Choose Life (Part Fifty-Five): Brace Up. Pull Your Weight.

Lay Down Your Heavy Burden

Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?  

― John 5:5-6, NKJV 

We continue this week with the story of the sick man healed at the Pool of Bethesda. [John 5:1-15].

Taking Our Place

Bracing up [Job 38:3; 40:7], being strong, being courageous [Deuteronomy 31:6; 1 Corinthians 16:13; Ephesians 6:10], standing in our place of dominion [Genesis 1:28] and fighting (contending) for that which is ours is not one of those things God will do for us. We have to do these for ourselves. It is our own part in the game of life. Our doing these is our partnering and opening the doorway for God to move on our behalf. We need to stand strong and say like Caleb and Joshua,

If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, ‘a land which flows with milk and honey.’ Only do not rebel against the Lord, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their protection has departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them.” (Numbers 14:8-9, NKJV)

God Has Chosen to Need Us

You can fast for all that you want. You can have more night vigils than nights of sleep. You can give all that you have and even your very life, but unless you do your part GOD IS HELPLESS in your situation. YOU HAVE THE POWER TO LET HIM IN. WILL YOU? The Philistines did and were victorious. Joshua and Caleb did and were victorious. David did and was victorious. [1 Samuel 17] What about you? We are more powerful than our "stars" (assuming there is anything like that). 

It is all in the human mind. Therein is the power. Therein is our destiny.

© 2017 Akin Akinbodunse

Link to Study Series:

Choose Life (Part Fifty-Four): Stand Up. Be counted.

Link to Other Resources:

Unchanged Word of God (David Jeremiah)

Don't Tell Me There Ain't No God (Gary McDougall)

Stay Salt: The World Has Changed (Rebecca Manley Pippert)

God Has Not Changed His Mind About You (Andrea Lynn Gates)

Choose Life (Part Fifty-Four): Stand Up. Be counted.

Courage

Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” (John 5:5-6, NKJV)

We continue this week with the story of the sick man healed at the Pool of Bethesda. [John 5:1-15].

Powerful Beyond Comprehension:

Isn't it amazing to know the power which drives and shapes our fate lies within us? Yet, we are so quick to blame others and or circumstances. Victory in life ALWAYS involves looking inward, and then only seeing outward from the inward look. We each have amazing powers, beyond comprehension, resident within us. We need to positively release this to affect our generation, our world, and ourselves. 

Stand Like Men:

The question is, will we? Will we release it, or let it lie dormant? The next scripture we look at is 1 Samuel 4:9. The NKJV reads,

Be strong and conduct yourselves like men, you Philistines, that you do not become servants of the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Conduct yourselves like men, and fight!”

These were the wise words of the Philistines’ elders to the fighting men. In other words, they said, 

“Don’t go down without a fight. Even if you end up losing, let posterity speak well of you. Let it say ‘You did your best.’ Let it say, ‘You stood your ground and defended that which is yours.’” 

These are the exact same words God has for you and me today. The only way we are going to overcome and not be servants to the elements of this world is to, 

“BE STRONG AND CONDUCT OURSELVES LIKE MEN.” 

God's power needs our faith and courage for it to be released on our behalf. It is not God alone. It is not us alone. It is God and we bring about His power and purposes upon the earth and in our individual lives. Our lack of faith and/or courage can and does limit God's efficacy. Just imagine what could have happened to the Philistines if they had given up without a fight. They would have lost a battle God had given to them.

How many battles do we lose on a daily basis only because we give up without a fight? We refuse to do even the minimum, appearing. We are rather focused on the challenge and our demons, rather than lifting up our eyes to where our help comes from. We seat under the tree of despondent, rather than proving our God, like Jonathan, [1 Samuel 14], Joshua and Caleb [Numbers 14]. Our God has given us the Land, but we have to go out and possess it with full confidence of faith.

The Ball is in Your Court:

“Don’t go down without a fight. Even if you end up losing, let posterity speak well of you. Let it say ‘You did your very best.’ Let it say, ‘You stood your ground and defended that which is yours.’”

Do you want to know how important this is? See how many times God repeats it in His admonition to Joshua [Joshua 1:5, 6, 9] God seems to imply it was the only thing that could stand in Joshua’s way to and of success. It was the only thing that could hinder him from being with Joshua as He was with Moses. Has it were, God was saying, this is the key to receiving His promise. He will be with us, as He was with Moses if only we will do our own part in being strong and conduct ourselves like men.

Do you think it could be any different for us? Do you think it could be any different for you? There is a whole lot God can and will do for us. Only we can shorten His hands. Only we can limit Him. Are you limiting God in your life? Are easily giving up? Are you going down without a fight? Are you giving your best, or barely passing by? Are living in the past, or in the present? Are you taking ownership of the journey of your life? Are you defending that which is yours?

It's all in your hands. The world is waiting for you to show up. Will you? Are you?

© 2017 Akin Akinbodunse

Link to Study Series:

Choose Life (Part Fifty-Three): Drink From the Waters (Part Eight).

Choose Life (Part Fifty-Five): Brace Up. Pull Your Weight.

Link to Other Resources:

Unchanged Word of God (David Jeremiah)

Don't Tell Me There Ain't No God (Gary McDougall)

Stay Salt: The World Has Changed (Rebecca Manley Pippert)

God Has Not Changed His Mind About You (Andrea Lynn Gates)

Choose Life (Part Fifty-Three): Drink From the Waters (Part Eight).

