The choice is yours!

Deuteronomy 30:19
I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that  I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.

One of the greatest privileges God has given humanity is the ability to choose. He has given us a free will to choose what we want. He didn't make us like robots or preprogrammed machines. Praise God.

Since we have the ability to choose, we are responsible for the decisions we make. God gives us options and then help us by saying choose life, choose blessing. He does that because he's our loving Father and wants the very best for each one of his precious children. Jesus gave us a new commandment, Love one another as I have loved you. You have a choice to obey or disobey the command. No one can make you do it. You have to make the choice and decide to do it. No one can make you read the word, you choose to do it. No one can make you sit at Jesus' feet but like Mary you have to make a decision to do it. God gives us his word so we can have good amount of information and thereby make the right decisions in life.

Friend, choose the word and make it the oxygen of your life. Breathe the word. Let the word be your clothing. As you carry your bags to your offices, carry the word of the living God in your heart and your mouth. As you see yourself in the mirror every day, see yourself in Gods word everyday. As you drink water and eat food everyday, drink and eat the word everyday. The word will help you make the right decisions, decisions that you won't regret later. The word will make you wise, insightful and you will command the respect of the world. The choice is yours!

Wealth beyond imagination.

Revelation 21:21
The twelve gates were made of pearls—each gate from a single pearl! And the main street was pure gold, as clear as glass.

John is talking about the holy city, the Lamb's bride called the New Jerusalem which is our eternal home. You remember, Jesus said I go to prepare a place for you. It's extravagant!

As believers, the New Jerusalem spoken about in the last book of the Bible is our eternal home, where we will dwell with God and God will dwell with us forever and ever. The wall of the city is made of jasper, and the city is pure gold, as clear as glass. The foundation of the wall of the city are decorated with all manner of precious stones. The city has twelve gates guarded by twelve angels. The twelve gates are made of pearls—each gate from a single pearl! And the main street is made of pure gold, as clear as glass. The city shines with the glory of God and sparkles like a precious stone. Can you imagine a city where the roads are transparent pure gold and each gate is made up of a single pearl? This is immeasurable wealth and we can enjoy it now for Jesus said God's will be done on earth just as it is done in heaven. By this he made it clear it is Gods will for you to live in and enjoy wealth immeasurable.

Friend, this is what Jesus has prepared for you. Its beyond human comprehension but its true for His word is true.  Don't fight prosperity and wealth as many religious nuts and hyper spiritual people do. God never wants his people struggling to get by and just living a surviving life like the beggar Lazarus. God wants to bless you beyond your thinking or dreaming capacity. Can you take it? Can you handle it? Are you willing to believe it?  His way of doing it is not by running after all these things. He said in Matthew 6.33, 'Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, all these things will added to you.' Believe God. Do what He says. Be obedient. This your time for wealth beyond measure!!

The apple of your eye.

Proverbs 7:2
Keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye.

How do you guard the apple of your eye? Do you take it lightly? I am sure all of us guard it with great care and love.

God speaks to us in many ways. He speaks to us through His word, His Spirit and through his ordained ministers. If you have difficulty in hearing Him then you probably need to get into places where the word is being taught with a willing heart and open ears. Solomon says guard what you hear from God as you would guard the apple of your eyes. You can hear God and if you are not careful, Satan can steal the word out of your heart. For example, you heard the word on Sunday and by the time you came back home, you met with your friends and started talking so intensely about the corruption in our country, that you completely forgot about the word you heard hours ago and gave it away to Satan. Satan is after the word. Settle this in your thinking. No wonder Solomon said, guard it. If you guard the word in your heart and your mouth and allow no one or no situation to steal it, then you will begin to see changes like you have never seen before. Be conscious, that you are a word man, a word woman. Make it part of your daily confession so that it becomes a part of your mindset and vocabulary. I am word born, word controlled, word sustained, word led, word driven and word fed. I am a word being. Hallelujah to Jesus.

Friend, the word of God is your life. Once you hear Gods word, Satan uses different ways and strategies to steal the word from you. He can go to any extent to take it from your heart and mouth. It could be a misunderstanding between husband and wife, it could be gossipping, it could be the lastest news or some government blunder. Beware. Be careful. Believe the word. Speak the word. Guard the word and you will experience the power of Gods word. Jesus is Lord.

By God's strength!

By God's strength!
- Pastor Ashish Mathews

Psalms 18:29
For by You I can run against a troop, By my God I can leap over a wall.

David, the writer of this psalm had confidence in God. He said with Gods help, I can crush an army and with Gods help, I can leap over enemy walls.

