Removing the barriers to my receiving Abundance of Grace

God expects us to come boldly to His throne of grace, to receive abundance of grace, and to be strong in grace but often times there are hindrances to us doing these three things. This message is about how we can remove these hindrances or barriers to us receiving abundance of God’s grace.

Two major things can affect our boldness and assurance to receiving God’s grace

-          Ignorance of God’s great love for us

-          Ignorance of the truth that Christ has taken our place

1.       Ignorance of God’s great love – Luke 15:11-24

We often refer to this parable in Luke 15:11-24, as “the parable of the prodigal son”, but it can also be seen as “the parable of the loving father”. The focus here is on the father who despite what the son had done, was lovingly waiting to show him (the son) love. In fact if the son knew how much the father was longing and waiting to show him love, he wouldn’t have wasted time to suffer in a strange land. He suffered because he was ignorant of his father’s love for him, the same way we suffer because we are ignorant of God’s great love towards us. There are things we are even afraid to ask God for when He wants to give more simply because we are His sons. One of the reasons we live outside of God’s grace is because we are ignorant of His great love towards us. We are destroyed for lack of knowledge (Hos 4:6). Our knowledge of God’s love for us is what makes us receive the fullness of what God has in store for us (Eph 3:19).

The love of God – Rom 8:31-32

If God could give up His own son, which is like committing suicide (allowing Himself to die), just for us, then there’s nothing He cannot give to us. If while we were His enemies He gave us such a great gift, He will even do much more now that we are His children (Rom 5:5-8). When we are conscious of God’s love, we will stop running away from Him when we need to be running towards Him. If He could spare His son, there’s nothing He will not spare just to bless us. That’s how much love God has for us. If God so love the world, then for us who are His sons, He “more than so” loves us. Nothing can separate us from the love of God and this understanding will make us come boldly to receive His grace. The Holy Spirit will reveal and convince us of God’s love for us (Rom 8:16). We must now keep ourselves (stay) in the love of God (Jude 1:21).

2.       Ignorance of the truth that Christ has taken our place – Gal 2:16, 3:11, Psalm 130:3

Christ has taken our place so that we can take His place. Every time we feel that we don’t deserve God’s grace, love, or that we don’t qualify or deserve God’s grace, Christ has taken that place. If our eyes are on our works, we can never be justified before God. It is by grace through faith. God does not count our sins against us because Jesus has taken our place; He became so that we can become. He took our negative place so that we can take His positive place (2Cor 5:19, 2Cor 8:9). Christ has taken our place so we must put our faith in Him. He is our advocate with the Judge (who is our father) – 1John 2:1-2. We describe ourselves not by our weaknesses but by the strength of Christ in us. By our faith in Christ we can come boldly to the throne of grace.

Moving From Grace To Grace Via Deep Worship

Luke 7:36-50, Heb 4:16

One of the most striking things we see in Luke 7:36-50, is the boldness with which the woman came to Jesus. She was a sinner yet she came to Jesus with so much boldness as to anoint and kiss His feet, so much that the Pharisee was concerned.

Boldness is a function of consciousness (what we are conscious of determines whether we are bold or timid), and hence it is pretty obvious that this woman was not conscious of herself (her faults, sins, weaknesses, etc). She was conscious of who Christ is; she was conscious of His love; she focused on Christ rather than herself. 

She must have had a revelation of Christ and His love similar to the woman with the issue of blood, and the spirit of God is the one who opens up our heart to this revelation. The Spirit doesn’t stir in our hearts our weaknesses and faults, rather He opens up our hearts to fact that we are sons of God (Rom 8:16). That is He stirs in us the consciousness of the love of God for us that is so strong that He made us His sons; the love of God is shared abroad our hearts by the spirit (Rom 5:5). Boldness therefore comes from the Spirit, and the woman in Luke 7:36-50, must have had a revelation of God’s grace that pulled her to do what she did.