The Power of "But:"

I guess that is what Oswald Chambers means when he says, 

"All Christians have the Spirit of Christ, but not all Christians have the mind of Christ." 

Not all are doing well on their sanctification journey, the second work of grace, on our journey to glory. Not all are well off the journey of growing into Christ in all things. [Ephesians 4:13]

However, this can only go on until we awake to the power of "BUT" and come to ourselves. It can only go on until the scales fall off our eyes until we are ready to go unto greater things, maturity. [Hebrews 6:1-3] When we are prepared to take hold as Christ has taken hold of us, then the whole equation changes. Our new day comes. And, we choose to drink from the waters. The creation will then see our glorious appearance as we arise to the place of our calling. May God make it so in our individual lives.

The Word our Differentiation:

Our differentiation is in each of us coming to the waters to drink of our own. [John 4:14, 7:38, 17:17; Isaiah 12:3; Psalm 36:8; Revelations 21:6-8, 22:1-2] It is in laying down our burdens at His feet, and leaving them there. [Mathew 11:28-29] it is in receiving the fullness of all that He Has already offered. [John 1:16] That is what gives the Father pleasure. No wonder the Psalmist says,

"Let them shout for joy and be glad, Who favor my righteous cause; And let them say continually, “Let the Lord be magnified, Who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.”" (Psalm 35:27, NKJV)

It is the Father's pleasure to give us the kingdom.

© 2017 Akin Akinbodunse.

Link to Study Series:

Choose Life (Part Fifty-Two): Drink From the Waters (Part Seven).

Choose Life (Part Fifty-Four): Stand Up. Be counted.

Link to Other Resources:

Unchanged Word of God (David Jeremiah)

Don't Tell Me There Ain't No God (Gary McDougall)

Stay Salt: The World Has Changed (Rebecca Manley Pippert)

God Has Not Changed His Mind About You (Andrea Lynn Gates)

Choose Life (Part Fifty-Two): Drink From the Waters (Part Seven).

Lay Down Your Heavy Burden

Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?  

― John 5:5-6, NKJV

We continue this week with the story of the sick man healed at the Pool of Bethesda. [John 5:1-15].

An Enemy on our Trail:

I don't need spiritual blessings on the other side of eternity. I need them here and now. And, they are available. It is ours for the taking if we so decide. They are ours for the asking. The devil, knowing our ignorance and laziness of mind, in some cases, comes to challenge us against receiving. He even uses our own against us. Men and women working the agenda of Satan, yet dressed like God's servants. No wonder Jesus tells us to mark them out by their fruits, not their titles and Christianese language. [Matthew 7:15-20]

Satan does his work in several different ways and fronts. Irrespective of which way he comes, or which method he uses, his objective remains the same. He wants to destroy you. If he cannot get to that directly, he will try to kill you. If he can kill you, then he might be able to destroy you. If he cannot kill you, he tries to steal from you. If he can steal from you, then he tries to kill you. If he can kill you, then he tries to destroy you. This is the devil's unending cycle. He cannot even as much help himself to change. He is as it was condemned to this cycle. Guess who then needs to change? [John 8:44, 10:10]

The Sweet Now and Today:

There is nothing else for God to do. He would not even as much as stop the devil on our behalf. Why? He has done his bit. He has done His part. The ball is in our own court. We have the baton. We have the authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions. [Luke 10:17 - 20] When are we going to start using it? When are we going to grow up and make our Father proud? When are we going to start declaring His manifold wisdom? [Ephesians 3:10-11] When are we going to grow up and stop being children? [Romans 8:19] Whether we make it or not in this life is not up to God. He has done His part for us all.

Although the way to the Holy of Holies has been opened unto us, God is not going to force us to come in. [Hebrews 4] A great many rather than follow the example of the repentant prodigal son, choose rather be the elder brother. Sad. So, very sad. Even with the truth so clearly, before us, we still can't choose rightly. We are so consumed by our own lust. How so shameful. [Luke 15:11-32] How pitiful and sorrowful, that though surrounded by much, we are no different from forsaken orphans.

© 2017 Akin Akinbodunse.

Link to Study Series:

Choose Life (Part Fifty-One): Drink From the Waters (Part Six).

Link to Other Resources:

Unchanged Word of God (David Jeremiah)

Don't Tell Me There Ain't No God (Gary McDougall)

Stay Salt: The World Has Changed (Rebecca Manley Pippert)

God Has Not Changed His Mind About You (Andrea Lynn Gates)

Choose Life (Part Fifty-One): Drink From the Waters (Part Six)

Lay Down Your Heavy Burden

Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?  

― John 5:5-6, NKJV

We continue this week with the story of the sick man healed at the Pool of Bethesda. [John 5:1-15].

Disciplining is the Commissioning:

The great commission is commissioning for making disciples, but we have turned it on its head to achieve our own self glorying objectives. We are all about size, bigness, and number. We are fixated on quantity, not quality—membership rather than transformation. We have simply missed Christ, and we are all about blowing our own trumpets. 

