HOW AND WHEN TO BE PROTECTED FROM ENEMIES

HOW AND WHEN TO BE PROTECTED FROM ENEMIES

Trust in the LORD, and do good… - Psalm 37:3(NKJV)

Phocas was a fourth century Christian who lived outside the city of Sinope. He was highly hospitable to travelers. Many travelers enjoyed refreshment and baby rest in his garden. Phocas always took the opportunity to share his faith with all such travelers. Despite his great generosity, one emperor Diocletian ordered that all Christians should be killed. And Phocas of Sinope was high on the list some magistrates issued. Interestingly, when the officers of the magistrates arrived at Sinope, hot and weary from a long day’s journey, they naturally enjoyed the refreshment in Phocas’s garden. Shockingly, when Phocas asked them of their mission he was told they had been ordered to execute a local Christian called Phocas. “I know him well,” Phocas said. “He doesn’t live far away at all. Why don’t you…rest for the night, and I will direct you to him in the morning.” During the night, Phocas dug a hole, in the garden he loved, large enough to take a human body. At dawn he woke the Roman soldiers and told them he was Phocas. Bishop Asterious, narrator of this story, recounts the astonishment of the men and their insistence that they could not put to death a man who had been so kind to them.

What was Phocas’s response? “Oh, please do,” he said. “I am a Christian, death is not important to me; whereas if you do not fulfill your orders you will get into trouble. Think of yourselves. You must do your duty. It will not alter my love and affection for you.” So Phocas was accordingly executed, and his body was gently lowered into the garden grave. Indeed “[a] love that had given so much to all passing travelers had no more to give; it had given all” – Ian Barclay in his Living and Enjoying the Fruit of the Spirit. Phocas’s story illustrates real love, the ability to love enemies, the unlovely and the unattractive. He aptly followed Jesus’s example.

There are many lessons to draw from the examples of Jesus and Phocas. Firstly, we need not fret because of our enemies. We should rather take their presence as an opportunity to do good to them. Secondly, we should always put our trust in God and dare the consequences. We must also commit our lives and ways to the God. But we should leave the results to Him. God always acts justly in everything; so even if He does not ‘deliver’ us, it will ultimately work out for our good. Although Phocas was eventually executed, he is no doubt an epitome of real love. Thirdly, always endeavour to depend on God entirely and keep His way (commandments) – love!

Do we have to always behave in the way Phocas did? Certainly not! “Love does not delight in evil.” This means that it does not revel when others grovel. Love thus does not glee in injustice.  James Riddle wrote, “Even though we are to love our enemies, sometimes we need to protect ourselves from them. That means that there are times when we should pray that they are even taken out of our way. That goes for enemies in this natural world as well as our spiritual world.” In addition, we should always endeavour to bring wicked people to justice. Truly, there are times when extreme measures are to be taken for the greater good. For instance, “if an enemy threatens your family, you must protect your family first.” And protect the masses as well. Love is wise.

Richard Obeng Mensah, author of Persecutions are Promotions. Email: richardobengmensah@gmail.com. Blog: www.richard-obeng-mensah.blogspot.com

CELEBRATING GOD’S HOLINESS AND JUSTICE ON MY 28TH BIRTHDAY

 

CELEBRATING GOD’S HOLINESS AND JUSTICE

ON MY 28TH BIRTHDAY

'He will guard the feet of his faithful servants, but the wicked will be silenced in the place of darkness. "It is not by strength that one prevails; those who oppose the LORD will be broken. The Most High will thunder from heaven; the LORD will judge the ends of the earth. "He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed" - 1 Samuel 2:9-10(NIV).

On this 16^th day of February, 2013 I enter into the 28th year of my God-given years in this life. Indeed, God has not added another year to my life on this earth but had rather caused me to enter and enjoy one of many years He had already granted me. I do not know the exact number of years He had given me but I am certain that I will fulfill the number of my days to His absolute satisfaction.

Father, thank You, thank You, and many many thanks to You! I celebrate Your goodness towards me. Accept my sacrifices of thanksgiving.

Father, among the gods there is none but You! You alone are worthy of power, honour and glory.

LORD God Almighty You are par excellence and All-in-All. I celebrate Your greatness! Father, accept my sacrifices of praise.

Holy, holy, holy is the LORD God Almighty, holiness is His very character; the fibre of His being. You are perfect in character and in Your mighty works. Father, accept my worship.

God has taught me three (3) great lessons in these 28 years. I have learnt that God is always faithful, holy and just! As the faithful God, He always honours His Word even in my unfaithfulness. As the epitome of holiness, God is perfect in all His ways. He therefore commands me to be holy in all my ways, by His grace. I have also learnt that God always acts justly in everything. Thus justice is the ‘bottom-line’ of all the actions and inactions of God. These great lessons have indeed shaped my relationship with God and mankind in general.

