The birth of a child brings unexplained joy not just to the baby who gets everything he or she wants, but to family members too. Everyone is ecstatic...parents and siblings are happy to the point of tears...extended families are thrown into a frenzy of baby names, gifts and opportunity to look upon the new creature. but this excitement only lasts for a while, that does not mean that family stops being joyous at the birth of the child, no, joy of the birth of the child is joined by other joys...the joy of watching the child grow..take his first steps, use his first words and ultimately when you see your child grow up to be something parents, siblings and extended family can be proud of. This same principle applies spiritually.

When you're born again, the joy of your salvation is not experienced by you alone, heaven rejoices with you ("luke 15:10 Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.") but you are not to remain there...i don't think a 9yrs old child still feeding on breast milk will be as cute as a 3months old baby doing the exact same thing because at some point you have to grow past certain things or you'll be classified as abnormal...or even retarded. Most importantly, Joy is a fruit of the spirit, it must grow...and it only grows when you grow.

It is wonderful to see a newborn Christian who wants to share his faith with everybody because he is so excited about what God has done in his life, but that joy and excitement he feels may become stale if he remains where he is, if he continues to try to feed off the excitement of that joy. At that point he starts to struggle and that rush of emotion he had on the day of is rebirth is now a faint wisp. he is feeding off the wrong joy at that time. This is simply because the excitement at the birth of a child will only continue when the child brings other joys. Parents will remember and thank God for the day a child is born if the child as he grows continues to do them proud, this way they effectively re-experience the joy of birthing such a child. So spiritually, when you don't grow and find more joys in Christ, you'll begin to loose faith in your salvation joy because it hasn't borne any fruit...nothing is happening. Put simple, the joy of your salvation will fade if you don't find other joys that will remind you of it and make you glad that you're saved thus effectively giving you back the joy of salvation.

There is the joy of winning souls (1 Thessalonians 3:9), there is the joy of seeing the power of God grow in you.. there is the joy of being responsible for people and seeing how your mentoring has helped them grow too...there is the joy of seeing your fellowship or relationship with God blossom, there is the joy of seeing God reveal secrets to you... (Psalm 126:2-3) there are numerous joys and they're all connected. when the joy of your salvation has pushed you to evangelize, you should derive joy from seeing a sinner get saved, next you should derive joy from seeing new born grow in grace, you should derive joy from being in God's presence and get excited at the things He shares with you through the Holy spirit. As a new born, all your battles are fought for you, you ask God and God see it done, but as you grow in spirit, God starts to show you that His power is in you to command and see things happen, at this point you derive joy from fighting and winning spiritual battles..from praying by yourself for yourself or others and seeing miracles happen.

Bottom line is, the joy of your salvation cannot continue to be the only thing that drives you to get close to God and do God's work. As Christians we have to grow into other joys therefore creating a strong joy-foundation. it'll be easier for a person who only has the 'joy of salvation' to backslide than someone who has in his arsenal the joy of his salvation, the joy of fellowship with God and the joy of saving a soul. We've read accounts of how Paul rejoiced with the churches as they grew, how their growth made his joy full.(Romans 15:32, 2Corinthians 7:4&16)

Don't get me wrong, the joy of salvation is as important as any joy, but if you don't grow, you'll have only the joy of salvation to rely on and the joy of your salvation can only hold for so long when not bolstered by other joys. So, no, as an old christian, you don't 'need' the joy of your salvation to preach the gospel, cos that would mean you aren't growing. As a Christian you'll overcome by the word of your testimony...your testimony can either be one testimony about your salvation which is good enough if you have the excitement and passion of a new born to carry it or it can be several testimonies about your salvation, the workings of the holy spirit, how you've experienced fellowship with God and His power. It's safe to say that the more testimonies you have, the more likely you are to overcome the devil.
You won't need to look for joy and excitement to preach if you're growing spiritually, because you'll have had enough experience with God to be passionate about Him, haven seen all He has done through and to you.

There are several joys God gives us through Christ and as you grow these joys connect giving your faith the much needed boost. Not only will your growth strengthen your faith, it will strengthen God's faith in you. Besides you'll never really know and come to experience the true joy of salvation until you begin to experience the things that salvation comes with, and you wont experience most of these things if you don't grow

( John 15:10-11,  Psalm 119:110-112, Luke 10:17-24, 2Corinthians 1:24)

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"Things may come to those who wait but only the things left by those who hustle." - Abraham Lincoln

I stumbled upon this quote and began to think on it and how it relates to allowing God have His way and i've come to realise the quote is valid even in God's system.

God does not encourage laziness that's why no matter what plans He has for you, there has to be an effort on your part. Jacob had to wrestle an angel and he also had to work 14yrs for the woman he wanted. Yes, God was with him but, but He had a part to play in everything and not just sit down. Abraham had to leave haran to nowhere, he became a nomad just because of Gods promise, isreal had to fight all of canaan, paul had to travel through unstable weather. God could have had his way anywhere, anytime but He wasn't going to give something valuable with you doing nothing. Everyone in the bible had to do something. So yes, if you don't do something about Gods will for you, you'll end up with someone's  left over.
Note also that anything you do, for it to be a valid effort must be done in Gods will, in spirit and in truth and with all the selflessness you can muster.