Instead of waking up to what is wrong, we are busy further digging ourselves in. We work tirelessly, trying to protect our own vain names and legacy while off track from the master's mandate. Not being able to prosper in the spirit, we are all about patching things up. Aiden Wilson Tozer, the American Christian pastor, author, magazine editor, and spiritual mentor, rightly deciphers the situation. He wrote, 

“Religion today is not transforming people; rather it is being transformed by the people. It is not raising the moral level of society; it is descending to society’s own level, and congratulating itself that it has scored a victory because society is smilingly accepting its surrender.” ― A.W. Tozer.

What a shame. Thanks, be to God; all is not lost yet. Christ's hands are ever extended out to us. He bids us come. He knocks at the door of our hearts if only we will let Him in. He wants to come in and have fellowship. He longs for koinonia. [Revelation 3:20] On our own, we can do nothing. Only in and with Him are we made whole and can begin to fulfill the purpose. [John 15:5]

Things That Follow Salvation:

There is more to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ than the mere salvation of our soul. His sacrifice also affords us a restoration, refreshing, renewal of our soul. [John 3:5, 8:32, 1:12, 10:10; Acts 3:19; Romans 12:2; James 1:21] He that the Son sets free is free indeed - Spirit, Soul, and Body. [John 8:36] Why are we focusing on one at the expense of the other. 

None of our excuses hold water. They are simply baseless. I love the way C. S. Lewis puts it.

“Of all the tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under the omnipotent moral busybodies."

We have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. [Ephesians 1:3; 2 Peter 1:3-4] God did not provide them to keep them there. He provided so we can lay claim, lay hold, and bring them into reality for use in this present life, on this side of eternity. It is not only the "Sweet By and By." I need God here, today, in the "Sweet, Now and Today." 

He is not only the God of Heaven. He is the God of the Earth also. [Psalm 24:1]

© 2017 Akin Akinbodunse

Link to Study Series:

Choose Life (Part Fifty): Drink From the Waters (Part Five)

Choose Life (Part Fifty-Two): Drink From the Waters (Part Seven)

Link to Other Resources:

Unchanged Word of God (David Jeremiah)

Don't Tell Me There Ain't No God (Gary McDougall)

Stay Salt: The World Has Changed (Rebecca Manley Pippert)

God Has Not Changed His Mind About You (Andrea Lynn Gates)

Choose Life (Part Fifty): Drink From the Waters (Part Five)

Lay Down Your Heavy Burden

Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?  

― John 5:5-6, NKJV

We continue this week with the story of the sick man healed at the Pool of Bethesda. [John 5:1-15].

Born Again? So, What?

A great many are just satisfied with being born again, the first work of grace. Where did they get this satisfaction? Surely not from the Father, nor the Son, nor the Holy Ghost. Where did they get this strange satisfaction or doctrine? Who sowed tares in their field? [Matthew 13:25] The master's mandate is clear. Isn't it? Matthew 28:18-20 reads,

"And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”" Amen. 

Which part of this tells us to be satisfied with a person being born again? Yes, it is a thing of joy. [Luke 15:1-7] Great joy indeed that one would repent and accept Jesus Christ. Great, but that is not the end of the story. The work only just started. The master's commission is to make DISCIPLES, not sheer converts, church members, or believers.

More to Jesus than Just Being Born Again:

There is much more to Christ than merely being born again. All being born again affords us is an initiation to begin the journey. It is not the end in and of itself. It is ONLY the beginning. Yet our churches are inundated with it. Choosing to build their tentacles and tabernacles there. They are no different from the Pharisees of old.

Here is what Jesus had and has to say about those. 

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves." (Matthew 23:15, NKJV)

The job is not done just because the person got born again. That is only the beginning. Let us ensure we spread the emphasis and not be lopsided.

© 2017 Akin Akinbodunse

Link to Study Series:

Choose Life (Part Forty-Nine): Drink From the Waters (Part Four)

Choose Life (Part Fifty-One): Drink From the Waters (Part Six)

Link to Other Resources:

Unchanged Word of God (David Jeremiah)

Don't Tell Me There Ain't No God (Gary McDougall)

Stay Salt: The World Has Changed (Rebecca Manley Pippert)

God Has Not Changed His Mind About You (Andrea Lynn Gates)

Choose Life (Part Forty-Nine): Drink From the Waters (Part Four)

Lay Down Your Heavy Burden

Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?  

― John 5:5-6, NKJV

We continue this week with the story of the sick man healed at the Pool of Bethesda. [John 5:1-15].

Not $3 Worth, But All of God:

How so well did Wilbur Rees write of such? All they want is "Three Dollars Worth of God." Their heart's cry is for just a limited amount, dose of God, a God they can use, a God they can control, a God after their own image. So, they cry,

"I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please.

Not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep,
but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk
or a snooze in the sunshine.
I don’t want enough of God to make me love a black man or pick beets with a migrant.
I want ecstasy, not transformation.
I want warmth of the womb, not a new birth.
I want a pound of the Eternal in a paper sack.
I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please."  

— Wilbur Rees.

How much of God are you looking for? 

I Surrender ALL.

How much of God do you want? How much of God will satisfy your soul? The rich young ruler wanted just enough to make him feel good about heaven. Jesus jostled him to a rude awakening. Why think you He will treat you any differently? God does not come in measures. He would have all or nothing. A.W. Tozer puts it like this,

"God wants the whole person, and He will not rest till He gets us in entirety. No part of the man will do."

His call to us is to love Him with our all, without measure. [Matthew 22:37; Luke 10:27] "To have found God and still to pursue Him is the soul's paradox of love, scorned indeed by the too-easily-satisfied religionist, but justified in happy experience by the children of the burning heart." (A.W. Tozer)

Moses chose His ways, His heart. 

