DESTINED TO REIGN 🕊️

Daily Counsel

With Dag Heward-Mills

CREATED IN RIGHTEOUSNESS

READ: Ephesians 4:17-24

And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in RIGHTEOUSNESS AND TRUE HOLINESS.

Ephesians 4:24

When a man is born-again the spirit within is changed. The new creation is righteous and truly holy!

Scripture makes us know that we are actually righteous when we are born- again. What God is telling us is that we must put on (act like) the new spirit which is created in righteousness and true holiness. Many times we come to God and say things that are not true. In an attempt to sound humble, we tell the Lord that we are sinners and we are not worthy to approach His throne. It is time for you to acknowledge what God has done to your heart. The Bible says we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

2 Corinthians 5:21

If we are the righteousness of God, it means that we cannot be more righteous than we are today. The righteousness of God is the highest form of purity and “sinless-ness”. God is describing the status of your new spirit.

Somebody once said, “I don’t feel any different now that I’m born- again!” This is not about feelings but about realities that have taken place. Can you feel your liver or your small intestines? Obviously not! But they exist within you!

If surgery was performed and your appendix was taken out, the doctors would inform you that they have removed a part of your intestine. You are supposed to accept the fact of what has taken place in your abdomen during the surgery.

Being born again is a spiritual operation in which God recreates your spirit. He takes out the old hardened and depraved heart and puts in a new and righteous spirit.

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Daily Counsel

With Dag Heward-Mills

NEW CREATION

READ: 2 Corinthians 5:16-19

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

2 Corinthians 5:17

Christianity claims to change the essentially wicked nature of a man. Jesus makes you a new creation. You become a brand new creature with a brand new heart. In the Old Testament, the prophets predicted that the day would come when God would take out the stony heart and replace it with a heart of flesh.

A new heart also I will give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an HEART OF FLESH.

Ezekiel 36:26

When a man is in Christ he is a new person. He is regenerated. He is born again. When we speak of being born-again, it does not mean going into your mother’s womb again. It is your spirit, the inner nature that is born again.

...that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

John 3:6

If you take a pig and you wash him, bathe him and dress him up in a wedding suit, all you have is a dressed up pig. This same pig will return to the filth that he is used to because that is his essential nature. Obeying a set of rules does not change your heart. Coming to Christ and being born-again is what affords every man the opportunity to have a new heart.

I believe with all my heart that it is only a change in the unsaved nature of a man that can bring about a change in this world. New Year’s resolutions and obeying rules do not change anything because the spirit of the unsaved man is dead and desperately wicked. No one toys with a dead thing. Dead things must be separated from living things. The only hope for the dead and wicked human spirit is the miracle of rebirth in Jesus Christ.

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Daily Counsel

With Dag Heward-Mills

PAIN

READ: Genesis 17:10-12, 23

And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.

1 John 5:19

When you walk with God, He will ask you to do things that may be painful. He asked Abraham to circumcise himself and his whole family. The pain he experienced was private pain. To walk with God you must know pain! You will know pain if you are a man of faith. As a man of faith, you will know private suffering. It is part of the walk of faith.

Why is that? Most of our world is in pain and difficulty. This world has fallen into the hands of satan. Satan is the god of this world and most people under his domain are in difficulty.

Even in America, where you would think that people are having a good time, many people are suffering. I recently heard that 76% of Americans do not have a spare one thousand dollars to repair their cars if it got spoilt. That is a very high percentage of the people in the wealthiest country in the world. In America today, there are lots of unsolved murders, killings and terror attacks everywhere. If this is what is happening in the richest country in the world, how much more other nations where there is so much more difficulty? What I am trying to say is that there is pain and suffering in the world. The whole world lies in wickedness!

To have God’s heart is to see the pain and understand the suffering in our world. Most people do not have it easy at all. God often allows His servants to experience some of that pain so that they are filled with compassion and understanding for the weaknesses and failings in the world. Hardly do you find anyone serving the Lord without pain.