In Luke 7:43, we see that he that is forgiven most will love the most; Our love for God that we express, especially in the place of worship, is a function of how conscious we are of how much love God has shown to us. When the bible says that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23), it is not to make us feel guilty, it is to make us realise that it is everyone that need the mercy and grace of God; and that whatever anyone is today, is by the mercy of God. Jesus therefore was not inferring that sinners worship God the most (Luke 7:43-50); He meant that people who understand how much mercy and grace God has shown to them or is showing to them will express more appreciation to God in worship.

Our consciousness in the place of worship should not be of our weaknesses and faults, or guilt; it should be on how much love God has shown to us. In Luke 7:42-50, the woman’s consciousness of God's love was greater than her consciousness of her sins; otherwise she would have run away. When we are more conscious of ourselves than we are of the love of God, we will always run away from the presence of God. We should always be conscious of the fact that God’s love for us is greater than our condition.

Our love for God is a reflection of our understanding of His love for us; our acknowledgement of how much God has been merciful to us will break us down before God in love and in worship. We should always remember the mercies of God. He that acknowledges the mercies more will express the worship more. The greatest revelation we can ever have of God is that He is love and the amount of love we express to Him is a reflection of how much we understand His love. The reason why people worship God casually is because they think God’s love for them is casual. We cannot experience or have a revelation of God’s love and not react to it. It is the glory we behold that we express in the place of worship (John 1:14). The amount of glory we give to Him is a function of the amount of revelation of His glory we have. Real love always has an expression; impression produces expressions, and the way we take our worship is a function of our impression of God.

What the woman did in Luke 7:36-50 was not a casual thing; it was not faked. It was from within. She was responding to God’s love and mercy. She realised that God is greater than who she was or what she had. She was not ashamed to do a public display of her affection to God, and she received an unusual touch of grace. Her revelation of God's grace made her receive more grace. Many other people (even the owner of the house Jesus was in) were there and didn’t receive that touch of grace. What we get out of God's presence is a function of how much of ourselves we pour out to God when we're in His presence.

The amount of grace and the touch of God we receive in worship is a function of how deep our worship is; whether our worship is born out of revelation.

It’s GRACE - HUMILITY - MORE GRACE. When we acknowledge and are conscious of god’s grace in our lives, it will humble us; and when we are humble we receive more grace.  Grace will make you humble, and when you're humble you receive more grace. We miss out on so much grace when we have surface or superficial worship of God. When we express ourselves to God in deep worship, we attract more of His grace into our lives. God wants us to be conscious of the fact that He is the God of all grace, and He wants us to express this consciousness in worship. 

CGMI CHURCH AMAZING

Bible Study - 16^th July 2014

Topic: THE EMPOWERMENT AND ADVANTAGE OF THE SPIRIT

AIM: To come to an understanding of the advantage we have in the Holy Spirit and how we can tap into that advantage
TEXTS: Acts 2:3-13, 1Samuel 10:6,
Memory Verse: “Do not get drunk on wine which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the spirit” - Eph 5:18

INTRODUCTION

One will wonder why Paul likened the filling of the Spirit of God to being drunk with wine. This must be because both have intoxicating effects when one is filled with them. When a man is filled with wine, he loses consciousness of self and begins to do things that naturally or normally he would not have done. The drink begins to influence Him. The same effect is seen in a man filled with the Spirit. Being drunk with wine can ruin one’s life but the Spirit of God brings out the best in a person. In John 16:7 Jesus said it is to our advantage that He goes so that the Holy Spirit can come. There is a point to which a person must take an alcoholic drink before it will begin to intoxicate him or her. In the same way we can drink of the Spirit to the point where we come under His influence.

DISCUSSION:

·         What are the empowering effects of the Spirit? (Dan 5:11-14, Acts 2:14)

§  Boldness (for preaching and other things) – Acts 4:31, Acts 2:14, compare with John 18:25-27.

