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Introduction

The word “Salvation” is not a foreign word to many of us, but I think many people have not really fully understood what it means. Nevertheless, even though we may have some understanding about it, this will be a very good discussion to refresh our mind.

Salvation means to be delivered from sin and slavery, from enemies, and ultimately from death; because the end result of sin (Romans 6:23), and the will of an enemy is to steal God’s blessing, to kill destinies, and destroy souls (John 10:10), but the Salvation of God helps to deal with the three aspect of mankind in the area of the Spirit, Soul and Body (1 Thessalonians 5:23); because man is actually a spirit that has a soul and lives in a body.

Now if we carefully look on how man’s problem started, we will discover that God told man that he would die the day he ate of the forbidden fruit (Genesis 2:17), but did he actually die? Yes, he did, but his instant death was not of his flesh, but his spirit. What happened was that when Adam sinned against God, the effect of his disobedience was not immediately visible, but there was already a spiritual effect, because one of the things the scripture said immediately happened was that the glory of God that covered him was gone; and that is why man for the first time knew and was ashamed that he was naked, and started to hide from God (Genesis 3); One of the by-product of sin is shame.

Man’s spiritual death led to him becoming sinful in nature, and this spiraled over on to his soul, in that his soul started to get as well corrupt because it was now living from the information of lust and emotions of the flesh, rather than building its character from the spirit; and it was this corruption of the soul that led to the first murder: Cain killed his brother, Abel, because his soul was filled with envy, and this was a spiral effect of a dead spirit in man. The effect of what had happened to man’s spirit grew worse and worse till man lost all his spirituality and was totally cut off from Him, whereas God used to come down to talk with him face to face; now mankind had to adopt prayer as a way to call on God, which was more like a distant walkie-talkie conversation, but this was not so from the beginning. The scripture says “And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden” (Genesis 3:8).

This spiral effect eventually led to the physical death of man, which is why Adam who God made to live forever, died at the age of 930 years; and henceforth man’s lifespan decreased drastically during the years till mankind only lived on an average of about 70 years now, because man was now carnal. The scripture says “And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.” (Genesis 6:3).

Therefore if we must deal perfectly with man’s problems, we must focus on the root of the problem and not its leaf, because even though the leaves of a tree, or it branches of tree are cut off, that does not mean that the tree will die; more branches and leaves will simply just grow back as long as its root is still been nourished. Likewise, when mankind is not doing the first things first, but dealing with the leaves and branches of problems in society or their individual life, then the same problems will surely surface in another area. For example, even right from time, thieves have been imprisoned and even executed, yet people still keep stealing even the more; and even if a death penalty is put on kidnapping and rape, people will still do them, because that is not the root of mankind’s problem, it is all as a result of man’s fall from spirituality to carnality.

In these series of discussion, we will be talking about the different aspects of salvation, because Jesus is the answer to all man’s problem; but tapping into His salvation to its fullness requires knowledge unless, we will many enjoy is salvation in an area and lose out on some of its benefits in another area.

The salvation of Jesus Christ brings the Salvation of the Spirit, Soul, Body (Relationship, health and prosperity), but if we only concentrate on salvation of the spirit alone, then we will be heavenly ready, but earthily useless; or if we solely concentrate on the salvation of the body in areas of relationships, health and prosperity, we will be earthily comfortable, but end up eternally uncomfortable in death. These is why all these areas of salvation must be placed in their right priority, and none of them should be neglected; because those areas we neglect as Christians, the enemy will occupy, and utilize for the glory of the devil, whereas we are to occupy them and use those positions for the glory of God: Jesus said, we should occupy till He comes (Luke 19:13), but are we really occupying the right places God wants us to occupy, or are we just playing Church?

Now as long as a person is not born again (even for some Christians that are born again), the devil does not mind them to prosper in his kingdom as long as they serve his will, but once you get born again, he will do everything to make sure you don’t enjoy God’s blessing, because he knows that through your blessing you will glorify God, and use your resources for the kingdom of God. You can imagine if Christians own all the TV station and the media house in the world, how many souls could be saved! You can imagine if genuine Christians ruled nations, how corruption would be fought, and only god-fearing laws will be implemented! This and more are what the devil is fighting.

The fear of trying to be spiritual and not working to earn a living, when God has not commanded you to do so, is a lie of the devil, so that you can be depending on others; and this is what has made many Christians preaching the gospel look like beggars and not givers. A man called into this ministry and was telling me that He worked in a bank, but he knows God is calling him to ministry, so he wants to quit his work. I had to tell him the same thing I am telling you now; if God had not told you to quit, don’t quit, but rather do the work of God alongside until you know that God wants you to be a full-time minister. The only thing is that you only need to be more hardworking. For the early years of this ministry, I did not depend on any man to rent an office or pay the bills for the crusades, media works or the outreaches; the financing all came by God through the works of my hands, because God had promised to bless the works of our hands (Deuteronomy 28:12). So make sure to know if God has called you instantly into a full-time ministry or not, and don’t fall a victim of the lies of the devil.


The Salvation of the Spirit

We introduced what salvation is, and the different areas of salvation (Salvation of spirit, soul and body), in which we said none of these areas should be neglected neither should they be applied in the wrong order, because when we don’t apply the different areas of salvation appropriately, then the salvation of Christ will have no maximum effect at the end of the day.

