What is Faith? And do you need more of it?

A few days ago on Facebook somebody posted this quote as their status:

It actually annoyed me because these are the type of quotes people put without sitting down to examine for themselves what faith according to scripture really means.  Most of the stuff that we Christians have accepted as truth are just things passed down from generation to generation, from one teacher to another – it’s things that have been recycled and maybe even up-cycled without looking at the components or the underlying foundations.

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What does it mean to be under Grace? (Part 2 – The Covenants)

This continues in from the previous post which looked at the concept of the Law, this week the topic of focus the 2 Covenants.

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God didn’t just instigate animal sacrifices for the sake of it.  The blood was an important aspect of atonement, it covered the breach created in the covenenat relationship between man and YHWH, as such the death of the animal was necessary in order for man to avoid death.

How many deaths would it take to continuously cover up these breaches in the covenant relationship whenever we broke our side of it?  Even an endless flow of blood wouldn’t be enough to cover the sins of all humanity past, present and future.  Though there was some covering for us, it was still insufficient. Our sinful nature would still ultimately lead us unto death.

What does it mean to be under Grace? (Part 1 – The Law)

Romans 6:14-15 tells us that we are under Grace and not Law, but what does this actually mean?

To properly answer this question we should really have a clear definition of what the words grace and law mean.

Does being under Grace throw out God’s Law?

The original use of the word law in common language means rule, regulation, ordinance and even jurisdiction of authority.

Why am I struggling to Forgive?

Have you ever asked yourself that question?  I have and so have many people if they are honest with themselves.

The last few weeks have been trying for me, I lost my uncle and my dad had his appendix removed and during this time I was challenged by the behaviour of someone very close to me who knew what I had been going through but still acted very badly towards me.

Learning to Trust God

This is the latest blog post from my website…

Today’s post marks the last in this 5 part series on learning to trust God.  Let’s quickly re-cap the previous 4 parts.

In my first post on learning to trust God I shared part of my own journey and experience and, looked at how a faulty God schema can impact our ability to properly trust God.

In the second post, I began to look at the concept of truth and looked at 3 steps that helped me to learn to trust God more,

In my third post, I focused more on the concept of truth and how it is important in helping us trust God.

In my last post I looked at the difference between faith and trust and began to illustrate how both of these are vital to the life of a Believer.

In this week’s post I will be concluding by looking at the benefits and purpose or end goal of trusting God.  It’s actually an audio teaching which you can listen to by clicking on this link.

 

What does the bible mean by abundance/fullness of Life?

A rise in prosperity teaching within the Body of Messiah has comfused people to what the Kingdom of God actually is and what it looks like.  In over-emphasising the physical the enemy ensures that our spiritual senses remain dull so that we are not able to enter into the TRUE promises of fullness and abundance of life promised to us by the Messiah.

This video explores what I believe is true abundance and fullness of life and I pray that it will be a blessing to you.

Don’t forget to follow my ministry website ‘On the Road to Healing’ where I share footsteps of the journey leading towards true healing and wholeness.  If you enjoy this teaching you will  also be blessed by what I share on this website.

Shalom in Messiah

Debate: the question of tithing

There are a few things which separate Christians: tithing, the rapture, speaking in tongues and the sabbath from what I have seen so far… although I’m not sure whether any of these differences lead to falling away they do lead to walls being built up within the body, I think we call them ‘denominations’.  As the time towards the end draws near God is touching my heart to speak on these sensitive issues, for my own benefit so that I can learn and solidify my understanding but also to help enlighten and challenge others in their thinking.  It is of no benefit to accept something just because it’s what we have been taught, we need to learn to divide the Word of God rightly for ourselves.

So I will get the ball rolling here by bringing up the issue of the tithe.

Is it biblical for Christians to tithe?

What is the purpose of the tithe?

What’s in a name? A look into the spiritual significance of naming

There are many cultures that place  huge importance in names and naming of their child, in these cultures a name is more than a nice-sounding label, a name can tell a story and pave way for a destiny.  For example, in Igboland where I originate from, names are very important, all names given to a child not only have a meaning but carry a spiritual blessing.  I have two Igbo names which I see as blessings, the first Achama means to shine brightly and the second Uzomaka means the road is good, these names were specifically chosen to bless me and to pave the way for my life steps (destiny),  I fully believe that when these names were given to me that something happened that would link the utterance of those sounds to a spiritual blessing, I will shine brightly and my road will be a good one!

There is a huge debate whether Igbos are Jews, I know that some Igbos have been claimed as having Hebrew heritage but irrelevant of the truth of this I see many similarities between Igbo and Hebrew culture for example with naming.  I have never seen one incidence in the bible where the name of a  person had no significance at all, but more interestingly are two additional facts:

1. That the names of individuals (particularly of Hebrews/Jewish people) are linked to their destiny
2. That God has played a siginificant role in naming and even re-naming individuals.

Check out the websites which speak of naming and names in the Bible

• What’s in a name?
• Destiny is in The Name
• What’s in a Jewish name?

Why would God play such an important part in naming individuals?  I believe that outside of the fact that names can have a meaning, I believe that names are spiritually important to the destiny and well-being of the individual.  There are a number of reasons why this may be so but today I would just like to focus on one, the power of the spoken word.  If you have not read any of my previous posts on the power of the tongue and words then you might want to do so, so you have an understanding of where I am coming from.

• 2D vs. 3D words
• What’s in the Word of God?

Israel, My Beloved

I grew up in East London (UK not South Africa) just a 15 minute bus ride from a community of Orthodox Jews, my secondary school (Convent type) was smack bang in the middle of the same community so I had quite a bit of exposure to Jewish life.   Even though I could see the Jewish community, it was always from the perspective of an outsider, and even though many of my peers thought their behaviour strange and ridiculous, to me they held a certain type of mystique because they represented a physical connection with the God of the Bible.

As I got older and as I wandered from church to church, denomination to denomination I began to realise that every Christian that i met seemed to have a view about Israel and the Jewish people.  I found that many in mainstream Christianity tended to have a negative perspective of Israel which resulted in subtle signs of anti-Semitism whilst those who were either Jewish Believers or who had adopted the Hebrew roots belief were more likely to have a prideful and almost idolatrous perspective of Israel and ethnic Israel.  As a Messianic Believer I find both of these extremes upsetting, they are definitely not godly emotions or thoughts; but what does God think about Israel and who does He view as being Israel?  The answers to these questions are in the bible but I think we might be surprised by what is revealed and I hope that these answers will change our opinion about Israel and the Jewish people so that we become more aligned with God’s heart.

7 Reasons why Believers should be Environmentally (Creation) Friendly

1. God created the heavens and the earth and everything within it and saw that it was good. (Genesis 1)

“God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good.” (Genesis 1:31)

2. God owns the heavens, the earth and all it contains, God loves what He has created