§  Knowledge and Understanding – Acts 4:13, Jn 16:12-13, 1Jn 2:20;27

§  Excellence, Intelligence, and Wisdom – Acts 6:10, Dan 5:12, Prov 12:26

§  Specific Instruction and direction– Acts 8:29, 10:19, 16:7

§  The power and gifts of the Spirit – Acts 1:8, 1Cor.12:7-11, Acts 3:1-9,+

§  ........List others.

·         How can one come under the influence of the Spirit?

§  Consciousness and consistent fellowship with the Holy Spirit – Acts 2:4, Acts 4:31, Acts 13:2

§  Yielding to the leading of the Spirit – Gal 5:16; 25

§  Praying in tongues – 1Cor 14:2;4;14;15;18, Jude 1:20

§  .....List others.

CONCLUSION

God doesn’t want us to be ignorant about the Holy Spirit, 1Cor.12:1. He is a gift. Because of Christ you deserve Him. The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in you, Rom.8:11. It was by the Spirit that God anointed Jesus for great works, Acts 10:38.
If the same Spirit that was in Christ is also in you then you can function like Christ in this world. He will strengthen you were you are weak and He will glorify Christ in your life, John 16:13-14. The greatest hindrance to the filing of the Spirit is your consciousness of yourself.
Keep fellowshipping with the Spirit and be more conscious of Christ in you and who you are in Christ.

 

Excerpts from the Message

GRACE FOR EVERY NEED (WE ARE IN THE DAY OF HIS POWER) – Sunday 3^rd August 2014

Psalm 110:1-3

This phrase – which is also in Heb 1 – refers to God the Father telling God the Son (Jesus) immediately after He had paid the price for our sins and had ascended to sit at His (God the Father’s) right hand until His (Jesus’) enemies are made His footstool.

The way God makes Jesus’ enemies His footstool is simple, Christ is the head and has conquered (exercised God’s power, dominion and victory over) the devil, now God empowers the rest of the body of Christ to have the same kind of victory that the Head has. We are the body of Christ, and God wants the enemy to be completely under the body (not under the Head), to be a footstool, so that the least part of the body would have dominion over the enemy.

We as the body of Christ are commissioned and empowered just like Christ to have the same effect He had on the earth. This is the present ministry of Christ (what God is doing right now through Christ).

Eph 1:19-21

The same power God manifested in Christ is at work in us, and if we do not know this, we will not be able to experience it. We are seated together in Christ far above principalities and power, our spiritual location has changed. Of His fullness, we have received grace for grace – John 1:16, as we increase in our consciousness that we are just like Christ, we begin to experience more and more of that grace in our lives. The more we are conscious of us being just like Christ (raised up with Him and having the same life that is in Him - 1John 4:17), the more we experience his fullness in our lives. This is where our power, authority, dominion and greatness lie. We are no longer in the fallen man; we are now in the risen man.

Back to Psalm 110:1-3,

God is making the enemies of Christ His footstool; that is what He (God) is doing now. Christ is the head to the church. His authority, power and dominion are for us the church. He took our form so that we would take His. God is empowering us – the body of Christ – to have the same authority as Christ, to fulfil His word (Psalm 110:2, Obadiah 1:21). We are the saviours the bible refers to, going forth in the strength of Christ. God is sending us into different fields, mountains, worlds, until the kingdom shall be the Lord’s.

God’s priority is for His kingdom to come, and His will to be done in every field and sphere of life on the earth, and the way for this to happen is for us (the body of Christ) to go into these fields and professions and colonize the people (change their thinking), and exercise the dominion of Christ.

The type of grace God is releasing is the grace for us to do everything we need to do. Grace can be broken into three parts; Mercy, Favour, and Ability, and it is this ability – the ability of Christ – that God is stirring up in the church.  Grace to have the ability as Christ, to do His will on the earth; it’s about strength. It is divine ability to carry every duty and responsibility we have. We are in the days of His power, we will manifest the power of Christ and the gates of hell will not prevail against us. Even if the gates are closed against us, we will do what Samson did and pull them up (Judges 16:3), causing people to wonder about the source of our strength. God is releasing the grace of ability; we will not lack strength whenever we need it. The strength of Christ is arising in us as we keep doing his will.

