5 hours Ago By Guardian Nigeria
Hebrews 11:13-16: “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 14: For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. 15: And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity toreturned.
16: But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for He hath prepared for them a city.” Heaven is a city prepared for prepared people. It is the abode of the Supreme and Almighty God, the creator of all things.
It is a beautiful city, where the streets are made of gold and mansions are prepared for the saints who will wed with our Lord Jesus Christ at the last supper. God has reserved heaven for all the people who will serve him here on earth with the determination and focus to make heaven at the end of their life. The people who will make heaven must see themselves as strangers on earth and heaven as their eternal abode.
The people who ran this race in the Bible days were determined to make heaven, as a result were mindful of their actions and inactions, as they avoided in its entirety anything that is capable of derailing them from reaching that prepared city —heaven where eternal rest will take place. As Christians, we are all strangerson earth and must be determined and focused to make heaven; the number of years we live on earth notwithstanding. We have heard the gospel and have the opportunity to make good use of the message of salvation we have received.
It is rather unfortunate that some people lived and died prior to the advent of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though they might have lived long, all their years on earth were wasted years because they lived without Jesus Christ. Ours should not be like that because we have heard the gospel.
It will cost us something, but the things in stock for us in heaven are worth the sacrifice made in achieving them. Mark 10:28-30 says: “Then Peter began to say unto him, lo, we have left all, and have followed thee. 29: And Jesus answered and said, verily I say unto you, there is no man that hath left house or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my sake, and the gospel’s sake.
30: But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.”The people who ran the heavenly race ahead of us knew the value of their expectations, hence they did not mind forsaking all they had, including family relationship at the altar of heaven. They were determined and focused.
The sacrifice no matter the cost, is not in vain because it will be rewarded double fold as one makes heaven. In the course of the race, however, there must be persecutions, which one has to bear to overcome. We should not, therefore, hold to earthly possessions as if our lives are tied to them.
We must leave this world either by rapture or death. Whichever manner it happens, we should know that we have a destination either heaven or hell fire. We should be determined to make it to heaven, which is a better choice and the reason our Lord Jesus Christ came and died for us.
In Romans 8:35-39, the Bible says:“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?36: As it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the daylong; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.37: Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.38: For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come.
39: Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Heaven must cost us something, but we must be focused and determined to suffer and overcome them all. We are prisoners for Jesus Christ; having embraced Him nothing will bring about retreat; it is forward ever,and backward never until we see Him.
We are in the church, firstly, to give God pleasure(Rev.4v11); secondly, to make heaven at the end of this life. In the course of serving God, blessings will be ours and miracles will come,but we should not allow them to be a source of distraction.
Truly God will give blessings to keep the body and soul together, but they are not and will never be the ultimate focus, for coming to Jesus Christ and being in the church.1Corinthians 9:25-27 says: “And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible.
26: I, therefore, so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air. 27: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”As long as we are still in this world, series of temptations must stand on our way to heaven, but we have to keep our body under perfect control.
It is not everything that comes our way that should be tolerated or taken. Jesus Christ should be our standard and mirror; anything outside God’s will should not be considered. We ensure we are not subjected to being a castaway at the end.
The term castaway was translated from Greek word, ‘adokimos’ meaning disapproved. The heavenly race, therefore, should be run according to the will and standard of God. As the first step in this race, we must be born again.
The Bible says in John 3:1-5:“There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. 3: Jesus answered and said unto him, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
4: Nicodemus saith unto him, how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? 5: Jesus answered, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.”One must be born again by receiving our Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. This is why John 1:12 says: “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.
” Only the sons and daughters of God are going to make heaven; these are the people that have received Him, believed He is the only son of God who died for our sins on the Cross of Calvary and have accepted Him as their Lord and Saviour. It is only through Him that any man can make heaven. John14:6 says: “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
” There is no other way through which we can access heaven except through Jesus Christ. Any man desirous of meeting with his maker in heaven must accept Jesus Christ, serve Him, determine to live and die with Him,then you are sure of making heaven either through rapture or death in Jesus’ name. Testimony Of The Lord’s Doing God’s Mercy Is Sufficient My name is Sister Ijeoma Ekeh; I am from Port Harcourt.
I joined The Lord’s Chosen Charismatic Revival Ministries in 2003. I am here to return all the glory to the God of Chosen, for his faithfulness in my life. He confirmed the statement of our General Overseer, he made in January 2024 concerning my life.
God has been faithful in our business. We entered into covenant with him, that we must serve him in holiness and righteousness. We have a running contract in a particular state, which has been on for years.
Our staff were there and God has been helping us. In 2020, a particular man, a commissioner in that state wrote and stopped the contract and my engineers were all retrenched. I went back to God in prayers and eventually registered another company, focusing in another area of business and so, in January, 2024, while watching the programme: “The Change Of Garment,” the General Overseer said: “You that seated there, watching me, I see you becoming a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of a company and you are going to employ many people and you will seat on the seat of honour, issuing out orders.
” As soon as I heard that statement, I claimed it and began to dramatise it. I started telling people to start calling me CEO and obviously they started calling me CEO. Truly to God’s word, He honoured the words of our General Overseer.
Those words spoken in January came to pass in my life. After the crusade in February titled: “From Sorrow To Joy,” by the grace of God, I sowed a seed to that effect, and on March 23, God of Chosen in His infinite mercy opened the company, Showers Electronics and Electricals Limited. Today, God has given us the grace to be in that business of electronics, solar batteries and inverters in Port Harcourt.
To Him be all the glory! Moreover, I don’t know what happened, I find it difficult to give testimony, but in this last programme, a brother testified that he sowed a seed of N6,000 and God gave him N3m. I was convicted in my heart because God has blessed me more, but l have not testified. That made me to shelve my trip scheduled for today, in other to testify the goodness of God in my life.
Since we started the new company, the God of Chosen, gave us a business and after doing that business, we made a profit of N20m. I promised God that l will not pay the normal tithe of 10 per cent, but 20 per cent and God has been helping me to keep to my promise. There was a time I sowed seed of N1m and God gave me a business, which when I concluded it, made profit of N10m.
He will show mercy to whom he will show mercy, I want you to believe this God of Chosen, no matter what you are passing through, no matter the sorrow, I want to tell you, God says: “He will show mercy on whom He will to show mercy...
.” He has really shown me mercy. To crown it all, few days ago, I went and bought a car for myself.
This is the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. Praise the Lord!.