Let me start with an example to illustrate my point; imagine that a man was travelling with his child in a boat, and he could not swim, but he had a life-jacket in his boat. Along the way, they encountered a boat mishap, in which his child fell into the river. How do you think he should save him? If the man jumps into the river by impulse, he will end up drowning himself with the child because he can’t swim. He, trying to save his only son is the good and the proper thing to do, but obviously foolish if he jumps in without doing the first things first, which in this case is to put on the life-jacket, then jump into the river to save his child; because even though he manages to reach the child without the life-jacket, he is not going to be able to get back into the ship because he can’t swim, and that would mean he and his child will end up dying. In this example, the life-jacket is a symbolism of the salvation of the spirit, while the child is a symbolism of the other areas of salvation. What we must understand is that trying to enjoy the benefits of salvation without focusing on the salvation of the spirit will not work god’s way, and that was what Jesus was trying to say when He said we should seek first the kingdom of God and its righteousness, and the rest things we need on the earth will fall into proper place (Matthew 6:33). In order words, Jesus was saying we must place priority on the things of the spirit.

The point here is that it is not that God does not want to physically blessed us, he wants us to be totally blessed, be alive to enjoy them, and make it into eternity, because what is the use of a person possessing everything in the world, and he is going to die from a terminal disease within a week or going to end up in eternal damnation (Mark 8:36). God is more interested in a person’s spiritual salvation than in any other area of his salvation, that is why God in His own way and time, will only bless a person according to the level of his spiritual growth, because if He blesses some Christians at the level of their spiritual maturity right now, they many fall from the faith because their spiritual root will not be able to carry it, or it might never get to their hands because the devil may keep stealing that blessing. This is the reason God had to chase Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden, because they had lost their spiritual nature, and therefore where not in the position to be able to handle the spiritual resources that He had made available for them; but would have rather abused it. God knew that Adam would have tried to eat from the tree of life because one of the greatest fear of man is death (Hebrews 2:15); and that is why everyone desire to live, if possible, forever on this earth. If Adam had eaten the tree of life in his spiritual dead state, he would have become living zombie forever, in that, he would not be able to die in the flesh, but he would be spiritually dead forever; and in that way, even the sacrifice of Jesus Christ would have not been able to save him. The scripture says, “the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken” (Genesis 3:22-23).

The root of mankind’s problem is from his spirit because it when Adam and Eve sinned and died spiritually that it all start, so therefore it is only after this has been dealt with in a person, that they can build a lasting structure outwardly; a lasting structure of a sound mind, health, relationship and prosperity, but if we don’t deal with the root cause by receiving Jesus Christ into our lives by faith, and rather try to deal or manage the problems by beautifying them outwardly, the problem at the root will eventually be made manifest on the outside after sometime, because every man that has not received spiritual salvation, is like a terminally sick person, whose days on the earth tend to eternal death; and Jesus is the only cure for this terminal disease, but in these days we are living in there are many doctrine spring up to dilute this truth, but the scripture clearly says, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

What God did to restore back man’s spirit was to send His son Jesus Christ as a sacrifice for our sins, and the source of eternal life, so that by faith in the preaching of the gospel, all men can have an equal chance of becoming saved; this is why the gospel must be preached. The scripture says “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16).


Releasing the Power of Salvation

When a person is born again he or she is totally a new creature, because the very term “born again”, actually in the Greek means born from above, or born in the kingdom of heaven; and this reminds me of how many people in these days loved and desired to be the citizen of some other great country other than theirs i.e. USA, UK, but these nations are still located in the world, and therefore are bound to be limited. Being born into the kingdom of God is to be born into the highest class of race in the universe, but many times the very thought and reality of what has happened to a born again person at the point of salvation of the spirit cannot be fully comprehended by the human mind, that is why most people don’t initially get it; and by their ignorance the devil takes advantage to still keep molesting them. The scripture says “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith” (1 John 5:4).

Now what makes a person victorious in this life is faith, but no one can believe what they don’t know about; the truth is that most Christians try to build their faith without an actual foundation, the foundation in Christ. When you and I, or anyone got born again, we simply believed in Christ Jesus, and that got us saved, but most times many Christians lose their faith in Christ alone the way; and not until their faith is once more anchored on Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:1), they are only going to be struggling in every other area of salvation. Jesus said to the Pharisees, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me” (John 5:39).

The scripture tells us that what we will use to overcome the world is faith, but it further specified what our faith must stand on as it says, “Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:5). Therefore, it is not just faith in anything that makes us overcome the world, but faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour; that is what we did when we first got born again, and this is the mindset we must maintain till the end: that is what overcomes the world. So let us not make Christianity too complex by building on doctrines of sand, but let us build on the rock of ages by maintaining our faith in the name of Jesus Christ; and the only way we can do this is to keep meditating on the name of JESUS. That is the name we need to unleash the power to overcome anything. Jesus said after His resurrection, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matthew 28:18), and if I might add, even in hell, because the scripture further says “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:10-11). So as a Christian never feel powerless, because you have all the power you need in the universe invested in one name, Jesus, but you just have to really believe in it to unleash its power. Jesus even said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father” (John 14:12); and what work did Jesus do, Jesus casted devils, healed the sick, calmed the storms, multiplied food, and He left us giving us permission to do greater works than He did with only a criterion, BELIEVE IN MY NAME, JESUS; and this should not happen after years of being born again but immediately after you believe. The scripture says, “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover” (Mark 16:15-18).