God will anoint our eyes by His Spirit, so that we can see the way God sees (1Sam 17:26, 2kings 6:15-18), He will anoint our ears to hear His voice (Isaiah 30:21), and our mouths so that we can speak like Him.

 

Excerpts from the Message

THE LINK BETWEEN YOUR DREAMS AND KINGDOM ADVANCEMENT – Wednesday 30^th July 2014

Kingdom advancement is one of the greatest priorities in the heart of God. The kingdom was the theme of Jesus’ message on the earth. He said “seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness” (Matt 6:33). The kingdom is God’s priority.

But what is the kingdom?

The kingdom of God is not just heaven. The kingdom of God is where His will is prevailing. When Britain colonized Nigeria, the kingdom of Britain was extended to Nigeria. It was the will of the queen of England that prevailed in Nigeria. Nigeria was therefore an extension of the British kingdom simply because the influence and the will of the British prevailed there. In the same way, the kingdom of God is not just where God dwells (i.e. heaven), but wherever things are done His way, wherever His influence is.

After the fall of man, because man was no longer one in spirit with God, man could no longer do things God’s way on the earth, the will of the devil began prevailing, and things went out of hand. But Jesus came to proclaim the kingdom, and through Him God started advancing His kingdom (His will and influence) on the earth. God's priority is that His will be done. If His will is not prevailing in a place, then He is not king in that place.

Obadiah 1:17 - 21, Heb 12:22

In Heb 12:22 we see that the prophecy in Oba 1:17 is fulfilled. Mount Zion refers to the city of God, one of the names by which Jerusalem was known. It is a place of fulfilment, a glorious place, the place where God dwells. Just like the tabernacle of Moses was a shadow of real tabernacle in heaven, so is the mount Zion in Israel a shadow of the real mount Zion, and it is this heavenly mount Zion Christ has brought us to.

To the people of the Old Testament, it was a prophecy, but for us in Christ, it is a reality. In Christ we have deliverance, holiness, and we (the house of Jacob – the people of God) are possessing our possession.

 What is this possession? (Psa. 2:8, Obadiah 1:18 - 21)

The possession does not refer to cars, houses, and other material things. From Obadiah 1:18, we see that the house of Jacob (the people of God) shall consume the house of Esau (the people of the world) as fire consumes stubble. That is the people of God will become so influential, so that they will completely influence the people of the world until no trace of them is remaining, the same way fire consumes stubble. Our possession therefore, is the area over which we have influence.

Just as Nigeria was Britain’s possession because their will and influence was over Nigeria so much that they influenced Nigeria’s dressing, education, language, etc, so also God wants to possess the people of the world by exerting His will and influence over them through us. This is what kingdom advancement is all about. 

God wants us to pursue influence, to seek first the kingdom, and every other thing will be added. Our priority should be to rise to a place of influence, and from there influence the lives of people positively, advancing the kingdom with our lives.

In Isaiah 2:1-3, we see that the mountain of the lord’s house (the people of God) shall be elevated to position of influence so much that all nations (ethnos - a people of same culture, language, dressing, etc.) shall be influenced by them. The different areas of culture or influence can be broken down into seven (7) mountains (spheres of influence in society), they are Religion, Family, Education, Government, Media, Arts & Entertainment, and Business, and God wants to place His people at the very top of each of these mountains. God wants to make us the head in our field, so that we begin to influence others in that field, and God's WILL will prevail and His kingdom will come into that field.

We as God’s people are all climbing mountings (rising in our various fields), and the reason God is raising us up is so that His kingdom will come into our fields when we begin doing things His way, and people are joining us to do things His way.

