Believe Right!

The more you try by your own effort at obeying the law in order to curb sin, the more sin will multiply. We see why in Romans 6:14—   “For sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under law but under Grace.” The more you try to obey the law (stop sinning) by human effort, the stronger the grip of sin, but this is taught in reverse in many places of worship. In a way, I see this verse - Romans 6:14 - play out in my kids’ lives during every school holiday. No PS4 on school nights (law) and they act like I’m cutting off their limbs. It's all they want to do. If I wasn’t there to restrict them from playing, that's all they would do all day. The holidays arrive and they can play for as long as they like without the threat of punishment or consequences (grace.) There's a playing frenzy for the first few days of this grace period. The frenzy fizzles out and then, somehow, they don't go near their game consoles for days on end. Many who are struggling with si...

Believers, Did you notice something was amiss where the devil quoted parts of Psalms 91 to our Saviour Jesus when he tempted Him in the wilderness (Matthew 4?) It reads: "5 Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and,‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’” This passage that Satan quoted is from Psalms 91:11-12. The complete verses read: 11 “For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways. 12 In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.” The devil left out  "To keep you in all your ways." ! You see, the devil and his agents cannot quote Scripture completely or in its correct context because it would be counterproductive to do so. People will be saved! Jumping down from t...

Someone read Part 1 of the above-titled piece (where we see that your lack of earrings and not doing hair in order to prove that you are a child of God is pointless) and made this comment:  "Though what we wear doesn't make us righteous but could become a mistaken identity as in the case of Ahab and Jehojaphet and Moses when he was called an Egyptian. If you don't want to be called another then be the 9th of who you are." Many people are worried about the issue of sins and living a life of moral excellence. This concern presents an opportunity for us to understand the beauty of being in Christ. The Holy Spirit transforms us from within so much that what is on the outside cannot but align with what is inside. Understand what makes a person a sinner; we see this in Romans 5:19— “By one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous.” Committing acts of sin is not what makes a person a sin...

Believers, consider 2 Timothy 3:1-5: "But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good,4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people." At first, one would think vs:1-5 is just about people who are sinning openly and leading outwardly vulgar lifestyles but consider verse 5 which they all have in common: “having a form of godliness but denying its power...." The NLT version says "They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly.” These people that Pàul wrote to Timothy about here aren’t thugs and such who are openly wallowing in sins. Paul said they have a form of g...

Believers, by grace, examine what you are hearing in your local church and beware of preachers of a false doctrine. Consider Romans 4:25- "Jesus was handed over to be crucified for the forgiveness of our sins and was raised back to life to prove that He had made us right with God!" Also consider Hebrews 10:12- “But our High Priest offered Himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then He sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand.” A single sacrifice for sins that avails forever. Is Christ crucified (all our sins- past, present and future- forgiven) and raised back to life (proving He had made us right with God) the foundation for everything that you are hearing in your local church? With every demand made of you, even the demand to overcome sins and addictions, is CHRIST presented to you as Saviour from sins or are you expected to go and "stop sinning" by yourself to get God to bless you and perhaps consider you for ete...

Believers, consider Proverbs 11:4- "Riches will not provide security in the day of wrath and judgment, But righteousness rescues from death." Certainly, righteousness is key to escaping the wrath of God! But how do we attain this righteousness that rescues from death? Definitely not by doing our best to obey the Ten Commandments or other works of the law as many who profess Christ believe. The righteousness that rescues from death is not the righteousness of self (self-righteousness) that proceeds from trying to keep the law, paying tithe or sowing seed. Romans 3:20 show us the futility of trying to be righteous by doing what the law commands: "For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are." Trying to keep the law to get right with God is also the sure-fire way to get cut off from Christ as we see in Galatians 5:4- "For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by ...

Believers, the gospel of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is not at all like motivational seminars where we hear a speaker and have to go back home to apply his "Seven Steps to Success" in order to obtain results. It is not at all about PERFORMING or DOING. Our Abba Father blesses us via HEARING. See this in Galatians 3:5- "Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?—" Motivational talks focus on "You must do these Seven Steps, and when you do them correctly, you will have success." The speaker says "If you don't see results, don't blame me! It is because YOU didn't apply the steps properly!" But Grace is not so. As Grace speaks, salvation from sickness, oppression, lack, foolishness and every earthly ill is happening. No works to do. No "Seven Steps" to follow. God is healing, blessing, saving, simply by our HEARI...

Yesterday, I watched highlights of the COSAFA Cup football match between Zimbabwe and Lesotho. Ordinarily wouldn't watch that but SuperSport had just aired highlights of our match with the Czechs and then England; the reminder of our losses combined with the TV remote being one metre away from my comfy spot made me keep on watching something that I wasn't interested in... Anyway, the Zimbabwe-Lesotho match ended in a penalty shoot-out which finished in very odd circumstances. One of the players from Lesotho acted like he was about to kick the ball, but he didn't. The goalie saw the angle of his leg as he made the false start and dove to one side of the post. The Lesotho player then kicked the ball into an open goal post. The Mauritian referee disqualified the penalty kick and booked the player because of the manner in which he made his play. This player who was qualified to play brought loss of victory and judgment of yellow card upon himself simply because of the ...