© Ayo Omolayo
The third and final ingredient is grace. That’s the last thing that we all need. That’s what helps us to finally accomplish all what we are learning today.
There are two ingredients that makes man live above sin. Number one is your will. I mean the desire in you to have nothing to do with sin and then the grace of God. Those two ingredients help a believer stay strong in God. They are the keys to consistency.
Briefly, I would love to talk about grace. The bible says in the book of John 4:23. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
Verse 4. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
The opposite of that scripture is this. If you do not worship God in spirit and in truth, you’ll end up worshipping him, in flesh and in lies, or should I say hypocrisy.
That’s the reason why we have hypocrites in the body of Christ today. Christianity is full of people trying to serve God with the flesh. People are trying to serve God in the capacity of their flesh.
One thing you need to understand about the flesh is that, the flesh has one characteristic called WILLPOWER. What exactly is Will power?
Will power is the ability for a man to do what is right for a short period of time. That’s the definition for willpower. The reason why the will power of man cannot last is because it fall under the 3 dimensions of the manifestation of the flesh.
What are they? The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. Willpower is a subdivision under the pride of life. And remember, the bible says that God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. So willpower only makes you more and more proud of yourself. Because the good you accomplished are products of your disciplined lifestyle. So that’s enough to make you feel high about yourself.
And as the bible says, God will always resist the proud and give grace to the humble. So he’s going to withdraw anything grace around your life and watch you struggling with your human strength and keep failing. Grace is only available for the humble.
So willpower is only able to carry a man for a while. That’s the reason why alot of Christians struggle with consistency. When they hear the word of God, they make up their minds to obey what God is asking of them. But immediately they leave the church, they are themselves doing that thing they planned to repent from.
Some, their repentance only lasts for two weeks. After two weeks they return to masturbation. They return to their vomit and start living a defeated life. This is the result of serving God in the flesh, which will end up leading you into hypocrisy. That’s how it works.
Some of you might be confused right now. Some of you might say, ‘ What then does it mean to serve God in the spirit? What does it mean to rely on grace and not willpower?’
Good question. Now, willpower is the first thing that gets you to the door, but grace is the key that opens the door. Every man that will serve God or do his will must first be willing, which is very important. But after that, you must be able to accept the fact that without God, this decision I have made will not be possible. So dear Lord! I need your grace.
He must be willing to accept that fact in his heart and hold on to it. Because, even when grace is at work in the life of a man, Satan comes and begins to tempt the man. He begins to praise him for all his efforts he had put into building his spiritual life. And at the end of the day, if the man is not able to discern that this is an orchestration from the pit of hell, he’ll end up giving in and conclude that he was responsible for the turn around on his spiritual life.
Pride is enough to make him crash and start afresh again. That’s the reason why alot of believers struggle with rising and falling. The bible says, ‘Keep your heart with all diligence’. We need to be careful with the kind of thoughts we allow into our hearts. If we are not watchful, we’ll end up finding ourselves rising and falling often.
Because even after God helps you to get back on your feet, Satan will come with his deception. Soon, you start seeing yourself as the most spiritual lady in the church choir. You start looking around for the most spiritual person and conclude there is none like unto you. Soon you start seeing yourself as the most important and prayerful person in your family. You’re not far from your spiritual grave. This is one of the biggest reason that had made rising and falling among believers so rampant today.
Now, we move to the next thing. How can we receive grace from God? Very important. Let’s open to the book of Hebrews 4:16″.
I quickly wrote down the scripture and picked up my Bible, flipping the pages at a quick pace.
“Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need”, I read.
“Do you see the key?”
“Yes sir”, I answered.
“What is the key?”
“Quiet time”.
“Exactly. Now let’s read Mark chapter one, verse 35”.
We both flipped our Bibles and soon, Silas read aloud.
“Mark 1:35 And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed”.
“Can you see the secret to Jesus’ sinless life here on earth?”
“Yes”, we chorused.
“Many believers have this mindset that the reason why Jesus never committed any sin while he was on earth, was because he was God. A big lie! Read the bible very well. Jesus almost committed sin in the bible”,
We were both shocked. What was he saying?
Apostle Robert stood up.
“I’m feeling like I’m on fire right now. The word of God is burning like fire in my bones”, he said and spoke in tongues for a while.
“Listen to me! The day Jesus was about to be crucified, what was going on. Christianity was under attack. Both Jesus and all his disciples were shot arrows and crashed. The arrow struck Jesus and he almost went down.
He said, ‘ Father, if it is possible, take this cup away from me’. Was that a good prayer?”
“No”, we answered.
“Jesus was getting weak that day. The flesh was vibrating. He wanted to save his life. He wanted to escape. The flesh was already making suggestions to him on how he can hide himself and no one will find him when Judas arrived. You think Jesus never struggled the way you all struggle today?
