Samuel Yusuf //blog

Surrender, The Key to Conquest.

"I have been crucified with Christ, & it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me, & the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me & delivered Himself up for me." Gal 2:20

Let God make Himself real in your life!

How shall we overcome these giants in our life? How shall we win the victory over self? We must surrender ourselves so utterly that we can never own ourselves again. We must hand over self & all its rights in an eternal covenant, & give God the absolute right to own us, control us & possess us forever. We must let God make this real in detail, as each day brings its tests & conflicts. We must receive the great antidote to self - the love of Christ. And finally, we need not only the love of Christ but Christ Himself. It is not a principle, nor an emotion, nor a motive that is to transform our life & conquer these determined foes, but it is a living Person (AB Simpson).

Christ is faithful to exchange our sinful nature for His divine nature as we determine to bring these faces of ourselves to the cross.

Christ has made it possible for us to lose our self-life entirely & enter into freedom of eternal life as we become par taker of His divine nature.

We can rejoice & experience the reality of the life of Christ in us, our promised land, as we abandon ourselves to the Holy Spirit within us. He shall cause this treasure in earthen vessels to shine forth, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us (2 Cor 4:7). And He makes our victory possible. He does it all for us & we must be courageous to put off our old man & put on the new man in the likeness of God (Eph 4:22-24). Amen. (DR Fuchsia Pickett).

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Our True Calling.

"If anyone loves Me, he will keep My Word & My Father will love him; & We will come to him & make Our Home with him" John 14:23 NKJV

Have you ever considered why the LORD called you to be a child of God? Was it for you to become a good husband/wife/father/mother to your family? Is your calling to be a successful business person or missionary or preacher? While all of these may be valid pursuits in life in obedience to the calling of God, we need to look more closely to identify our true calling.

Our primary calling is our destiny to enjoy relationship with God, not to work for Him. He desires a family whom He can enjoy a sweet communion. His desire until today is to enjoy His children in a love relationship.

His desire for us to cultivate a love relationship with each of us. In the context of that relationship, He will then give us specific tasks to do. Yet the tasks should never diminish the priority of relationship with Him.

We must be careful to prioritise our calling the way He does & not according to man's perspective. That kind of love relationship will motivate us to serve & worship out of a heart of love for God.

He seeks worshippers who will cultivate a love relationship with Him. He values our relationship with Him more than anything we can or will ever do for Him. We can show Him that we value it as well by laying hold of our primary calling to enjoy & worship Him.

"The hour is coming, & now is the time when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit & truth; for He is seeking such to worship Him." John 4:23. Amen.
(DR. Fuchsia Pickett)

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Draw Closer to God.

But take diligent heed to do the commandment & the law, which Moses charged you, to love the LORD your God, & to walk in all His ways, & to keep His commandments, & to cleave unto Him, & to serve Him with all your heart & your soul (Jos 22:5)

The above verse gives us guidance in drawing a closer relationship with God: to love, walk, keep, cleave & serve.

The 1st step in growing relationship with Him is love. This love is one of the total commitment, one that affects every area of our lives. Answer His question to us honestly: "Do you love Me more than these?"

He desires our love, but it must be given freely & without reservation, a conscious decision that we make. As our love for Him deepens & grows, so does our desire to please Him in all we do.

"Can 2 walk together, except they be agreed? Amos 3:3" When we choose to walk with Him, we are determining that we shall match our steps to His, same desires, values & purposes as He does.

Keep His commandment is a natural progression. If we love Him & walk with Him, we will also obey Him. He set His laws not to make our life difficult or unhappy.

To cleave means to cling to be faithful or to hold fast. We are not divided in our love but dedicate ourselves completely to Him; a total commitment. Nothing else ranks higher in importance to us than Him.

When we draw closer to Him, we shall have a desire to serve Him with all our heart & soul. Each of us will fulfil many roles during our lifetime. He will use us to touch many lives for Him. Whatever area He chooses to place us, we are always be His beloved sons & daughters.

It is not enough to say we want more of Him unless we are willing to devote ourselves to pursuing more of Him. Desire without diligence does not bring the relationship that we seek. But if we seek, we shall be rewarded with the richness of knowing Him with greater intimacy. Amen. (Mary Loudermilk)

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Prisoner of Jesus Christ.

"For this cause, I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles" Eph 3:1

Do you want to let yourself handcuffed by Jesus? It means asking Him to place chains on our hands & take us prisoner. Paul refers himself as prisoner of Jesus Christ & it is his calling & a gift of God's grace to him. His experience on how Christ took him captive on the road to Damascus made his eyes opened to the truth. It was then he let go of his own zeal (hatred, bitterness, anger against Christ & his followers) & submitted himself to the yoke of Christ.