I am persuaded that today marks the end of many things in my life – the many betrayals, ‘defeats’, disappointments, and of course persecutions of all forms. I thank my many enemies, false friends and lovers, and persecutors. You have helped me to absolutely depend on God always and for everything. Father, bless them and all my destiny helpers by Your standard of justice. More importantly, today also marks the beginning of the total fulfillment of God’s perfect plan for my precious life. From henceforth, laughter and joy in the Holy Spirit shall be my hallmark. God shall perfect me in all my ways. I shall fulfil my destiny in its entirety! I AM UNSTOPPABLE!

“Beauty for ashes, Life evermore, Peace beyond measure, Jesus won it all…”

Richard Obeng Mensah, a son of God.

WHY YOU MUST LOVE YOUR ENEMIES

WHY YOU MUST LOVE YOUR ENEMIES

That you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust – Matthew 5:45 (NKJV).

Real Christianity is seemingly full of paradoxes. Christianity for instance forbids a) swearing of oath to state the truth of a matter and b) resisting an evil person. The reasons being that swearing an oath does not guarantee honesty, and that it is the Devil that should be resisted, never an evil person! Even more paradoxical (obviously to the standards of this fallen world) is this statement: “…love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you”. Probably, these apparent paradoxes and others in Christianity have fueled the deception that the Bible is contradictory and that Christianity is a portrait of absurdity. This deception is very unfortunate! Nevertheless, these so-called paradoxes are the hallmarks of every real Christian, and they test our maturity in Christ.

Love is always expressive. To love your enemies and persecutors therefore demands that you bless and do good to them. These include being kind-hearted towards them, lending them money upon their request, satisfying their hunger by feeding them, quenching their thirst; if they are within our power. We are thus to love our enemies and persecutors as ourselves. This principle determines God’s attitudes towards us. The truth is that God mostly deals with us according to the way we deal with our neighbours, enemies and persecutors inclusive. “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” – Mathew 6:14-15. God acts justly in all things and always! He punishes evil and rewards righteousness. Whatever we do for or against our enemies and persecutors automatically attracts the justice of God.

Real Christians pray for their persecutors. Praying for (not against) your enemies and persecutors evince that you have forgiven them. We are to pray for their salvation. Christ died for us while we were still sinners. God thus expects us to demonstrate His love towards sinners so that they will be drawn to Him. It has been said that nothing can withstand sustained love (prayer). True! Love is thus your greatest weapon to winning your enemies and persecutors to Christ. For Augustine, “One loving spirit sets another on fire”.  Proverbs 25:21-22 better illustrates this truth: “If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat; And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink; For so you will heap coals of fire on his head, And the LORD will reward you”. The clause “heap coals of fire on his head” denotes surprising your enemy with goodness, a generosity that springs from a kind heart. God greatly rewards any person who responds to her enemies with goodness.

It takes supernatural strength to love your enemies and persecutors. Supernatural love causes us to love our neighbours whoever they are, and in defending their lives and property no matter how opposed they are to the Christian faith. Ian Barclay wrote, “Supernatural love has…the ability to love the unlovely and the unattractive. We see this quality in the way God loved us, because he loved us while we were still his enemies, while we were physically, spiritually, and morally unattractive to him”.  Supernatural love is of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, if you find it difficult to love your enemies and persecutors then you have probably not yielded to Him fully. Repent!

Richard Obeng Mensah, author of Persecutions are Promotions. Email: richardobengmensah@gmail.com. Blog: www.richard-obeng-mensah.blogspot.com

HOW TO KNOW AND UNDERSTAND GOD

HOW TO KNOW AND UNDERSTAND GOD

For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God – 1Corinthians 2:11(NKJV).

One of the leverages in this age is the use of telephone or cell phones. Cell phones, likewise computers, are undeniably great business assets. Cell phones are communication boosters. Their functions, aside from communication, are numerous. They for instance make our participation on the arena of the social media effortless and smooth-sailing. However, one’s ability to make the most use of a particular cell phone or computer depends on that person’s knowledge and understanding of how that device works. For example, any real user of these devices knows that without a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card, memory card, rechargeable card or modem, and hard disk their function is very limited. Interestingly, these essential parts which constitute the Operating System (OS) of these devices are not easily seen because they are mostly hidden. They are thus the spirits behind the workings of cell phones and computers, as the case may be. These spirits help us to know and understand how these devices work.

