but less or no Christ in most of the things we do or say''.


I trust the Lord for tomorrow that He will grant us the Grace to grasp the understanding of Him and His Kingdom.

''Lord we are grateful for Your words. We ask of You to teach us Your ways and let Thy Kingdom come and Thy Will alone be done in our Life in the Name of Jesus Christ Our Lord''. Amen

 

[Greatness4life]

What is The Yoke Of Christ?

WHAT IS THE YOKE OF CHRIST?

''This was the question we asked ourselves yesterday and I am very persuaded that if you and I has gone back to the Lord for the Answer, He would has shown us what His yoke is''.


But before we go into that, Lets turn our heart to Him in prayer and trust Him that He will lead us to Himself today.

''Dear Lord of all lords, we appreciate Your loving kindness towards us and we are very grateful for all that You are giving to us on daily basis.
Lord we pray that Your Kingdom come and Your will be done in this place and in our lives. We ask You to have Your way in today's teaching and illuminate our heart to See You. All we want to see is You not religion not man's teaching, We want to see Jesus and His Kingdom in our life. We thank You because we know that You will grant and answer our desire which is Your heart desire for us in Jesus name". Amen and Amen


So, let us begin there. What is the yoke of Christ?

The Yoke of Christ is NOT attending ''church'' meeting and fellowship. It is NOT also ''reading and studying your bible neither is it ''praying and evangelizing''.

''I believe the Yoke of Christ is total DEATH''

Are you surprise by that? I was actually surprised when the Lord turned my heart to that this morning after he gave me an experience while I was going home from the office yesterday night.
And I want to quote part of things He gave me to write this morning:

''GOD WANT TO KILL ME, SO THAT HE MAY PERFORM HIS THOROUGH SURGICAL OPERATION IN ME AND BY THAT CHRIST MAY BE FORMED IN ME''

When this revelation came to me this morning couple with the experience of what I had yesterday and in the things the Lord has been leading me into many years back, I found out that what God was doing for me was (is) to kill me totally. And I know it has not been easy for me to die, for often time it comes with pains and agony, sometime with rejection and persecution, in-fact suffering and bearing of shame encompasses me and all these come to me in my heart desire to experience His Kingdom in me.(more of these will come when I shall be sharing my dealings and experiences in following the Lord)

BEFORE YOU GAVE YOUR LIFE TO CHRIST


Before you gave your life to Him, you were living a life of your own which is dictated by your own will,desire,emotion, mind and reasoning. You went to places, visit friends and explored the world as you will called it. Your life was without God, and during that time you have developed in understanding, wisdom and knowledge of the world.
And some that are born in to religion, their Parent has indoctrinated them with all Kind of messages and teachings from the various ORGANIZATION in which they belong but the Person of Christ have they not shown or revealed to them.

So, in conclusion we had a life we were living then and that Life is the Life of Our OWN.


NOW!!


Now we come to Christ to be saved and have His life into us. And lo and behold we are expecting that our old life will not respond or will not war against the New Life? or do we think that God will rubber-stamp our old Life and give us His New Life? NO!!, He will not do that rather, HE WILL KILL THAT OLD LIFE OF OURS BEFORE HE GIVES US HIS NEW LIFE.

So, there is a NEED to DIE and this death is a progressive death on a daily basis(1 Corinthian 15:31).


When the Lord was saying take My yoke upon Me, He actually meant what He was saying and when I considered the Yoke He bared while on Earth, was is not the Yoke of death?(death to his own will,desire, power, decision, judgment.John 5:30, 6v38-40,12:49,Luke 22:42).

You may not yet understand all we are sharing now but I believe that if you will turn your heart to Him, He will definitely show it to you.

God is NOT on a mission of producing YOU but CHRIST and anything that fall short of that is not HIM.


''What religion has taught is how to work for God but, not how God can work for us. It has taught us how God can meet our needs but not how the NEEDS of the Lord can be met by us. It has also taught us how to learn about Christ but never has it taught us how to learn OF Christ''.


''And the need of God is this; those that are willing to DIE totally''.


Here lied the Yoke of Christ for you and for me. If you and I are willing to die indeed then we will learn of Him.
Matthew 11:29;

''Take My yoke upon you ( the yoke of Death and be willing to die), and learn of Me (you will now be able to learn of me); for I am meek and lowly in heart (and you also will become meek and lowly in heart): and ye shall find rest to your souls''
(emphases mine)


So, what the Lord is saying is that you and I have a Choice in this, after we've given our life to Him. We must make a choice whether to take up His yoke or to neglect it. If we take it up, He is there to help us and then shall we learn of Him and become HIM.

''A haughty and proud man (particularly christian) has not yet learn of Him though he may learn and know about Him''.


The issue now is are you willing? Am I willing?
Are you willing to be dead to your will, emotion, desire, reasoning and mind so that God can impart His own into you?
Are you also willing to give up your RIGHT? Because, it is not all about giving up of bad habit but also some good one that does not have root or originated from Him (sometime it may include what He has given you) .

If you and I are willing then shall we profit from the things the Lord will be teaching us daily. And I want to say to us that He is always there to help us. He will not live it to us alone but He will bear it together with us. All He need from us is OUR WILLINGNESS TO GIVE UP ALL.

Having said that, lets consider some scriptures

James 1:21;

''Wherefore lay apart ALL filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with MEEKNESS the engrafted word, which is able to save your SOULS''.


1 Peter 1:9;

''Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls''


Hebrew 10:39;

''But we are not of them that draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the souls''.


3 John 1:2;

''Beloved, I wish you above all things that thou mayest proper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth''.(If your soul does not prosper there is no way you can experience the prosperity of the Lord)

Matthew 16:26;

''For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?''


Mark 8:36;

''For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?.

Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels'' .
John 12:24-26



24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

25 He that loveth his life(soulish life) shall lose it; and he that hateth his life (soulish life) in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

26 If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.



Matt 10:38-40
And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.

39 He that findeth his life(soulish life) shall lose it: and he that loseth his life(soulish life) for my sake shall find it.


I can go on and on to show to us that the Lord really means business on this issue of our soul.
The Lord lived and preached it
The Apostles lived and preached it.
We also must both live it and preach it.

So in all, the Lord doesn't only desire us to be saved but more than that He want to bath Himself in us. So that it will no longer be you and I carrying Him but Him carrying us in all things.

