The Lightroom

1 Corinthians 1:9 - God is faithful through whom you are called into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

So friends, our invitation to fellowship with God. I mean this divine access is not based on our faithfulness, it is based on God's faithfulness.

So the Bible says God is faithful through whom you were called into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

So if you're going to understand anything about fellowship with God, you have to realize that it does not depend on your goodness. It depends on God.

So you can't come to God with a dependence on your track record. You can't go to God because you're super proud of yourself because you haven't done a certain thing in a little while. You can't go to God depending on the fact that you have been able to keep your mouth from slander or gossip. You cannot bank on your works and your deeds.

Listen. Your access to God cannot be dependent on anything else other than what Jesus Christ has done. Now someone may hear these and say oh, then this means I can do anything I like. I can live any way I want, it doesn't impact my access to God.

Well, you still do not understand fellowship with God. Hey, it is the cure for every evil resident in a human heart.

Sin is powerless in fellowship with God. It is the end of every heart's pursuit. Water becomes wine, oil Is released, Grace is dispensed in manifolds, purpose is lived without gaps. The very fulfilment every man is searching for.

Fellowship with God will transform you before your very eyes because as you interact with Him, you behold Him and you're transformed into the very image of Him as He ordained you to be.

Friends. It doesn't depend on you. God extends his invitation for fellowship with you based on his faithfulness, not on your goodness, so don't let anything stop.

Have a blessed day friends!

The sound of many waters

Calms the sea in me

The voice that ends the silence

Meets me in my need

Like fireworks

Igniting in my chest

The weight of your glory

The reverence

I'm in awe that you would come to me

In awe that I can hear you speak

Speak to me

1 Thessalonians 2 verse 13 For this reason we also constantly thank God

that when you received the word of God which you heard from us

you accepted it not as the word of mere men but as what it really is

the word of God which is also at work in you who believe

Friends, the word of God is Heaven's intelligence

and to allow the word of God to form your mind

and define your values and create your convictions

is the wisest thing to do

It is foolishness to try to make the word of God according to your thoughts

When you allow God's word to form your mind

define your values and create your convictions

you will certainly live a transformed life

The word of God is not just cerebral

reading and understanding

it is spiritual

it transforms us by feeding us

it doesn't just change our perspective

it gives us the power to walk in obedience

to be doers of the word and not hearers alone

I mean you read, you meditate you confess, you obey

when you meditate on the word of God you start to taste it

because tasting is the experience of it

reading is like gathering the grapes

and meditation is putting it in your mouth

where it truly has the opportunity to nourish you

so stop trying to be wise outside the word of God

that is what is called the foolishness of men

Christ, the living word reveals himself in the written word

and so you don't need an extravagant experience

of a sign or a wonder in that sense

and that shouldn't be more important to you

than the revelation of Jesus Christ

through the Holy Spirit and through the word

in fact, no extravagant experience of a sign or a wonder

is more important than the revelation of Christ

through the Holy Spirit and through the word of God

I'm reminded of the story in Luke 16, verses 27 to 31 in particular

and then he talked about the rich man and Lazarus

and how he cried and said

I mean the rich man cried and said

then I beg you, Father,

send Lazarus to my family

for I have five brothers,

let him want them

so that they would also not come

to this place of torment

and Abraham replied

they have Moses and the prophets

let them listen to them

the rich man wanted a sign

he wanted a wonder

he wanted something more than the word for his family

Abraham's response was look,

they've got Moses and they've got the prophets

so if they do not listen to Moses and the prophets

they will not be convinced

even if someone rises from the dead

the rich man was looking for a sign

because he thought the scriptures were insufficient

the word of God when it is applied

will transform the human heart

and change our affections

have a blessed day friends!

Music

Isn't it just like heaven

When you walk into the room

There's not a thing that's here

When every eye is on you

Can't get enough of your presence

It's the perfect point of view

Isn't it just like,

just like,

just like heaven

Mmmh,

come a little closer

🎵Stay a little longer🎵

Mmmh,

I can't get enough of your presence

There are two words that start with the letter R that I want to talk to you about.