He chose to know God for himself. The Israelites, on the other hand, chose His acts, His hands. They just wanted what they could get. Like Solomon, Moses chose rightly, and he got it all. He became known as a friend of God [Numbers 12:8]. Wow! What a privilege? Wow! What intimacy in the relationship? What a placing in God? And, that is available to us also. 

Guess how different our prayer will be if we push to this level. God himself gives credence to such by naming Moses as one of those who could move His hands. [Ezekiel 14:14] God loves us all the same but does not relate to us equally. We each determine how God relates to us. Remember, the word says, "draw near to God, and He will draw near to you." He only responds to the level, intensity, and depth of your drawing. 

You got the keys. How much of God do you want?

© 2017 Akin Akinbodunse

Link to Study Series:

Choose Life (Part Forty-Eight): Drink From the Waters (Part Three)

Choose Life (Part Fifty): Drink From the Waters (Part Five)

Link to Other Resources:

Unchanged Word of God (David Jeremiah)

Don't Tell Me There Ain't No God (Gary McDougall)

Stay Salt: The World Has Changed (Rebecca Manley Pippert)

God Has Not Changed His Mind About You (Andrea Lynn Gates)

Choose Life (Part Forty-Eight): Drink From the Waters (Part Three)

Lay Down Your Heavy Burden

Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?  

― John 5:5-6, NKJV

We continue this week with the story of the sick man healed at the Pool of Bethesda. [John 5:1-15].

He Wants My All:

“Don’t let your fear of failing triumph over the joy of participating.” (Marilyn Monroe) God wants our all or nothing. We don't come to God cautiously. We come to God with reckless abandon. The one who loved us recklessly requires a reckless response. Note the usage of the word "ALL" in the parables in Matthew 13:44-46. God wants all of us. He'll take nothing less.

Coming to faith, as a teen, some thirty-four (34) years ago, one of the most destabilizing verses of scripture for me was Luke 14:26. It reads, 

“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. (NKJV)

How could I possibly need to hate my parents? I love the Lord, but why would He require me to hate my parents? Well like you all know, Christ was comparing our love for Him to that for our parents. My reckless disposition to God when compared to that I have for my parents should seem as if I hate them. He is making it unequivocally clear where and to what magnitude our devotion should be.

God wants our all, and He makes it clear in the first and greatest of all commandments. That is the sum total and end of the prophets and the law, it has not changed, and will never change. [Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30; Deuteronomy 6:5] Yet, these Pharisees and scribes - lazy heads, lazy hearts, and lazy hands - just want enough faith to feel good. 

Make Us A god:

Foolishness of Man

The same Israelites who did not want to hear from God directly [Exodus 20:18-20] asked Aaron to make them a God. [Exous 32:1-6] What changed? They were unable to receive God as He is. They were unwilling to submit their cravings to God, and rise up to His calling. Rather they had their own idea of who and what God should be, and was far more interested in that. 

Rather than embrace the God who has introduced Himself to them, they were too attached to the vision of the gods they had imbibed in Egypt. They were reluctant to let go of the old to accept the new. Their modern-day compatriots we see in Romans 1:18-32. Just like the Israelites, they were not ignorant of God. (verses 19-20) They chose as an act of the will to abandon Him. 

He was more than they bargained for. They were not looking for a God to serve. Rather they wanted a God that would serve them and their lust. So, in this endeavor, they became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. (verse 21) Professing themselves to be wise they became fools and subjected themselves to the very same things they were created to have dominion over. (verses 22-23)

"We don't seem to want to worship a God who's too big, too authoritative. We seem more comfortable with a deity who's more manageable." (Mark Finley) Since they were bent on depravity, God allowed them to have the full measure of it. (verses 24-27)

© 2017 Akin Akinbodunse

Link to Study Series:

Choose Life (Part Forty-Seven): Drink From the Waters (Part Two)

Choose Life (Part Forty-Nine): Drink From the Waters (Part Four)

Link to Related Topic:

Devotional Tea 3: Make us a god

Link to Other Resources:

Unchanged Word of God (David Jeremiah)

Don't Tell Me There Ain't No God (Gary McDougall)

Stay Salt: The World Has Changed (Rebecca Manley Pippert)

God Has Not Changed His Mind About You (Andrea Lynn Gates)

Choose Life (Part Forty-Seven): Drink From the Waters (Part Two)

Lay Down Your Heavy Burden

Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?  

― John 5:5-6, NKJV

We continue this week with the story of the sick man healed at the Pool of Bethesda. [John 5:1-15].

Love Does What Love Does:

By the power of free agency, God CANNOT force you to accept His Son. He CANNOT force you to receive the sacrifice He has provided. He gave up His right to force you, all because He loves you. He loves you enough to believe you will do right. He took the chance on you. He wants pure, free-flowing love, not influenced, forced, supposed love. God wants all or nothing; first place or no place at all. [Matthew 10:34-39, 22:36-40] Can you deal? Only those who deal can enter into His rest. [Hebrews 4]  

Jesus says, "come unto me all ye who are weak and heaven laden." [Matthew 11:28] Rather than coming to Him, our unfortunate response is, "Lord, we are satisfied with just the spiritual blessings." Really? Unfortunately, He cannot force the blessing on us. No wonder many are impoverished, calling their own foolishness the cross of Discipleship. [ref.: Mark 2:17]

Jesus says, "He comes that we might have life in its fullest measure." [John 10:10] Our response is, "That is only spiritually." Really? Where in the text do we see that? Did God send you a special telegram and somehow forgot to send it to us all?

