4 PROOFS THAT IF GOD IS FOR US, NOTHING CAN AGAINST US

When it comes to Christian theology, just about all roads lead through Romans. Paul’s letter to the Romans is arguably the single most important piece of literature in the history of the world. And chapter 8 is perhaps its greatest section. and Romans 8:31–39 is the climax. It is actually an inference from everything Paul says in Romans 5:1–8:30 about the glorious results of our justification.

It’s as if the apostle takes a deep breath as he thinks back over Romans 5:1–8:30, and then asks God’s people, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom. 8:31).

That second question is rhetorical, so it has the force of a proposition: Since God is for us, nothing can be against us. Paul then supports what he asserts with four proofs.

Proof 1: God will graciously give us all things (Rom. 8:32).

Paul is arguing from the greater to the lesser. If God gave us the greatest gift (i.e., he did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all), then God will certainly give us everything else we need (i.e., he will also with Jesus graciously give us all things).  That is evidence that since God is for us, nothing can be against us.

Proof 2: No one will bring a charge against us (Rom. 8:33).

No one can take us to court before God and win a case against us, because God himself is the one who has declared us righteous.

That is further evidence that since God is for us, nothing can be against us.

Proof 3: No one will condemn us (Rom. 8:34).

No one can condemn us to hell on judgment day because Jesus himself died for us, was raised for us, and is now at the right hand of God interceding for us. We are eternally secure in Christ.  That is even more evidence that since God is for us, nothing can be against us.

Proof 4: Nothing will separate us from the love of Christ (Rom. 8:35–39).

Christ loves us, and no enemy or weapon or calamity can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

What more evidence do we need that since God is for us, nothing can be against us?

Lusako Mwakiluma

Motivational & Inspirational Speaker

HOW TO GET YOUR PRAYERS ANSWERED

You should pray to get results. Unfortunately, many people pray, but they don't receive specific answers to their prayers. I'm going to show you how to pray to get answers. Once you know how to get answers to your prayers, you'll never be in need. You'll never have to stay sick, stay broke, or stay defeated all the days of your life.

The first and most important step for getting answers to your prayers is this: -

Find scriptures that definitely promise you the specific thing you are praying for.

When people say that they're praying for something, I like to ask, "What scripture or scriptures are you standing on in order to get what you are asking?" Often, people answer, "Well, nothing in particular." Well, that's what they'll get, Nothing in particular

Jesus says, "If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you" (John 15:7). Notice that Jesus began this promise with a little word called "if". The word "if" is a little word with consequences. The word "if" means that this promise for answered prayer is conditional upon something. What is it? Jesus says that you can ask whatever you wish, so long as "my words remain in you."

You must have God's word abiding in you if you expect an answer to your prayer. Often Christians pray for something, such as healing, yet they don't have any promise from God abiding in them which guarantees that God will answer.

God has made many promises to heal you. What you need to do is find those promises and meditate on them until they become real to you. By doing this, you will be able to fight doubt when your healing doesn't manifest immediately.

You see if you pray for healing and do not know God's promises to heal you, when the symptoms persist, you'll begin to doubt that the answer is coming. Once you doubt, the answer is cancelled.

James 1:6-7 says, "But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord." God answers only believing prayer, not doubting prayer.

Someone might say, "But if God doesn't heal us in response to our prayers, then maybe God does not want us to be well. It may not be His will to heal us."

The truth is, God's Word is His will. If you want to know what God's will is, then look at His Word. He only promises things that He is willing to do. Since He has promised us healing, we can be assured that it is His will to heal us. By not knowing His Word, delays in answers may make us think that God is denying us the answers. But by knowing the Word, delays are simply opportunities to stand on God's Word in faith.

ASK AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE

The second step for answered prayer is this: You must ask God for what you want and believe that you receive it.

What is it that you want? Be specific and ask.

Dr. Cho, the pastor of the world's largest church, said that many years ago when South Korea was poor, he asked God for a bicycle. Back then a bicycle was a big thing. Well, several months had elapsed, but he had not received the bicycle. Finally he asked the Lord why it was taking so long for Him to answer this prayer. The Lord answered, "Son, you didn't tell Me what kind of bicycle you wanted. There are many different brands, different colors, and different manufacturers. Be specific. What kind of bicycle do you want?"

I think many people need to be specific in their requests. Jesus asked a blind man, "What do you want me to do for you?" It would seem obvious that the man wanted his sight. But Jesus never assumes to know your desire. He wants you to tell Him.

Once you are specific in your request, you must believe that you have received the answer, even before you can see the answer.