The first is realization and the second is recognition.

Realization is to be awakened to awareness.

Recognition is to be able to acknowledge.

Now the realization of the presence of God comes through the recognition of it.

There are some people who believe that God is there.

There are some others who believe that God is here.

But God wants you to live by the experience of his presence.

Because God doesn't touch and go.

He is here and you can have as much of him as you desire.

Now you don't need to wait for a supernaturally overwhelming moment to experience God.

Don't live short of the desire of God and the design of God and the new covenant.

So God invites you to a continuous, glorious, blissful, all-satisfying exchange with him.

I mean an interaction that completely satisfies the heart.

Because the joys of the earth are as inconsistent as the earth.

Romans 8, verse 26 says that now in the same way, the spirit also helps our weakness.

For we do not know what to pray for us we should.

But the spirit himself intercedes for us with groaning stood deep for words.

Now the emphasis is on the spirit.

And the emphasis on the spirit is an invitation to leave our inadequacies and give attention to the Spirit.

So if I want to pray effectively,

I must give attention to the Spirit.

Now if you believe these words,

then these words will have power in your life.

Faith in the word gives you an experience of the word.

2 Corinthians 1, verse 21 and 22 Now he who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God,

who also sealed us and gave us the spirit in our hearts as a pledge.

Friends, the Holy Spirit is down payment of what is coming.

I mean I like how the hymn writer describes this experience as the foretaste of glory divine.

Friends, you can taste the world to come.

The world that is free of oppression, that has the radiance, the splendor, the excellencies of Jesus Christ radiating and illuminating.

The Holy Spirit enables you to hear Christ and see him with your spiritual eyes.

He enlightens your eyes, awakens your senses unto the life of Christ and illuminates the eyes of your Spirit.

How beautiful is this?

That God himself through his spirit and his word has made himself edible, sensible and tangible in the Spirit.

And if you recognize this truth, then you come to the realization of it.

The presence of God in you is a foretaste of the world to come.

Have a blessed day friends.

I just want more of you.

I just want more of you.

I just want more of you.

I just want more of you.

You don't know who you are until you know who God is,

and you don't know how to live until you've settled the question of what will I live for that is worth dying for?

And there's an old joke that went around, and it says,

in the beginning, God made man in his own image, and since the fall, man has been seeking to return the compliment to God.

And there's a Jesus that has been created by the wandering minds of humans, and sadly, Christians included.

But this Jesus is not a person, it's an illusion.

Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and he doesn't need a makeover.

A Christian way of thinking is not just thinking Christian thoughts, singing Christian songs, reading Christian books, and going to Christian schools.

It is learning to think about the whole spectrum of life from the perspective of a mind that has been trained in truth, and the truth is God's word.

The Bible says, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ.

Now unfortunately, many preachers have distorted God's word, and sometimes it comes from a sincere desire to soften the hard hearts of people.

But hearts are not changed by compromise, they are changed by an encounter with the truth.

So if you tamper with the truth of God's word with a desire to get people saved to God, then they will be saved, but not to God, but to an illusion.

We are lampstands. Christ is all the light that the world needs.

We exist in order that Christ may shine through us. The world needs to meet Christ, and not you.

Have a blessed day friends.

Prayer is relational communication with God, and the key component of prayer is the relationship.

Now, God doesn't answer your prayers because your prayers were perfect, but because you're His child.

Never pursue anything outside the understanding of your relationship with God because your prayers are heard because you're a child of God.

So don't make prayer just about your needs. The purpose of prayer is way bigger than your needs.

If prayer is relational communication with God, then it means the primary purpose of prayer would be to strengthen your relationship with God. And the last time I checked, it is your experience of that relationship that needs strengthening.

And so prayer communicates our trust in God, and this is why we pray in faith. It keeps us where God wants us to be, being aware of His presence and being attentive to His voice.

And so the communication of prayer began with God. God gave us His Word, and the Word of God is the beginning of the conversation. And this is the reason you cannot pray effectively outside God's Word.