Lazy Minds, Lazy Hearts, and Lazy Hands:

Selective Participation

Those who give these excuses [that our blessings are only spiritual] are seeking to add to the word what is not there in a bid to excuse themselves from pressing into all the word provides for. They are simply lazy - lazy heads, lazy hearts, and lazy hands. “Lazy is such an ugly word. I prefer to call it selective participation.” (Anonymous) If they did this for themselves only, that will be excusable, but not only are they not entering, they are preventing others from entering. [Matthew 23:13; Luke 11:52] 

Modern-day scribes and Pharisees, their woes are no less than that prescribed to their fathers in Jesus' day. It is easy to put a spiritual label on everything. Then it leaves you with no obligations or responsibility. If it works you share some of the shine with God. If it doesn't you can easily explain it away with some Christianese jargon. So, you think you have saved face. Really? Is that how we are taught of Christ? Is that the example he showed us? Is that how the people perceived him?

Matthew 7:28-29 reads,

"And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes."

We see the same in Mark 1:21-22; John 7:26. In Acts 4:13, 9:27-29, 14:3, 19:8; Romans 15:15; Ephesians 6:19-20; Philippians 1:20 we see it replicated in the Apostles. That is the example we are so taught of Christ and His Church, which is "the pillar and ground of the truth." [1 Timothy 3:15]

© 2017 Akin Akinbodunse

Link to Study Series:

Choose Life (Part Forty-Six): Drink From the Waters (Part One)

Choose Life (Part Forty-Eight): Drink From the Waters (Part Three)

Link to Other Resources:

Unchanged Word of God (David Jeremiah)

Don't Tell Me There Ain't No God (Gary McDougall)

Stay Salt: The World Has Changed (Rebecca Manley Pippert)

God Has Not Changed His Mind About You (Andrea Lynn Gates)

SaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSave

Choose Life (Part Forty-Six): Drink From the Waters (Part One)

Lay Down Your Heavy Burden

Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?  

― John 5:5-6, NKJV

We continue this week with the story of the sick man healed at the Pool of Bethesda. [John 5:1-15].

Held by Complacency:

Let us look at a few examples in scripture of why people get stuck. We start with Jacob and Esau. Isaac’s words to Esau reads,

“You will live by your sword, and you will serve your brother. But when you decide to break free, you will shake his yoke from your neck.” (Genesis 27:40, NLT)

Can you spot the “but” in Isaac's statement? Jacob’s rule over Esau was limited to his allowing it. It had NOTHING to do with Jacob having the blessing. For as long as Esau was okay with Jacob’s rule, nothing changed. When Esau gets tired and sees a "THERE" big and better than his "HERE," he can break the yoke off of his neck and lift the burden off his shoulders. [Isaiah 10:27; Psalm 81:5-7] 

Wow! And guess what? No one is going to do that for him. For as long as he is okay with it, he will be yoked and burdened. The key to his liberation was always in his hands. James Allen puts it this way, 

“A strong man cannot help a weaker unless the weaker is willing to be helped, and even then the weak man must become strong of himself; he must, by his own efforts, develop the strength which he admires in another. None but himself can alter his condition.”

Drinking is Your Responsibility:

You do realize all one can do is force the horse to the river. Right? Whether or not the horse drinks is entirely up to the horse. One can, hopefully, create a thirst in the horse, but whether or not the horse drinks is up to the horse to decide. All God can do for us is to give His only begotten Son Jesus Christ to die in our place. [2 Corinthians 5:14-15] He has gotten us to the river. Whether we drink or not is in our own hands. Whether we get born again or not is entirely up to us. [John 3:3; Acts 2:38-39] God is not going to do that for us.

I love the way Stephen Luke puts it. He says, "You are the CEO of your own life. Start making executive decisions Today!" And, William Ernest Henley, in his beautiful, popular poem, Invictus, puts it like this, "I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul." I can see the religious freaks already losing their temper. Really?

The kingdom is not a free for all as some will deceive you to think. There are laws. There are principles. We have a constitution. We have a Way. [John 14:6, 17:17; Acts 9:1-2; Romans 12:2] We are the people of the Way. We are the people who belong to the Way, Jesus Christ the Son of God. 

Do you know Him?

© 2017 Akin Akinbodunse

Link to Study Series:

Choose Life (Part Forty-Five)

Choose Life (Part Forty-Seven): Drink From the Waters (Part Two)

Link to Other Resources:

Unchanged Word of God (David Jeremiah)

Don't Tell Me There Ain't No God (Gary McDougall)

Stay Salt: The World Has Changed (Rebecca Manley Pippert)

God Has Not Changed His Mind About You (Andrea Lynn Gates)

Choose Life (Part Forty Five)

'Have you a Heavy Burden?

Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well? 

― John 5:5-6, NKJV

We continue this week with the story of the sick man healed at the Pool of Bethesda. [John 5:1-15].

I recognize people are doing all they can to find their way out of the pit, but it seems like their situation keeps getting worse, rather than better. In their mind, they have stopped digging. They are trying to climb out of the pit (hole), but every one step forward seems to be producing two steps backward. They labor, but the result is not commensurate to the effort.

