Overcoming All Things 2

At the center of man’s drive is his desire for things. This propensity started from the time of the fall when the spirit of man fell and was shut in into the realm of  things. Man lost consciousness of the invisible realm of God and is now submerged in the realm his physical senses. He is dominated and ruled from the outside and led by the lust  or desire for things that are good in his sight, things that satisfies his ego and his feelings .

 

The emerging overcomers must therefore gain victory over the things in the world which the First Adam and his wife were not able to overcome. Here the lamentation of Eve and Adam.

Genesis 3:6

When the woman saw that the tree was good for food (lust of the flesh)

And that it was pleasant to the eyes (lust of the eye)

And a  tree to be desired to make one wise (pride of life)

She took of the fruit and did eat and also gave

to her husband with her and he did eat

 

Apostle John therefore warn us of this mystery of iniquity and admonished us not to love the things that are in the world (the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life) and the love of the things in the world makes it impossible for us to love the Father. It is therefore a fact that all the beguiling activity of the devil revolve round the desire for things propelled by the lust that enter through the eyes or the lust that enters into the soul through the fleshly desires or even the ego.

 

All the activity of the traducer (devil) is therefore  centered around keeping men preoccupied with ‘ Things” which are corruptible and subject to destruction by moth  or theft by men.

Herein lies the distinction between the “gentiles nature and preoccupation” and the preoccupation of the seekers of God’s kingdom” who are pressing forward to overcome all things and inherit all things.

Here the admonition of our Lord in the book of Matthew 5;32

 

For after all these THINGS do the gentiles seek for your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these THINGS

But ye seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness

and all these THINGS  shall be added  unto you

 

Our call is therefore to grow up in faith beyond the  distraction of things, even beyond the need centered existence, beyond the need dominated messages and even beyond the elementary faith for things into the “Faith of God”   rising above the  faith of “the birds of the  air” and the faith of “the lilies of the value’  who have no worries about things to wear or things to eat or any physical need whatsoever but rejoices in the Fatherhood of God who has an arrangement in place to take care of his creations.

We must overcome and rise above this need centered dimension.

 

Ademola  Akinyemi

OVERCOMING THE CORRUPTION OF POLITICS

A people will emerge on the surface of the earth and in the mist of the church who will overcome all things.

This over comers will be armed with the finishing faith and will by this overcome the world including all that is in it-the lust of the flesh, the pride of life and the lust of the eyes.  By this they will be qualified to inherit all things including fullness of live and immortality with which the nations will be governed.

Part of the things which we  must  overcome  is the spirit of politics with its varying degree of corruption. The influence of this spirit brings hatred, bitterness, even strife and war as we have seen in history.  Conflicts of ideology led to the emergence of Adolf Hitler and the world war 11. The spirit of politics in the world is rooted in the desire of man to protect self-interest  and must be tamed by the love of God which is just and considerate.

Various nations govern the spirit of politics by  laws which if respected often stabilizes the polity although this does not deal with the matters of the heart. Best friends, families and business partners have separated because of politics and his tendency to corrupt with bitterness.

Several years ago, one of our politician in Northern Nigeria came up with the a principle of practicing politics without bitterness, a principle rooted in a godly desire to overcome the corruption of politics and the desperation for power. Good as this is, it has its limit if we do not allow the truth and the spirit of Christ to give us the capacity for actualization.

Jesus said in First  Corinthians thirteen that we weigh nothing under God if we operate outside the heart of love and it does not matter how sacrificial we are. This is to say that we must not go outside the boundaries of love notwithstanding our persuasion . The spirit of politicking often brings with it rudeness, cursing , riots and  murder and those who seek life must be poised to overcome these things .

The spirit of politics traps men and overcome them in a web which imprisoned the souls of men with an iron like grip and its subtlety serpentine in nature but its destruction is massive. For pilgrims seeking God, it is very distractive and divisive hence it remains an enemy to overcome.

