Days of empowerment

Firstly, Jesus declared in His teaching in Matthew 6 that God rewards those who give alms (verses 1-4), those who pray (verses 5-6) and those who fast (verses 16-18).

Our church, as a corporate body, have declared a 21days of Prayer and Fasting. A time of seeking God, consecration and to have spiritual discipline. To put God first (Matt. 6:33). 

Fasting and prayer are power twins. They work together. They enable self-control as they help us to crucify the flesh and to walk in the Spirit (Gal.5:16, 24-26). To walk in the Spirit means to follow the Holy Spirit, to walk according to God Word's (His word is spirit and life - John 6:63) and to walk in love (God is a Spirit - John 4:24, God is love - 1 John 4:8). We walk in line and in tune with the Spirit and the Word.

The 21days of prayer and fasting is a Daniel fast. A Daniel fast is to eat vegetables (we will eat no pleasant food), drink water and pray three times a day (Dan. 10:1-3, Dan. 6:10). This is to crucify the flesh and to exercise self-control so that we are not led by the flesh but we submit ourselves to God in our spirit. It is spiritual discipline. This produces spiritual intimacy with God and enables spiritual strength. Daniel received revelation of God's word, knowledge and wisdom as the Lord revealed to Him secrets (Dan. 2:47). He had spiritual discernment and knew the timing of God.

"There are two essentials in life:

It is imperative to hear the voice of God and to know the timing of God."

When we fast and pray, it is a way of humbling ourselves before God. He promised in His Word when we humble ourselves, He will lift us up ( James 4:10, 1 Pet. 5:6). Just like Daniel was elevated, so will we when we seek the Lord in prayer and fasting. Daniel was also protected from Lions  (Dan. 6:16 -23). You have to remember that when we fast and pray, we will be elevated by the Lord and people will be jealous! They will see the difference in our lives. They will see us blessed! The devil will do his utmost to discourage, distract and to destroy us. The devil goes around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour (1 Pet.5:8) but when we have spiritual intimacy and disciplines, he cannot touch us! The Lord will shut his mouth (Dan. 6: 22) and he will not be able to harm us! We have divine protection!

Daniel was also wiser and more powerful than the magicians, astrologers, sorcerers (witchcraft) and Chaldeans (Dan. 2). The occult has limited power but the power of God is unlimited. That power is available to all believers (Luke 10: 19, Mark 16: 17-20). We are strengthen in our inner man through prayer and fasting (Eph. 3: 14-21).

The 21days of Prayer and Fasting will be in 3 phases of 7 days. The first seven days will be a time to seek the Lord in worship. To consecrate ourselves. To set ourselves apart and to seek His face. I encourage everyone to put worship music and to pray in tongues. Then the following seven days will be a time of warfare, the prayer of binding and loosing, to exercise our spiritual authority over the enemy. Lastly, we will close the last seven days with praise and thanksgiving.

21 days of prayer and fasting 11th to 31st January 2017. 

More about Prayer and Fasting... Log on to http://www.jamesarekion.com/days-of-fasting-prayer

DEFINING RELATIONSHIPS

Dear friends,

Life is about choices. Choices have consequences. The right choice leads to the right consequence but sadly making wrong choices will equate to wrong consequences. One of the choices of life is relationships! Choosing the right friend, association, partner and spouse needs to be done by Godly wisdom.

Nobody wants to get disappointed and hurt. Sadly some people come in our lives to use and abuse us. We may have been the 'victim' and we may have been the 'oppressor'. However, we need to learn to make a quality decision to change and to get up and move on again in life.

The Holy Spirit is the agent of change. He is the Spirit of the Kingdom of God. Remember as Born-Again believers, we are children of God and partakers of the Kingdom. When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, He repairs our broken-heart and our disappointment. He also changes us from being an 'oppressor' or 'abuser' to become a different person. When we submit to His leadership, we are not stagnant but progressive in all aspects of life.

