"Is anyone among you afflicted? Let him PRAY..." - James 5:13

PRAYER INTENTIONS

Ask for the grace for prayer. The grace to be steadfast in prayer and to grow in spiritual matters.

Eternal God, in whom mercy is endless and the treasure of compassion inexhaustible, look kindly upon us and increase your mercy in us, that in difficult moments we might not despair nor become despondent, but with great confidence submit ourselves to your holy will which is love and mercy itself. Amen

We started discussing the three ways that evil has access to every human. We just finished talking about the first way which is the way of COVENANTS. Today let's focus on the second way- which is the way of DISOBEDIENCE

Ezekiel 18:20 says "the soul that sinneth shall die " - I know that at this point some of you will pull the GRACE CARD/ that Jesus died on the cross and paid the price, therefore you can afford to disobey and leave in Sin or?

You keep at that, you have no idea the doors you are opening. Disobedience is a force in the spirit just like obedience is a force too. Obedience is a force it can make things happen- disobedience is also a force it can open doors of negativity.

Like I said earlier, when we talk about the effects of disobedience some people quickly jump in and say oh don’t worry Christ has paid the price already. Let me give you scriptures that were written after the sacrifice of CHRIST on the cross, during the era of GRACE as some of you call it-so you see the effects of disobedience even after your Jesus died on the cross, then may be-you can stop misbehaving using Grace as a cover up.

Romans 8:1 reads, there is no condemnation now for those who live in union with Christ Jesus.

Do you know why there is no condemnation- precisely-because of obedience, without obedience you cannot live in union with Christ. In John 14:15, Jesus will say, "if you love me, you will keep my commandments"

And mind you- if you are not living in union with Christ because of disobedience then you are not free from the law of sin and death- so the verse 6 of chapter 8 of Romans will read "to be controlled by the human nature results in death; to be controlled by the Spirit results in life and peace.

Verse 7 continues, "and so people become enemies of God when they are controlled by their human nature; for they do not obey God and in fact cannot obey it .

In Acts 5:1-11, the story of Ananias and Sapphira is told to illustrate a point. Nobody forced you, on your own volition you decided to give something to God. Then your wife convinces you to keep part.

For lying to God, attempting to play a fast one- they opened and gave access to evil-- and the man died in verse 5.

About three hours later the wife not knowing what had happened also surfaced and Peter asked her, "tell me, was this the full amount you and your husband received for your property? She answered yes - Peter replied, why did you and your husband decide to put God to test? The men who buried your husband are at your door. She also fell and died. These stories are recorded in scripture for us to learn ooh.

A lot of people have opened doors for evil to come in because of disobedience.

1 Corinthians 11:29-30 reads, some of you are sick, weak and others are dying- because you took the communion in an unworthy manner. Actions have consequences ooh.

The way out is in 1 John 1:9, "But if we confess our sins to God, he will keep his promise and do what is right: he will forgive us our sins and purify us from all our wrong doing"

2 Peter 2:20-21, reads "And when people escape from the wickedness of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then get tangled up and enslaved by sin again, they are worse off than before. It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a holy life." When you get the chance read the whole of 2 Peter 2:2

Disobedience that gradually grows into transgression- do you know who a transgressor is? unrepentant attitudes, hmm and when someone walks in disobedience perpetually there is a spirit that is assisting the person.

Look let me just tell you eerh, a lot of the things we pray about are just a waste of time. Listen, just OBEYING God's laws can bring blessings, much of it. There is a dimension of God's grace, favor, protection that comes on us when we OBEY his COMMANDS and LAWS. HIS LAWS and PRECEPTS brings LIFE. MOSES will say in Deuteronomy 4:1ff, take notice of the laws and customs that I teach you today, observe then, that you may have LIFE, and may enter and take possession of the LAND, God is giving you.

This means that just OBEYING God's laws can bring LIFE and blessings. A lot of the things we pray about in this country are not prayer solvable, that's why we keep praying but those negative conditions keep pursuing us. There is a place for prayer, however, most of the things happening in our lives will be taken care of, if only we trust and obey.

Remember through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh so that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit._ Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires, but those who live per the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.

Sin will always result in death or the things associated with death like sickness, sorrow, trouble, TEARS, challenges, negativity, etc. It may be sweet or pleasurable for some time- the Bible talks about the “pleasures of sin” for a season but eventually it will turn bitter - just give it time.

What can I say, Repent believe in the gospel and pray for the grace to trust and obey.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Shalom and God bless you

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