Satan controls people through his lies.

Deception, strongholds, begins with lies.

Now his lies have an intense grip in your mind because they are sown as seeds in your thoughts.

You take ownership of Satan's thoughts when you voice them as yours.

The Bible says in Matthew chapter 16 verse 21 to 23 an interesting account of Peter and Jesus. Jesus had just mentioned to his disciples the things that he must suffer and the Bible says that Peter calls him aside and rebuked him because of the things that he said.

And Jesus turned to Peter and said, Satan, get thee behind me.

So Jesus was talking to Peter but he was addressing Satan because you can voice Satan's thoughts thinking it's yours.

And how many people today have done Satan's bidding thinking it was God's leading.

The way to live wisely is to know the will of God. Paul tells us in Ephesians chapter 5 verse 17 that we must understand the will of God to live wisely.

The knowledge of God's will is an empowerment to the believer.

The will of God renews your mind because the mind is either at war with God or it is being renewed. There's no middle ground.

Have a blessed day friends!

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night Psalm 1 verse 1 to 2.

Now you need to realize what the Psalm shows us here is two different systems of learning;

And what you need to realize is that no information is innocent, every information that comes to you is trying to mould you into something and trying to teach you something.

Everything that you allow into your mind is leading you somewhere.

The man goes where his mind goes and he eventually becomes like his thoughts.

The regenerated spirit needs a healthy mind to thrive. It is not enough to have the spirit of Christ in you, you must also allow that spirit through the nourishment and nutrients of sweet fellowship produce the nature of Christ in you.

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ. If you have his mind, you can think like him and live like him.

Remember, everything that you allow into your mind is leading you somewhere. No information is innocent.

Have a blessed day friends!

Psalm 145 verses 2 to 4: Every day, I will praise you and I'll praise your name forever and ever, great is the Lord and greatly to be praised and His greatness is unsearchable, one generation shall praise your works to another and shall declare your mighty acts.

There are four takeaways I want to unpack from the scriptures quickly and

Daily quality journey eternity. Psalm 145:2-5.

Have a blessed day friends!

Matthew 4.1,2 the Bible says that Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil

For 40 days and night, He fasted and became very hungry

It's interesting to me because as I look at this text, I'm reminded that the first temptation was that of bread

I mean, how does bread become the reason for someone to leave and abandon the will of God?

And Satan had been anticipating this moment right from Genesis chapter 3 When he heard God say that the seed of this woman will bruise your head

He was waiting for the moment that seed will show up on the scene And his very first encounter with the seed

Interestingly, the first thing Satan throws out is bread

Bread is not evil, food is for enjoyment

But in a fallen world, we are prone to love things in the wrong way

We are prone to be gripped and ruled by things that are not necessarily sin but can be because of the value that we give them over God

A fallen world comes with faulty priorities

Jesus' first temptation was to eat The very first temptation in Genesis was to eat

Ezekiel chapter 16 verse 49 The Bible says, behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom Pride, fullness of bread and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters Neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and the needy

Esau ate his way out of the plan, ate his way out of his blessings

Jesus says in Matthew chapter 6 When you give, when you pray, when you fast

But some people today have somehow made one out of these three the center of their Christianity

So they pray and they do not fast, they give but they do not pray

And Jesus says that, hey, do not make one the center of your Christianity Because all three work out something in you

Satan throws bread first It wasn't a test of bread, it was a test of desire

Satan was simply asking Jesus Do you want the purpose and the will of God more than your body needs bread right now?

Are you desperate for the will of God more than your body right now?

Is desperate for bread, is your passion for God greater than your desire for bread?

This is what I know

God is able to know if the prayer of your mouth is the prayer of your heart

He's able to strip your mountain of words down to the very intent of your heart

Have a blessed friends!

In John chapter 12 the Bible talks about this interesting account of something that happened in scriptures

that 12 days before the Passover celebration began that Jesus arrived in Bethany the home of Lazarus, the man who He had raised from the dead

and the Bible says that a dinner was prepared in Jesus' honor and Martha served and Lazarus was among those who ate with Him

and this is the man who was raised from the dead, by the way and so we see how Lazarus moved from the grave to His table

and that's how God has moved us from the bondage of our sins to the liberty of communion and intimacy with Him

so guess what? you have a seat at His table

salvation guarantees you that - that you have a seat at the table of the Father

and then in verse 3 the Bible says that Mary took 12 ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard and she anointed Jesus' feet with it wiping His feet with her hair and the house was filled with the fragrance

and so we see how Martha served the table but Mary decides I'm gonna pour my worth on Him the very substance, the very treasure that I have committed myself to keeping to putting together

and she pours it all out to the Lord, to her Lord the fragrance of Bethany the fragrance filled the entire house

and this is so interesting because one of the things that God is doing today is that He's bringing people in to Himself

I call them the scented ones - so the people who God would send to represent Him are the scented ones - the ones who the fragrance of His presence rubs off on them and the Bible says that the fragrance filled the house

now this is interesting, but Judas Iscariot, the disciple who would soon betray him said that perfume was worth a year's wages it should have been sold and the money given to the poor not that he cared for the poor he was a thief and since he was in charge of the disciple's money he often stole some of it for himself but Jesus replied leave her alone.