The disciple of Jesus in his days were not left out in the confrontation with this spirit as the Roman government in their iron like political dominance ruled  over Israel and the nations.

Hear their quest for liberty as they queried the master after his resurrection before his ascension to glory.

Acts 1:

Will you at this time overthrow the Roman empire and allow us to be free and in government.

Read  the answer of Jesus.

                                                                                      

·         Do not let this worry you. God has time and seasons for everything. Just seek the Holy Ghost and his power which the father has promised you, to bring you into true liberty and victory.

The counsel of God to us this time around is similar.  We are to seek intimacy with the Holy Spirit.  We are to seek the  power and the  government of God over our life  and our God will bring us into true life and put down all dominion of evil. The kingdom of God (which is the government of God) starts within us like a leaven and  fill us with the love of God, spreading  to our homes and families and nations.

2015 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION AND THE LEARNING POINTS

In 1983, I was part of the groups of brethren that prayed for the restoration of Nigerian and the deliverance of the nation from the corrupt leaders of that time. But many of us prayed with an idol of a preferred candidate in our hearth hoping and praying that the candidate would win as we narrowly thought that was the only way out. We also erroneously thought that our position was God’s position and preference. The rest is history now, as we now know that we were then operating under a corrupt spirit of politics. The spirit provides you with an idol in form of an opinion, an idea, a preference, a leader, an option, a party with no option for the will  or sovereignty of God. Many of our brethren in 1983 ended up in bitterness, frustration and some crashed their faith in utter disappointed and hopelessness.

The experience of this few days is not very much different. Many unknowingly and unconsciously find their spirit submerged in this corrupt atmosphere activated by a campaign of hate and calumny as unusual by politicians who are desperate for power. We must always measure our spiritual state by the plumb line of Faith, hope and love for without these it is impossible to please and work with God (Hebrew 11;6)

For believers who are in power, seeking power or those who are in the game of power, we must realize that we are not to drink of the corrupt spirit of politics in our atmosphere but of the pure river of the spirit and the mind of God.  Once we absolve this negative spirit into our soul for whatever reason, another spirit begins to gain mastery over our soul and the end result is desperation, little regard for the laws of God, insensitivity which often leads to division, separation, suspicion, accusation, slander, fault finding, injustice, selfishness and all manners of lawlessness, seared conscious and backslidden life, tribal sentiments, wickedness or even war.

If you have allow your spirit to be corrupted by the prevailing political spirit, it is time to repent and forgive your opponents to avoid total derailment.

We are the light of the world. We are the standard and our light must not be turn into darkness neither must we follow others who are outside the faith and allow our salt to be sour. Sons of God Awake and flee from the grip of this spirit. We must know that God is the God of all, for God so love the world (everybody inclusive).  God shines his light upon all and he is the judge of all. He does not support one tribe or one religion or group against another. He is no respecter of persons and he is on the side of those who are on his side, he is with those who are on the side of love, justice and righteousness. He is committed to his counsel and purpose and not to the whims and caprices of men. He removes Kings and enthrone leaders in accordance with his plan and agenda. Our commitment therefore should be to seek his will with sincerity and follow it.

It is not out of place to have a preference for a leader or position but we must be willing to surrender to the will of God anytime since it is only God that cannot be wrong. We must be sincerely open to His corrective hand which may come through his words, dreams, events, visions, circumstances or in any way God may choose to talk to us.

                                

Those who are control by the political spirit will stubbornly stick to their position and will continue to harbor evil wishes or evil intention and break the laws of love. Love is ever kind. Love is not envious. The standard for the Sons of God is love.

Spirit of politics takes away sense of justice or fair play as it is rooted in extreme selfishness. The Jews sacrificed Jesus on the altar of the political-religious spirit as they preferred the release of Barnabas the serial Killer to Judas without any sense of Justice. Deliver yourself from the evil grip of this spirit and pursue the purpose and call of God for therein lies peace and Joy.

Contact Ademola on Path of life Foundation on following Numbers: 08023544663,