This is more like working like an elephant and eating like an ant. More like the sick man at the Pool of Bethesda, they have been at this for a very long time. Do you know anyone like this? Are you one yourself? What may be the reasons for this? Is God limited, or are there things we are doing that might be limiting Him? Are there remedies to this?

One might be quick to say, maybe such are under a curse, but is that true? It never fails to amaze me the extent to which people go in the name of breaking curses. They practically empty their God-given brains all in the name of breaking some phantom (in most cases) curse. The Internet is full of examples of such abuses, all in the name of breaking curses. Yet, this does not deter a whole lot of people, sheep meant for the slaughter.

Now, I am in no way discountenancing curses altogether. What I am discountenancing, with no apologies, is the credit we give to them. We sure give them more credit than they deserve. Blessings and curses have no power of their own. Their power is inherent in the belief we associate with them. We give them power. We provide energy to them. [Proverbs 26:2] 

"Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow, an undeserved curse will not land on its intended victim." (Proverbs 26:2, NLT)

There is something that supersedes blessings and curses. It is called the power of the human will, the power of the human spirit. That is an endowment God gave the man at creation, and it has not been taken away. The devil cannot gain entrance to you or your goods until he first kills your spirit. 

As Jerry Savelle puts, "if the devil can't steal your joy, he can't keep your goods." Do you still have your joy? In it lies your strength? In it lies your human spirit, your god-within (entheos). It is the strength of your human will.

Are you handling the gate of your life?

© 2020 Akin Akinbodunse

Link to Study Series:

Choose Life (Part Forty-Four)
Choose Life (Part Forty-Six)

Link to Related Article:

Proudly Human

The Wisdom of the Ant (Part One)

Link to Other Resources:

Don't Tell Me There Ain't No God (Gary McDougall)

Stay Salt: The World Has Changed (Rebecca Manley Pippert)

God Has Not Changed His Mind About You (Andrea Lynn Gates)

If Satan Can't Steal Your Joy...He Can't Keep Your Goods (Jerry Savelle)

Choose Life (Forty Four)

God Has Not Changed

Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?  

― John 5:5-6, NKJV

We continue this week with the story of the sick man healed at the Pool of Bethesda. [John 5:1-15].

I boldly, without any contradiction nor exception, declare, "GOD HAS NOT CHANGED!" He never will. And, He is not planning to.

"'God has not Changed!' He never will. And, He is not planning to."

If He healed yesterday, He is healing today and will heal tomorrow. If He prospered people yesterday, He is prospering people today, and will tomorrow. If He broke people out yesterday, He is breaking people out today and will tomorrow. If He made the barren give birth yesterday, He is making the barren give birth today, and will tomorrow. If he gave people their mate yesterday, He is giving people their mates today, and will tomorrow. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. [Hebrews 13:8; Romans 8:32; Luke 1:37; Matthew 19:26] He changeth not!

Our stories will not, your story cannot define God. God is God all by Himself. Our own little, microscopic experience of life cannot change, nor define Him. If your story is not matching up to Him, guess who moved? It surely is not God. “You moved, not God.” If you are not getting the blessings, guess where the short circuit might be from? You are right. He is the unchanging changer of all things, constant in His person and principles. [Isaiah 40:8; Malachi 3:6; Numbers 23:19; 1 Samuel 15:29; Psalm 102:25-27; James 1:17; Lamentations 3:22-24; Isaiah 40:28-31; Psalm 90:2, 18:2, 62:2, 6; Deuteronomy 32:4] He has no cause to change, for He is the absolute against which every other thing is measured and takes its root and bearing.

"He is the unchanging changer of all things, constant in His person and principles."

We need to allow God’s person to define our lives. That is the essence of seeking, beginning to look for the areas where you might have a misalignment. Beginning to look for the areas where you might need to make shifts and adjustments. It is stopping the digging and beginning to find our way out of the hole.

So, where do you stand? Are you digging your foot in the ground, and building a monument around your stance? Or, are you willing to draw near to life? Are you willing to draw near to God? Are you willing to make the shifts and adjustments to get and walk in the fullness of what the Father has for you? Will you come back home today, so He can make you?

The Father has been looking out for you. [Luke 15:20]

Please, come home, and receive of His fullness. Will you?

© 2019 Akin Akinbodunse


Link to Study Series:
Choose Life (Part Forty-Three)
Choose Life (Part Forty-Five)

Link to Other Resources:
Unchanged Word of God (David Jeremiah)
Don't Tell Me There Ain't No God (Gary McDougall)
Stay Salt: The World Has Changed (Rebecca Manley Pippert)
God Has Not Changed His Mind About You (Andrea Lynn Gates)

Choose Life (Part Forty Three)

Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?  

― John 5:5-6, NKJV

We continue this week with the story of the sick man healed at the Pool of Bethesda. [John 5:1-15].

To restate how we got here, we said the first reason people get stuck is PRIDE. Then, we followed with a second reason, "People coming to God, and/or approaching life, based on SENTIMENTS, rather than COVENANT." God does not respond to sentiments. He responds to His Word. He responds in His person. His word is a statement of His covenant. His Word is a statement of His person. His Word is the constitution of the kingdom.