"For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God."
Rom. 8:14

The kingdom of God operates in love. The Holy Spirit pours the love of God in our hearts (Rom. 5:5). Manipulation, intimidation and domination is not part of the Kingdom of God but it is how the devil operates. We need to learn to break the shackles of manipulation, intimidation and domination. We should not allow people to control our emotion and life and we shouldn't be controlling people. God the Holy Spirit must be leading us!
The love of God does not have selfish motives. His love is genuine and sincere. The pure character of God is defined in 1 Corinthians 13:1-8. God's love does not have hidden motives. It is a pure and trustworthy love.

3Ds of relationship

Relationship have the ability to either drain, disillusion and destroy you or deliver, delight and deploy you. Some relationships will bind you whereas others will bless you. I encourage you to be strong and to find the right people and learn to say no to the wrong friendship, those who have the three negative Ds (drain, disillusion and destroy) and bind you. Learn to appreciate people who by God's grace have your best interest at heart and possess the three positive Ds (deliver, delight and deploy your gift). When a friendship deploys you, it believes and brings the best out of you. This type of relationship will bless your life.

The 3Gs of a robbing relationship

There are 3G's that rob us of peace of mind and that torments us:

• Guilt
• Grief
  
• Grudges

We feel guilty when we hurt others but we feel grudges when others hurt us. God does not want us to live a life of grief! He has given us the gift of salvation through Jesus. The blood of Jesus has the power to cleanse our conscience from every guilt. As we cast our care on God, He takes away our griefs and empower us to forgive instead of holding grudges.

God sent a Saviour and has provided forgiveness by His grace. He saved us from our sin, from the devil and hell and he also saved us from ourselves. We have a tendency to try to do things our way rather than living life God's way.

Certain relationship, friendship and association must be broken. We must always walk in love and forgiveness. We need to be strong and say goodbye to those who use and abuse us. We greet them with peace but we refuse to put ourselves in a position where they will manipulate, intimidate and dominate us. Break every low self-esteem and spirit of inferiority and walk in the fulness and blessing of God.

Dreams, vision and prophecy

"And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy"
Acts 2:17-18

 My dear friends,

 

The bible is clear that in the last days God will pour out His Spirit upon all flesh. The move of God for the end-times is global. That means you and I we qualify to hear God's voice. There will be visitation and communication from heaven through the means of prophesy, dreams and visions. These are vehicles whereby God communicate messages, instructions, preparations, confirmations and warnings to His children.

"We can be a recipient or a carrier of the move of God."

The same Holy Spirit that gives us the prophesy, dreams and visions is the same that can also give us the ability to discern, to rightly interpret and to fully understand! Jesus specifically said that the Holy Spirit will speak and will show us things to come (John 16:13). He will also give us strength to carry out and perform the Word that He gives to us!

I sincerely believe that as God's children we need to learn to know and discern our Father's voice. To do this we always need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. You cannot interpret God from your flesh nor from human understanding.To be Spirit-filled, we need to spend time in worship, prayer and in the Word of God. The voice of God will never contradict the Word of God.  A true prophesy, dream or vision will always be in agreement with the written Word of God and will complement the will of God in a person's life.
 
When Adam and Eve fell, God release the first word of prophesy against the serpent declaring that the seed of the woman will destroy the head and it will bruise his heel. A word of prophesy may take time to fulfill, however we should learn to do warfare with the word given to us. Paul instructed Timothy to remember the prophecies and not allow the enemy to steal his God-given assignment. He told his protégé to wage spiritual warfare with the prophetic words (1 Tim.1: 18).

Israel begun with a dream and a vision. God prophetically spoke to Abraham and caused Jacob to dream of the future and changed his name to Israel. Oftentimes when God speaks, He thinks and plans generationally. A dream from God can lead to a beginning of something that can last forever.
 

"Spiritual callings attracts spiritual attacks."
 

Whenever God reveals the future, the enemy will move swiftly and shrewdly to eclipse the light of the revelation. The opposition will try to distract, disrupt and destroy God's prophetic plan and your God-given destiny. However in order for the plan to come to pass, we need to believe and confess in faith, so that God's light exposes and expels the enemy. Remember If God is for you, who can be against you?
 