The scripture tells us of seven sons of Sceva, who wanted to cast out a devil in the name of Jesus, but they did not really believe in it, so the scripture said they said, “We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth” (Acts 19:13-17): in order words, they were like telling the devil, we command you to come out in the name Jesus who Bishop Oyedepo preaches. The demon before beating them and sending them running away naked, told them, Jesus I know and Paul we know, but you I don’t know. This means they were not born again, thus they had no relationship with Jesus, and neither did they have faith in the name of Jesus, but where trying to get through Paul to get to use Jesus’ name; but I tell you as a Christian, you have to put your faith directly in Jesus and not in anything else to use the name of Jesus, that is the only way it will work for you.

In another example, which happened even before Jesus died and resurrected, a man was casting out devils, even when he was not following Jesus as one of His disciples (meaning the name of Jesus was already powerful even before his death); so the disciples of Jesus wanted to rebuke him, but Jesus said, “Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me” (Mark 9:39). This man was not depending on human connection to exercise the power in the name of Jesus unlike the earlier example, but he directly put his faith in Jesus Christ; and that is why I am telling you that you don’t need to know a minister or do anything extra after you born again to exercise the name of Jesus than to put your faith in Him; because that is the whole point of salvation; for everyone to have a direct access to God.

Nevertheless, one problem this dispensation of Christians are facing is too much familiarity with the name of Jesus, but yet with little understanding of it; Many Christian call the name of Jesus recklessly without regard for it; and this is just like playing with something bigger than an atomic bomb: the name of Jesus is the most powerful thing in the universe, but yet many Christian have not being able to tap into even an inch of its power because of lack of faith and disregard for it; and whatever you don’t respect will not respect you. That is why some people will call the name of Jesus just once and it will work for them instantly, and some people will call it for even a hundred times, and it will not work for them, just like the seven sons’ of Sceva; even the devil that beat them called the name of Jesus as well; therefore, using the name of Jesus will work for a person depending on what purpose it is call for use, faith and reverence for it, and the fact that we are authorized to use it by being born again (John 1:12). It was only after the devil had beaten the seven sons of Sceva that the people that heard about it in that region held it with high regard, but I pray we will reverence the name of Jesus before we experience a certain time we really need it. The scripture says, “And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified” (Acts 19:17).

So my assignment for you is to repent and start meditating on the name of Jesus; make this your focus and desire as a Christian until faith is built up, because until your faith sees Jesus as not only your Saviour but also your strength and supply of all the power you need, only then can you exercise and take dominion for Christ on this earth; it is your heritage.

Moreover, believing in the name of Jesus Christ is a commandment, so it is a must do assignment to stay victorious as a Christian. This is an elementary Christian doctrine which we must not overlook, because even the most advanced computers in the world still run on binary numbers, a basic elementary mathematics of 0 and 1; so does the whole of Christianity run on the name of Jesus The scripture says, “And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment” (1 John 3:23).

One other thing that will help a person to have confidence in the name of Jesus Christ, is obeying Him and walking in love toward others, because when we obey God, our conscience is free from condemnation, so that our heart is strengthened to easily believe in Him, but when we are not keeping His commandments, the devil will bring accusation, which will bring condemnation; and when there is condemnation mixed with faith, faith can hardly function. This is just logical because you will naturally be afraid to ask your parents for anything if you feel they are not pleased with you; you will feel they will not answer you; but when it comes to God, it is not so; the truth still stands that it is not by works we use the name of Jesus but absolutely by faith. The scripture says, “For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God” (1 John 3:20-21).


The Salvation of the Body

Praise God for another day to share on our discussion about Salvation. We have categorized salvation into three parts, which are salvation of the spirit, soul and the body. So today, we will focus on the salvation of the body.

Now as long as our body is preserved in this life, a person can remain in this world, because it is the body that gives us the ability to effect changes in this world; but if the body is damaged to a certain extent either by ageing, sickness, or abuse, the spirit of that man will have to automatically evacuate the body to be with its maker. That is the way God designed it, and that is why Jesus had to come into a body so that He could effect a change in humanity; and after making that change through Jesus Christ, He planted a seed of Himself in this world in the heart of anyone that gets born again, so that He could use them to continue His work. Therefore, when Jesus ascended to heaven, the disciples went out to carry out His commandments, the scripture said that as they were doing it, “the Lord was working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen” (Mark 16:20).

So even though Jesus is no more physically on earth, but He has an army of believers that are the extension of himself on the earth, which He uses to do things; and that refers to you and I who are born again. God just needs our body and permission to use it, not our brain or anything else to do His Will on the earth, so no matter how unskilled you are, no matter how inadequate you feel about yourself, God can use you, and in fact wants to use you if you can just yield your body to Him. This is why as believers we must be willing to yield our bodies as a living sacrifice to serve the Will of God, there is no greater sacrifice a man can offer of himself to please God. Jesus offering Himself as a sacrifice for us is the greatest sacrifice, but we offering ourselves to God is the next greatest sacrifice that pleases God. The scripture says “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).

Jesus so loved the people in the world that is why He gave Himself as a sacrifice for our sins (John 3:16), so therefore whenever we see the scripture talking about love, it is talking of sacrificial obedience and not obedience of convenience. Obeying God when we like, and not at the time God wants us to, is not obedience, neither can it be counted as a sacrifice of our body pleasing to God. A sacrifice is always inconvenient and contrary to the desires of the flesh, but pleasing to God. The greater the sacrifice, the more inconvenient it will be to the flesh. So even though the body is just like a covering, it seem to have impose itself as an obstacle to mankind by preventing them from obeying God, because of its strong passion and emotions in a fallen man. We must not underestimate the power of control the flesh can have, because its passion can build up to be strong and uncontrollable to resist obeying it desires; so therefore we must not feed its desires, but rather feel our spirit man by the Word of God, because until our spirit man is stronger than our flesh, we will never be able to completely obey God. The scripture says “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:7-8).

