HOW TO DEAL WITH THIS PAINS

       

HOW TO DEAL WITH PAINS

There is a lot of pains in Plateau, Northern Nigeria, Nigeria, Africa, America and on the globe. In the last ten years, Nigerians and Africans have lived under great stress, deep division, nuclear threat, terroristic intimidation, political unrest, Banditry, Kidnapping, gender confusion, multiple crises, endless tragedies, mass shootings, mass killings, arm rubbery and continual revelations of sexual harassment and unethical behaviour.

While some members of older generations hang their heads in discouragement, some members of the younger generations raise their fists in defiance. At times, some of the media serves as the wind that fans the flames of all generations. Pain is piled upon pain and sooner or later it either oozes out slowly or flows out swiftly.

With the Backdrop

Today I write with the backdrop of the Irigwe, Miango of BASSA LGA of Plateau State Wanton distruction of Farm lands (crops) Raising down of hundreds of houses and the killing of unspecified innocent people. We see this pain revealed through crying, shock, and anger. Additionally, I have to deal with my own pain as I watch our nation hurt so deeply. Many times, tears fill my eyes for our region and  nation.

4 Actions Nigeria Can Take with Our Pain

1. Ask yourself the tough question: What is happening with me right now?
Rather than gaze at others and their pain, look inward and ask yourself what is happening within you. Identify your own personal pain:

Am I scared?
Am I angry?
Am I disappointed?
Am I worried?
Am I fearful?
Be honest with yourself. Discover what is happening within you. This is the first step to understanding and resolving your feelings.

2. Confess you want Jesus Christ to be #1 in your life.
Beginning with Jesus is beginning with the Truth. I am speaking about the Truth of God’s Word, the Bible.  Recognize that when the Bible speaks, Jesus speaks. He is speaking these real words to all of us.

Jesus is compassionate: “I will never leave you or forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5
Jesus is calling: “Come to Me.” Matthew 11:28
Jesus is comforting: “…all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28
Jesus is commanding: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations.” Matthew 28:19
3. Permit Jesus Christ to minister to your personal pain.
When you permit Jesus Christ to minister to your personal pain, see what occurs.

Peace replaces fear.
Freedom replaces bondage.
Calm replaces stress.
Hope replaces despair.
Joy replaces sorrow.
I am thankful that Jesus ministers to our personal pain like no one else.

4. Place confidence in a trusted person.
Everyone needs a safe person to share your feelings with; what I call a true and trusted friend. This trusted person could be:

Your spouse
Your teacher
Your coach
Your minister
Your friend
Your mom or dad, or both of your parents

This person receives you for who you are 

and does not judge you or anything you say. Therefore, place confidence in a trusted person.

A Final Consideration

When we handle our pain in the proper way, God frees us from our own negativity and destruction. This is why we need the Lord.

Jesus is still the answer for our lives today.

Hallelujah! hallelujah!! hallelujah!!!

May the God of all comfort, comfort our people and nation in Jesus Name. Amen

PRAYING OUT THE MYSTERIES OF GOD

Praying Out the Mysteries of God

The mysteries of the Kingdom of God belong to you. These mysteries are unlocked by the Holy Spirit during prayer. Not only are mysteries spiritual revelations of the Word of God we call rhema, but also revealed mysteries of your Kingdom walk with Christ guided by the Holy Spirit. In the Bible, there are two Greek words rhema and logos. Both these Greek words translate as word in the English language. Rhema is revelatory, and logos is written. (Black ink on white paper.) This means it’s possible to read the text of Scripture and receive a revelation as to what that word means to you personally. Jesus said, “It is the spirit that giveth life; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words (rhema) that I have spoken unto you are spirit, and are life” (John 6:63 ASV). To understand these mysteries requires prayer. First, let’s understand Christ taught the masses of people different than his Disciples. To the masses, he taught in parables, but to His Disciples, he was more direct.  This puzzled his Disciples, and they asked him to explain why the parables. A Biblical parable is a story that teaches a spiritual principle. Christ said, “This is the reason that I speak to them in parables: because having the power of seeing, they do not see; and having the power of hearing, they do not hear, nor do they grasp and understand” (Matthew 13:13 AMP). In other words, these people are listening, but they don’t get it. Then He answered his Disciples in a most direct way, “Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them, it is not given” (Matthew 13:11). This should really encourage you. The mysteries of the Kingdom of God belong to you. As already said, the mysteries of the Kingdom of God unlock God’s plan for your life. These mysteries are revealed to you through prayer by the Holy Spirit. Apostle Paul taught an amazing truth about prayer. One day he was teaching about praying in other tongues. He wrote, “For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit, he speaketh mysteries” (1 Corinthians 14:2). Did you get that? He wrote, “In the spirit he speaketh mysteries.” Prayer warriors understand the importance of the Holy Spirit in prayer. “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities (prayer weaknesses): for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself (himself) maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered” (Romans 8:26). The bottom line is when you pray in other tongues, your spirit, in cooperation with the Holy Spirit, is praying out the mysteries of God. Said another way, praying out the plan of God for your future. Your partner

5 WAYS TO STOP DISCOURAGEMT FROM GETTING THE BEST OF YOU

    

5 WAYS TO STOP DISCOURAGEMENT FROM                  GETTING THE BEST OF YOU

Discouragement and disappointment are normal emotions we all experience even as Christians, but it’s important to know how to make sure those debilitating emotions don’t get the best of us.