Bible study is like breathing in, and prayer is like breathing out. Never exaggerate one over the other.

Prayer may be simple in nature, but sometimes not easy in practice. And because it is not easy in practice, people complicate it.

And so Jesus speaks to us about the complications of man in Matthew 6, 7-12. In the message translation of the Bible, He says that the world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They are full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God.

Don't fall for that nonsense. This is your father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need.

So prayer communicates that you trust God. Trust that His answers are wiser than your prayers.

Trust His wisdom and His decisions because all of God's decisions are based on His will.

The Bible says in Psalm 84 verse 11, For the Lord God is a sun and shield. The Lord bestows favor and honor, and no good thing does He withhold from those who walk blameless.

Now, no good thing will He withhold. The question is who determines what is good for you?

Many times it looks as though we go out there seeking for what is good for us, and then we come to God in prayer to tell Him what we have found as good for us, and we want His power to perform what we have called good.

Friends, it's almost as if we believe that God is powerful enough to perform for us, but not good enough to determine what is good for us, and that is not prayer.

Prayer communicates that you trust God.

So, friends, prayer is a relational communication with God, and it communicates, first of all, that we trust Him. He's our Father, and He knows better than us what we need.

Have a blessed day, friends!

2Corinthians 5.15 - He died for everyone so that those who receive this new life will no longer live for themselves instead they live for Christ who died and was raised for them

Friends, in an era of selfishness and self-centeredness, It is a virtue not to live for self

A lot of people live for the possibility of having a comfortable life - money for retirement, a successful career, climbing up the corporate ladder, A great marriage, finding the right person - It pretty much sounds like me, me, me and me

Sadly Christians are not so different, we invest more in ourselves, in our marriages, our desires for life, our goals. We pursue blessings and God wants to do great things for us

But the purpose of Christ dying doesn't revolve around living for ourselves. Sometimes we act as though we are the center of the universe and everything and even God revolves around us

Listen to me, this may rock your boat, But God is not interested in your plans for your life. God is not committed to your plans for your life, God wants you to follow his plans for your life

Christ died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves

And these days it's so difficult to give up anything. To give up sleep, give up comfort, and how can we even give up ourselves?

We need to come to terms with the demand of God. You cannot live for yourself anymore, So those who live no longer live for their comfort, for their security But to live for him alone

We're committed to living safe when God wants us to live brave and we can't live both ways

It wasn't safe for Jesus to come to earth to redeem us. Immediately he was born, a king was hunting for him to kill him

As a result over 1,000 innocent babies were killed. He was taken to Africa to hide like a refugee and when he returned, a whole institution was dedicated to frustrating him and eventually killing him

They tried to stone him, they tried to push him off a cliff, they flogged him, they ridiculed him, they spat on him. They made him carry a heavy cross His heart was heavier than the cross because of his assignment

Eternal damnation had been compressed into a few hours like a bitter drink and he had to take every drop. They nailed his hands, nailed his legs, they pierced his side. They put a crown of thorns on his head

Was it safe my Lord? How did you come to this unsafe world? Was I worth the sacrifice?

Friends, it is bravery to live in the will of God selflessly

Living safe is living a disadvantaged life. Acts 4.29 - And now Lord, take note of their threats and grant that your bond-servants may speak your word with all confidence

The apostles were not asking God to take away the persecution. They were asking for a greater level of boldness. Give us a greater level of boldness that is greater than the threats because we never retreat in this kingdom, we only seek to live brave

In 2 Corinthians 11.23-28 Paul begins to recount and says, I have worked more harder, I have been in prison more frequently, I have been flogged more severely, I have been exposed to death more often, I have 5 times received 40 lashes save one from the Jews

Friends, living brave is obedience to Christ no matter the cost. Taking a step of faith outside your comfort zone and God doesn't have to explain himself to you before you obey him

God doesn't have to ask your permission before he touches your life. If you demand that God explains himself to you or asks your permission to allow trials and troubles your way then you and I don't serve the same God

The God that I serve says in Psalm 115.3 - My God is in heaven and he does whatever pleases him

Friends, God is trustworthy. God proved his love on the cross. He doesn't need to prove himself again and again to you. If your greatest desire in life is to live safe, you will - But you will never see God the way he chooses to reveal himself to you

It is bravery to live the will of God selflessly and living safe is actually living a disadvantaged life

Have a blessed day friends!