''Christ in you the Hope of glory but you in Christ the reality of that glory''


John 21:18;

''Verily, verily, I say unto thee, when thou wast young( full of yourself; your own strength, will, desire, reasoning and mind), thou girdedst thyself, and walketh whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old(Mature), thou shalt stretch forth thy hands (you will give up all of yourself), and another (LORD) shall gird thee and carry thee whither thou wouldest not''.

I'll stop here and trusting the Lord for another day to shed more light on this subject of the salvation of our soul (then will shall be looking at How our souls are being saved) because this where the whole issue lies.
And maybe from there we will able to look at THE KINGDOM OF GOD.

''Please, all the scripture quoted above should be read and understood by depending on Holy-Spirit''

I will also recommend Luke 21 for us to read


So, I want to appreciate everyone for reading this thread and I pray that the Lord will minister to your heart and give you understanding of His word.

THY KINGDOM AND THY WILL BE DONE OH LORD IN JESUS NAME.


Thank you all and see you again tomorrow by God's grace and mercy. Amen.

 

[Greatness4life]

Hello everyone, How has your day been and How has the Lord be leading you on daily basis?. Blessed be the name of the Lord for all things.

I just checking to let us know that I won't be posting from today till Sunday, I felt the Lord want me to stop for Now. But by His grace and Mercy we shall continue from where we stopped on Monday.

And I wouldn't mind if anyone have questions in regards to the things we shared so far or can share his/her views, comments, and contributions to this message, for we are like ''iron that sharpeneth iron''(Proverb 27:17).

So, God's willing on Monday we'll continue and until then God be with everyone us.

May His way be make plain for us to walk in and May His Kingdom be establish in our life in Jesus Name. Amen and Amen.

 

[Greatness4life]

It's a new week, a time of Salvation and Redemption indeed. This is a time that the Lord demand everyone- I mean His disciples to take the Kingdom both in deed and in words.

Lord we thank You for another day to share the gospel of Your Kingdom among ourselves, thank You for the grace and mercy you are releasing unto us. We are very grateful for Your unconditional Love and Peace in our Life. So, we pray That Your Kingdom come and let Your will be done in our lives in Jesus name, Illuminate our eye to see, open our ear to hear and give us understanding in the REVELATION of WHO YOU ARE in Jesus name. Amen and Amen.

So, praise the Lord. Halleluia.

We continue from where we stopped last week. We've established that the Yoke of Christ is total death( when you carry your cross and follow Him, He will lead you to where you will be crucified and that will bring death to you) and we also brought to the limelight that God is not interested in REFORMATION but what He's after is Christ been FORMED in you and I. That is the goal of His kingdom and everyone He want to see there should be Christ not ''John or James or Esther or Mary'' but Just ONE MAN - CHRIST.

Moreover there is no death without resurrection and that resurrection come with newness of Life in Christ. If we are able to see this, may be that will propel us to give Him the totality of our life.


Now let's look at our major scripture and from there we see how the Lord will lead us today.

Matthew 11:28-29;

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.


Now we've come to the FOURTH stage of this Scripture which says:

LEARN OF ME


I believe this is a command for those who have taken upon themselves the YOKE OF CHRIST(note: not their own yoke), Christ said ''learn of Me''.

''So, having taken Your yoke Lord, I must learn of You, but Lord how do I learn of You?''

This now bring us to another face of our topic:

HEARING GOD THROUGH FELLOWSHIP




John 10:1-5;

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.
And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.
And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.


John 10:27-28;

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.


We see from these verses of the scripture that our eternal life is link to hearing Him. If you and I don't hear Him then there is a problem. and that problem is definitely not from Him rather it's from us.

So, if you have problem in hearing Him or your own is that He doesn't speak to you, then you must ask yourself whether you are His sheep or not.

If you are not, He will not speak to you because you are not known by Him.

If you are born-again and you are not hearing Him, it is either the foundation of your born-again experience is not properly laid or your salvation experience is not genuine.

In that case, it means your born-again experience has to be checked and if there is problem in that foundation, it has to be properly relaid which means, YOU HAVE TO BE BORN-AGAIN AGAIN

'' I want to say this to everyone that HEARING GOD, is one of the packages that come with born-again experience, If someone lead you to Christ, part of the thing such a person should teach you is how to hear your Father'' .


So, from now on we will be looking at how we can hear Him, since our learning of Him must come by hearing through relationship with Him, then as we are hearing Him we'll be following Him.

Before I stop, let me give you an analogy:

Imagine yourself as a sheep which belong to a cruel and careless shepherd, and here come another shepherd who is ready to purchase you from your master. And for many years you have mastered the voice of your first master but here you are, ready to be bought by another shepherd who does not considered how much it will cost him to pay for your price. In a null-shell, He paid the price for you to be bought and brought you to His own house where you will meet other sheep which He already have.


What is the first thing you will do as a sheep?
Will you know and understand the voice of your new master immediately?
How will you know and understand the voice of your new Master?

I will love that you consider these questions.

1 Peter 2:25;

For ye were like as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

By His grace we'll continue from here tomorrow. Until then God be with you in Jesus name. Amen

 

[Greatness4life]

Hello everyone, I want to thank everyone for been part of these series and most especially those who devoted their time in reading through this thread. Once again, I say you are all welcome.


So today, let's revisit what we shared yesterday and also provide answer to some of the question that came out.

Yesterday, we saw that in our journey of becoming what God intended us to be there is a need for us to hear Him which mean that, for us to learn of Him there is a need for our ear to be open and this opening of ear comes as result of RELATIONSHIP this is while I called it:
HEARING GOD THROUGH RELATIONSHIP


Also, I gave an analogy yesterday which was this:

Imagine yourself as a sheep which belong to a cruel and careless shepherd, and here come another shepherd who is ready to purchase you from your master. And for many years you have mastered the voice of your first master but here you are, ready to be bought by another shepherd who does not considered how much it will cost him to pay for your price. In a null-shell, He paid the price for you to be bought and brought you to His own house where you will meet other sheep which He already have.

Followed by these questions:

What is the first thing you will do as a sheep?
Will you know and understand the voice of your new master immediately?
How will you know and understand the voice of your new Master?

Now,I believed everyone should have gotten one answer or other to these questions. So let's take the first question and provide the answer to it.

What is the first thing you will do as a sheep?

