I heard, “A new dawn.”

It is key at this moment, not to focus on what God is yet to do, but what He has already done for us, how He has been faithful, where He has picked us from, who we now are in Him, the blessings we have already received from Him…..

…. and to be patient and confident that our times are in His Hands.

Yes, Spiritual Growth is what we have been looking at for some days now. Understanding this will help us position ourselves for the greatness of God to be made manifest in our lives.

We have been observing the life of the Apostle Paul, used of God more than anyone in the New Testament.

We have seen that he grew to see himself utterly unworthy, just even as Spurgeon did,

“When you feel yourself to be utterly unworthy, you have hit the Truth….” — Charles Haddon Spurgeon 1834-1892.

We have come to understand that when we let go of all our own desires and long only for God, we encounter the excellency of The Knowledge of God….. where we have resurrection life made manifest in us.

There is another thing that the Apostle Paul desired which today it is as though it is a curse for anyone to preach on it. We are often too used to the joyful and happy parts of The Gospel.

What we all need is the whole Counsel of God. There is a part, not enticing, but key to experiencing the resurrection power of Christ. It is a pathway for the mature who desire deeper koinonia (fellowship) with The LORD.

As the Apostle continues to list the reasons for forgoing all things, we see something strange he was gunning for;

“That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death,” Philippians 3:10.

And the fellowship of His sufferings? Who ever desires sufferings? But this was the mindset of the Apostle. This is the truth of Love. This is the proof of genuine love for God.

Today this kind of life is little appreciated in most places. A lot of people worship their integrity, they can’t go out to evangelize Jesus for fear of shame, that they might be insulted.

They cannot risk some insult for Jesus. They have been deceived, that they have an integrity outside of Jesus, hence they are protecting it.

Instead of counting it all Joy, instead of looking at it as a privilege as the disciples of old would do many of us have been deceived by the enemy. There is no genuine love for God manifesting in a lot of us.

Most of us live in places where there is not much persecution, yet we are so lazy, careless and more fearful than those living in war fronts.

They are countries in which Christians are being persecuted and killed everyday — yet they are unrelenting in preaching The Cross.

But this was the desire of all the Apostles. It is a Declaration of Value and Honour for what The LORD has done for us. All the Apostles longed for these sufferings, and died in them, for the Name of our Saviour.

New School Christianity is destroying everything. A lot of us are comfortable sharing football results, advertising celebrities, advertising ourselves, but there is nothing on our social media platforms that speak of Jesus.

Why not make your Social Media Platform a place for The LORD, a ministry unto your God?

I think self is the problem. You desire to be seen… You desire to belong… You want to advertise your potentials… But I think somewhere in you, if you are truly saved, you desire resurrection life.

Then you must give way. You must be made conformable to His death. He laid down His life for us to have His life, but we must also lay down our lives to receive His. We must lose our lives, to find it in Him.

When we suffer, we reign. This kind of suffering is not God cursing you with sickness. No! We are promised persecution, contradiction of sinners, just as our Saviour. When we suffer we reign;

“If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us,” 2 Timothy 2:12.

A lot of us just want things from The LORD. The heart of God is to save sinners, to lift up The Name of Jesus….. and that comes with a cost.

But we often reject the cost. All we want is protect me, heal me, heal my children, prosper me, love me, promote me, beautify me, give me influence, me affluence, give me, give me, give me — the list goes on.

Oh I sincerely love Spurgeon. Look at this quote;

“He who follows Christ for his bag is a Judas; they who follow for loaves and fishes are children of the devil; but they who attend him out of love to himself are his own beloved ones….” — Charles H. Spurgeon 1834-1892.

We never ask the question a genuine convert ought to ask — just like the Apostle Paul did at the moment of his conversion, “LORD, what will You have me to do?” (Acts 9:6).

I do not understand why others are so comfortable, but look at this quote again;

“As soon as a man finds Christ, he goes to find others….” — Charles H. Spurgeon 1832-1892.

Like the woman at the well, if you have found Him, there must be a yearning in you to find others!

It may look strange — but we are still on spiritual growth. This is not food for babies, it is for the mature, those in love with Jesus.

Hope I’ll see you tomorrow…

In an encounter with The LORD, I kept hearing, “A new dawn” repeatedly as I was waking up from the bed.

“We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts,” 2 Peter 1:19.

Then The LORD said, “My Light is shining in the darkness, it is a new dawn, a time of light. Your time of higher spiritual understanding, as I arise and dwell richly in your heart,”

 

Blessings in Christ,
~ Pastor Jahfas Victor Ahua
Living Hill Christian Church.

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Pastor Jahfas Victor Ahua is the founder and lead pastor of Living Hill Christian Church headquartered in Nigeria, which has a vision to restore the earth with the gospel of God’s grace. Called to be a pastor, he functions in the Healing/ Prophetic/ Teaching/ Music and Writing Ministries. He releases Prophetic Words to encourage the body of Christ on the Church’s blog.

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