First, let’s look at four reasons why we get discouraged and disappointed.

1. Job felt discouraged with his wife and friends.

They didn’t get it. In the midst of his suffering and questioning God, they tried to be helpful, but they ended up heaping more shame and blame on Job for his afflictions. We, too, can feel let down by our friends and family. They don’t understand what we’re going through or don’t offer to help as we wish they would. Our disappointment can turn to discouragement.

2.Elijah became discouraged with life’s circumstances.

Despite our persistent and fervent prayers, things don’t turn out the way we’d hoped they would. Elijah hoped that after all the miracles the Israelites saw performed on Mount Carmel, Ahab and Jezebel would repent and put God first, but they did not. King Ahab and Jezebel were as stubborn and hard hearted as always, and Elijah felt discouraged, exhausted, and told himself that his entire ministry was a waste (1 Kings 19).

3. Jeremiah felt angry and discouraged with God

When he, Jeremiah believed God was against him, and because of that perspective, he temporarily lost hope in God (Lamentations 3). The disciples too felt discouraged after Jesus was crucified, before he rose from the dead. They said, “We were hoping that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel” (Luke 24:21). They couldn’t see the bigger picture and felt disappointed that Jesus did not fight for his kingdom.

4. Peter felt discouraged with himself when he realized that he wasn’t as courageous as he thought he was.

Jesus had warned him that he would deny him, but Peter’s pride kept him from seeing himself clearly (Matthew 26:31 and 74, 75). We too can feel discouraged and even depressed when we fail to live up to our own or someone else’s  expectations.

Discouragement happens, even to the strongest and best of people. Below are five (5) steps you can take when you start to feel the black cloud of discouragement swallow you up.

1. Be honest.

It does you no good to pretend you don’t feel what you feel. You can’t take action against a negative feeling until you first admit you have it. A strong Christian is not someone who never experiences negative feelings. It’s someone who has learned what to do with them when he or she has them and how to process them biblically.

2. Take care of your body.

 If your body isn’t working, your mind, emotions and will are also weakened. I love how God tended to Elijah’s body first—before addressing anything else and provided ravens to feed him. Sometimes the circumstances of life drain us dry, and we need to press pause, stop doing, and simply rest and refresh.  

3. Pay attention to your thought life.

Maturing as believers means we learn to think truthfully (Philippians 4:8) and to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5).

All of us attempt to make sense of the things that happen in our lives. We try to figure out why they happen and what it all means. It’s crucial that we pay attention to what stories we are telling ourselves about ourselves, about others, about God or a particular situation, and whether or not those stories are actually true. For example, if you look at what Elijah was telling himself after he became discouraged, much of it was not true, yet because he thought it, it added to his misery (read 1 Kings 19).

Jeremiah was also telling himself things about God that were not true but because his mind believed his version of reality instead of God’s, he lost his hope. Read through Lamentations 3. Notice in verse 21 Jeremiah begins to have a change of mind and heart. He says, “This I recall to mind, therefore I have hope.” When his thoughts changed his negative emotions also lifted even though his circumstances stayed the same.

4. Train yourself to “see” life out of two lenses at the same time

When the apostle Paul counsels us to be transformed by the renewing of our mind (Romans 12:2), he is telling us that our mind needs to be trained to think differently than we have in the past. Part of this training is to learn to see both the temporal (life is hard) and the eternal (God has a purpose here) at the same time. 

Paul speaks honestly of his temporal pain when he says he is hard pressed on every side, perplexed, persecuted and struck down. Yet he did not become crushed, despairing, abandoned, or destroyed. Why not? Because he learned to firmly fix the eternal perspective on his spiritual eyes. He says, “Therefore we do not lose heart.… So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:8–18).

Paul never minimized the pain of the temporal, yet discouragement didn’t win because he knew that God’s purposes were at work. (See Philippians 1:12–14 for another example).

5.    Press close into God

The truth is life is hard, people do disappoint and hurt us, and we don’t always understand God or his ways. The prophet Nahum talks about a day of trouble and reminds us “The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, he knows those who trust in him” (Nahum 1:7). If we’re not in close trusting relationship with God, life’s troubles can become unbearable. The psalmist cried out, “I would have despaired unless I had believed I would see God in the land of the living” (Psalm 27). 