I believe the first thing you should do as a good sheep is to create time for relationship with your new Master.
What did I mean by that?
I will explain this by sharing my own personal experience:
My First Love

I met the Lord in 2001 through a brother which I happened to know from afar off but the Lord arranged my meeting with this brother in such a way that there was no way of escape for me than to accept and follow Him. On that night, we met and all he spoke to me was on THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST not denomination not God will bless me and in the cause of his preaching I was sobered and started weeping inside of me. It was as if the Lord was the one showing me His righteousness, Love and Mercy, but how unworthy I was for all these.
I gave my life to the Lord through the leading of this brother but, what really amazed me was that I went to my room with deep conviction and started praying, shedding tears and I saw the Lord extending His hands of Love to me and the more I saw that hands, the more I saw my nakedness and unworthiness.
In fact, It was such a great experience that I can't remember how many minutes I spent in praying and repenting on that night, until I felt a DEEP PEACE inside of me. Immediately, my surrounding changed, the way I see things was different and inside my heart, I was longing for something.
So, my heart was crying for something that was beyond me but I don't know how to express it out than to weep and cried whenever I'm waiting.
Moreover, In my parent's house there were no genuine christian and it was as if I have received a strange thing or should I call it a strange Spirit.
But in all these, there is only particular thing I found my heart yearning for and that thing was RELATIONSHIP. Sincerely, I was totally lost in it. I can't describe how it look like but all that ever came out of my PRAYER and WAITING was "LORD I LOVE YOU, LET YOUR KINGDOM COME AND YOUR WILL BE DONE IN ME".

Yes, I had many unfathomable experience that I don't even understand either in my dream or physically then, because I had no understanding of what it look like to FALL IN LOVE WITH JESUS until now that I begin to received revelations in that aspect.

But ask me how do I got to know how to relate with the Lord? the answer is I don't know, all I knew was that something was drawing me away, far beyond worldly things and also I did not kill it but followed after it.

''More of these will come, When I will be sharing on My blog on How I met Jesus and The Story of My Life''.

Now, I understand that when a person give his/her life to Christ, some of the things the Lord restored to such a person are COMMUNION(-SHIP),FELLOWSHIP AND INTUITION. Because it takes the spirit of man to communicate and fellowship with the Holy-Spirit.

''This is why in leading people to the Lord, we should always give them space to express themselves to Him in whatever way because, the Lord is the one that want to take over their life for Himself not ''YOU/I'' and the only help we can give to them at that time is to allow them to do as the Holy-Spirit minister to them. What the Holy- Spirit want to take over as they are giving their life to Him is their desire for relationship and communion''.

''But how often do we kill the process in the life of new convert and we rush them into ''SAY AS I SAY''.



So, the answer to the first question is relationship and communion with the Lord, you may not understand how to do it but I assure you that if you will WAIT in your closet for Him, He will come and fill your heart with His unfathomable love and Presence.(note: there is a condition for this, ''if you will wait for Him in your closet'')

Let's touch our second question:

Will you know and understand the voice of your new master immediately?

The answer to that is NO.

Why? because it takes time and dealing to know and understand His voice. He have to unlearn you of your former master's voice, before you can begin to know and mastered His voice. This is a progressive process not a day thing.

For me, I spent much of my time in seeking and loving Him even though I read my bible without understanding it neither do I hear His voice except in My Dreams, but as for that relationship with Him, I took it serious beyond anything I knew.

It was after some period of my relationship with the Lord and sharing with other(christian) that I got to know that God can speak to me apart from having dream and visions. But, did I start hearing Him immediately? No, not on that day but on the third day of that discussion, when I started waiting and asking Him to speak to me.The Lord answered and started speaking to me, though I didn't recognized that He was the one speaking.

But what made me not to hear Him immediately after I gave my life to Him was that, ''I DID NOT KNOW THAT GOD CAN SPEAK TO ME''. Although, I realized later that He has been speaking to me on different occasions but i did not know nor understand His voice.

''Every genuine born-again received the grace to hear their father immediately when they gave their life to Him but the problem has always been that there were no or very few helper to help them in discern His voice''.

Let's stop here and trust the Lord to continue here tomorrow.

Lord we thank You for Your will for our Lives, we know that it is Your will for us to hear and recognized Your voice when you are speaking to us but, many time the voices of our former master has taken over our ability to hear You. So, we ask You, Lord, to unlearn us from our former master's voices and open our ear to hear You. Lord, teach us on how to hear and recognize Your voice in Jesus Name, so that we may truly learn of You. For we pray in Jesus Name. Amen

So, Till tomorrow, God be with you. Amen

 

[Greatness4life]

How I wish to post now but, I felt the Lord has not given me go ahead. I will still remain open to Him if He want me to post, but if not I will trust Him for tomorrow.

All I want to say to everyone who has met the Lord and are known by Him is this: ''Please, I'm pleading with you, Hold on to the Lord more than anything. The Lord is demand for more of our relationship with Him than any activities or things we may think we are doing for Him''.

I will love to quote what the Lord told me while I was in one fellowship one day.

He said and I quote:

''John, withdraw yourself from every activities and programs I have not committed unto your hand, all they want to do is to kill you. Withdraw back inside, for it is time to turn INSIDE. It is an inward journey.
More also, you cannot do My work, just allow Me to do it Myself.''

By the mercy of God, I will love to say to everyone to heed this message and turn inside to meet with the Lord.

I trust God for tomorrow, and until then God be with everyone in Jesus Name. Amen

 

[Greatness4life]

Lord we thank You for the power of Your word, I'm indeed grateful for that which You are teaching us in our various places. We thank You for Your gift of Salvation and for the blood that purchased us, yea, we do not it count as a light thing but we cherish it and our hope is hanging on it. So, we pray today that Your Kingdom come and Your will be done is our lives, more of You and less us in Jesus name. As we look in Your word today, may we be change from glory to glory and may You accomplished Your eternal Purpose in us in Jesus name. Amen.


So, let's continue from where we stopped two days ago. By God's grace we have been able to answer two of our questions concerning the analogy of The sheep and the New Master.
Let's answer the third question and from there we see how we'll go as the Lord lead us.

How will you know and recognize the voice of your new master?

Now, there is need not just to know but also to able to understand what your new Master is saying.


The answer to this question is:

YOU NEED A TEACHER (who is also a sheep), a teacher who is hearing and following God, that can teach you how to know and recognize the of the Lord when He is speaking to you.