Jesus says in Mark 11:24, "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." Notice that this scripture does not say to believe that you will receive. No! It says to believe that you have received. This means that you must believe that you have the answer already, even before you physically possess the answer. This is faith.

Many times people are praying, thinking that they are believing, when in reality they are not believing, but hoping. Hope and faith are not the same. You cannot expect to receive from hope what is promised only to faith. Faith is what is required in prayer.

If you're praying and expecting that God will, sometime in the future, answer your prayer, then you are not believing but hoping. Faith says that God has answered my prayer the very moment that I prayed. Are you believing or hoping?

I'm reminded of a story that Happy Caldwell once told. When he was a sinner, he and his buddies used to love getting drunk. One day, they were driving down an old Arkansas highway when they drove past a run-down tavern. Its sign read: FREE BEER, TOMORROW.

"Whoa!" they were excited. They could hardly wait to guzzle down the free beer. The next day, they sped back to that old tavern.

"The sign for free beer is still up!" Happy exclaimed. They jumped out of their car, busted down the tavern's doors, and shouted to the bartender, "Hey! Give us some free beer!"

"What are you talking about?" the bartender asked.

The guys pointed to the sign, "You advertised free beer. That's what we've come for."

The bartender smiled, "Free beer—tomorrow!"

The devil is like the bartender. He will get you thinking that tomorrow you'll get your answer. And when tomorrow gets here, he'll say, "Wait until tomorrow." As long as you are waiting for tomorrow, tomorrow never comes. God says, "Believe that you have the answer today--NOW!" This is what Jesus meant in Mark 11:24: "...whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."

THANK GOD FOR THE ANSWER

The third step for getting your prayers answered is this: Thank God for the answer, before you can see it. Since you have already believed that God has answered your prayer, the only logical step is to thank Him in advance for the answer. Doing this proves that you trust God's Word.

You may ask, "How can I thank God for answering my prayer, when I don't see the answer yet?" Because He promised the answer, and that's good enough for you to thank Him.

Suppose a gentleman promised me that he was going to buy a new suit for me next week. Would I say, "Sir, when you actually buy it and I'm wearing it, then I'll be grateful and thank you for it. But I'm not going to thank you until I am wearing the new suit you promised." Of course I wouldn't say that. I would immediately thank him for the new suit, even though I don't actually have it yet. I thank him, because I believe his word is good. The same is true of God.

God promised to answer our prayers, and His promise is good enough to solicit gratitude from us. So after you have prayed and believed that you have received the answer, then thank God for the answer.

KEEP YOUR MIND POSITIVE

The fourth and final step for answered prayer is this: Let every thought affirm that you have the answer to your prayer.

It is this last step that many believers stumble over. They will do fine until this last step, because many believers do not know how to fight the devil. Satan battles against the mind. The mind is the arena where the battle is fought.

Do not allow any negative thoughts to enter your mind. Let your mind affirm that you have the petitions that you requested from God. The reason you need to keep your mind on positive things is because doubt begins in the mind. And if you can keep it out of your mind, then you can keep it out of your heart.

These are the four practical steps to answered prayer!

 By Tom Brown Ministries 

UNDERSTANDING THE POWER OF MEN

1.     VISIONARY AND LEADER

God took man and put him in the garden of Eden to take  care of it and the Lord  God commended  the man (Gen 2:15-16).

Whom did the Lord command. The male-men.  The male being first received all information.  The female  wasn’t formed until instructions where given the male.   The male was given the charge  to be the visionary and leader. The male is to be  responsible for everything under his jurisdiction, this doesn’t mean women don’t  have the capacity, but it was  entrusted to the male.  You don’t canvas for votes in the family to become the head.  You are responsible, God made it so  not the  family.  A man shouldn’t get married  and say his  wife what  are we going to do?  Well, we will just  wait on the Lord, we will see where we are going.  He makes  plans, he sees  the future the  women is a help in achieving it.

  

2.     TEACHER

God told Adam, do not eat of the three, but the he didn’t tell Eve.  Which means it was Adams responsibility to teach Eve and guide her.  If you were  the first one  to discover something and someone else  shows up at the scene  needing to know  something, what does that make you? Primarily God made men responsible for teaching his  ways, not  that women are unable to teach.  The male must be responsible for godly instructions to their family.  May not  be the way things are, but the way it supposed to.  God expect males  to reveal his will and word to  females.

Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy 3.  If a man wants  to be leader in the church let him first get his house in order.