Truly love for Jesus must result in the independent of self-will. We may truly love Jesus dearly, but in spite of our love & zeal for the LOrD, we may still a man full of wilful independence. We are often self-reliant & even feel that "the LORD needs us as much as we need Him"

The world loves & admires of man who are self-made, self-confident movers & shakers, great thinkers, who can accomplish great things by doing things their way. But in the kingdom of God, that kind of independence is a sure sign that person hasn't been to the cross to mortem his flesh. We haven't died to our own flesh. We can't be handcuffed to Jesus & maintain an independent spirit. To be bound to Him fully, we have to stretch forth our hands in total surrender (John 21:18).

The true test of love for Christ isn't that you simply come back to Him after failing on your own. It is seeing the emptiness in your own greatest opportunity & dropping every selfish dream to become His prisoner.

The LORD doesn't force us to do that. It should come from our own willingness. His invitation is to trust Him to lead & guide us through everything in life.

Yield to Him, submit yourself to Him & be handcuffed to Him.
"LORD, I'm sick of my independent spirit. Right now, I'm stretching out my arms to You. I want to fish for men, not for my own purposes. Put your loving handcuffs on me. Bind me to You."Amen. (Wilkerson)
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Recalibrate the Route

"The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth" (Luke 3:5).

I love the Global Positioning Systems (GPS) in the new cars. A voice comes on and tells me how far I have to go and when to turn. However, sometimes I get off course and the voice says: "Re calculating route." The GPS is telling me I have gone off course and it is now re calculating the route based on my wrong turn. Sometimes we can make wrong turns in our spiritual lives. We think we are going the right direction only to discover it was never God's will to enter that relationship, make that business deal, hire that person - the examples are limitless.

There is an amazing thing about God. He can make our crooked places straight. He has an ability to make whatever blunder you make turn out right. It may mean there might be some consequences to those decisions, but He will always allow your actions to work together for good for those called according to His purposes if we repent and seek Him fully to make things right. These lessons can even contribute to greater wisdom in our lives if we learn from our mistakes.

God's omnipotence is always one step ahead of our incompetence. Do you think He knew you would make that misstep? Absolutely. Do you think your life was planned even with that misstep figured in? Absolutely.

Isn't it comforting to know you cannot plan God out of the equation no matter how bad you mess up? He will always turn crooked places into straight places for those who are humble and contrite.

Do you need a crooked place straightened out today? Ask Him to straighten the course so you can flow in His perfect will for your life. Amen.
Gbu with Revayah.

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Giving God Full Control.

"Out of heaven, He made thee to hear His voice, that He might instruct thee." Det 4:36

Are you in the wilderness or desolate place now? No control over your survival, even the availability of food or water. No control over the destination. Rejoice, He wants to raise you up to be trained by Him, to live under His authority & trust Him completely, giving Him full control of every aspect of your lives. He wants to raise you up to become living testimony to the heathen world of His faithfulness, love & goodness.

Why would He want full control of us? It is because only Him knows the way. He alone knows our future & has the power to bring us into His full rest, & He would perform the impossible that is needed to get us there.

This is why we are placed in situations we can't control. We face trials we can't understand, tests that are beyond our strength to cope. He puts us in these crises to invoke our faith. He wants to bring us through these experiences to build our confidence so that no matter what future holds, we can say boldly: "God has delivered us & always deliver us again. All glory to the LORD"

This is still the way He produces faith in us. He wants us to be examples to bring people to the end of themselves, who see before them high mountains, deep seas, big wilderness, & can still declare: "This is all beyond me. It's going to take miracles to see me through. No person or institution can deliver me, except the LORD"

He intends to raise you up to be wholly dependent on Him, raised up by Christ Himself, governed by Him, led by the Spirit & wholly yield to the LORD in every area of life. Those who would give Him full control of their lives.

God doesn't deceive us. He has promised to make His will clear to all who seek Him, & when we've given Him full control of our lives, we'll hear Him saying: "This is the way, beloved son/daughter. Now walk in it with confidence. I have everything under control." Amen.
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God's Purpose of War.

"Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased, & you inherit the land." Ex 23:30.

Why didn't God just 'kick out' the enemies of Israel before they arrived at Canaanis people could just walk in & settle down after their years of wandering in the desert? We often wonder why we have to face the enemies on our life as well that can keep us from inheriting our promised land.

In His wisdom, He arranged every confrontation we have with the powerful enemies who occupied the promised land. We have to dispossess them in order to inherit the land. Relationship with our God is the main/paramount goal of Him for us. He understands that the battles we would face to possess the promised land would nurture that relationship.

Our obedience to His commands would not only defeat the enemies, but it would also strengthen our trust & confidence in Him. Our obedience & our dependency on His word & power, would establish our relationship with Him.

Our commitment to inherit the promised land can't be accomplished in a day or even a year. Life continues to present challenges to us that are meant for our growth & maturity & to develop our dependency on Him.