Because it is very important, the teacher you need is not the one that only hear but refused to follow. That will only amount to hearing and not following.

Let's take some examples:

In the book of 1 Samuel 2 and 3, there you see a story of young man called Samuel.

In verse 18 of chapter 2:
....But(you may need to read form verse 1 of that Chapter 2 to understand that but) Samuel ministered before the Lord being a child, girded with a linen e-phod

If you now read verse 7 of chapter 3 which says:

Now Samuel did not yet Know the Lord neither was the word of the Lord yet revealed to him.


The first question I think should pop-up from your spirit-man concerning these two verses should be: What was Samuel ministering to the Lord when he has not yet know the Lord?.

It was a priest that wore linen e-phod not just anybody that felt like. A linen e-phod garment was strictly made for them through the the commandment of the Lord. (Exodus 28:2-43,39:1-43).

Lev 8:1-8

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments, and the anointing oil, and a bullock for the sin offering, and two rams, and a basket of unleavened bread;

And gather thou all the congregation together unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

And Moses did as the LORD commanded him; and the assembly was gathered together unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

And Moses said unto the congregation, This is the thing which the LORD commanded to be done.

And Moses brought Aaron and his sons, and washed them with water.

And he put upon him the coat, and girded him with the girdle, and clothed him with the robe, and put the ephod upon him, and he girded him with the curious girdle of the ephod, and bound it unto him therewith.

And he put the breastplate upon him: also he put in the breastplate the Urim and the Thummim



Ezek 44:15-18

But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister unto me, and they shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord GOD:

They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table, to minister unto me, and they shall keep my charge.

And it shall come to pass, that when they enter in at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments; and no wool shall come upon them, whiles they minister in the gates of the inner court, and within.

They shall have linen bonnets upon their heads, and shall have linen breeches upon their loins; they shall not gird themselves with any thing that causeth sweat.


I recommend those chapters for reading.

So, Samuel was a priest who ministered before the Lord or we can rightly say Samuel ministered to the Lord who he does not know. He does not hear the Lord he ministered to neither was the word of the Lord yet revealed to him.

The second question that I think should pop-up in your heart is this:

What was the word of the Lord that was not yet revealed to Samuel? Is it five books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus,Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy?

No, but the Rhema of God words- His eye has not yet been opened to revelational knowledge of the things of God. Why? because it takes a man that is hearing God to received such revelations.

Ephesians 3:2-5

If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to youward:

How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words,

Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)

Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;


This was the testimony of bro Paul, he didn't got to know Christ by reading books but by revelations and those revelations came by hearing and seeing. This is why in most of the time He normally say this '' I was not disobedient to the Heavenly calling''.I think we all know what he meant by that.(Act 9:4-6,11-16).

Now, what made the Scripture to say that Samuel did not know the Lord is simply because HE HAS NOT HEARD THE VOICE OF GOD SPEAKING TO HIM. And a man who has not developed ability to hear the Lord,

''THE WORD OF THE LORD CANNOT BE REVEALED TO HIM''

So today we have people in the ministry, ''ministering to the Lord and His people'' and yet they did not know the Lord they are ministering to.

Then You and I should ask: ''What are they ministering to us''?

I live you to answer that question.

Now, let's read some verses in that 1st Samuel chapter 3:

1 Sam 3:2-6

And it came to pass at that time, when Eli was laid down in his place, and his eyes began to wax dim, that he could not see;

And ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was, and Samuel was laid down to sleep;

That the LORD called Samuel: and he answered, Here am I.

And he ran unto Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou calledst me. And he said, I called not; lie down again. And he went and lay down.

And the LORD called yet again, Samuel. And Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou didst call me. And he answered, I called not, my son; lie down again.


Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, neither was the word of the LORD yet revealed unto him.

And the LORD called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou didst call me. And Eli perceived that the LORD had called the child.

Therefore Eli said unto Samuel, Go, lie down: and it shall be, if he call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, LORD; for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

And the LORD came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak; for thy servant heareth.


''Why did it have to take Prophet Eli three(3) times to discerned that it was the Lord that was calling Samuel?
''Don't you think that as a prophet he should has discerned that it was the Lord that was actually calling Samuel in the first place?''


I will have to love to speak on the ministry of Eli, may be that one will be later and may not meant for this thread.

Now, we've come to place where Samuel needed help and that is of great important in such a way that if not for Eli's yesterday wisdom, it would have been difficult for Samuel to know and understand that it was the Lord that was calling to him.

The number one thing I want us to put at the back of our mind is this:

GOD SPOKE TO SAMUEL IN THE VOICE OF ELI.

What do i mean by that? The voice that Samuel was hearing was Eli exact voice and that is why he kept on running to Eli saying ''Thou calleth me'', but it was the Lord that was speaking to Samuel in a tone of Eli's voice.

''God will not speak to you in the language you don't understand as new beginner''

Point number 1


As a new beginner, God will speak to you more often in YOUR OWN VOICE, it will look as if you are the one speaking to yourself.
Or if He knows that you are so familiar with somebody voice or something, He may also use that to speak to you.
In case of Samuel, Samuel was much familiar with Eli's voice and the Lord has to used that medium in reaching him.

Point number 2

God will communicate most of His message to you through still small voice. Although, is some occasion He may choose the other way round.

Point number 3

You will need help in this regard, to discern and know when God is speaking to you. In the case of Samuel, Eli was the help the Lord raised for him.

Point number 4

You will need a jotter or note-book to write out what you felt may be the Lord's voice and what you also felt may be your own thought or voice. Because, this is the way to mastered the way God speak to you.

But do you know what I have found out over time? What we think or thought is our thought often turned out to be the Lord's voice.

I will love to stopped here, and trusting the Lord that we will continue from here tomorrow.

I will love to pray:

I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:

The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,

Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,

Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:

And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,

Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.


Lord this is my desire for everyone that is reading through this thread. I pray that you will do this for everyone in the name of Jesus of Christ. Amen and Amen.

See you tomorrow and God bless.

 

[Greatness4life]

Hello everyone, I'm sorry I couldn't post today..Though I won't say I was told to post or not, but I had burden in my heart this afternoon, it was like a fire in my bones just like Jeremiah said: "Your word is like fire in my bones".

And I wasn't sure what the Lord was saying to me through that.
So I decided to step back from posting and I went to chat room to be blessed by other,and indeed i felt that was where the Lord want me to be today.