Ignorance of anything is both costly and dangerous. It has been said that what you do not know can kill you, except that it is always better not to know of something unpleasant. I, by my experience, agree with these statements in totality. Knowledge cures ignorance. But knowledge without understanding is a frustrated ignorance. Show me a knowledgeable person who is devoid of understanding and I will show you a superficial person. And superficiality is the fuel of embarrassment and frustration. On the other hand knowledge tied with understanding is a notable miracle worker. Understanding makes wisdom beneficial and profitable.

Knowledge and understanding are the greatest assets on earth. They are superior to wisdom, strength and riches. God resists the proud but He takes pride in a certain kind of proud people. God is greatly pleased with people who are proud in the fact that they know and understand Him. God took pride in Job, Moses, David and Jesus because they knew and understood Him. They knew and understood the acts and ways of God. And God was not ashamed to walk with them.

The greatest discovery on earth is that a person can know and understand God. “But let him who glories (boasts) glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment and righteousness in the earth” – Jeremiah 9:24. This means that the acts and ways of God are always influenced by real love and real justice (judgment and righteousness). You cannot know and understand God by His acts of deliverance, healing, redemption, protection or provisions (blessings). God is love and always acts justly! For Selwyn Hughes, the ‘bottom line’ as regards God is His justice. He wrote, “Whatever God does, He does because it is right. Not that it is right because God does it, but that God does it because it is right. There is a world of difference between those two things”. This means that God has a just cause for everything he does. However, you can ONLY know and understand the love and justice of God by the leadings and guidance the Holy Spirit –1Corinthians 2:6-16. Receive Him then.

Richard Obeng Mensah, author of Persecutions are Promotions. Email: richardobengmensah@gmail.com. Blog: www.richard-obeng-mensah.blogspot.com

THE LIMITS OF OBEDIENCE AND SUBMISSION

THE LIMITS OF OBEDIENCE AND SUBMISSION

The mere mentioning of the nouns obedience and submission naturally presupposes the existence of some instructions, rules and regulations of which compliance is needed. However, obedience is more related to the specific demands of a particular instruction or law (rules and regulations). Obedience is thus related to the doing of or the refraining from a particular act or conduct. Submission on the other hand has more to do with yielding to a particular sanction (suffering) meted out for disobeying a particular instruction or law. Thus while obedience demands conformity; submission demands surrendering. Submission then concerns disobedience conduct and the surrendering to its consequences. There is therefore some truth in a legal presumption that states that every person intends the natural consequences of that person’s action. Simply put, every person must bear in mind the consequences of any actions that person desires to execute, and must be ready to face those consequences if those actions are initiated or executed.

It is a great virtue to be an obedient or submissive person or both. Children are required to particularly obey their parents and all persons are also required to submit to authorities. However, these requirements have their exceptions. The exceptions have more to do with the nature of the person or authority in question, and the nature of instruction or law emanating from that person or authority. For instance, while both our obedience and submission to God must be absolute in all matters; only our submission to human authorities must be absolute. This means that obedience to human authorities is a qualified one (relative). In other words, certain instructions or laws from human authorities can and should be disobeyed but the disobedient person must submit to any sanction that follows that person’s disobedience conduct.

Therefore, the need to obey every instruction from authorities or laws in a country has its limits. John Macathur wrote in his book Found God’s Will as follows: ‘You may ask, “Am I supposed to obey every law in the land?” Yes, every law. If you do not agree with them, that doesn’t change the matter. Obey them…But what if they tell you to do something that violates God’s clear revelation and command? Then do not obey them! That is the only exception”. This means that any persons can and indeed should disobey any instruction or law that either forbids them to do what they have been told by direct command from God or commands them to do what God forbids. God’s Word is therefore superior to any instruction or law. Therefore, any human instructions or laws that are inconsistent with the Word of God must be disobeyed.

However, we must yield to any sanction that is connected to disobeying any human instructions or laws. The Three Hebrew boys disobeyed King Nebuchadnezzar when he decreed that all persons in his kingdom should fall down and worship a gold image he had set up. The gold image that was set up denotes anything that exalts itself against the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus (God’s Word). Nevertheless, the Three Hebrew boys yielded to the king’s command to cast them into a burning furnace, but God delivered them. God delivered them because they honoured authority despite their rightful disobedience. We can thus conclude that obedience to human authorities is relative but submission to them is absolute! This is so because we must always honour authority, be it divine or human. Submission always breeds blessings.

Richard Obeng Mensah, author of Persecutions are Promotions. Email: richardobengmensah@gmail.com. Blog: www.richard-obeng-mensah.blogspot.com

HOW TO BE FULL OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

HOW TO BE FULL OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth – John 1:14 (NIV).

