Let me take this opportunity to thank you for your prayers and the time you take out, for THE WORD.
Thank you for enabling these weekly opportunities, in order that the letters of God may be written in your hearts, not by man, but by the spirit of the Living God.
May the Lord keep you in perfect peace, as your mind stays focused on Him, amen.
(2Corinthians 2:14)
“And who through us spreads the fragrance of…. him everywhere”
Have you ever noticed how someone wearing a lovely fragrance, strolls through a room and fills the atmosphere with his or her scent?
You see, it is the nature and smell of the fragrance that affects and prevails over the stench and repulsive odor in the atmosphere, or the surroundings. Can I go deeper?
What circumstances are you surrounded with? What situation are you stuck with, squeezing life out of you? What is so repulsive that is driving you crazy? Can I talk to real people?
Have you been IN IT for so long that IT is getting STALE? I am talking about those things which ARE HAPPENING to you that “make you feel that you have received the sentence of death” (2Cor 1:9)
I mean those things that are NOT HAPPENING “that have made you despair of life” (2Cor 1:8) “And who through us spreads the fragrance of…. him everywhere”
God wants you to face IT in style, he wants you to go THROUGH IT head high.
Have you ever WALKED IN with a smile in the midst of chaos, with everybody wondering how you can still keep your cool in times like this?
Have you ever walked tall when everybody around you thought you should lie low and throw in the towel?
Ever noticed the effect you have on people when you use GOD-SENSE instead of COMMON SENSE, and it works!! Talk about THE FRAGRANCE, or THE SCENT.
You say, ‘Pastor my situation is worse than that, it is out of control’. Welcome to the show, and, that’s what we’ve been talking about, God wants it to be so bad that it starts to STINK, that it starts to emit a FOUL ODOUR, he wants it to get so bad so that your action can OOZE a SCENT that will affect IT and, EVERYBODY around you.
The BEST TESTIMONY and the MOST EFFECTIVE FRAGRANCE a Christian can ever give, is that which he EMITS in times of trouble. That is what THEY look out for, what THEY closely monitor.
How you DEAL with IT when others are losing their minds around you, Phil 1:12 says “I want you to know brethren that ALL THE THINGS that have happened to me have really SERVED to advance the gospel” What will your ATTITUDE be? How would you react to IT? A sweet smelling fragrance, or a bad odor?
They say life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.
But Sir, what if l walk head high, but still come out with a bad testimony, how do I live with that? Apostle Paul says ”Thanks to God, who in Christ leads us in triumph ALWAYS”
ALWAYS! God will ALWAYS come good for you! He will bring His BEST on the scene, in His own time.
You see, if God intervened early on, there would be no need for a miracle, no need for a turn around, and a deliverance, so that’s why He waits patiently for you to spread your fragrance all around you before He moves.
I pray that you will understand fully as you have understood in part, that we can be proud of you as we can be of you, on the day of the Lord Jesus.
(John 3:3) “And Jesus answered, truly, truly, unless one is born anew he cannot see the kingdom of God”
It is not about church going, it is not about ‘I believe a bit’, it’s not about religion, but it’s about a RELATIONSHIP with the ONLY TRUE God.
Unless you DEDICATE your whole existence to him, you cannot EMIT this special fragrance we are talking about, and, all the sufferings and afflictions will just be a WASTE of time.
God wants to USE you in a special way, and He wants to TOUCH you today. Who am I talking to?
It’s “not about the wisdom of this age, or of the rulers of this age which is doomed to pass away, it is about a secret and hidden wisdom which God decreed before the ages for our glorification” (1Cor 2:6,7)
“It is Christ crucified, a stumbling block to some, and foolishness to others, BUT, to US who are called, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1Cor 1:22)
I’ll see you next week.