REVIVE WITH JJ

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 birt...

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 a...

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...

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 gos...

Oftentimes, we tend to look for a way out of every challenge that comes our way. We feel that it is not God’s desire for us to go through pain, so we tell ourselves, “Perhaps this is not God. God would not allow me to go through this, He is not that wicked, but who are we to judge God.” But let us not forget God’s faithful act in the life of Job. God remained faithful and kind to Job even in his suffering. Sometimes, the very things we desperately want to escape are the things God is using to produce something valuable in us. Romans 5:3–5 says: «“Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”» The goal of suffering is not simply the pain itself. Suffering produces perseverance, perseverance produces character, and character produces ...

To release is to set free, to let go, and to allow something to be made known or brought into the open. This word came to my mind as I studied the Scriptures in Leviticus 25:28: “But if he is unable to redeem it, it shall remain in the buyer’s possession until the Year of Jubilee, when it shall be released and he may return to it.” As I studied this Scripture, I began to see the significance of release. In the season that is shortly to come upon us, for many of us, the Lord will be releasing that which has been withheld from us—both legally as a result of error on our part and illegally. Things that were forcefully taken from us will be restored, and the Lord is calling us to take a posture of preparedness through communion with Him and genuine relationship with our neighbours. For many of us, there will be a release from strongholds in the mind, workplaces, families, and environments—strongholds that have limited our knowledge of who God is and prevented us from walking in...

Not attachment to the things of this world. And if there must be an attachment, let it be to the things of God. 1 Corinthians 7:29–30 (NLT) “Now let me say this, dear brothers and sisters: The time that remains is very short, so husbands should not let marriage be their major concern. Happiness or sadness or wealth should not keep anyone from doing God’s work.” Have you ever wanted a miracle from the Lord so deeply, only for Him to give you a prophetic word concerning it, and then you find yourself in a waiting season? Months turn into years, weeks turn into months, and yet you still haven’t seen the word manifest. Along the way, a certain kind of doubt can begin to creep in. It may not necessarily be unbelief in God, but it can become something that keeps us from serving Him. It becomes the reason we begin to stray, to look elsewhere, to seek another truth, or even to desire something other than what God has spoken. Yes, that can be part of the enemy’s strategy. As long as he can keep...

  I once had a silver steel watch that my Sister got for me. From the very day she gave it to me, I noticed that the timing wasn’t working properly. It would stop repeatedly. I returned it to her and she had it worked on. It started working again, but after some time, it stopped once more. Yet, I continued wearing the watch. I would often tell myself that I would stop using it, but I didn’t. At that time, I didn’t have another watch to replace it with, so I simply continued wearing the one I had, even though I knew it wasn’t keeping time correctly. After wearing that watch for a long time, I had a dream. In the dream, I was in my room getting dressed. As I looked at myself, I noticed that I was wearing that same silver watch on my wrist. I looked at it and wondered, “Why isn’t this watch working?” Then I noticed another watch. It was gold—beautiful, shiny, and working perfectly. As I tried to put the gold watch on my wrist, it immediately seemed to glue itself to my hand. Then I fe...

Deuteronomy 25:17-19 Remember what the Amalekites did to you along the way when you came out of Egypt. When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and attacked all who were lagging behind; they had no fear of God. When the LORD your God gives you rest from all the enemies around you in the land he is giving you to possess as an inheritance, you shall blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget! As I study the journey of Moses and the Israelites, I have come to see that just because God had promised them Canaan did not mean that Canaan was uninhabited by people or that they would simply arrive with their belongings and begin to live there. There were battles they had to fight and attacks they had to counter in order to continue their journey to Canaan and, eventually, remain in Canaan. One of these battles was their fight with the Amalekites. The Amalekites launched a surprise attack on the Israelites because they knew the Israelites were ...