Our getting blessed or not wouldn't stop Him from being all that He is. He has made His move. The next move is ours, not His. He has finished His work. It is up to us to tap into it. So, if we are not getting that which the word says is available to us, we need to ask why, in true sincerity of heart and purpose? This is what the Word request of us. It says, "seek, and you will find." [Matthew 7:7b] If the asking is not receiving, it is time to do the seeking.

The Discipline of Grace (Jerry Bridges)

Life, itself, does not respond to sentiments. It responds to LAWS and PRINCIPLES. We either get in line with the program and win, or we stay stuck. Life, Laws, and Principles are neutral. They are blind. They respond to us according to the way we access them. They don’t care who we are, where we come from, what we have done, or how we feel.

They care only about our rightly accessing (activating) them. They care about our sowing the RIGHT seeds, and/or pushing the right buttons. That is the ONLY way they can give us the RIGHT harvest, our desire. The choice is ours! And, always ours to make. [Galatians 6:7]

The third reason people get stuck: "They have given up hope." My heart goes out to a whole lot of people who have desired a particular breakout/ breakthrough but are yet to receive after a VERY LONG TIME. Some, like the sick man by the pool of Bethesda, has probably given up hope. They are no more actively believing. They are no more actively pushing. They are simply going through the motions. They have lost faith in ever receiving that which they desire. My word to such is,

“Hold on!” Hold on strong. You have no other choice, but to hope, even against all hope. Let your testimony be, “Died hoping, rather than gave up.” [Hebrews 11:13-16; Romans 4:18-22; Job 14:14]

Grace: The Power To Change (James B. Richards)

Unfortunately, there are those who have built a doctrine of their own experience. They teach funny doctrines like, “God does not give you what you want. He only gives you what you need.” “The days of miracles are over.” Yet, worst still is the fact these funny doctrines are being perpetuated by those who should know better. These are those who have refused to press in and will not let others in.

Rather than pushing to all God has for them, they seek to bring God down to their own level. They have a form of religion but have lost the power therein. [2 Timothy 3:5]

© 2018 Akin Akinbodunse

Links to Study Series:

Choose Life (Part Forty-Two)

Choose Life (Part Forty-Four)

Link to Related Articles:

Questions and Answers (Twenty Seven): Trusting God

Link to Other Resources:
Unchanged Word of God (David Jeremiah)
Don't Tell Me There Ain't No God (Gary McDougall)
Stay Salt: The World Has Changed (Rebecca Manley Pippert)
God Has Not Changed His Mind About You (Andrea Lynn Gates)

Choose Life (Part Forty Two)

Is Grace Reaching You?

Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?  

― John 5:5-6, NKJV

We continue this week with the story of the sick man healed at the Pool of Bethesda. [John 5:1-15].

You know one of the most powerful verses of scripture for me is James 4:6. It reads,

"And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud [presumptuous, bloated, swollen, fat and kicking, corrupt, wicked, evil, oblivious, forgetful] but gives grace to the humble [accurate, rightly sized, true].”" (NLT, with my emphasis)

God gives grace [enablement, power, favor] generously [freely, in abundant provision, more than is required or necessary]. If there is ever a lack of grace in any area of our life, guess where the fault is? Your guess is just as good as mine. It lies right where it belongs, in us. It is not in our brother, our sister nor our friend. It is not our "mama," nor our "papa." It is all in us. We are the ones standing in the need of prayers. We are the ones in need of change. We are the ones in need of a touch of Heaven. For, only we can stop or tone down the flow of God’s grace in and over our life.

"It is delightful to worship God, but it is also a humbling thing, and the man who has not been humbled in the presence of God will never be a worshiper of God at all. He may be a church member who keeps the rules and obeys the discipline, and who tithes and goes to conference, but he'll never be a worshiper unless he is deeply humbled." (A.W. Tozer)

It is up to us to ensure that which God freely gives reaches us. The onus is ours to ensure we do not suffer lack in the midst of abundant provision from the God of all grace. [1 Peter 5:5-7, 10] The only way to do this is to fall continually into His hands. It is to have the right estimation of our self. It is to always be in need of Him. It is to see our life and being essentially connected to, and dependent on Him. It is to see Him as our very life source, without whom we have no life at all. It is to humble ourselves before Him. It is to be continually conscious of the state of our walk with Him. Is it healthy or not?

"None are more unjust in their judgments of others than those who have a high opinion of themselves." (Charles Haddon Spurgeon)

Henry Blackaby, in his book, Experiencing God, provides the following as signs of an unhealthy walk with God.

1. No Longer Hearing from God. (i.e. A Scarcity of His Voice)
2. Loss of Joy
3. Not Producing Spiritual Fruit
4. No Longer Having Victory in Life

If any of these is prevalent in our lives, something is amiss. We have started growing fat, and kicking, in some shape or form. We have started thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought to. We have started losing our accuracy of judgment. It is time to "call the council." It is time to "call the elders." It is time to have a "come to Jesus moment." There is fire on the mountain. And, we have to address it immediately. Henry Blackaby provides the following as God's remedy for restored fellowship.