Ha ha ha ha ha ha! The bible says in Hebrews 4:15. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
A high priest that when he looks at you struggling. He will smile and say, ‘ I can relate! I also struggled like that too’. Yes! He struggled with women. He struggled with pride. He saw his flesh longing for everything that can satisfy his carnal appetites.
He was faced with everything you all face today. Satan shot arrows at Jesus and all his disciples. All the disciples fell. But, the question you should be asking is, that man that did not fall, what did he do that made him not to fall?
Jesus prayed! He groaned! He prayed and prayed aggressively. Baba! I cannot fail you. Daddy! Nevertheless! Ha ha ha ha ha! Nevertheless! You think that prayer was an easy prayer. Jesus was kabashing. Sweating and telling God! My flesh oooo! Daddy! My flesh is killing me! Daddy come and help me!
And the bible said that while he was praying, angels appeared and what were the angels doing?”
“They were strengthening him!” I answered.
“Jesus!” My mentor screamed and landed on the floor, bursting into tongues.
“Ha ha ha ha ha! Pity the Christian that doesn’t have a prayer life. Do you know that prayerlessness is pride?”
“Jesus is Lord!” Silas exclaimed and placed his two hands on his head.
“Yes! If grace will be given only to the humble and you can only get grace by praying, then how will the prayerless Christian receive grace?
Prayerlessness is telling God, I can do it myself. My willpower will carry me through. I don’t need to spend time praying everyday. Allow me to sleep. I can handle anything. My willpower is so strong. Don’t worry God! When I have something I cannot handle, I’ll ask you to help me out in prayers. But for my day to day life, I can live without sin, by my willpower. So allow me to skip my quiet time.
And God will only give his grace to the man who will appear before him every morning. Daddy! On my own! On my own! I can’t make it! I can’t make it. Daddy! Right now! I’m so tired right now! Yesterday’s work was so much that it made me so weak. But if I don’t pray, my human strength! My willpower will fail me! On my own! On my own! I can’t make it”,
“Argghhhhh….!” I screamed and landed on the floor blasting in tongues.
“And while the prayer is going on. Behold, angels appear in the room. You will not be able to see them physically. Sometimes God gives you the privilege to sense their presence in the form of having goose bumps. Sometimes he allows you to feel certain sensations in your body as soon as they arrive.
And as you’re praying. Grace to overcome anger, grace to conquer lust, grace to look away when that half naked girl passes, grace to be offended and forgive easily, grace to see your husband that offended you before going to bed last night and instead of hissing at him, you smile and greet him good morning.
Grace enters you as you start kabashing. And you yourself, you’ll be wondering what is happening? Normally, you should have rained insults on that useless boy. On a normal day, you would have cursed your husband whenever he did something to make you annoyed. But you’re even looking for the anger and you can’t find it to start with. You’re trying to be angry, but it’s not working. The way the love and forgiveness is flowing out of your heart, you don’t understand.
Pity the prayerless Christian! How many times have you heard pastor preach on a topic and immediately you left the church. You found yourself doing that thing pastor said you should not do. Yiu think you can serve God in your willpower?
Good luck to you! Keep trying! Don’t go and build your prayer life ooo! Be skipping your quiet time! The way you will be commiting sin will shock you. If Jesus could kneel down and sweat in prayers, I don’t know that person that is snoring on the bed and is telling me he wants to be holy like Jesus! You’re a joker! A big joker! Sin will eat you like breakfast, come back for lunch and use you as dinner.
And you will keep crying! God why? Daddy why? I want to live a Holy life. I want to be consistent in my walk with you. Continue sleeping! Continue skipping your quiet time. That anger you’re struggling with has just started. That masturbation you’re fighting everyday is just warming up.
Grace! Grace! Grace! Can we tell Jesus, on my own! On my own! I can’t make it! And because I cannot make it on my own, my quiet time is a must. I must not miss it for one day”,
I screamed admist tears. We were all blasting in tongues all over the place. The presence of God fell heavily on us. I could feel the spiritual energy in my body.
To be continued…….
You want the grace of God to locate you on your mattress abi?
Keep snoring!
Peter and all the disciples crashed and fell. They abandoned their faith and went back to fishing.
Only one man stood that day. That was the only man that wasn’t sleeping when everyone was sleeping.
This sleep you have been sleeping for how many years now. What contribution has it made to your spiritual life? How is it contributing to your destiny?
Your alarm will ring and you’ll put it off to continue sleeping. When will you arise?
You’re waiting for magic. For someone to lay hands on you and you suddenly start praying like a machine.
I know a brother who was masturbating. He attended Apostle Mike Orokpo’s meeting and came back a masturbator.
Don’t pray ooo! Be turning around for the next visit of Apostle Joshua Selman.
Today, this brother followed those principles of building your prayer life in episode 89 and has never masturbated again.
You think it’s about man of God? Your deliverance is in your hands. Go and build your prayer life. The sleep is too much. That was how Peter slept and ended up denying Jesus.
Go and build your prayer life.