How unsearchable is Your way Dear Lord? For this, My Soul doth magnify You and my spirit hath magnified You.

Blessed be the Lord.

So i trust the for Tomorrow or anytime He chooses.

Till then God bless everyone that love the Lord and are called by His name.

 

[Greatness4life]

Hearing god continuation

Hello everyone, we thank the Lord for another day to share from Your words and also I appreciate everyone that has been reading through this thread.
So we'll continue from where stopped.
Let's have a word of prayer:

Lord we just wanna say thank You and we ask You to carry us on by Your Spirit in Jesus Name. We trust You for understanding of Your word and our hope is You our great and Mighty King. So we pray for more of You and less and less of us, May Jesus increase and increase until we're totally decrease for Your glory. We thank you for all thing in Jesus name. Amen


Review:


I've explained that for our souls to experience Salvation (Rest) there is need to hear the Lord's voice. It is of great important because our ability to received revelation from the Lord depend on it.

Moreover, I've also explained that you need a teacher that is both hearing and following God to teach and help you in hearing and discerning the Voice of the Lord, in order word there is a need to master God's voice and how He usually speak to you because, the way He will choose to speak to you may be very different from the way He may choose to speak to someone else.

Now, lets come to the second aspect that will also be of important. Since you have gotten to know that God can speak or love to speak to you, it very important that you consecrate yourself to Him and this have to do with your personal relationship with Him. You must endeavor to create an atmosphere for Him to speak.

In my own case:
When I heard that the Lord can speak to me. I went to Him in prayer asking Him to open my ear to hear Him, I was sincere in that prayer.
The first day of this prayer, I waited in my room and paid attentions to Him but to my surprise the Lord didn't say anything. In fact, I didn't hear anything throughout that day. So, in spent that day inside my room till late in the evening.
On the second day, I did the same thing: I was telling the Lord how I desired to hear from Him, also reminding Him of His word which says: My sheep heareth my voice. I waited that day not doing anything but just lying down on the bed waiting for Him to Speak but I didn't hear Him saying anything.
Finally, on the third day I waited from morning to around 16:30GMT before living for the fellowship, But what surprised me was that, the Lord didn't say anything while I was in the room until I was almost getting to the fellowship that i began to hear verses and chapters of the Scriptures. Then I started writing them down since I have understood POINT NUMBER 1 AND 4.
My jotter was with me, and i began to write what i felt may be the Lord's voice and also what I felt may be my own thought. That is where it all began. And i kept on doing that for some period of time before I was able to differentiate the Lord's voice from my own to some extent. I read books that discussed on HOW TO HEAR GOD and many Christian novels that could be of help to me.
So, that was where I started from. One more thing that i can never forget is this: I WAS ALWAYS OBEYING WHAT I HEARD, SOMETIME IT TURNED OUT TO NOT BE FROM GOD BUT MANY TIME IT WAS GOD. AND THROUGH THAT I WAS ABLE TO MASTER THE LORD'S VOICE.


So likewise, if you want to hear the Lord, you must be willing to take some radical step even if it means making mistakes why you are trying to obey, the Lord is always there to correct you. It is through those mistakes you will learn and master the Lord's voice.

Now let's talk on various ways that God speaks
These are some of the ways the

1. God speaks through still small voice and His word(through Bible)
   
2. God speak through Audible voice (not so common except for those Who have prophetic gifting)
3. He also speaks through Visions and Dreams (we have two kind of vision: Open and Close Vision)
4. God also speaks through CIRCUMSTANCES
5. God speaks through Numbers, Letters and Colors
6. God also speaks through Trance
7. God speaks through Taste and Smell (most people that are in deliverance ministry work at high degrees of this)
8. God also speaks through NATURE (Things He created, like Tree, Animals, Ants,and many more)
9. God speak through perception, feelings, anger(I mean Holy Anger),intuitions(ability to know things without been taught. You just know it and sometime you can't even explain how you got to know it)

And many more.....

I can't go into all these and explain but the only thing I can do for any one who desire to understand them beyond what i posted is, if such a person can post me I can then send him/her a free copy of a book called EXERCISING MY SPIRIT-MAN TO FOLLOW GOD. Or Some other copies of Christian's books that dealt with this aspect.

I will love to stop here, by tomorrow I will try and explain some of the things from my own experience in following the Lord.

Please feel free to request for these books, and I will try and send those one that I know by the Spirit of God that can be of Help to you.

And if you have any question. Please, you can post it here or directly to my profile box and I will try and explain as God help me.

Father we thank you once again for the little we are able to touch today. We bless your Holy Name for everything. Lord, I pray that as many that are desiring to hear You that You will open their ear just like you did for Samuel. You will provide help for them in this aspect of their life in Jesus Name. So that together we may comprehend with all saints the Breadth, the Width, the Height and the Depth of Your Kingdom in Jesus name. Amen and Amen.

See you tomorrow and God bless.

 

[Greatness4life]

Wow today is Sunday. I took some time to visit some of our brethren in their houses. Not long ago that I came in, but I would not be posting today. I want to use the few minutes I have to wait and if possible to read and write some books then later rest. So I trust the Lord for tomorrow to be able to post.

Once again, thanks for reading and God bless you.

The Kingdom of this world has truly become the Kingdom of our God and of His Christ, And He shall reign forever and ever.

Till tomorrow, God be with you.

 

[Greatness4life]

Hello everyone,
It been a while I posted on this thread. I believed by God's grace tomorrow I will continue from where I stopped. And I am sorry for not been able to post as I'd promised.

So tomorrow by God's grace and mercy, we shall continue from where we stopped and from there we'll see how the Lord will lead us on.

Thank you and God bless.

THY KINGDOM COME AND THY WILL BE DONE EARTH(In our lives) in Jesus name. Amen

 

[Greatness4life]

Continuation on Salvation Of my soul.