The world has an idea of how you should live your life, the world has an idea of how you should do things and this is Jesus' response to the ideas of the world, leave her alone. Leave him alone.

Jesus is saying that what she did is in preparation for my burial, in other words what she did has intentional purpose and it's vital for what I'm about to do

Friends, I believe this with all my heart that the love of the Father is so intense

He loves us for no reason yet we love him for so so many reasons

now it's important to understand that the value of our lives is Christ

He deserves everything that we have, everything that we own

He owns us and He owns everything that we own

and so the price we put on Him must be priceless

the price we put on him must be priceless

and if we are not full of Him, we have nothing to offer to anyone else

and this is what I'll remember about Mary - the woman with the fragrance at Bethany

Have a blessed day friends. God bless you!

There are things in your life trying to tear you apart, piece by piece.

Mark 4, Jesus says to his disciples let us go to the other side and a storm breaks out

professional fishermen were terrified Jesus was asleep and guess what, the devil will make you think sometimes that God is taking a nap on you and theologically you know it's not true but experientially your emotions can kick in to make you believe so against your theology

and these guys are in the will of God - obeying the words of Jesus, in fact traveling with Jesus himself and a storm breaks out

and then they went to Jesus to say, hey don't you care that we perish

Jesus wakes up and the first thing Jesus says to them is, oh ye of little faith

Jesus says, the problem is not the absence of faith, the problem is that your faith is little, little because you have forgotten

what did they forget - He told them let us go over to the other side and when Jesus said that

the implication of that is, they are not just traveling with the boat on water they actually traveling on his word and with Jesus himself

And it's easy for us to say amen to the promises of Jesus

it's easy for us to say amen to the sermon He preached

these guys freaked out when they got into the experience of it

how many times in our lives do we say amen to his words but we freak out when the experience of it comes

people want miracles. They believe God is a miraculous God but they freak out when they get into circumstances that necessitates a miracle

even Peter forgot that at some point in his life, He said to Jesus "at thy word "

Now when God says something, He means it. Even when there are interruptions in the process

most times we expect a smooth sail when God has made a promise to us and God didn't promise us a smooth sail

He promised us an expected end and Jesus says oh ye of little faith because they panicked in their problem

His word is your peace in the puzzle, His word is your peace in the puzzle

when you can't figure it all out God's word is peace in the puzzle

One of the dividends of salvation is that we now have peace with God but God also wants us to have the peace of God

and the peace of God is a product of peace with God

when you're saved you not only get peace with God you also have access to the peace of God

and the peace of God is our peace with God registering in our various footsteps movement and directions in life

so you can take God's recommended posture in every circumstance so that peace with God can be peace of God

Have a blessed day friends!!!

Acts chapter 4 verse 13 and the Bible says that when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men They marveled and they realized that they had been with Jesus

Friends, the world is in dire need of faithful followers of Christ and not heroes of faith

Visible verbal followers of Christ whose primary desire and obsession is to serve the Lord passionately

To express His love in its purest and authentic form and remain the pillar of truth

I mean visible verbal followers because God was on the move and God is on the move and God will always be on the move

And those who walk with God and listen to God are also on the move

Anyone who stops and wants to turn a moment into a monument as the disciples of Jesus intended to do at the mount of the transfiguration

Will soon be wondering where God has gone to

Every Christian is called, anointed and sent

And as we walk in this world, we are not to follow our hearts, we are commanded to guard our hearts

Visible verbal followers of Christ because we cannot be silent

Christ charged us to preach the gospel and he speaks daily to the believer who is charged to preach the gospel

So we don't ask what does the Bible says

So we don't ask what the Bible says

We ask what Christ says to us through the Bible and in the Bible

So that we can relate with a person and not the pages of a book

Friends, as we follow, even the spirit of the living Christ begins to produce the character and the competency of Christ in us

The fruit of the spirit wasn't intended to be a list of goals for us to produce as results

No, men produce results but the Holy Spirit produces fruits

So love the Lord, worship the Lord, serve the Lord

Because worship is love on its knees in adoration to God

And service is love on its feet doing the Lord's bidding

Christ rules and Christ reigns in this world

Not by sending in an armored tank but by sending his well-cultured servants

Remember, the world is in dire need of faithful followers of Christ and not heroes of faith

Have a blessed day friends!