If we could see & realize & understand that relationship with Him (knowing Him intimately) is our ultimate benefit in life, we would soon be gripped with the passion necessary to abandon ourselves to His will, no matter what the costs are. If we carefully obey His commands, we will always be victorious over our enemies & enter into the promises of God for which we have been willing to do battle. Amen. (DR Fuchsia Pickett)
Gbu with Revayah.
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The Graduate Level Test = Self Defence.

"He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noon day sun." - Psalm 37:6

As a believer grows in trusting obedience and love, God often brings a test that seems uncharacteristically cruel. The test: being wrongfully judged by those close to you. It is not for the reactionary. It cannot be passed over by simply gutting it out. Supernatural grace is the only means of passing this one. It is one of those tests the Saviour had to experience Himself when being tried by the court of public opinion, the religious community, and the government of His day. His response to the government was silence. His response to the religious establishment was silence at the final judgment. To the rest of His accusers He remained quiet and left vindication to the Father. He lived the commandment He gave to the disciples:

"But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked" (Luke 6:35).

How do you react when you are accused or mistreated for no reason? Do you listen quietly, or do you justify each and every action? Most of us take pride in doing what is right and expect the same from others, especially our brothers and sisters in the faith. Jesus knew that if you were to be a true follower of His, you would enter this test eventually. It is part of the program. The workplace gives ample opportunity to be wronged, misunderstood, and maligned. When God brings a measured assault against one of His children, it is to find out if he truly believes in the cross. The cross is where each of us is given the opportunity to die to our pride, our reputations, and our ego. When He allows a measured assault upon us, it is to find out if the cross is sufficient. He wants to see if we will seek to rescue ourselves. Jesus said if we die with Him, we will be raised with Him. When God allows satan to bring the measured assault, ask God for the grace to cling to the cross. Let the pride and arrogance that Jesus wants to remove from our lives be crucified. Thank God for the opportunity to be crucified with Christ. Then your righteousness will shine like the noon day sun and the justice of your cause will be in His hands. Amen.
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Trust God With All Your Tomorrow.

Two common questions that brings us to anxiety: "what ifs" and "why's" What if I lose the job? What if I fail? Why is this happening to me? Why doesn't God answer my prayers?

Beloved, our loving God has made sure that our "what ifs" & "why's" can be answered by His Word. He calls us to giving no thought about tomorrow & putting our future into His hands. "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.(Matt 6:34)"

We gladly give all our yesterdays to the LORD, turning over to Him our past sins. We trust Him for forgiveness of all our past failures, doubts & fears. So why don't we do the same with our tomorrows? The truth is, most of us cling tightly to our future, wanting the right to hold unto our dreams. We make our plans independent of God & then later ask Him to bless & fulfil those hopes & desires.

When God called Abraham to go, he had to lay aside every plan, hope & dream, every concern over his future & his family & that was no easy thing for him to do. It meant laying aside every fear & anxiety about each tomorrow & trusting God completely to bless & keep him through every situation. Yet, our loving God asks no less of us today too.

He asks us:
How do I react to my current situation? How is it going to bring glory to Christ? What will come out of my trial?
It's possible to waste all our tomorrows anxiously waiting to be delivered out of our sufferings, but if that becomes our focus, we'll totally miss the miracle & joy of being emancipated in our trial.

We don't have to do something great, but only have to trust & place our lives in His hands. If we do that, His word is being preached, no matter what our circumstances & Christ will be revealed in us most especially in our difficult circumstances. Trust Him with all your tomorrows & let your present trial preach the messages of His faithfulness. Amen. (D Wilkerson)
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Possessing Christ.

The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearl; who, when he found one pearl of great price, went & sold all that he had & bought it. Matt 13:45-46.

Jesus offers everything He is. He brings you joy, peace, purpose, holiness, etc. What is He worth to you? To gain Him, it may cost you more than you've been willing to pay.

Jesus is the pearl of great price. Christ is very costly, of incalculable value, because the merchant sells all his other possessions to gain Him. Who was the original owner of this costly pearl? And why would he be willing to part with it?

Beloved, it relates to God's eternal purpose for us. Jesus is the Father's most valued & treasured possession. Only one thing would cause the Father to give up this priceless pearl: He did it out of love. He gave Jesus up as a sacrifice, to redeem us. The God of the universe had made His precious pearl available to us, but how many really values it? Don't let Him grieve to see how little value you place on this priceless pearl.

To some, Christ is no more than a museum piece. People visit Him once a week, admire & praise Him every sunday, but they never own the pearl. They don't barter with the owner to possess it at any cost.

God intends His pearl to be found by those who are obsessed with possessing Him; for those who find in Jesus the answer of every need & cry of their hearts; for those where Jesus have become the central focus of their lives. They've set their hearts to go after this prize with everything in them & they're going to lay hold of Him at any cost. It costs us, our mind, body, spirit & all that we have. Jesus is available only to those who place a great value on Him. Beloved, I pray that we are the ones. Amen. (D Wilkerson)
Gbu with Revayah.
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