Lord will bless your Holy name for another time like this, I appreciate Your will and effort to make us become what you intended for us not that which we planned for our life. So, we pray Lord, that there will be more of You and less us. May Jesus increase as we decrease in the name of Jesus. We ask of Your Kingdom in all that we are doing and let Your will done in our lives. Amen


Blessed be the Lord for another time like this to post and share with everyone that is reading through this thread. I believe in my heart that this is hour that the Lord is bring more of His Kingdom to us like never before, our desire and willingness matters a lot in this time we are in.
So, if I have to encourage you, who has been born-again for over many years, I will say: DON'T PLAY FAMILIARITY WITH GOD.
And for you who has just come to know Christ, there is a journey the Lord is laying before you and if no one has told you how it will look like. I think I will use this medium to tell you that YOU WILL NEED TO COUNT THE COST BEFORE YOU EMBARK ON THIS JOURNEY. You need to prepare your heart for what the Lord will be bringing along your ways as you make up your mind to follow Him. To be candid, It's not an easy journey. The road is narrow and so also the path. In fact, the road is very demanding for all that you are.
You have to make your mind before you say yes. If you are being cajole to be born-again and you don't have Holy-Spirit conviction in your heart but all that you are after is what God can give to you. I'm sorry, you have missed it. It is better to re-visit your foundation, sit down and ask some questions. Where you don't understand seek for the answer, and if your salvation has a BUT, sincerely cry to God and allow Him to relay it for you.

I will love to continue from where we stopped last time but this time around, I will not be explaining the aforementioned on the issue of hearing God. I believed, If you will seek God with all your heart and might, He will make them Know to you. I don't want to give you any formula, I just want you to find your place at His feet and let Him teach you all that you need to know. Because whatever I explained here, you will not understand, unless you seek Him and He himself open your eyes to them. If not you will just have a mental knowledge but no understanding and life will be given instead it will be DEATH.

Everything we've shared so far are not meant for you if you are not born-again. If you are a religious person, I'm sorry you are just wasting your time because the exact thing you are reading will stand against you on the judgment day. But if you will turn to the Lord and diligently seek for His saving hands, it will turn to your joy.
And if your own case is that you have arrived then I will say unto you that ''GOD RESIST THE PROUD AND GIVE GRACE TO THE HUMBLE''.

The purpose of your hearing God is to obey Him in whatsoever He commanded you, but I must also say this that, If you are desiring to just only hear and not obey, THE LORD WILL NOT SPEAK TO YOU.

Also, If all what you are hearing are appealing to your soul, making you to trust more in the arm of FLESH, to walk in your strength and doesn't lead you to the cross, so that it may become of you that ''in me dwell no good things''. I must also tell you that, you are GREATLY DECEIVED.
The way out of all these is to cry to the Lord in sincerity of heart and in genuine repentance, and be ready to give up everything.

Godly sorrow are not only meant for those who are just coming into Christ but for everyone that has being in Christ and has got FAMILIARITY with Him.

Peter got familiar with the Lord and started rebuking Him for saying things that wasn't applying to his satisfaction (Flesh). The Lord had to arranged Peter's death in such a way that peter got to know that in him ''dwell no good thing''.

Everyone of us deserved this kind of experience and the Lord at His own time will arrange it for us, but my prayer is this: I pray we will not turn it down, we will allow it to work thoroughly in us.

This is where the whole issue is. The whole essence of hearing and following the Lord is that He may lead you to a place where it will no longer be ''you that is living but Christ'' No amount of confession of this can make it become a reality in your life, it has to come by what you suffered.

I advice you to take up your cross as the Lord commanded you and be ready to be yoke with Him. This kind of yoking is different in its form, it means whatever I suffer you also must bear it.
Imagine two animals that is yoke together, two of them have their strength and will, but the one that has much strength, will command the obedience of the other, and there will be giving up of strength and of will from this weaker animal. Such animal may not quickly learn but, by the time they begin to suffer, the meekness and lowliness of heart will come in. It will not come in a day but on daily basis.

When you are yoke with the Lord, giving up of your will and strength will not come in an easy way because it is not easy to give up life. But one thing is sure, you will learn obedient by what you will suffer. If you have been told that Christ has paid the price for all these things, yes, I quite agreed with that but, what about the working out of it? The apostle had the working out of this in their lives, how much more we. If truly we desire to be where the Apostle has gone to, then we must take heed to their commandment "we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God"

This is the way to learn of Christ's meekness and lowliness. I pray that the Lord will give you understanding in this area of your life.

All the pictures that I have painted before you from the begin of this thread is to show you that, It is God's will for you not just to be saved and remain at the door of SALVATION BY GRACE but the other side of it is that you should journey with Him so that He can take you into the Kingdom. No man can do that for you, it is a personal thing. Husband will not do that for his wife neither will the mother for her children. Everyone must seek after Christ, carry the cross that Christ designed for him/her and follow after Him.
The sword has to pear through my veil and my veil will not be open to cover for my wife or children, they also must experience it on their own.

This is where your soul experience salvation (REST). And it is here it all begun.


I pray that the Lord will give you understanding of all these in Jesus name. May you find willingness of heart to follow Him and do as He bid you In Jesus name. Amen

A song:
It's good to serve Jesus, I speak from my heart. There is Joy and contentment in serving the Lord. I'll do as he bid me, whatever the COST, I will be a true SOLDIER, I will DIE at my POST.


Tomorrow by God's grace, I will be sharing more on this and also share on the issue of FOOLISH AND WISE VIRGIN as it related to our entering into the Kingdom.

We bless You Lord for all things. What more can I say dear Lord? Let Your Kingdom come in whatever shape You designed it for us and give us grace to embrace it as it is not as we want it to be in Jesus name. Amen

 

[Greatness4life]

Ten Virgin.

Hello everyone, blessed be the Lord for another time and privilege He has given to us to share from His law of liberty. I appreciate everyone that is reading through this thread and I also give glory to the Lord for giving this time to share from His words and things He has been showing and leading me through not only but for as many He has called as a faithful witness this hour we are in.

Lord we thank You for another time like this, I appreciate Your grace and tender love You have for everyone that is reading through this thread. We pray that your Kingdom come and Your will be done on earth(in our lives) as it is in heaven, we ask for more of you and less of us. Open our eyes of understanding to see things the way You see them and give a willing heart to follow on in this Journey in Jesus name. Holy- Spirit illuminate our heart to understand all that we've been sharing and will still share. We thank Lord for all that You are doing in Jesus name amen.


Hallelujah.

Today we will look at this issue from another perspective and see how the Lord will lead us.

Matt 25:1-13

1 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
2 And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.
3 They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:
4 But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
5 While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.
6 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.
7 Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.
8 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.
9 But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.
10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.
11 Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.
12 But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.
13 Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.


This is one of the most fascinating parable the Lord used in regard to entering into the Kingdom of God (the Kingdom of God and of Heaven are the same thing Matthew 13, Mark 4 and Luke 8). I trust the Lord to open our eye as we move on in this.