"And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass." Gen. 41:32
 

Joseph interpreted Pharaoh's dream from God. Joseph also gave us a key to know and discern when a dream is from God. If the dream is repeated, then it is from God. It serves as a confirmation. This specific dream was a warning that served as an instruction to counter-attack the seven years of famine.

Pay attention to your dreams. I pray that your spiritual eyes and understanding be open. I pray that you walk by faith and not live by sight. God is about to manifest your breakthrough. Stay vigilant in your prayer and depend on the Holy Spirit.

The will of God

My dear friends,

The will of God means the desire and plan(s) of God. The theme of the bible consists of His will. One of God's passion is to reveal His plan to us.

There are two types of will:
1. The standard or universal will as written or documented in His Word. The bible reveals God's will for EVERYBODY.

The Word of God is the will of God.

2. The personalized or specific will of God for our lives. The will of God for each individual.
 

"For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
    line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little."
Isa. 28:10

In regards to the specific will of God for our lives:
Firstly understand that the specific will of God for your life will never go against His standard will. A lot of people want to know God's will for them individually but ignore God's universal will. For example, God wants all men (and women) to be saved and be separated from sin. God wants us all to walk in love. God wants all children to obey their parents. The voice of God will never contradict the word of God!
Secondly, God's word is revealed progressively..."here a little, there a little". Our quest to discover the specific will of God for our lives must begin with the word of God through prayer. This will help us navigate through life making the right choices and decisions, going to the right direction and reaching our God-given destination without getting shipwrecked. The Spirit of God leads us through the word and prayer (Rom. 8:14).

This then keeps us connected to God and focused on Him. The closer we are to Him, the more He reveals to us. The more we obey, the further we go. If we walk in the light we have, we are rewarded with more light.
This also keeps God as our priority and keeps us reaching for Him. The apostle Paul declared that his goal is to KNOW God (Phil. 3:10).
Whatever you do in life, it must line up with God's Word, and He will never call you to do something that is contrary to it.

Every revelation from God, whether by His Word, dreams or vision must be documented (Hab. 2:1-3).

Furthermore, God never gives us a picture of obstacles or the challenges we may face. He shows us the grapes not the giants. However, if we remain connected to Him, we can slay and conquer the giants. We can overcome the storms of life through His Word. His Word gives us strength (Dan. 10:19).
Our desires are often contrary to His Will. This is why we need to learn to submit ourselves to God. Submission is the seed for Promotion

We need to bring ourselves into agreement with His will.
We do not DECIDE our assignment, we DISCOVER and DISCERN our assignment - Jer. 1: 4-19

Some important truths about the revealed or specific Will of God for our lives:

• The Will of God requires discipline and focus - Ex Jesus (Luke 9:51)
• The Will of God may require education and training - Ex: Daniel (Daniel 1: 1-6)
• The Will of God may require geographical changes - Ex: Abraham (Gen. 12)
• The Will of God is costly - Luke 9:56-62
• The Will of God may involve pain and loneliness - Ex: John the Baptist and Jesus
• The Will of God cannot be discussed with everybody - Ex: Mary pondered all these things in her heart (Luke 2:19)
• The Will of God means that you may not be granted access to certain places - Ex: Acts 16:6-7
• The Will of God means you cannot have anything and everything you want - Ex: Samson (Judges 13)

 

Comfort is NOT a confirmation that you are in God's will

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Success..!

This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

Joshua 1:8

Dear Friends,

I just wanted to encourage you with a few nuggets of wisdom.
Success is part of your inheritance as a child of the Living God.

He wants you to have good success.

Success is not a destination, it is a journey! A journey that you must take WITH God. For without His presence, we all fail! God must be leading you. He must be ordering your footsteps.

The road to success is dotted with many tempting parking spaces. Never stop and never quit! To be stagnant is dangerous.

On the road to success, you will face many opposition and criticism, but your voice of faith must be stronger than any persecution.

So never give up! Even if you fall, get up and brush yourself off and then go again. Pursue your dreams. God is with you! He will never leave you and forsake you.

Live and thrive!

YOU CAN MAKE IT WITH GOD!

Blessings,

Dr. James Arekion