3.     CULTIVATOR

God gave male an assignment of cultivating  the garden Gen 2:15. One of males  responsibility is to cultivate.  Means to  make something  grow and produce  greater yield.  You as a man is supposed to cultivate  and develop everything around you.   Make both people  and things better.  So if you as a man marries  a wife and she is looking Haggard, after months of marriage , then you’ve not cultivated her.  Every part of the society should be developing if there are real men.  Unmarried men.

What are you cultivating? Young girls when a young girl comes  into your presence  she should leave a better person than she came.  When  she is leaving  and someone ask what happened to you, she should be able to say I met a man  who told me he wouldn’t sleep with me.  Cultivate this young ladies, make them better don’t drag them down.

4.     PROVIDER

Primarily, it is very simple.  You don't have to be a batman as a man or compete  with Arnold Schwarzenegger.  You don’t have to develop big muscles, to fulfill that purpose.  Don't be made at Adam, he is not the reason why you have to work, before the fall in Genesis to work was ordained.  Work is not a curse Gen 2:2-3 God worked.  What is the significance  of work.  It exposes you potentials.  God gave male work not only because it exposes his potentials but enables him provide for those whom he is responsible in his position as a visionary and leader.  Provide comes from a Latin word meaning to “See ahead”.  The male should be a visionary, he should  have  a vision for his life and he should work to see it accomplished, both for him ,his family and others under his care.  Before a man needs a woman in his life, he needs work.  God never told the woman to work.  Now  don’t get  nervous, its just a societal demands.  God gave a man and not the woman the responsibility to provide for the home.  A woman is us supposed to marry someone who is already able to provide.  A man is to supply the needs to supply the needs of his family.  He is build physically stronger than the female, particularly in his upper body  because of God’s command for work.

5.     PROTECTOR

The Lord God took man and put him in the garden to take core of it.  Another responsibility of man is to “take care”.  He was to take care of everything, the  woman, plants, animals, everything the woman, plants, animals, everything.  God never told the woman to take care  but the man.  Why because the woman is one of the things  we are supposed  to protect.  God designed the male to protect everything under  his care and covering. A male  is a natural  protector.  His physical frame is an evidence of that but also  his mental capacity.  They way he is structured psychologically is designed to protect.  Any woman  should feel safe with you.  But you see some  men raise up their hands on women they were meant to protect... to protect, God gave men. 

                                                               By: Lusako Mwakiluma

                                                                      Motivational & Inspirational Speaker

HOW TO GET SUPERNATURAL FAVOUR

When I first began my ministry, I was scared. In those days, women were not as widely accepted in the pulpit as they are today. Afraid of being rejected, I bent over backward to behave in the way I thought would please people. The only problem was that I was trying to earn approval, and it didn't work.

At the time, I knew nothing about supernatural favor. I didn't realize that favor is a part of grace. In fact, in the New Testament the words grace and favor both are translated from the Greek word charis.

The grace of God is the favor of God. And the grace of God causes good things to happen in our lives through the channel of faith. It is not by human power or might but through God's Spirit of grace that we find favor with God and man.

There is a distinction between natural favor and supernatural favor. Natural favor must be earned, but supernatural favor is a gift. Natural favor says, if you work hard enough and long enough, some people will like you some of the time.

But that acceptance must be maintained, and having to say and do all the right things becomes a form of bondage. God doesn't expect us to run around trying to earn favor with Him or with others. He wants us only to do His will--whether it is popular or not. Just do your best and leave the results to God.

From childhood, Jesus walked in the supernatural favor of God and men. In fact, He was so popular He could hardly find time alone to pray and fellowship with His heavenly Father. Even those who did not believe in Him recognized that He enjoyed the favor of God.

The guards sent by the Pharisees to arrest Jesus returned saying, "Never has a man talked as this Man talks!" (John 7:46, The Amplified Bible). Right up to the end of His life, even on the cross, that special favor was recognized (see Luke 23:47-48).

Psalm 8:5-6 says: "You have made him but a little lower than God [or heavenly beings], and You have crowned him with glory and honor. You made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet." In these verses, honor and favor have the same meaning. We might say that God has crowned man with glory and favor, giving him dominion over the works of His hands and placing all things under his feet.

We must never forget that no matter what happens, we can have favor with God and with other people (see Luke 2:52). But like so many good things in life, just because something is available to us does not mean that we will partake of it. The Lord makes many things available that we never receive and enjoy because we don't activate our faith in that area.

For example, if we go to a job interview confessing fear and failure, we can be almost certain we won't get the job. On the other hand, even if we apply for a job we aren't fully qualified for, we can still go in confidence, knowing that God will give us favor in every situation that is His will.

First Samuel 2:7 says, "The Lord makes poor and makes rich; He brings low and He lifts up." A perfect example of this is found in the life of Esther. God raised her up out of obscurity to become the queen of the entire land. He gave her favor with everyone she met, including the king.

