FREE SALVATION; HIGH COMMITMENT

FREE SALVATION; HIGH COMMITMENT

Salvation through Jesus Christ is a free gift of God to mankind

It is only through the grace of God that a person can be saved

Salvation is being saved from sin and its damning eternal consequences

It cannot be earned by even our best efforts or perfect deeds

Yet God’s free gift of salvation to all is costly

Accepting it calls for high commitment

Commitment to deny oneself and live a Christ-centred life

It calls for denying one’s self daily to follow Jesus

It involves presenting one’s body as a living sacrifice unto God

It is a sacrificial commitment that is holy, acceptable and reasonable unto God

Accepting God’s salvation through Jesus is two-fold

It involves repenting from one’s sins and receiving Jesus as one’s only Saviour and Lord

It also involves telling others about the salvation of God through Jesus

Accepting to follow Jesus is a commitment to share the Good News

The Good News that Jesus came to this world, suffered and died for our sins

That He resurrected on the third day after His death and lives forever

That Jesus is the only source of hope and eternal life to the world and its people

Sharing the Good News is a great commitment to Jesus and His kingdom

It requires seeking the kingdom of Jesus and its righteous first in everything we do

It is a commitment to choose and champion the cause of Jesus and His kingdom

The cause of Jesus relates to soul-winning, discipleship and spiritual multiplication

Have you received God’s free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ?

Are you championing the cause of Jesus and His kingdom?

Are you sharing the Good News with the unsaved people around you?

Richard Obeng Mensah, author of Daily Wisdom

Blog: www.richard-obeng-mensah.blogspot.com                                                                       Email: richardobengmensah@gmail.com

TRIBUTE IN HONOUR OF OSEI ASIBEY BONSU @ NAASEI

TRIBUTE IN HONOUR OF OSEI ASIBEY BONSU @ NAASEI

“I ... was thirsty and you gave me drink” – Matthew 25:35a (GNB).

Greatness is a product of service; a service that flows from a person’s God-given purpose. John the Baptist was the greatest among all persons borne by women because he fulfilled his God-given purpose as a forerunner of Jesus and pointed people to Him. From the perspective of the Bible, I consider Naasei as a great servant of God who served God’s people with his ordinary gifts in an extraordinary manner.

I saw Naasei for the first time in 2013 when I joined the Gracefields Chapels’ Prayer Ministry in Kumasi, Ghana. The last time I saw him was sometime in August 2015 when I was preparing to travel to the United Kingdom to further my studies. Although we never became close friends, aside being members of the same ministry, I observed him at a distance for his commitment towards God, His church and the people of God. Personally, Naasei among others assisted me to purchase some items from the Kumasi Central Market in relation to my intended travel. He sacrificed his time and financial resources to enable me acquire the items I needed. Since reading about his sudden departure to glory on 28^th September, 2016; I have been reflecting on his service to God and His people.

Naasei had a sense of humour with which he transmitted smiles to other people’s faces. He was always punctual to prayer meetings and usually attended such meetings on time. His punctuality and respect for time, was most expressive in his attendance to first service on Sundays. I occasionally took great admiration in his hiring of taxes to enable him attend first service with family on time. By these financial sacrifices, Naasei demonstrated his respect for God by coming to His presence on time with his family. Besides, he by his conduct pointed his family to God and taught them to value and honour His presence.

Naasei always came to prayer meetings with a number of sachet water primarily not for himself, but for all members of the ministry who were in need of them. Not only did these sachet water refreshed and quenched the thirst of the thirsty, they were also silent tokens that relaxed God’s people in His presence. I was one of the many such people who benefited from this continuous kindness of Naseei. This great attitude and heart of Naasei became more meaningful to me when I began to reflect on his good works upon reading about his sudden demise from the prayer ministry’s WhatsApp platform.

My deep reflections on the good works and great virtues of Naasei have convinced me about how Jesus highly esteems him. I believe Naasei is one of the righteous people Jesus on His Second Coming will gladly invite to His right hand with the following words:

Come, you that are blessed by my Father! Come and possess the kingdom which has been prepared for you ever since the creation of the world. I was ... thirsty and you gave me a drink...I tell you, whenever you did this for one of these followers of mine, you did it for me! -  Matthew 25:35a, 40 (GNB).

Naasei, I salute you because you have been a great servant of God. Your exemplary life continues to echo the fact that greatness does not only subsist in serving humanity with our extraordinary God-given gifts, but also in serving people with our ordinary gifts in an extraordinary way. You have watered and refreshed God’s people in an extraordinary way. God will definitely water you in His bosom and in His presence in fulfilment of Proverbs 11:25. You will always be remembered for your good works, great virtues and silent legacy.

Richard Obeng Mensah, author of Daily Wisdom

                                       Blog: www.richard-obeng-mensah.blogspot.com                                        Email: richardobengmensah@gmail.com

BUT YOU DID IT FOR ME — JESUS

BUT YOU DID IT FOR ME — JESUS

“When we give to the poor, it is like lending to the LORD, and the LORD will pay you back” – Proverbs 19:17 (GNB).