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Daily Counsel

With Dag Heward-Mills

PAINFUL BUT NECESSARY!

READ: Exodus 2:10-15

Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses ed from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well.

Exodus 2:15

Ifound the Lord when I was in secondary school. I was drawn to God at the same time as I was rejected by many of my schoolmates and friends. Because I was half-caste, brown coloured, a person of mixed race, I was rejected and considered a foreigner and even a white man. My rejection consisted of extra punishment, bullying and continuous mockery.

I dearly wanted to be accepted and befriended. Every young person wants to be part of the crowd. One day, an older half-caste student quietly explained what was happening to me. He said I was experiencing a lot of suffering, unfair punishment, bullying and wickedness because I was half-caste. He advised me to focus on my studies and keep to myself in the boarding school.

I began to understand that I was different and I simply was not accepted as a normal Ghanaian boy. It was about that time that I met a group of born-again Christians. They were an amazing group of Ghanaian brothers and sisters. I felt so much acceptance and love. Without realizing it, I was drawn to them and kept yearning for their company. They gradually became my best and only friends in the hard and wicked school environment. God had used my rejection to draw me to Himself and to His people.

Rejection results in isolation. Isolation ensures that you hear from God and God alone. Rejection is important because it prevents you from following the crowd. Rejection ensures that your ministry does not follow the mistakes of the others ahead of you. Because you have been rejected, you are forced to learn from God directly. Rejection ensures that the pattern of God for your life and ministry is not contaminated. Rejection is painful but necessary for your purification.

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Daily Counsel

With Dag Heward-Mills

REJECTION

READ: Exodus 2:11-15

He came unto his own, and his own RECEIVED HIM NOT. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

John 1:11-12

Most ministers are rejected before they are accepted. Hardly is there anyone who is accepted without an initial rejection. Moses was rejected by the Israelites. They rejected him as their leader. “Who do you think you are?” was the response they gave to Moses when he tried to save them. It was only after this rejection that he went into the wilderness to find God for himself. It was when he had found God, that he was finally accepted as the leader of the Israelites.

And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known.

Exodus 2:14

Jesus was rejected by the Israelites. Most of the Jews rejected Jesus. He came to His own and His own received Him not.

He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

John 1:11

Today Christianity is a religion of the Gentiles. The Jewish nation and the Jewish people absolutely and totally reject Christianity. Jesus has been rejected as the King of the Jews. It is only when He comes in glory that He will be accepted by His own people.

John Wesley was rejected by the Anglican Church and forced to preach outside the established churches. Some of his famous sermons were delivered in cemeteries. He once stood on his father’s tomb and preached a powerful message. However at the end of his life, when he was in his seventies and eighties, all the pulpits that had been closed to him were later open and welcoming to him.

Rejection is a necessary season that you have to endure in ministry. What is important is that you are accepted by God.

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Daily Counsel

With Dag Heward-Mills

DIVINE EVENTS

READ: 2 Timothy 4:5

But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, MAKE FULL PROOF of thy ministry.

2 Timothy 4:5

Most people do not understand what divinely orchestrated events are. Whether you understand or not, failure to respond to the divine events of your life will guarantee that you will not fulfil your ministry. Most people do not fulfil their ministries because they do not respond to the divinely orchestrated events of their lives. What are these divine events? The divine events of your life are:

1. The divine drawing. (John 6:44)

2. The divine desires. (1 Timothy 3:1)

3. The divine convictions. (John 16:7-8)

4. The divine separation. (Deuteronomy 10:8)

5. The divine calling. (Romans 1:1)

6. The divine mission. (Jonah 1:1-3)

7. The divine purposes. (Proverbs 16:4)

8. The divine visions. (Acts 26:19)

9. The divine impartation of gifts. (Romans 1:11)

10. The divine grace. (2 Timothy 1:8-9)

There is no use pretending that you need to hear a literal voice before you know what to do with your ministry. There is no use claiming that you are waiting for Jesus to appear to you before you know what you are supposed to do. There are many divine events that will guide you towards your real ministry and help you to fulfil it.