Therefore the only way we can have a body and overcome its sinful desires is to sacrifice it while still putting it on by depending on the help of the Holy Spirit by faith to quicken it using the Word of God and His grace. These is the state the body becomes a living sacrifice, because anything sacrificed is dead to something. The scripture says “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” (Romans 12:1).

The practical way this works is to spend time studying the Word of God because that is the food for our spirit man, and also spent time praying, because in the time of prayer and worship we experience the Holy Spirit’s presence, which is what quickens the body. The kind of prayer that helps us achieve this is not a prayer of asking for material needs but that of fellowship with God. This two things when sufficiently done, will suppress the flesh and cause a person to easily obey God, but if there is still difficulty obeying God, the time we spend doing them must be increased; because until we end up continually obey God’s commandment, we cannot totally mortify the deeds of our flesh. The Scripture says “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you” (Romans 8:10-11).

Nevertheless, the devil on other hand wants to do is evil works on the earth, and that is why he tries to possess people to be able to work through them to do that on this earth, but no matter what, good will always win, because doing good is being on the Lord’s side; and the only way to avoid this from happening is to be on the Lord’s side; and all we have to do to be on the Lord’s side is to have His Spirit in us by becoming born again. The scripture says “… Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his” (Romans 8:9). So if you want to do that today, you can say the prayer for salvation below.


The Salvation of the Body – Health

Praise God for another wonderful day to share a thought with you, as we continue discussing on our series on salvation. I started by discussing about the salvation of the body in our last discussion, but in this discussion I want us to take it a little step further, as we talk on the area of health in salvation.

Scientist say there are millions of millions of diseases that exist, which they have said today numbers about 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (10^34) known types in the world, and yet there are many more new ones that are discovered every year; but no matter how many diseases there are, one thing is certain, they did not exist at the beginning of time. There were no diseases when God created man, not until sin was introduced into the equation, because it was only after then that new diseases started to emerge until we now have AIDS, H1N1, and recently Ebola. One thing is sure, even though there might not be a cure yet for a disease, scientist might one day discover one.

A disease is a disorder of the body system due to an introduction of a harmful foreign body, or a malfunction of a part of the body. For instances, most human diseases are caused when bacteria and viruses are introduced into the body.

Now, diseases have two major characteristics, which are to steal and kill, which is similar to the very nature of the devil (John 10:10); and diseases don’t only just steal time and strength, they also steal resources; this is evidently true because a diseased person cannot physically function at his full potential, and whatever money and possession they own will have to be spent on medical bills. The scripture tells us of “a certain woman, which had an issue of blood for twelve years, And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse” (Mark 5:25-26). Therefore, diseases must be regarded as a robber and an enemy.

Nevertheless, let us not lose hope, because God always has a ready cure for any disease, which can be found in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ; because what is the use of saving the spirit of a person without saving their body: the salvation of Christ is a complete package that deals with every area of man’s life, because He was both the payment and antidote for the sin nature of mankind, which included also the area of health. The scripture says “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed” (1 Peter 2:24).

If we must really deal with any problem, we must deal with the root cause of that problem, and in the case of health, we will discover when we carefully look through the scriptures, that the root cause of diseases has always been sin, because sin is what introduced imperfection to everything, so sin is the root cause of the spiritual disease that eventually manifest itself as physical diseases. Sin first introduced dead to the spirit of man, which was the life-force of the body, because it was the spirit that preserved and renewed the body, keeping it alive, but once it was dead, there was nothing to sustain the life of the flesh anymore, so man was living on borrowed time, which meant that everyone born into this world was henceforth growing towards death; it was now just only a matter of time, because when we look at the life of the earlier people that lived on the earth, people like Adam, Methuselah, who lived for over nine hundred years with these same body, which mankind in this generation is struggling to live with for just a hundred years, we can only deduce that this body can live longer than we can imagine. Nevertheless, it was God’s plan to reduce the age limit of mankind to about 120 years because of their fallen nature (Genesis 6:3), but the increase of diseases has caused this to be a milestone task to attain.

For us to understand how the spirit protects and preserve the body, we must first note that immediately man sinned and his spirit died, the glory that covered him also disappeared, so that man was spiritually naked, and exposed to danger from any foreign body (Genesis 3). This meant that the spirit of man was what covered and protected him even when he was physically naked, because that was the source his covering, which was as a result of the overflow of his spirit in his body.

The body is very fragile that is why it needs protection, because it is actually made from sand, which is why when a man dies it returns back to sand (Genesis 3:19). The scriptures tells us that it was only when God breath into a body that man was said to become a living soul (Genesis 2:7), which shows that the breath of God that went into man was the spirit of man formed in the image of God. So therefore the spirit of man was a piece of the very life of God, which gave his body life, but after his fall in the garden of Eden, man was driven by a soul, void of God’s spirit (Genesis 6:3).