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In 2015 God will increase the longing for Him in the heart of men. People will suddenly just start feeling that urge to wanna get serious with God. Some will be successful, but most will fail. They will start and not have the will to finish and some won't start at all for fear of leaving their comfort zone. The original order of things which should be 'all things are invented for man's use' will be further upset, and it will appear man was created for those invention. Don't be distracted by the noise, noise of technology, fashion, peer pressure, social media, money, school, church e.t.c. learn to control these things, you don't have to reply every ping, you don't have to visit every place, you don't have to wear everything, you don't do everything in church, Jesus will always value a Mary to a Martha. Practice cutting yourself from all these noise daily, turn your networks or even your off and go Learn at God's feet in personal retreats of Godly resolve and sobriety and gradually you'll understand the truth of allowing God be your all. There's more, but there's not very much I can type, maybe some other time, but y'all should gist with God on your own and He'll open your eyes.

Merry Christmas and remember, God is not an idea, He is a person, He can be touched, smelled, seen, felt and tasted... All with your spiritual senses...and he can be hurt, we can make Him sad or unhappy too... All by our actions and thoughts. So please don't go partying for the sake of it, logically, I believe if you're celebrating someone's birthday, you do it with the person, doing only things that'll make the birthday person happy, atleast you guys spent almost the whole day with me and Beverly on our birthdays... Lol.. Christ has a lot of good stuff He wants to give too , don't be oblivious, don't get distracted. Be not deceived, God is not mocked.
.. Adios persons and enjoooooooooy!!!!

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The children of Israel rejected the rulership of God and desired a king, it was only logical that they should have one too, that's how it's done on earth. God through Samuel warned them several times about how bad the move was, but they had made up their and in their disobedience, fell short. Saul was either not supposed to be king or wasn't supposed to be king yet, either way, Saul becoming king wasn't, at that point in time, God's plan. God gave the children of isreal Saul because he matched the description of the kind of King they had in their hearts. but then what was God's original plan for Saul, because if God is only giving the Israelites Saul because they demanded for a king, which wasn't God's plan for them, it means there was something else Saul would have been doing had the Israelites not rejected God's rulership. Thus did God subject the Saul, who appeared good to the desires of the Israelites, thereby thwarting His own will for him ? Saul could have sought God's face again as regards him rulings Israel, but he didn't , he accepted the offer without considering God's opinion as regards the whole process.

Saul appeared to be good physically but had a heart that wasn't too right with God. God had to change his heart in 1sam 10:9 before he could rule, a thing that didn't happen with David because God himself raised David for Israel, meaning David was in God's plan and thus in raising him, God worked on his heart.
Saul's kingship seemed good in the beginning, but everything fell apart no matter how hard he tried. even though God tried to help, he would have still failed because he wasn't in God's will... God's will for himself and for the Israelites.

God will allow you to be used to fulfill other people's desires not His, if you don't stay in His will. and no matter how rosy, beautiful or successful it might seem in the beginning, it will all crumble. it will be difficult for you to follow God when you're not in His will, you will struggle physically and spiritually because the resources and the people He has raised to help you are not on that path you have chosen, they're elsewhere.

keep the channel of sonship between you and God open and He'll bring you to an expected end. always ask His opinion on everything before you make any move and keep Him in the loop, that way you're certain you're in His will. you might not get early career changing moves like Saul, not that you can't do the job, but because God has other plans for you and He won't let you be used to meet an employers desires. He might be training you like David for something bigger, you might be in the wilderness hustling while your mates are taking quantum leaps on the social ladder, this shouldn't bother you if you're in God's will, because when He brings you it where He wants you to be, Everything will be perfect, in you and for your. just stay in His will and let Him guide so you don't become the answers to the desires of another not approved by God.

You definitely reach an end, would it be somebody else's end or God's expected end?.. Your choice.

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"if God answered all your prayers will the world look different? or just your life? "
The above is a quotation a friend of mine used as her DP on bbm and it's a question I think we all need to think about.
The nature of man tends towards selfishness, we wanna satisfy then save up for ourselves before we think of any other person. As christians we ought to know better, if your brother has a dire need that you can meet and you choose not to because you budgeted your money for something else, you have shown how much you don't trust God to meet your needs. The one you've consumed He gave, the one you're saving He also gave, the birds don't sow or reap yet they feed because God takes care of them. God wants to look out for you but you keep getting In the way with your worldly knowledge of accounting, economics, logic and what not and in doing this you belittle the power of God to save you. The Bible abounds with stories of people who gave their all yet they ended with all, a classic is the shunamite woman.
Let us therefore not worry about tomorrow, it's not for you to if you've committed it to God's hands. Keep at doing God's will, ministering to one another in prayers and resources even when it's not convenient and God will see to it that your trust in Him won't fail. Start today and be of assistance to atleast one person everyday.( Matthew 6:25-27, 1Peter 4:10, Galatians 5:13)

#prayer: Father, thank you cos I woke up sound this morning. Father give me the grace and strength to minister to those around me. Thank you father.

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