1. Humility
2. Prayer
3. Seeking His Face (i.e. The Experience of His Presence)
4. Repentance (Turning from Sin)

Henry Blackaby goes on further to suggest how we can keep our walk with God ever fresh, ever healthy. That is, producing an environment of continual, never-ending, supply (flow) of grace. These include,

1. Being careful what we allow into our Mind and Heart. [Proverbs 4:23]
2. Surrounding our Self with Godly Counselors who will Encourage us and Warn us if they see our Heart beginning to shift. [Proverbs 11:14]
3. Keeping my Heart, Mind, and Soul in a Constant Posture of Love for God. [Matthew22:37]
4. Making it a Habit to immediately Obey God in anything He says. [Matthew 7:24]

Maintaining a healthy walk with God is the key to opening and keeping open, the floodgates of grace. God will not do that for us. The onus is ours. He, however, creates seasons and occasions to help and point us in this direction. Whether we yield or not is our choice. 

"Grace is the seed of glory, the dawning of glory in the heart, and therefore grace is the earnest of the future inheritance." (Jonathan Edwards)

Such was the case with King Asa (2 Chronicles 14-16; 1 Kings 15:9-24). Asa got carried away by 25 years of peace. He forgot how to trust solely in God. He did not “Zakar” (remember) God’s deliverance, God’s grace. He had gotten so used to doing things in his own strength, in his own way, and in his own time, that he missed God. He had lost the fervency of a walk with God. He had lost his edge. His walk with God had grown stale, cold, and rusty. He had gotten so used to the "God-thing" it became so ordinary, and seemly despised, in his eyes. Is that your story?

"It is only as we consciously bring each victory to His feet and keep it there as we think of it - and especially as we speak of it - that we can avoid the pride of that victory, which can be worse than the sin over which we claim to have had the victory." (Francis Schaeffer)

Here is God’s judgment,

“For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong [gracious] on behalf of those whose heart is loyal [humble, surrendered, rested in and] to Him. In this you have done foolishly [prideful, out of order]; therefore from now on you shall have wars.” (2 Chronicles 16:9, NKJV, with my emphasis)

Where is your heart? Is it in the right place? Is it perfect before God? Is it loyal to God? Is it single? Or, is God simply one of your options? God wants to show Himself strong on your behalf. He wants to fight your battles. He wants to pour His grace on you. Will you let Him?

© 2017 Akin Akinbodunse

Link to Study Series:

- Choose Life (Part Forty-One)

- Choose Life (Part Forty-Three)

Resources for Further Study:

- Grace (Keri Folmar)

- Grace (Max Lucado)

- What's So Amazing About Grace? (Philip Yancey)

Closing Thoughts:

"When life is too easy for us, we must beware or we may not be ready to meet the blows which sooner or later come to everyone, rich or poor." (Eleanor Roosevelt)

"Life is a series of experiences, each one of which makes us bigger, even though sometimes it is hard to realize this. For the world was built to develop character, and we must learn that the setbacks and grieves which we endure help us in our marching onward." (Henry Ford)

"A guy's who has all the money he needs and never faced any hard times, he won't have any character. But when you've had it tough and you've had it rough and you thought you were at the end of the rope and you work your way out of it, that's the way you build character." (Bobby Bowden)

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Choose Life | Part Forty One | Let the King in your Roar.

God's Life Manifest in Me

Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” (John 5:5-6, NKJV)

We continue this week with the story of the sick man healed at the Pool of Bethesda. [John 5:1-15].

Our answers to the “Why, Where, and What of life” makes us be focused. They help us determine what to “Zakar” (remember, celebrate, etc.). They help us “Memento Mori” (remember our mortality). They guide us against the temptation of being bloated and kicking (being presumptuous and overcome with pride, Deuteronomy 32:15). They make us see clearly, delivering us from shortsightedness. [2 Corinthians 4:18] They make us accurate thinkers. [Romans 12:3] They teach us to die so we might live. [Psalm 90:12] They help us “Begin [and always live] with the End in Mind.” [Hebrews 12:2] They help us focus on the prize, and not be distracted by things of smaller, temporal importance and/or value. [Colossians 3:1-4; Galatians 2:20; Philippians 3:14-15]

"This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success." (Joshua 1:8, NKJV)

We are in control of that which we “Zakar” (remember). God is not going to do that for us. It is our part to read, study, and meditate on His word. That is having and/or developing an affinity for His Word, that is, "His promises, His will, His principles, His laws, His precepts, His commands, His testimonies, His almightiness, His unlimitedness, His covenant, etc." When we do this, we take ownership of the image we place before our eyes. [Matthew 4:4; Deuteronomy 6:6-9, 8:3, 11:18-25; Proverbs 23:7; John 8:31-32, 17:17] For, the image we place before our eyes control our destiny.

"For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us." (2 Corinthians 4:6-7, NKJV)

We choose and determine that which has preeminence in and over our life and destiny. We refuse to leave it to chance because we know our life is worth something. We realize our life is worth God. That is the price that was paid. God gave Himself to redeem us. Our place is to show gratitude in the way we live. [2 Corinthians 5:14-15] We are valuable. You are valuable. Let no one ever steal that from you. God has a hefty price on you. You cannot afford to let Him down.

"For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God." (Romans 8:19, NKJV)

Be! Manifest! Show forth the glories of your God and King. Let the King in your roar.

© 2017 Akin Akinbodunse

Links to Study Series:

Choose Life (Part Forty)
Choose Life (Part Forty-Two)

Link to Other Resources for Further Study:
Praying God's Word (Beth Moore)
Grasping God's Word (J. Scott Duvall and J. Daniel Hays)
The Secret Power of Speaking God's Word (Joyce Meyers)

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