With God nothing dies in His presence, that is why when manna, the food God gave the Israelites from heaven during their sojourn in the desert, which when it was left for more than a day, became rotten with worms (Exodus 16:20), could remain fresh and not decay as long as it was kept inside the ark of the covenant in the old testament, which had the presence of God. The scripture says “And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a pot, and put an omer full of manna therein, and lay it up before the LORD, to be kept for your generations” (Exodus 16:33). This is why every man born into world needs the spirit of God in them by becoming born again, because this is the same material the recreated spirit of man is created by, the very life of God. The scripture says “And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you” (Romans 8:10-11).

Now the Spirit of God could not dwell in man after his fall, because his spirit was now dead, so God had to give him some practical things to do in order to maintain his physical health; practical things like what to eat and not to eat, and other personal hygiene tips (Deuteronomy 14). The Ebola virus that the world is confronted today is said to be a virus gotten from eating certain animals, and can be easily preventable by personal hygiene, so taking such practical steps like eating good food with a balanced diet, personal hygiene like washing of hands and living in a clean environment, and doing some physical exercises, can go a long way to keep the body healthy and prevent diseases, because it is better to prevent a disease than to try to cure it.

There are two ways to deal with any disease, the first is to have a cure for it, which is what is known in the Christian terms as healing, while the second is preventing it, which is in the Christian term called divine health. Out of these two ways, the latter is better but requires us taking responsibility of our body, while the former in most cases is a correctional process for a mistake, bad habit in the past, a wrong place visited, or contact with another person that had a disease.

Medicine and science are good but they certainly don’t have the cure for every disease, and that is one of the reason Jesus Christ came, because He didn’t only just bring eternal life to mankind but also divine health, because as He preached, He also casted devils and healed the sick while He never got sick once or contracted a disease from a disease person even though many pressed to touch Him. The scripture says “For he had healed many; insomuch that they pressed upon him for to touch him, as many as had plagues.” (Mark 3:10).

So there is a spiritual dimension a person can walk in as a Christian that eliminates him from becoming affected by norm of the day, and that was the example Jesus showed us when He was on the earth, because there was even a time that the Pharisees were complaining that Jesus did not wash his hands before eating and washing hands was the norm in their days (Matthew 7:3-4), but Jesus told them, “There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man” (Mark 7:15), which He also reiterated before He arose to Heaven, saying anyone that believes in Him, “They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover” (Mark 16:18). Now Jesus was drawing a line to show the difference between the spiritual and the carnal mindset because a spiritual mind is renewed in the knowledge of God’s Word and walks by it in faith, making that his focus and his guideline for living, because as long as a Christian is not spiritually minded, they will still be subject to the laws that govern this world. The scripture says as long as a person is still a child, he is subject under teachers and under the elements or things in this world (Galatians 4:1-4). Jesus was not saying, we should not wash our hands or live a clean life, but he was trying to make a point that we don’t have to be trapped by the laws of this world once you are born again, but can live by a higher law, which is the Word of God. It is a fact that eating with unwashed hands is dangerous, and I advise we wash our hands regularly, but if a person forgets to wash their hands, or was not able to wash His hands before eating, they must not think they will become affected by it, because the thoughts will do you more harm than your actions, that is what Jesus meant in his teaching (Mark 7:3-23).

Even though there are practical things to do to stay healthy, they are not totally a guarantee to have divine health; the only sure way to totally be free from diseases and even be a cure to others is the walk in the steps of Jesus, because that is the only way the Spirit of God in you can activated from within you. Therefore, walking by the leading of Holy Spirit and Word of God is how you get your born again spirit activated to protect your body. The scripture says “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live” (Romans 8:13).

I personally believe that many of the diseases that mankind faces today, are aggravated by evil spirits, which take advantage over man’s mistakes and sin, just as Satan took advantage of Adam and Eve. That was why when Jesus healed a man that had been bedridden for 38 years (John 5), He told him, “Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.” (John 5:14). In order words, Jesus was saying the cause of his disease was due to sin; that is why dealing with sin through faith in Jesus Christ is the foundation to deal with all diseases. Nevertheless, we must not abuse the fact that because Jesus paid for all our diseases we can eat whatever we like, live unclean lifestyle and in sin; in that way we cannot live in divine health, because the fact that you say you believe God and you overeat or under-eat will not prevent those things from affecting your weight and health. Healing and miracles are just God’s way of helping mankind to fix the problems caused by a lack of application of wisdom or disobedience.

So you can walk in divine health if you are born again, and choose to walk in the steps of faith by obeying the Holy Spirit; but if you need a healing in your body, I believe that through this discussion, as you believe and confess the Word, you can be healed. I usually use this verse as my spiritual drug by confessing it if I feel any symptoms of sickness and when I don’t even feel any, and it has worked for me, and so can it also work for you. This verse says, “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed” (1 Peter 2:24). So I encourage you to memorize and confess this verse as it were your daily vitamins, preventive drugs, and cure for any disease; but before I round up, let us just say a short prayer together. You can repeat this prayer below in faith;

Prayer for Healing:
Oh Lord, you said that by the stripes of Jesus we have been healed, I therefore claim my healing for any sickness or disease in this body, because this body is your temple. This I ask in Jesus name, Amen.

If you said this prayer in faith, then keep believing and I believe that you will see a manifestation of your healing; also keep confessing the Word of God (1 Peter 2:24) and living right to maintain your healing.