Your separation from your family, your country and your people is an important spiritual event that has taken place in your life. Responding properly to these spiritual events will make you fulfil your ministry.

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Daily Counsel

With Dag Heward-Mills

A NEW THING

READ: Isaiah 43:18-21

Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it?

Isaiah 43:19

I have not been in the ministry for so long, but even in the few years of my ministry, I have seen people who started out very powerfully but after a while could not keep up with what God was doing. Some pastors, who were involved in the work of ministry at the early stages of our church, simply could not transition when God was doing a new thing. Somehow, they fell behind and became offended by new things and by the appearance of new people in the ministry.

My best people are always my oldest people. The longer I have known someone, the more relaxed I become with the person. I would always prefer to work with those who have stayed around longest but unfortunately that was not to be the case. As I moved on to different phases of the ministry, some of the older people felt the good old ways were the best ways.

Dear pastor, the good old ways are not always the best ways. Perhaps, you feel that way because you are stuck in your ways. And being full of the knowledge of what is right and what is wrong, you are unable to transition and rise to the next level of your calling.

There are many things that I did in the early part of my ministry which were good and biblical. Surprisingly, God does not want me to do some of these good and biblical things anymore. The fact is, these good and biblical things do not work anymore today as they did yesterday.

Your church may have been independent for years, but becoming part of a denomination may be God’s will for you today. Perhaps being a lay person worked very well for years, but now it is important to be full-time in the ministry. Perhaps insisting on your rights may have brought you far in your marriage and in your life, but now yielding and obeying may be the key.

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Daily Counsel

With Dag Heward-Mills

DEATH

READ: Revelation 6:1-11

And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

Revelation 6:8

Death is one of the greatest moments in a Christian’s life. It is a moment we all dread but will have to face anyway. Most people do not think about death at all. Unspiritual people do not think of death at all. Most ministers of the gospel consider death to be a very negative thing that should not be discussed. However, there are many secrets hidden in the reality of death.

Death is a deeply spiritual event. As you can see in the scripture above (Revelation 6:8), long before a whole lot of people died, a pale horse with a rider called death had been released to gallop through the heavens. Through this spiritual event, by means of this spiritual horse, a quarter of the people on earth were killed by hunger, death and wild animals.

Many people are dead long before they actually die physically because the move towards death has already taken place in the spirit. It is important that you view death in a very spiritual way.

God has given us spiritual power. And what are we doing with this power? Many things have a spiritual origin. Death equally has a spiritual origin! The scripture shows us that death occurred when a spiritual horse with a spiritual rider went out riding. Since death is such a spiritual event involving spiritual horses and spiritual riders, it is possible to block it, challenge it, delay it or fight it in the spirit realm. In other words, you can use your spiritual power to pray about death when it is coming for you. You do not have to die before your time.

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Daily Counsel

With Dag Heward-Mills

THE SOUL LIVES ON

READ: Luke 16:22-31

For what shall it pro t a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and LOSE HIS OWN SOUL?

Mark 8:36

You will realize that the soul of the rich man was alive in Hell. That is why he could remember Lazarus. The rich man thought things were still the same as when he was alive on earth. That is why he wanted to send Lazarus like a messenger, to come all the way from Heaven to Hell to serve him some water.

And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.

Luke 16:24

The rich man remembered his five brothers and pleaded with Father Abraham to prevent them from coming to join him in Hell. He pitied anyone who would ever come to Hell.

Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house: For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.

Luke 16:24

The soul of the rich man had perished in the lake of fire and he could remember, think and feel as though he was on earth.

What did Jesus say about the soul? He said, “What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his soul?” It is the soul that goes to Hell. Your spirit and your soul will suffer in Hell.

For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and LOSE HIS OWN SOUL?

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