Let me quickly shift in one of the things the Lord told me while waiting on Him about last week. I was in the sitting room just lying down on of the couch and I heard the Lord saying: ''HE WHO WROTE 24 WROTE 25''. As I heard this word couple with a trance I was given, I began to wonder what the Lord was saying and what does this things means ''HE WHO WROTE 24 WROTE 25''.
Not that long the Lord now told me that He who wrote Matthew 24 wrote Matthew 25. So, it dawn on me that Matthew 25 was a revelation of Matthew 24.

I may not go into what Lord has for us in Matthew 24 but I believed we should start from this 25.

After the Lord has spoken to His disciple in Matthew 24, He continue in His parable starting with THEN, which means everything you read from this Matthew 25 is a revelation or continuation of Matthew 24.

Matthew 25 is a story of TEN VIRGIN going on their journey to enter into the Kingdom of God but first they have to meet the King of that Kingdom before they can be permitted to enter into the Kingdom. All of them has the same things in common:
1. They were all virgin
2. They both have lamps
3. They were all in the same journey to meet the Bridegroom
But along the way on their Journey they were differentiated by what they possessed, which means Group A became Wise by what they possessed while Group B became Foolish by What they Lack.
4.They all slumbered when the Bridegroom tarry..

Lets explain those points mentioned above one after the other.

THEY WERE ALL VIRGIN


As many people that have come to the Lord to be saved are refer to as Virgin. It doesn't matter whether they have loose their physical virginity or not. But I must also say that If you still have your Physical virginity don't play with it, Keep yourself clean and abstain from any thing that may cause you to loose it. It is meant for Your wife or Husband to be. Before God there is always a reward for that. And if you have lost your own, don't see yourself as not been pure but remember that you are a virgin in the Lord.

When someone gives his life to Christ, there is animputed righteousness(Virginity) the Lord put into such a person's life.
This kind of righteousness is not merited by their work, but it is the Lord that put it there or we may also called it sealed of salvation or earnest of inheritance(Ephesians 1:13-14). This is to show the seal of ownership.
So, these ten Virgin were all born-again, they've received Christ at one time in their Life and they've heard alot about what the Lord has in stock for them, So they embarked on the journey to meet their Bridegroom.

THEY ALL HAVE LAMPS
This is the second thing they possessed: LAMPS. What does the Lamps means here?

1 Sam 3:3;

And ere the LAMP of God went out in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was, and Samuel was laid down to sleep


2 Sam 22:29

For thou art my LAMP , O LORD: and the LORD will LIGHTEN my darkness


Ps 119:105
Thy word is a LAMP unto my feet, and a LIGHT unto my path.

It was the commandment of the Lord that the Lamp must keeps burning in the temple(don't forget that temple is your body) but what dictate the continual burning of the lamp depends on the man that it was commissioned to.

Here the ten virgin has their individuals lamps they were carrying and it was expected of them to make sure the fire in their lamps doesn't fissile out. But, they all needed oil to keep the lamp burning until the bridegroom arrived.

This lamp (WORD) is nothing but the SALVATION OF THEIR SPIRIT.


The WORD of the Lord they received that was mixed with FAITH in them produced this LAMPS and inside this Lamp, each one of them has a deposited OIL to carry on in their journey but this oil will not be enough, they MUST continually keep putting oil to their lamps with the EXTRA OIL they get along their ways.

Matt 11:28

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you REST.

So, this was the first deposit of REST they were given when they accept the words of the Lord.



This is why I said to us that the salvation experience you and I had when we came to the Lord IT IS NOT ENOUGH TO CARRY US ON IN THIS JOURNEY.

At this point I will like to say to everyone that believed in this kind of message that says: ONCE SAVES FOREVER SAVED that it is a deception.


To begin a journey is different from to end a journey, I may enter a plane going to South Africa but I may likely not get there if my plane crashes. So for me to get to South Africa, I must make sure I have enough gasoline/fuel in my plane, my plane must be in good position. I must at all cost maintain my course while in the air, checking the necessary thing that needed to be checked.

So also is the issue of Salvation, you must continually (on a daily basis) examine it, making sure you are still on the right path. It must not be something you received and neglect.
Yes, we can also say the Lamps is the word, but I believed is not referring to the LOGO but the Rhema(the Revelational words of Christ).

Whatever that has to do with the Lamps is closely related to our spirit-man.

Proverbs 20:27;

The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly


Psalm 18:28;

For thou wilt light my candle: the Lord will enlighten my darkness


So when we came to Christ, He change from us from being a prostitutes to Virgin. Then along side He gave us ASSURANCE OF SALVATION and sealed us with His Spirit.

He gave us Oil (which is equal to His Spirit) in Our spirit( which also means Lamps) but He expected us to always be coming to Him to buy more OIL to light our Lamps(spirit man).


What He deposited in us needs growth and this growth will come as we continually nurtures it with every circumstance He brings our ways. The more we relate with His Spirit, the more we grow in what He has deposited in us.

This was what the Ten Virgin experienced in their journey to the Kingdom but along the way something happened which divided them into Two part.

The first group were wise

The first group were referred to as wise virgin because of what they possessed. What they really possessed were vessels or container to keep their oil. As they continually journey, they kept on buying oil. Every opportunity they had either negative or positive they kept on buying oil.

But here is the question, What were the VESSEL they possessed?
The vessel they possessed was nothing but their Soul. These wise virgin has experienced the dealing of the Lord in their Soul, they has yielded their vessel to be purge so that the Oil(The REVELATION/The Spirit of Christ) may be deposited in them. Their souls has experienced Salvation, Christ was not only living in their Spirit-man but they have given Him the possession of their Soul. Jesus has moved beyond being their Savior but He has become their Lord.

That was what made them to become wise Virgin.

2 Cor 4:7;

But we have this treasure (which treasure?) in earthen vessels , that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.




The second group were foolish

The second group became foolish in their journey because, they refused to possessed their Vessel, and the end result of that was, they had no EXTRA OIL that could carried them on in their journey to the kingdom, they were disqualified. The commandment of the wise to them was: ''go and buy from them that are selling'' because the oil they possessed cannot be shared. They must go through what the wise virgin went through to get their own oil and there is no short-cut to this.

So what is the lesson the Lord is teaching us through this?