The Salvation of the Body – Divine Prosperity

Praise God for another opportunity to be able to share a thought with you as we continue our discussion on Salvation. In this discussion, we will be talking about the area of prosperity in salvation, because prosperity is also part of salvation, even though in these times we live in many have misunderstood and abused it; nevertheless this does not change the fact that it is part of God’s plan in salvation. The scripture says “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.” (2 Corinthians 8:9).

Many people have misunderstood this scripture and thought that Jesus was poor, but it was saying even though Jesus was rich, he came down to the level of man’s poverty in order to pick him up to become rich. Jesus left His glorying Heaven to come and take on a weak body; and even in that low state, he was not poor, because He was able to have whatever He needed to fulfill is ministry; a poor man cannot feed over 5000 people, pay tax, and able to feed and take care of the needs of His disciples daily for three and half years. Moreover He gave to the poor, in which the scripture said that He even had a treasurer, Judas Iscariot, which in our days, can be called His banker: therefore Jesus must have had more than enough not to even care about putting His money in the hands of a thief, because the scripture said that Judas Iscariot “was a thief. He carried the money bag and would help himself from it.” (John 12:6 GNB). So we must be careful not to misunderstand what the scripture is trying to say, because Jesus made Himself poor and not that He was poor: poor people cannot condescend to be any poorer than they are, but rich people can abase themselves to reach out to others. A rich man does not really know what a poor person is going through until he comes down to live in the same house with him, eat the same food with him or go to bed hungry with him, and then sleep on the floor with a leaking roof, if not on the street. That was the way Jesus reached out to mankind even though He created the world.

Another wrong thinking amongst people is to say that prosperity is not part of God’s Will; which in order words would mean that Christians should be poor. Whether a person is rich or poor is not what glorifies God, but what does is what we do with what we have, and the more we have, the more good works we can do to bring glory to God, but the less we have, the less of such good works we can also do to help humanity.

Choosing to be poor or rich for a personal satisfaction is selfish, because as much as 21,000 people die every day of hunger, which $2 or N300 can save a life; and there are 627,000 malaria deaths every year, which means that approximately 1,700 people die daily because they could not afford $2 or N300 malaria drugs. Therefore, the real reason for these deaths is not the malaria or the food, but poverty, because with just a little money as $2 or N300 could help preserve a life from dying. Therefore it is better to be rich than to be poor, but we must realize that we must not desire prosperity for ourselves alone but also to bless others. The scripture says “Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;” (1 Timothy 6:17).

The second big mistake many people make concerning prosperity is to think that prosperity is carnality, but the truth of it is prosperity is actually spiritual in nature, and as a matter of fact the manner we handle prosperity is one of the greatest test of a person’s spirituality. Many people will lie, steal and do anything for money; and whatever money tells them to do, they do it, because money is there Lord and not God, that is why Jesus say, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24).

Jesus talked extensively about money in His teachings, because money is one thing that has fought for the place of God in the hearts of men, and the way we use it, shows if we love God or we love money. There was once a rich man that came to Jesus asking Him how he could enter into eternal life, so Jesus told him to obey the commandments of God; he then responding, said that he had been doing that, which is why I believe he was rich in the first place, but as I said before the way we handle wealth is always a great test of our love for God, because when God told him to give all that he had to the poor and follow Him in order to have eternal life, he refused to do so, but rather went away mourning for his money (Mark 10:17-27). It was God that gave him the money in the first place, but now he could not give it back to God, because it had become an idol in his heart; this is one of the great danger of money. When this begins to happen in a person’s life, they start to find it hard to give away money to help others, but rather will want to chase after it and not after God; and as this goes on, this will eventually cause that Christian to backslide from the faith. Moreover, the way we handle money determines if God can entrust us with spiritual things that are more valuable than money i.e. the anointing. The scripture says “If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?” (Luke 16:11).

The third big mistake that people make concerning prosperity, is to think that they are not spiritually successful until they have material things to show for it, but that is a wrong mindset, that has made many to err from the race of Christianity, and to end up living a sorrowful life even after they have gotten the money. There is always a price a person will have to pay once he puts money above God, and it will eventually end up in eternal death, because there are many people who have joint a cult, gotten charms (i.e. money ring), or have done evil sacrifices for the sake of money, and have thus gotten themselves entrapped in the devil’s snare. The scripture says “But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction physical death and perdition eternal death” (1 Timothy 6:9).

Money in itself is not bad, but we must not trust in it and let it become an idol in our hearts. Therefore it is the love of money that is bad and not money itself; money is simply is an amplifier of the secrets of the heart desires; because what is in the heart will be revealed in the way money is used by a person, if we love God it will show, and if we love the world it will also show. The main problem many Christian have when it concerns money is creating a balance with having it and loving God. The scripture says “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows” (1 Timothy 6:10).

Money is spiritual in the senses that the transfer of money from one person to another is first something that happens in the spiritual, before it comes to reality in the physical, that is why some people will work and work, and not have much, whereas some others will not put in up to half of the same input but yet will still get much more results. So therefore, there are two dimensions to prosperity, the spiritual and physical dimension.

The spiritual dimension of prosperity in God’s Kingdom is by the operation of the blessing of God functioning in the life of a person. The scripture tell us that once a person is born again, he is now a child of God, which thus gives them access by faith into the blessing of God that was bestow upon Abraham (Galatians 3:13).