In the midst of facing severe challenges, how can someone say these things? Well, if we do what David did, then we can speak like he spoke and overcome like he overcame. David would have never said these things if he were focusing and meditating on the armies and the walls or even on his own ability. If he had made that mistake then like most people he would have magnified the armies and the walls of his life or would have magnified his inability to meet the challenges of life, which would have sucked the life out of him and would have made him completely hopeless. Most believers look at the challenges of life from the glasses of their own abilities, capabilities and capacities, which is the number one reason believers are depressed, frustrated and fearful. David focused on the Lord and meditated on his strength and ability and by doing so he found strength and courage to face the armies and the walls of his life and eventually overcame them.

Today you may be surrounded by a fierce army ready to devour you or may be you are up against a wall so huge that you see no way of overcoming it. Focus on Jesus. Focus on the word. Let the word strengthen and empower you like David so that by Gods power you can crush the enemies and leap over the walls of your life. If David can do it, so can you! Make a decision and let the world see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. Jesus is Lord.

“Christ is my ability, Christ is my sufficiency. Christ lives in me and I live in Christ. The One who is in me is GREATER than all the troops and walls of this world. I trust the Greater One, I am unstoppable and I fulfill my destiny with excellence, joy and holiness. Hallelujah!”

Let the fruit grow.

Galatians 5:22‭-‬23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

The fruit of the Spirit does not refer to the Holy Spirit. Its talking about your born again human spirit. The day you accepted Christ, the fruit was deposited in your spirit. All of the nine fruits is in you right now.

Peter says you were born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible seed, by the word of the living God which lives and abides forever. You were born of the word of God and therefore you can only be sustained by the word. Consider a mango seed and take it in your hands and look at it. The seed has in it many mango fruits. In order to see the manifestation of the fruits, you got to plant the seed first. Water it consistently and one day you will see the mangoes. As you keep feeding on the word, meditating on the word, speaking the word and doing the word, you will begin to see yourself operating in the nine fruits of the spirit. Let the fruit grow and let your light shine.

Feeding on Gods word needs to be a daily routine. Plant the seed by speaking the word. Water it by consistently doing what the word says. Believe and see yourself possessing the fruit in you and walking in it. Speak and declare that you are walking in it and living a life like Jesus himself. You will never be the same. The best is yet to come and Jesus is Lord.

Obtain a good report.

Hebrews 11:1‭-‬2
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report.

By faith, the elders obtained a good report. Chapter 11 of the book of Hebrews talks about the heroes of faith who heard Gods word, believed it, acted on it and obtained a good report.

Anyone who dares to believe Gods word and dares to do what the word says will obtain a good report. Peter obtained a good report by walking on water when He heard Jesus and stepped out of the boat. Noah obtained a good report when he prepared the ark according to Gods word and saved his entire family. You too can have a stream of good reports. However, the starting point is Gods word. The foundation of having a good report is the word of God. What is God telling you through his Word, through his Spirit and through his ministers? And if God has already spoken to you, why don't you step out and do what He says. Unless you do what He says, you cannot obtain a good report.

Gods word makes no sense to the natural mind because the natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit. It sounds foolish to the carnal mind because the carnal mind is enmity against God. Step out and obtain a good testimony. You have the faith. You have the courage. You have everything it takes to do what God says. You are not unworthy. You are redeemed, anointed and blessed by the blood of Jesus. You are a child of the Most High God. Jesus is your Lord. Step out. Your good report is on its way ! Hallelujah.

He will make a way.

Psalms 136:13‭-‬14
To Him who divided the Red Sea in two, For His mercy endures forever; And made Israel pass through the midst of it, For His mercy endures forever;

Israel was trapped between the Egyptian armies on one side and the Red sea on the other. Naturally speaking, there was no way of escape. Egyptians would kill them or the Red sea would drown them. They had to make a decision. They chose God.

God made a way where there seemed to be no way. The Israelites called on God and God divided the Red sea and a prepared a high way for them to pass through. I want you to settle this in your thinking, Nothing is impossible for God. Man may say there is no way but not God because God always has a way. We may not know the solution, but God has a million ways of fixing things. He is God Almighty. Just because we can't see a way or think of a way out doesn't mean there is no way. Jesus said I am the way, the truth and the life.

Friend, like the Israelites you may be in a tough and a difficult situation with absolutely no way of escape. Remember, your way of escape is God. Call on him and He will answer. He will deliver you and turn you situation around, just because He loves you. Don't be intimidated by the Egyptians or be threatened by the Red sea. Don't give them much thought and attention, for they will steal your peace and your joy. Look up and raise your praise because the same God who divided the Red sea is your God and He will make a way where there seems to be no way. Remember God always has a way. Always. He is our way of escape. Jesus is Lord.