The lesson is this, if you and I refused to possessed our VESSEL which is the salvation of our soul(laying down own will, desire and embracing our the Cross) then in the dark hour it will be too late.

If all we do is to enjoy ourselves, and care not for our vessel. It will be very devastating because what we refused to possessed now, we will be told :''go and buy from them that are selling'' when the time comes.

The Laodiceans' church was an example of the foolish virgin.

Rev 3:14-18

And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;

I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.

So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see


The problem of this church was not in what they have but who they are. They have refused to go through circumstance the Lord arranged for them. They did not want to labor to enter the Kingdom, they have refused to work out the salvation of their soul with fear and trembling.
So, what they don't want t go through, the Lord has to present it to them again: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see

The righteousness of the soul is not given to any man on a platter of gold rather through suffering, through carrying of one cross and following Christ on a daily basis.


1 Peter 1:7-11

That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:

Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
Of which salvation (salvation of your souls) the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:

Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.


The way to glory, the way to the enter into the Kingdom is through death. There is no glorification without crucifixion. That is the only way to possess our soul and have oil in it in the dark hour.
.
Luke 21:19;

In your patience possess ye your souls


Rev 1:9

I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ


Rev 2:3

And hast borne, and hast patience , and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.


Rev 3:10
Because thou hast kept the word of my patience , I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.



Rev 14:12;

Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

THIS IS THE PATIENCE OF THE SAINT EVEN THE SALVATION OF THEIR SOUL

All that the Lord want to kill and resurrected is your soul. There cannot be treasure in your vessel except your vessel has gone through death.

2 Cor 4:7-11

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels , that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;

Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;

Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.


I pray the Lord give you understanding in Jesus name.

 

[Greatness4life]

Hello everyone, thank God for another day like this to share from His law of liberty and also to encourage ourselves in faith. I blessed the Lord for everyone that is reading through this thread and my prayer is that the God of heaven and earth will be so gracious to us and count us worthy of His Kingdom here on earth and hereafter in Jesus name. Amen.

Having emphases on the needs for our soul to experience salvation, God willing tomorrow, we shall be looking at how to prepare our body for this salvation. It is of great important that we must be presented to our Lord completely (Spirit, Soul and Body).

So, by tomorrow we shall start from here by God's grace.

Thank you everyone and God bless.

Come quickly Lord Jesus.

 

[Greatness4life]

The needs to present Our body

Hello everyone, we give thanks to the Lord for another time to look into His law of liberty. For as we behold Him we are change from glory to Glory by the same Spirit of the Lord.

So we praise You Lord and ask for Your Kingdom to come and let Your will done in this earth( In our Lives), may the increase of Your government in Our Land(lives) have no end in Jesus name. amen
Holy-Spirit, You are the best teacher that is always there to lead us into all truth. We ask You to open our eyes to see the Revelation of You. All that we want to see is Jesus. We want to learn of You on every thing You are bring our ways. So, we trust and depend on You for LIGHT and REVELATION in Jesus name. Amen.


Today, we will be looking at the third aspect of what we are made up of, which is our Body.
Like I said before that the Salvation the Lord purchased for us covered the three aspect of our Being. Our Spirit, Soul and Body.

Let review on what we've shared so far.

We understood from the scripture revealed to us by His Spirit that it is the will of God for our Spirit,Soul and Body to be preserved blameless until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ according to 1Thessalonian 5:23:
And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.


So also we shared that the salvation we received the day we came to the Lord dealt with our Spirit man, because that is where the work of restoration start from. This is the first rest we received when we came to the Lord at salvation.
Matthew 11:28;

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest


John 3:3

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.


This rest give us the ability to see the Kingdom of God. This is just the starting point of our Journey and it is of great important.
So, to have this rest or to see the Kingdom of God, You must be Born-again. That is what qualify you for that. It is an instantaneous experience.

The second aspect we touched was the salvation of our soul. We also shared in that line that after one gave his life to the Lord, one MUST NOT sit at the gate of ONCE SAVED FOREVER SAVED. The Lord required us to moving to the next stage. Which is:

Matt 11:29-30;

Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: andye shall find rest unto your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.


There is a need to take up our cross and follow the Lord, it is by doing this that we learn of Him and progressively we also become MEEK AND LOWLY in heart just like Him.

I also shared that this learning of the Lord come through hearing the Lord and the needs to hear the Lord was also emphases.

I can't go into all that we shared so far but I beckon you to read it from the beginning of this thread. And if you want to be sure of your born-again experience whether is genuine or counterfeit, you can take a glance through the message I posted on my Blog which dealt with the issues of BORN-AGAIN EXPERIENCE: BASIC ELEMENT OF A COMPLETE BORN AGAIN EXPERIENCE

Lets go into today's topic:

SALVATION OF OUR BODY

This is third and the last part of our being. Our body as recorded in 1 Cor 6:19 is the temple of the Lord;
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

Many other scripture testify to this truth that our body is the Temple of the Lord. The Lord does not live in a house built by man, He lives in the body of His people which house is not made by man's hand.
The salvation our Body is a gift from the Lord to us just as the salvation of our Spirit but we definitely has a role to play in this regard. This role you will find in Romans 12:1 and 2.
Rom 12:1-2
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Our role here is to continually present our body to the Lord, in fact, it is our reasonable service. Which means as many that profess to know the Lord Jesus Christ MUST continually present their body to Him. Our body must not be left out in the things we do or say, most especially what we put on and inside of this body matters not only that, but what we use our body for or where we carry it to is of great important. The Lord demand us to daily present this body to Him.

I've heard alot of christian saying what they eat, what they wear or what they use their body for is of no important. It doesn't matter to God and in fact it does not affected their spiritual life. I know it is a deception from the enemy for such people to say that, because God is more interested in what you use this your earthly house for.

For such people they have forgotten these:

1 Cor 6:15-20
15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.

16 What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.

17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.

18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.

19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.


So there is a need to present this my body and your body to the Lord on a daily basis.

This is just the foundation of what I will be sharing for some days. I trust the Lord to grant us grace and understanding to grasp the reality of this in our daily living in Jesus name. Amen

I will love to stop here, and continue God's willing tomorrow on this topic by His grace.
God Bless everyone in Jesus name. Amen

MY BODY IS YOUR SANCTUARY, PURIFY ME LIKE GOLD, SO THAT I MIGHT BE BOLD TO SAY, MY BODY IS YOUR SANCTUARY