One, one, one, one, one, one, one

One, one, one, one, one, one

One, one, one, one, one, one

One, one, one, one, already one

Fighting temptations, do you crash, do you burn?

Fighting emotions, you can cry if you want

Fighting depression and the pain that you feel

Reasons to cry are more than reasons to smile

Reasons to cry are more than reasons to smile

And so I send you an army in the form of a song

And say to your darkness we have already won

We're caught in a battle that is older than us

But victory is older, it is already done

Victory is older, we have already won

There's no point praying about victory over temptation If you're not willing to say no to it

Victory in Christ has a personal implication It must change your disposition and your response to what is around you

Now God wants us to get to know the deliverer, the source of our victory Rather than just wanting to be delivered

And if you would live in victory You must learn how to live beyond what you feel and what you see And live by faith in the finished work of Christ

Friend, your victory is older than your battles

One of the ways that God teaches us victory in Christ day by day Is to charge us to live in constant awareness of his greatness And his sufficiency

Sin is a ruler, it governs, it controls And its primary instrument of rulership, of dominion and of control The Bible clearly tells us It's lust

Lust is the unbridled desires of the flesh That through its pursuit and fulfillment You become endeared to your flesh than your spirit

And sin is a very clever operation It takes advantage of your appetite And Satan shows up at the point of your legitimate desires and appetite And then seduces you with your own desires to sin against God

So the seduction of sin is to get you to become a natural At satisfying your God ordained appetite Outside the rule and regulation of God through his word

Friend, sin will not conquer you because God already has And so choose who governs you

Reject the dethroned monarch called sin and Satan And choose the one who reigns forever, Jesus

Your victory is older than your battles

Have a great day friends!

In the darkest hour,

when I cannot breathe

Fear is on my chest,

the weight of the world on me

Everything is crashing down,

everything I have known

When I wonder if I'm all alone

I remember, I remember

You have always been faithful to me

I remember, I remember

Even when my own eyes could not see

You were there,

always there

Psalm 78 verse 11 and the Bible says they forgot his works and his wonders that he had shown them.

Friends, we have the tendency to forget what we ought to remember and remember what we ought to forget

we spend a lot of energy remembering the sins and the failures God spent a lot of love to forget.

It's so easy to forget the things that matters and

we often forget to give thanks to God for his goodness because God has been good.

I mean you get up in the morning without saying thank you to God because you didn't have issues getting up in the morning

God hates ingratitude and so do the people around us

ingratitude quickly feels like rejection

it communicates our dependence on ourselves and it keeps us focused on ourselves

I mean ingratitude says I could have gotten that by myself even if you were not there

I could have done this or done that without your help and sadly we silently communicate this to God

truly it is by his mercies that we are not consumed because his compassion fails not.

The Bible says that God is not unrighteous to forget our labor of love and so it means that it is an unrighteous thing to forget and

finally in the book of Luke the Bible tells us that there were 10 lepers who were healed and one came back to say thank you

nine others probably got carried away with their new status and opportunities that they forgot the one who cleansed them in the first place.

Friends be like the one who went back to say thank you to the one who enabled him move forward

you and I have gotten to where we are today because someone or some persons played a role actively to move us up

it is an unrighteous thing to forget

so please do not forget to remember.

Have a blessed day friends!

Like it's ripping at the seams

And the lies keep growing louder

With chaos threatening

When the weight upon my shoulders

Is too much for my soul

Won't you help me to remember

Those words from long ago

Jesus loves me this I know

For the Bible tells me so

Little ones to Him belong

They are weak but He is strong

Luke chapter 5 verse 5 And Simon answered and said, Master, we toiled all night and caught nothing, but at your word we will let down our net.

There's a spirit behind every idea, every way of thinking, every philosophy, every government, and every teaching.