                                                                   

Nana Kwame had a strong desire to become a lawyer when he was at the elementary school. His mother detested this idea because of her perceptions about lawyers but the father secretly admired it. Kwame took interest in reading wide and always when he got to the senior high school. Besides, he genuinely developed interest in listening to news daily and reading the dailies and many titles on current affairs. He purposely studied General Art courses at the high school and obtained excellent grades in Economics, Government, Geography, Social Studies and English Language. He subsequently, obtained a degree in Law and undertook his Professional Law course which qualified him to be called to the Bar. Thus Kwame realized his childhood dream of becoming a lawyer because he acquired legal knowledge and skill.  However, for Kwame to excel in the legal field, he has to constantly feed on relevant legal knowledge and sharpen his skills by using his knowledge to solve legal problems. There lies his significance!

The content of a thing determines its nature and purpose. Lawyers and Medical Doctors are, respectively, known as persons who can better appreciate legal and medical issues by virtue of their legal and medical contents. Similarly, the Clergy are perceived as people who can better relate to spiritual issues because of their biblical contents. We can therefore conclude that the knowledge of a person usually determines that person’s functions in life. The more knowledgeable a person in a particular field; the more influence that person is likely to wax in that field. Accordingly, knowledgeable persons are influential but the ignoramus is detested.

Knowledge makes a person. It is the most important asset of any persons who possess it.  Knowledge is the accumulation of words related to a particular discipline or subject. Robert T. Kiyosaki in his Retire Young Retire Rich opined, “…In my opinion, words are the most powerful tools available to human beings”. Sharing some lessons he had drawn from his rich father, Robert explains that words are tools for the brain and that any person who uses poor words has poor ideas and a poor life. Jesus authored this great truth when he told his disciples that “…The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” – John 6:63b (NKJV). The words of Jesus were his knowledge about God and His kingdom. His entire life was pivoted on God’s Word.

The words of Jesus are spirit and life. This means that there is a spirit behind the words of Jesus and that spirit gives life. The Holy Spirit is the spirit behind God’s Word. He is the executor or the implementing agent of the Word of God. The Holy Spirit thus gives life (effect) to God’s Word. He is the active force and power behind God’s Word. To be full of the Holy Spirit demands that you are filled with God’s Word completely. Therefore,  “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord” – Colossians 3:16(NKJV).

Richard Obeng Mensah, author of right your writing. Email: richardobengmensah@gmail.com. Blog: www.richard-obeng-mensah.blogspot.com

HOW TO PLEASE GOD

HOW TO PLEASE GOD

When a man’s way please the LORD, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him – Proverbs 16:7 (NKJV).

One of the amazing things on earth is the way of a man with a young unmarried woman (virgin). It is wonderful because this man will always do his best to please this woman in all his ways. If the man is a genuine person, he will seek to know more and more about the woman. Besides, he will do his best to please the woman in his communication with her, appearance and attitude towards issues of life. However, for them to have a fruitful relationship and marriage life, both the man and the woman must have one sense of purpose and seek the best interest of each other.

Every real husband knows how to please his wife to win her favour, especially when night approaches. Likewise, there are certain things that please God and win His favour. To win God’s favour constantly, Jesus sought to “do always those things that please Him” – John 8:29. Jesus thus eschewed sin and resolved to always live a holy life. Besides, he absolutely depended on God in all situations by seeking His opinion. He neither bothered about people’s testimony about him nor committed himself to them because he knew human beings. Jesus also set his heart to accomplish his divine mandate, no matter the costs. No wonder he is the greatest man in history.

“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” – Hebrews 11:6. God’s greatest problem with mankind is unbelief! True. It deeply hurts God when a person does not accept His personality, character and Word (authority and power). God is most pleased when we meaningfully believe that He is the way, the truth and the life, and that without Him we can do nothing! The reason why so many people are struggling in life is because they are trying to attain certain results without depending on God. They thus use worldly ways to achieve a particular satisfaction. But real satisfaction can only be found in things that are based on God’s Word.

Pleasing God requires the need to seek Him diligently. “Diligence”, it is said, is “(a person’s) precious possession”. Diligence is more than hard-work. It has rightly been defined as the persistent and hard-working effort in doing something. God rewards diligence seeking, not hard-work. It is therefore no surprising that many hard-working people have nothing to show. Such people usually doubt God’s faithfulness to His Word because they think they have done their best. But consistency (faithfulness) is more important to God than doing your best. Our faithfulness is usually tested in periods of uncertainty; bareness, destituteness or unfruitfulness; undue delay; inadequacy or insufficiency, fruitfulness or sufficiency; intense contentions, afflictions, persecutions, opposition or reproaches; trials of mocking and scourging; being in chains or imprisonment; and torments and wickedness. Are you passing your faithfulness test(s)?

Richard Obeng Mensah, author of If You Think of Your Opposition You Lose Your Position. Email: richardobengmensah@gmail.com. Blog: www.richard-obeng-mensah.blogspot.com