One final tip. The best way to chase out a negative feeling is with another feeling. The Bible teaches us “In everything give thanks for this is the will of God” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Gratitude is a powerful anecdote for discouragement. We may not be able to give God thanks for the difficult situation that we find ourselves in, but we can learn to look for things we can be thankful for in the midst of it. Hallelujah!!!

JESUS THE HEALER

                           

                     JESUS, THE HEALER

"Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses." Matthew 8:17.

    We have come to believe that it is just as wrong for a believer to bear his sickness when Jesus bore it, as it is for him to bear his sins when Christ bore them. 

    We have no right to live in sin and to bear those hateful habits that make life a curse, because Christ bore them. 

    It was wrong for Him to bear them if we are going to bear them too. It is wrong for us to have sickness and disease in our bodies when God laid those diseases on Jesus.

    He became sick with our diseases, that we might be healed.

What God Has Declared

Here is the foundation for faith, the Living Word of God. What God says, is. What man says, may be. 

    What God says is never "maybe"; it is always made good. God's Word is a part of Himself, just as your word is a part of you. What you say reveals the real "you." 

    People come to trust in the "you" in your voice. Your voice and your words are "you." 

    Jesus was God's Voice. What Jesus said, the Father said. Jesus was the Logos, the Word of God. When you read what Jesus said, or you hear It read, you are hearing God, you are hearing the Living Word. 

    God is back of what He has Spoken. The Throne of God is back of what He has Spoken. 

    God's Character and Jesus' character are involved in what the Father or Jesus has Spoken. 

    So when He says, "Surely He hath borne our sicknesses and carried our diseases, Yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted" we know that our diseases were laid on Him. 

    When He climaxes that statement with, "By His stripes we are healed," we know that we are healed. 

    It is a problem of the integrity of the Word. 

    "He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his on way; and Jehovah hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all." Isaiah 53:5. 

    This solves the sin problem. 

    Hebrews 9:26, "But now once at the end of the ages hath he been manifested to put away sin by the Sacrifice of Himself." 

    The sin problem is a settled problem because God said it was settled. Disease and sickness are settled because God said that He had settled them. 

    He bore the diseases. 

    God said, "By His stripes ye were healed" so that ends the discussion. 

    He said the issue was closed. The diseases have been put away, so sickness and disease shall not lord it over you. 

    He said,"Wherefore if any man is in Christ, he is a New Creation." That is His declaration. That statement is a part of Himself. 

    He says you are a New Creation. He says that you are His Son, born from Above. 

    "That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit." This is a statement of Fact. 

    Sin and disease are one. They cannot dominate the New Creation. 

    You are not only His Son, but you are a joint-heir with Jesus. You are a joint fellowshipper in all that Christ did and all that christ is. 

    This shows how near you are to Him; "I am the vine, ye are the branches." 

    God is a part of what He said. In Christ, you are what He says you are. 

    You are a New Creation created in Christ. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus" -- to the New Creation. 

    What God says, is. If you are a New Creation, then there is no condemnation for you. 

    If there is no condemnation, disease cannot Lord it over you.

The Healer

When you know that "By His stripes you are healed" and you know it as you know that two and two are four, the adversary will have no power over you. 

    When you know the Power and Authority of the Name of Jesus and that you have a legal right to use it, and the adversary lays siege to you, you will not be filled with fear. You will simply laugh at him and say, "Satan, did you know you were whipped? Leave my body." He will leave. 

    God made Him sick with our sickness. He was afflicted with our diseases. 

    As to our sins, "He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed." 

    He dealt with man's body, and with his soul, and spirit. He laid our iniquities and our diseases upon Jesus. He was stricken, smitten, and afflicted with our diseases and with our sins. 

    II Corinthians 5:21, "Him, Who knew no sin, He made to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the Righteousness of God in Him." 

    He has already healed you. 

    In the Mind of the Father, you are healed. 

    Jesus knows that He bore your diseases. 

    How it must hurt Him to hear you talk about bearing them yourself. 

    Learn to say: "I am healed because He did that work and satisfied the Supreme Court of the Universe." 

    That makes you free. 

    Sin shall not lord it over you because you are a New Creation. 

    When were you healed? When Jesus defeated Satan and stripped him of his authority and arose you were healed. 

    The promises that cover your case are of no value until you act upon them. 

    Believing is acting upon the Word.

    My purpose in writing this Quota was that people might see their deliverance in Christ from oppression and sickness, that they might see their complete redemption already purchased for them. I feel that if they were to read of the physical manifestations in other's lives, they would unconsciously look to the other person's healing and not see their own deliverance already accomplished by God on our rights and privileges in Christ. 

    I want you to look to the Word for your healing

JESUS IS THE HEALER..

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