Nevertheless, the blessing of God goes hand to hand with the work we do, which is the physical dimension to prosperity, because no matter how blessed a person his, God cannot bless them if they don’t work or give Him something to bless; that is why Jesus asked for bread and fish in order to bless it, and did not pray for manna to fall from Heaven to feed over 5000 people in a desert (Matthew 14); and that is why tithing and sowing material things is a way of giving God something to bless. When we go through the scriptures, we will see that God always blessed what people had and not what they didn’t have, therefore we must work hard with our hands and practice giving to others in order to maximize the blessing, because the scripture considers a person that has the blessing on his life and refuses to work with it, a great waster of divine resources. The scripture says “He also that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster” (Proverbs 18:9).

Therefore as a Christian it is good to find something profitable doing, no matter how little it might seem to you, just do it diligently and God will open the way for bigger things, because through the works of your hand God will have something to bless in your life, and by that turn you into a blessing to others, rather than a burden to them; because I promise you that wishful thinking will not get your needs met but only make a person covetous and envious of what other people have. The scripture says “The desire of the slothful killeth him; for his hands refuse to labour. He coveteth greedily all the day long: but the righteous giveth and spareth not” (Proverbs 21:25-26).

Sin has always been the devil’s way to steal from mankind, because that was how he stole from Adam and Eve, and yet sin will still steal from a Christian even when he is bless and hardworking, because sin dislodges a person from the position of receiving; this was why when God came to see Adam and Eve after they had sinned, He could not find them where they ought to be. That is why once we notice that we have sinned, we must confess it and not let it linger for long, neither keep doing it, because the more a Christian remains in sin, the farther they drift away from their position in God, into the hands of the devil; and at that point the devil can hold them bound, and steal from them at will, because the only thing the devil is good at is to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10).

So we don’t only miss out from receiving from God when we live in sin, but we also allow the devil to steal what we already have; and because the devil is not a creator but a thief, therefore he does not have any wealth to give those that serve him, other than the ones is able to steal from those God has provided them for; so there is a spiritual transfer of divine goods into the wrong hands when we are living in sin or not working hard to possess our possession (Proverbs 5:1-11).

Therefore as Christians, we must strive to live above sin by tapping into the grace of God, which can be gotten from faith in His Word, if we must enjoy divine prosperity. This is why it is important to study the Word of God, because it is what will keep us away from sin and strengthen us to obey God (Joshua 1:8). The scripture says “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper” (Psalms 1:1-3).

By now, it should be clear that anyone can be wealthy enough to be a blessing to others and still enter into eternal life, if they are born gain, tapping into the blessing of God by faith, avoiding sin and distractions, and giving God’s something to bless while putting Him always in first place in their heart (Matthew 6:33). Nevertheless, let us always have it at the back of our minds that the purpose of wealth is not for ourselves but for us to be God’s channel of blessing to others.


The Salvation of the Body - Relationship

Praise God for another wonderful day to continue on our last discussion on the series titled “The Salvation”. In this last discussion on this series, I want us to discuss on relationships, because it is also a very important part of salvation; the truth is that as long as mankind was spiritually dead to God, he remained spiritually displaced from standing before Him (Genesis 6:3), which meant that mankind could not have fellowship with God any more the way he ought; this is why when God came to fellowship with him in the evening just after he had sinned against Him, God could not find him in the position he had left him, so He said to Adam, “Where art thou?” (Genesis 3:9).

What we can deduce from these is that God wants a relationship with mankind, and that is why He had to go through all the trouble to try to reestablish that relationship again through Jesus Christ. In the same manner, man created in God’s image and likeness, was created a social being to interact with each other, this was why when God saw that man was alone, said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet Partner for him” (Genesis 2:18).

Nevertheless, what we will first notice after man sinned against God and broke his relationship with God, was that man started to have a bad relationship with not only God but other human beings as well, in which the first of these fall out in relationship happened when Adam started to accuse his wife of his fall to God, and as such, he was also indirectly blaming God, because he had said, “The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat” (Genesis 3:12). Even though what Adam said might not sound all that serious to the ears, it was a seed of what was going to happen from then on. We could see a bigger picture of the effect of man’s fall in relationship in the next generation between Cain and his brother, Abel, when Cain out of envy killed his brother (Genesis 4). This fall out in relationship has during the years spiral down up to this day throughout humanity, in such that even marriages which are meant to be “Till Death Do Us Part”, don’t even last up till a year in some cases.

God in trying to fix this fall out in man’s relationship first established the Ten Commandments, because when we look at the first five of the ten commandment, we will notice that it was a guide on how man could relate with his Spiritual Father, God and their earthly parent properly, while the last five was a guide on how mankind could relate with one another (Exodus 20); but this was not the final solution to man’s problem because man’s problem was more than just trying to keep a set of commandments; but due to the fact mankind was spiritually dead and could not again relate with God in the same level, God being a spirit (Genesis 6:3), even when he knew what was right still preferred to do what was not right, because man had lost all contact with the spirit realm and could only interact with only the physical things. God is a Spirit and can only be interacted with our spirit (John 4:24), so even when mankind has attempted to discover Him using science, it has always produced a futile result. God made man to have a spirit to interact with the spiritual world (i.e. God) and a body to interact with the physical world (i.e. People); and this is what makes mankind really a special being.