Rev 5:10, matt 5:13;14, Deut 28:12,13

God is committed to our Greatness, so that we can advance His kingdom. Until we get to the place where people of the world admire and come to learn from us, we have not arrived at destiny. And when we arrive, it is not to make our head swell; it is to advance the kingdom of God. This is the link between our dreams and kingdom advancement.

Excerpts from the Message

DESTINED FOR DOUBLE HONOUR – Sunday 27^th July 2014

 

Man was made for double honour, great glory, to dominate the earth (Gen 1:26-28).

God made man to reign on the earth as He (God) reigns in heaven (Psa. 115:15).

The reason we enjoy being successful and great in life is because that's what we are made for

 

Struggles and failure came as a result of man being deceived by the devil.

The devil deceived man by promising him what God already destined for him.

The devil;

·         Killed man

·         Stole man’s glory

·         Began destroying man’s destiny (John 10:10)

 

The devil disconnected man from God and that brought about struggles in life

Prov 6:32 - sin is a spiritual virus. It enters the body, and begins to kill, steal and destroy

The devil goes the extra mile to make sin look pleasurable, and hides the consequences - he is a good marketer

 

As a result of sin, man fell short of God’s glory - Rom 3:23. Meaning;

·         Every good thing that God put in man to be great in life - the devil began to steal, kill, and destroy

·         The devil began to steal the glory (the strength and the wisdom) of man - Prov 20:29

·         Man lost the ability to talk and function like God on the earth

·         Man lost the ability to relate with God

 

Now unto the good news (Heb 2:10, Rom 3:24);

Jesus has come to redeem man, to buy him back. He has come that we may have life and has it more abundantly. He has come to restore man's glory. Man is not renovated, man is rebirthed.

 

2Pet 1:3 - everything the devil stole during the fall of man, Jesus has restored. We have been called to a life of glory and virtue (ability). The consequences of the fall are no longer our portion. It is the consequences of the resurrection of Christ.

 

MORE ABUNDANTLY

1.       Peter who had denied Jesus in John 18:25-27, stood boldly preaching the Gospel in Acts 2:14&41 and thousands were saved. God will not just undo whatever the devil has done; He will give greater glory in its place (Double Honour)

2.       Every good thing that the devil stole, God will make it greater

3.       Everything that came with the fall of man, God will replace with everything that came with the resurrection of Christ.

4.       Because of the cross, we have crossed over from sin to righteousness.

5.       We will do greater works - John 14:12

6.       Through Jesus Christ, we are destined to reign and much more we will reign - Rom 5:17.

The consequences of the cross have swallowed up the consequences of the fall. In Christ, we have much more.

Above Only Daily Devotional
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Sunday, August 3
BEARING FRUIT UNTO HIS NAME (2)

John 15:7-8
If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
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We also bear great fruit unto Christ's name in prayers. Jesus said and whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. John 14:13. Through Christ you now have boldness and access with confidence, Eph.3:12. You can approach God's throne in the place (authority) of Christ and pray according to God's will and receive answers. You are no more a stranger. You are now a family member. Let this consciousness and confidence reflect in your prayer life. God gets glory as He answers your prayers in the name of Christ.

Another major way that we bear fruit unto God's name is by performing signs and wonders, Mark 16:17 Jesus said and these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

Like Peter in Acts 3:6-7, God wants you to approach lame people and situations and raise them up in the name of Jesus. God has given Christ a name that is above every other name, and God has given you and I the privilege to bear that name. You now have the authority of Christ. Jesus brought glory to the Father by finishing the work God the Father gave Him to do, John 17:4. May this be your testimony also. Decide today that by the help of the Spirit of God, your life will cause great fruit to abound to the name of Christ. Many people will give God thanks and praises because of you, 2Cor.9:11.

DECLARATION: Heavenly Father, I pray that my life will continually cause great fruit to abound to the name of Jesus. Amen

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR READING PLAN: Isaiah 28 - 30

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