It is said that “no person is too poor to give and no person is too rich to receive”— true! Everybody has a need and everybody has something to satisfy a particular need of another person, be it the rich or the poor. The need in question may be spiritual, physical, social or emotional. A rich person may need a godly or professional counsel from another person who may not be equally rich. We may also be able to feed the hungry and clothe the naked despite our limited personal and family finances. It is relatively easy to receive from others. On the other hand, we most often struggle to give to those who may need our assistance due to some negative human attitudes such as ingratitude, mismanagement of the gifts given, and abuse or mistreatment from persons we helped. Some people may also exploit the kindness of a particular giver. Nevertheless, giving becomes easier if we make Jesus the receiving object of our giving and accept the fact that “it is more blessed to give than to receive”.

Matthew 25:31-44 is one of the most revealing Bible passages on the Second Coming of Jesus and the final judgment of all things. The passage highlights the importance of meeting the needs of other persons. It particularly links true righteousness to meeting the needs of strangers, prisoners, the hungry, the thirster, the naked, and the sick. “Then the King will say to the people on his right, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father! Come and possess the kingdom which has been prepared for you ever since the creation of the world. I was hungry and you fed me, thirsty and you gave me a drink; I was a stranger and you received me in your homes, naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you took care of me, in prison and you visited me’” (vv. 34-35 (GNB)). The pronoun ‘I’, which appears three times in the foregoing scripture, refers to the ‘King’, who is Jesus. This means that Jesus appreciates and rewards every kindness we show to other people irrespective of their attitude. Therefore, do not get tired of doing good; Jesus has a reward for you in this life and in Heaven (Galatians 6:7-10). Giving is ultimately more beneficial to the giver. Therefore, do not give up on giving!

Richard Obeng Mensah, author of Daily Wisdom

                                       Blog: www.richard-obeng-mensah.blogspot.com                                      Email: richardobengmensah@gmail.com

REPENTANCE AND RESTORATION

REPENTANCE AND RESTORATION

“Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered...I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin” – Psalm 32:1, 5 (KJV).

Sin always opens a person up to loses and destruction. It hinders desirable breakthroughs, derails progress and ultimately destroys a person’s life and fortunes if it is not dealt with rightly and timely. Repentance is the only right response to sin. It means “a radical turning from sin to a new way of life oriented towards God”.[1] It involves acknowledging one’s sins, confessing them, and asking for forgiveness from God and offended persons.

Repentance usually goes hand-in-hand with forgiveness of sin, reconciliation and restoration of a covenanted blessing. Generally, repentance and restoration are, respectively, the sole responsibility of an individual or a group of persons, and God. “If they pray to me and repent from and turn away from the evil they have been doing, then I will hear them in heaven, forgive their sins, and make their land prosperous again” – 2 Chronicle 7:14(GNB). In Psalm 51:12, King David asked God to restore to him the joy of salvation after he had genuinely repented of his sins. Thus restoration only comes after a genuine repentance.

Joel 2:12-27 and Luke 15:11-24 are graphic illustrations of the solid relationship between repentance and restoration. The former and latter passages of scripture deal with the sins of a group of people and that of an individual respectively. In Joel 2:25-27, God promised to reconcile with His people and restore the years of harvest they have lost as a result of their sins. However, their genuine repentance was a conditional precedent to the said restoration (Joel 2:12-18). Similarly, in Luke 15:11-22, a younger son who rebelled against his lovely father, and consequently lost his fortunes and relationship with the father, received restoration after genuine repentance. What do you need to repent of in order to receive restoration?

Richard Obeng Mensah, author of Daily Wisdom

Blog: www.richard-obeng-mensah.blogspot.com

Email: richardobengmensah@gmail.com

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[1] William D. Mounce, Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old & New Testament Words (Zondervan 2006).

OUR DYING WORLD

OUR DYING WORLD

“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shall not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” – Genesis 2:17 (KJV).

A study by the World Health Organisation(WHO) indicates that global life expectancy at birth as at 2015 was 71.4 years, which comprised 73.8 years for females and 69.1 years for males. According to the WHO, "global average life expectancy increased by 5 years between 2000 and 2015, the fastest increase since the 1960s".[1] The foregoing statistics at first sight presupposes an increase in global average life expectancy of humanity. On the contrary, however, the global life expectancy of humanity, from the perspective of the Bible, is declining.  Humanity is dying and our world is passing at a very fast pace because of sin.

Methuselah, Adam and Seth are among the people in history who lived several years on this earth before their passing (Genesis 5). They respectively lived 969, 930 and 912 years before their passing. The life expectancy of subsequent generations after Methuselah, Adam and Seth, including ours, continue to decline because of sin. In Noah’s generation, global life expectancy was 120 years (Genesis 6:3). In that generation, like ours, God regretted for making human beings because their thoughts and imaginations were continually sinful. The wages of sin is always death (Romans 6:23). Death in this context includes both spiritual separation from God and physical death.