In fact, life is more spiritual than physical.

The word of God is flawless.

Don't interpret God's word through the lens of your circumstances.

Don't interpret God's word through the lens of the world.

Instead, interpret the world through the lens of God's word.

Don't be a part of those who have created their own imaginary Christ out of culture.

Instead of changing culture with the gospel of Christ, they have created a Christ that fits into their culture.

There are Christians today who have slipped into what I call Christian atheism.

When you think that you are more evolved, you know better than Paul, better than Luke, better than John, better than Peter, and sometimes Master Jesus.

People who have become progressives, they believe they have superior ideas than the Bible presents.

The Bible is not progressive because it is perfect.

The Bible does not change with time because the Bible is eternal.

The Bible is not evolving because it is infallible.

And one of the ways you can tell if you are exchanging Christ for culture is when you know more culture than the Bible, spiritually bankrupt but culturally sufficient.

And almost unknowingly, friends, we all have a tendency to redefine Christianity according to our own tastes, preferences, church traditions, and cultural norms.

And slowly, subtly, we take the Jesus of the Bible and twist him into someone with whom we are a little more comfortable with.

Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And he's not customizable. He doesn't need a makeover.

This culture presents a counterfeit gospel to deceive even Christians from believing the true gospel.

And the goal of this attack is deception through seduction, an imitation that limits your Christian experience.

The same formula, the same principles, yet it will suppress and replace the truth.

And of course, tamper with your experience of this Jesus.

It is this culture that removes the autonomy of the Bible so that men can begin to edit the truth, adjust ancient landmarks, and broaden the narrow way.

The devil wants you to doubt everything God says. Hear them, but doubt them.

Doubt what he says about his character and his nature.

Doubt what he says about you, that you are loved eternally.

Be careful, friends. The Bible is not progressive because it is perfect.

At your word, Peter says.

Have a blessed day, friends.

And all that I can see

Is a million imperfections

Just staring back at me

When I feel like I'm abandoned

All alone and left behind

Let me know you'll never leave me

Cause I am yours and you are mine

Jesus loves me, this I know

For the Bible tells me so

Little ones to him belong

I thought the more I cleaned myself up, the more worthy I'd be

I thought I had to draw near to Him, for Him to draw back to me

But He's the bread in my lungs when I'm gasping for air

Mark chapter 8, Jesus makes one of His most challenging and yet liberating statement in verse 34 and He says "Whosoever desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me."

Now, you could never love yourself as much as God loves you. And this is the precise reason God hates selfishness.

Selfishness lowers the bar and the standard of how valuable you are in God's eyes

In fact, selfishness brings a corrupt standard, So when you try to love yourself, it will never come close to how God loves you

But when you deny yourself, you find the Christ who gave Himself for you

When you deny yourself, God reveals the liberating truth to you of how valuable you are to Him

A life laid down invites the Christ who is lifted up

Philippians 2 says, let nothing be done with selfish ambition

And you see, wherever scripture challenges you the most, it means that grace is waiting for you to accomplish the most in you

It is an invitation to freedom, actually, and not a challenge

When you deny yourself, you come into a revelation of Christ that reveals your own worth in Him

The revelation of Christ leads us into a realm of worship that no self-effort could ever produce

Friends, there's a chamber, a secret place, waiting for us in the abasing of ourselves

I don't serve Christ today to get a breakthrough tomorrow, I serve Christ today because He's worth everything, every day

In John 15 verse 9, Jesus says, as the Father has loved me, I love you. And He says, abide in my love

Because you see, the enemy is always banking on you loving yourself more than you love God

And if you love yourself more than you love God, your obedience will always be compromised by your personal desire instead of kingdom desires

And if we would just realize that with God, the prize is always greater than the price

Surrender is only a sacrifice if you're in love with the world

Surrender is a privilege if you're in love with God

And that is why self-denial is not a burden of sorrow, It is actually an offering of eternal reward

Self-denial is a gift, it's an invitation into seeing how loved you truly are, and how glorious Jesus really is

Have a blessed day friends!