Esther drew upon that favor to save herself and her people from being murdered by the evil Haman. She may have been afraid to go to the king and ask him to intervene, but Esther knew she had favor with God and pressed on with complete confidence in Him.

We don't have nearly as much fun with the Lord as we should. We should have more freedom and liberty and less fear and legalism. Regardless of the circumstances that come into your life, believe God for supernatural favor.

Despite how hopeless things may seem, God can lift you up. If your life is in His hands, the light of the Lord shines upon you. It is time we believe the words of our Father: "You are the apple of My eye. You are My favorite child" (see Deut. 32:10, NKJV).

Draw closer to God. Experience the presence of the Holy Spirit every day by reading our blog on the spiritual matters.

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By: Joyce Meyer

PRAY FOR THOSE WHO ABUSE YOU

Jesus said, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). He also said, “Do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you” (Luke 6:27–28).

So whether someone “persecutes” or “abuses” or “hates” or “curses” us, we are to pray for them. They may be family members whose “abuses” are small and annoying — “loved ones” we don’t think of as “enemies,” but sometimes act like they are. Or they may be mortal enemies who really do plan to kill us. Small or great, we are to pray for them.

What this command does is make God a necessary part of enemy love. Prayer is to God. Therefore, God is involved in loving our enemy. We are to turn to God when our enemy abuses us. We are to talk to God about this. We are to ask him to do something about this.

What to Pray for Those Who Hate You

What are you praying for your enemies — the people who treat you badly?

Here is a good place to start — the way you pray for yourself. Would it not be strange if a prayer for our enemy should ask for less important things than we are told to ask for ourselves? Do unto others what you want others to do to you (Matthew 7:12). No. More than that. Do unto others what you should want them to do for you. And pray for others the way you should want them to pray for you.

I wish the word “should” were not necessary as an expansion of the Golden Rule. But many professing Christians are so worldly that they only pray for natural things rather than spiritual things. That is, they pray for food and health and safety and success and happy relationships. But they don’t pray for more faith, or holiness, or contrition, or purity of heart, or love for Christ, or courage in witness. So it won’t do to say to them, Pray for others the way you want others to pray for you. They show by their own prayers that the things they really need they don’t pray for.

That is not how we should pray for our enemies.

The Lord’s Prayer — Even for Your Enemies

The place to start in praying for our enemies is the prayer that the Lord taught us to pray. Whatever else you pray for your enemies, pray for them like this:

§  Father, grant that my enemy — my colleague who snubs me, my wife who belittles me, my child who disrespects me, the ISIS member who wants to kill me — grant that they would come to hallow your name. Grant that they would treasure you above all, and reverence you, and admire you more than anything.

§  Father, grant that my enemy would come under the saving, purifying sway of your kingly rule and that you would exert your kingly power to make my enemy your own loyal subject.

§  Grant, Father, that my enemy would love to do your will the way the angels do it in heaven with all their might, and without reservation, and with the purest motives, and with great joy.

§  Grant, Father, that my enemy would have all the physical resources of food and clothing and shelter and education and health-care and transportation that he needs to fulfill your calling on his life.

§  And forgive my enemy his sins, as you bring him to repentance, and make him a forgiving person, and protect him from overpowering temptations, and from the destructive power of the devil.

This is what we should be praying for ourselves. And therefore, it is what we should be praying for our enemies.

Be and Pray Like Jesus

Don’t think you have loved your enemy if you only work and pray for his natural needs, and omit his eternal needs.

It is appalling and pathetic to see love stripped of God. Even some Christians think you can love others without longing for and praying for and aiming at the exaltation of God in their heart. What is so sad about this is that it not only betrays the diminished place of God in the heart of the Christian, but also implies that there can be real love where we don’t care if someone perishes eternally, as long as they have prospered here on earth.

It is true that our love and prayers may not succeed in wakening our enemy to faith in Jesus, and to the hallowing of God’s name. Our love is not conditional on that. Love is the aim of our sacrifice, not its success. We may or may not succeed in the Jesus-exalting, God-hallowing transformation we aim at. 

But a heart that does not aim at its enemy’s eternal joy in Jesus is not the full-orbed, robust love that Jesus demands. It is a narrow and pathetic substitute, no matter how creative and sacrificial and media-admired the labor is for our enemy’s earthly welfare. Real love prays for our enemy with all the aims and longings we should pray for ourselves.

Come, join me in the quest to be, and to pray, like Jesus.

Lusako Mwakiluma

Motivational & Inspirational Speaker