“Seventy years is all we have — eighty years, if we are strong...Teach us how short our life is, so that we may become wise” – Psalm 90:9-10a, 12(GNB). We can deduce from this scripture that even living up to 80 years today is considered a short life, compared to life expectancy in previous generations. Fortunately, however, we have a choice to wisely receive the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ (Romans 6:23). Everyone in this world who believes and receives Jesus Christ will not die but will have eternal life (John 3:16).

Richard Obeng Mensah, author of Daily Wisdom

Blog: www.richard-obeng-mensah.blogspot.com

Email: richardobengmensah@gmail.com

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[1] http://www.who.int/gho/mortality_burden_disease/life_tables/situation_trends_text/en/ <accessed 14 October 2016.

THE RICHES OF HIS GRACE 41

THE RICHES OF HIS GRACE 41

   A YEAR JOURNEY INTO EPHESIANS 1

‘In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace’ – Ephesians 1:7.

*WEEK 41:

The riches of His grace redeems, forgives and restores – vv. 3-7, 10-14, 17-18.

The riches of His grace empowers the saints to seek first God’s kingdom and His righteousness to enable them inherit all divine blessings – vv. 3, 7, 11-23; Matthew 6:33-34.

The riches of His grace also empowers the saints to demonstrate God’s original purposes for their lives – vv. 3-5, 7.

The riches of His grace embodies God’s redemption and restoration strategies for mankind – vv. 3-7, 11-14.

The riches of His grace is the common thread that connects Jesus, the saints and God’s blessings for mankind – vv. 3-7, 10-11, 13-14, 22-23.

The blessings of the saints which are connected to the riches of His grace are not restricted to a particular geographical location – vv. 3, 7, 10.

Having a spiritual insight into the riches of His grace is central to appreciating the blessedness of the saints and depth of God’s love – vv. 3, 7, 16-19; Colossians 1:3-21.

Richard Obeng Mensah, author of Daily Wisdom

Blog: www.richard-obeng-mensah.blogspot.com

Email: richardobengmensah@gmail.com

HOW TO HONOUR YOUR PARENTS

HOW TO HONOUR YOUR PARENTS 

“Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth” – Exodus 20:12 (KJV).

Long-life is one of the vital things almost every human being desires.  A number of people undertake various forms of body exercises and are mindful of what they eat with the aim of attaining and enjoying long-life. As useful as these exercises and good dietary measures may be, they do not always guarantee long-life. Long-life ultimately is a blessing that is only sanctioned by God. One of the ways God may bless a person with long-life is how that person honours her parents. God-given long-life is not only measured in duration of time but also in life-depth, ever shining significance and exemplary legacy. “Honor thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise. That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth” – Ephesians 6:2-3.

We honour our parents when we discover and fulfill our God-given purposes. Our successful lives honour and glorify our parents in the sight of society. Jesus honoured God when He fulfilled His assignment on earth. Although He was gruesomely crucified and taken to the grave at age 33, death could not hold Him captive. He resurrected after His burial and is alive forever. Jesus has become the only medium for receiving eternal life from God. Joseph also honoured his father, Jacob, when he became a shining star in Egypt to climax his God-given dreams. He was blessed by his father and lived 110 years before his passing.

We can also honour our parents by ministering to them our substance. “Honor the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all increase: so shall thy barns be filled with plenty...” – Proverbs 3:9-10. Joseph was a bread winner to his father and siblings in Egypt. Jacob on his death-bed prophetically blessed Joseph and his descendants profusely.

We also honour our parents when we obey their godly counsel. They seek our best interests and welfare through such guidance. Thus obeying their good counsel is to demonstrate respect for their person and wisdom. Our earthly parents are the earthly representatives of our heavenly Father. God even expects us to honour Him as we honour our parents (Malachi 1:6-9). Honouring the godly counsel of our parents makes it easier for us to submit to God’s counsel. Obeying godly counsel always leads to wise choices which are vital to long-life.

Richard Obeng Mensah, author of Daily Wisdom

                                         Blog: www.richard-obeng-mensah.blogspot.com                                       Email: richardobengmensah@gmail.com

THE RICHES OF HIS GRACE 40

THE RICHES OF HIS GRACE 40

   A YEAR JOURNEY INTO EPHESIANS 1

‘In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace’ – Ephesians 1:7.

*WEEK 40:

The presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of a saint is a proof of the receipt of the riches of His grace in the life of that saint – vv. 3, 7, 13-23.

Spiritual illumination is enhanced upon redemption and receipt of the riches of His grace – vv. 7, 15-22.

Although the riches of His grace seals saints with the Holy Spirit, there is a need for prayer for His total manifestation in their lives – vv. 7, 13-21.

The provisions of the riches of His grace include empowerment for spiritual maturity – vv. 7, 13-23.

The riches of His grace empowers the saints to conform to the holiness of God– vv. 4-7, 13, 15-21.

The riches of His grace require the saints to exhibit God’s character traits of holiness and love – vv. 4-7, 13, 15, 19-20.

The riches of His grace is Christ-centred and causes a saint to live, move and have that saint’s being in Him – vv. 7, 11, 13; Acts 17:28.

Richard Obeng Mensah, author of Daily Wisdom

Blog: www.richard-obeng-mensah.blogspot.com

Email: richardobengmensah@gmail.com