God had to send His Son, Jesus Christ, to first mend mankind’s relationship with Himself, and by so doing, he made it possible for mankind to also have a lasting relationship through love for one another, because a person that is born again receives a new spirit in the image of God, which the scripture says is a spirit having love, power and sound-mind (2 Timothy 1:7). The truth is that without love in any relationship there will be no genuine sacrifice, and once there is no sacrifice for one another, there is bound to be conflict and eventually a breakdown of that relationship, because it is love that allows us tolerate each other’s mistakes and move on, because no man can be said to be perfect even though we seek it. So therefore people make mistakes and should be forgiven, but nevertheless this does not mean we should not separate ourselves from harmful relationships which are not productive in any way, but when it comes to marriages, that is a contract which you cannot just opt out, that is why it is important to be spiritually vigilant about entering into one in the first place, and be ready to make a commitment to stay to the end. I must advise that it is better not to enter into one, if you are not willing to stay to the end.

Now we must understand that the purpose of a relationship is more important than the emotions in a relationship, because emotions I promise you will have cycles of changes but as long as the purpose of a relationship is prioritized that relationship will stand the test of times. The scripture tells us that God made Eve to be a help meet or partner to help Adam with building a godly world (Genesis 2:18); which is the purpose for their relationship, but when emotions got the better part of Adam, He disobeyed God because the scriptures tells us that he was not deceived by the serpent as Eve was (1 Timothy 2:15). So you must ask yourself, what is the purpose of my going into this relationship, and then define the relationship, because Jesus defined three circles of friends in His friend-to-friend relationship; Jesus had disciples that gathered unto Him whenever they wanted to see Him, then amongst them He selected twelve disciples that lived with Him and followed Him wherever He went, and out of the twelve He selected three as His close friends (Peter, James and John), these where the only once that He revealed all His secrets to. So we must select our relationships and don’t let it select us. Nevertheless there are some relationships that you cannot define because they are divinely defined by God, and that is family relationship.

Now in the family relationship, there are two types of family relationships, the spiritual family and the earthly family; and amongst these two kinds of family relationships, as hard as it might sound, Jesus chose His spiritual family over His earthly family, because at a particular time when his earthly mother and brothers came to see Him requesting for His presence while He was ministering to His disciples, He said, “For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother” (Matthew 12:50); this is because the spiritual family is forever, while earthly family come and go. Also, every family has its characteristics, and for the family of God, it is characterized by love. The scripture says “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:35). This is why people in the early Church could see believers and call them Christians, which means Christ-like.

Jesus also had other relationships that He carefully defined; for example Jesus was a friend to the world and sinners, and He defined His purpose, which was to save them. So there are some relationships, that can be establish for the purpose of helping some other person come out of a bad lifestyle, but in such situation the person that is trying to make the positive change must have a stronger character, if not they will become the ones that will end up changing. If anyone find themselves in such destructive relationship that is causing them to be worse rather than to be better, the best thing to do is to get out of it. The scripture says “Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go: Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul” (Proverbs 22:24-25).

There is always an exchange of character and resources in any relationship, but the mistake many people make is that the only desire a relationship for the resources not the character, and as such there cannot be true loyalty and love in it, but hypocrisy; and in some cases because they ignore the bad character in the relationship for the resources, they end up turning out to adopt the bad character in the relationship as well; but for a relationship that seeks the good character of another will last longer, because the partner with the greater influence ends up imposing his character on the lesser, whether it is of good or bad character, but if both partner have strong influencing characters that are contrary to each other, there is bound to be conflict except one partner concedes. The principle of transferal of character should be no secret because just looking at parents, we can see how they greatly influence the character of their children most times to be more like them.

No one can have a greater influence on anyone’s character than God, because God does not change but we are the ones that can change, so anyone that fellowships with God will end up changing to become more like Him; and since God is love (1 John 4:8), a Christian that fellowships with God will thus become more loving towards God, and others; and that is what any relationship needs. So this is why it is important to fellowship with God. Any relationship that is void of love, cannot be consider a relationship that will last, rather it will be a master-slave relationship; and in this kind of relationship, the master’s interest is focused on making profit at the detriment of their subject.

There are different types of relationships, i.e. parents and children relationship, friend to friend relationship, fraternal relationship, national relationship, religious relationship, and so on; and most times these relationships are in concurrence, so the only way to manage them is by prioritizing them; and that is what Jesus was doing when He was choosing His spiritual family over His earthly family. I will let you do the prioritizing of these relationships, considering that you must realize that God’s family is what we must consider as first, because that is what Jesus also choose above all other relationship.

So in conclusion to these series, I believe we understand that relationship is something that is very important in salvation, which God takes seriously and that is why He created a solution for it in salvation, because relationship are basically between two people, but there are also external forces that try to make sure that they don’t remain two, and that is the devil. The devil is also interested in relationships, but in his case, it is to break them up by trying to sow seeds of discord either by speaking negative thoughts directly to the mind or by using other people to do his dirty work. We can see how the devil tried to sow evil thoughts in the minds of Eve for the purpose of creating a discord between herself and her husband, and also God. This is why maintaining a good relationship requires more than just emotions but the help of God, and for us to walk in love. This is the only way we can beat the devil at his game. Therefore let us learn to fellowship with God and walk in love. Have a blessed day.

Nevertheless, if you are not born again you can do so today by saying this simple prayer below out with your mouth in faith. So believe that Jesus Christ died and rose again for your sins, so that your spirit can be saved.

Prayer for Salvation:
Dear Lord, I believe Jesus died and rose again for me. Forgive me my sins and come into my life. I confess Jesus as my Lord and Saviour. Thank you Father for doing this for me. Reveal yourself to me today. In Jesus name, Amen.

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