What have you based the foundation of your faith on?

Galatians 1, Apostle Paul asked this question: What is the foundation of your faith based on?

Paul's letter to these believers had stemmed from the controversy the church had concerning sticking to Jewish traditions by the Gentiles and making this judgment a proof of their belief in Jesus. And so, to Paul, who encountered Jesus in his journey to Damascus, it wasn't just a controversy of obeying Jewish traditions; it was a question of the reality of our relationship with Jesus, going beyond works to embracing grace through total faith in Christ and His saving power.

Christ has saved you. Do you believe it? Or maybe sometimes you just feel that once there are no religious theatrics, your liberty might not be fully enacted, the idea of a drama whenever something victorious wants to happen. But what if, just like Paul, we would recline after the encounter and not just seek the stage and spotlight, but just a journey with the One who truly matters?

A journey of reclining, which births a desire to know the One who has revealed Himself to us.

The reality of God's sovereignty is in the fact that, theologically speaking, God doesn't need man to accomplish His greatness. But man is needed in God's agenda because God wills it so.

But how can we align with this agenda when we ourselves have not chosen to seek the One who has shown us His way?

These were the apostle's exact words:

Galatians 1 (ESV)

15 But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace,

16 was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone;

17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.

Maybe we don't really need the ring lights on when we profess our faith to the One whose revelation brought us restoration and deliverance. All we need at this very moment is a faith checker.

With it, we are able to know Him, see Him, hear Him, and abide in His will.

Jesus should first be recorded in our hearts before we choose to record the journey.

Stay Revived!

Justification is for all

This word sounds more African, no matter how I look at it, because we use it so often: “God is not partial.” God does not have favourites. We are all His children.

The Apostle Paul said in Galatians 2:16–17 Why he was trying to address the Galatian church on Justification he said:

“Know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.”»

Paul goes further to address the question of whether seeking justification through Christ somehow promotes sin. His answer is clear: “Absolutely not!”

This message is for everyone, not for a specific group of people. It is your faith in Jesus Christ that justifies you, not your ability to fulfil the law.

You must first believe in Christ Jesus and in the work He accomplished through His death and resurrection. To say that we are justified by God is not to say that God gave the law to some people and Christ to others. But that he sent His Son for the redemption of the world—both Jew and Greek, both white and Black.

So our justification is through faith in His Son. Jesus said, “No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Therefore, we must first come in faith, believing that He is able to cleanse us and by him we are declared righteous.

He has called us sons and daughters of God. He did not create one group to be sons while another remains slaves. Scripture says that to those who believe in Him, He has given the right  to become children of God.

By the works of the law, no one is justified.

Yet today, we still have people who believe that certain kinds of people should not be seen in the church that it is not permited by God the crippled, the lame, the blind, or the deaf.

But where should they go?

Did Christ not die for them too?

The segregation that exists within the church atmosphere must come to an end.We desire to see miracles but do not want those that ate in need of the miracle to come to the church?

For all,

We must become accountable for our neighbours by the way we live our lives, people should be able to see Jesus and desire to know Him.

Faith is all you need to begin this journey with Christ.

So today, if you are just coming across this post, I want you to know something: the trauma you have experienced does not mean that God is partial. The death of a loved one, the disappointment, the setback, and the things you do not understand are not evidence that God does not love you.

God desires that you come to Him through His Son and experience His love. He wants you to know that His love for you will never fade away and whoever you are, whatever you might be doing and wherever you are He sees and knows you by name.

All you have to do is come a little closer and say:

“Help me, Lord. I cannot help myself. I have tried severally to help myself but I can't. 

Help me.”

Sometimes, that simple cry is where the journey begins.

Stay Revived!

What's Your Definition of Mercy?

Galatians 1:15

GNT: “But God in his grace chose me even before I was born, and called me to serve him.”

NLT: “But then something happened! For it pleased God in his kindness to choose me and call me, even before I was born! What undeserved mercy!”

What if God’s mercy was you not getting that job?

What if God’s mercy was you not having that child?

What if God’s mercy was you not getting that husband?

Maybe God’s mercy—and our own definition of mercy—might sometimes sting.

As I study the book of Galatians, I have come to see God as a sovereign Father and us as His children, receiving from Him the portion of mercy He knows is right for us.

Whenever I pray, “Lord, have mercy,” it often comes at the point when I feel I have exhausted every prayer request in my bank. Then all I can say is, “God, let Your mercy prevail.”

As a teacher and a parent, whenever I sit down to give instructions or make decisions for my students, there are moments when they do not understand why I am introducing this now or asking them to do that. Their confusion and frustration can heighten when the instructions I give do not seem to align with their desires.

But they do not always see what I see.

And perhaps that is what the Holy Spirit is reminding me today:

God’s mercy and our definition of mercy might be two different things.

We may be asking God for mercy according to what we think will make everything better, while God, in His wisdom, is giving us the very thing He knows we need.

“I have got just what you need.”

It might hurt.

It might not make sense.

It might even look like the opposite of mercy.

But God knows exactly what we need.

That is why He is called the Balm of Gilead.

If my heart is broken by my journey, God is not careless with my wounds. Like a skilled heart doctor—or even an orthopedic surgeon—He knows the exact place that needs to be touched, treated, and healed.

Sometimes, the place He touches may hurt before it heals.

Maybe, once again, we need to pray the prayer of mercy—not according to our own standard of mercy, but according to God’s standard.

“Lord, have mercy.”

And then trust Him enough to let His mercy look like whatever He knows I truly need.If you want, I can also make this more powerful and devotional for a book/Instagram reflection, while keeping your original voice.

Stay Revived!

Test the Spirit

A long time ago, someone called me asking for money. So I asked why she suddenly needed  the money urgently. She said she had been asked to buy a coffin and a cow and bring them to the church because the spirit of death was hovering.

Considering this kind of situation, the Apostle John admonishes us to test the spirits.

It is no longer news that African traditional practices are being introduced into the church. We see churches using calabashes and fire, kneeling down and making incantations, which they claim to be speaking in tongues, thereby polluting the atmosphere of the church environment. But the Apostle John said, “Test the spirits.”

1 John 4:1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

We also see the Apostle Paul admonishing us about Jesus giving Himself for the present evil age, but he did not stop there. He also admonished us concerning how the gospel should be preached. It should not be contrary to what we have already received.

Scripture says in Galatians 1 (ESV):

8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.

9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.»

This gospel that we see creeping into the church atmosphere— is it the gospel that we received? Is it the gospel that the Apostles died for?

The gospel of bringing burning calabashes into a church, dancing with fire in our hands, and mind-bending practices that condition people to do things that are not normal to them—is this the gospel, the Fathers hustled to send to us?

Today, I want to remind you: test every prophecy. Test every word. Test the spirit. Be sure that you are not practising African traditional religion in the name of the prophetic.

No message or act carried out in the name of God should contradict Scripture. Scripture is the unified Word of God. These are holy words inspired by God and written by men.

So, test. Check every word. Examine everything through the lens of the Spirit and the physical evidence before you. Bear in mind that Scripture does not contradict itself.

Before acting on a prophetic word or admonition you receive, test it with the Word of God.

Stay Revived!