SPIRITUAL HEALTH
Sunday 21st August 2022
The most painful thing we see among believers is that so many saints are careless with their lives because the things of this world have captured their hearts. There is nothing wrong with these things because God wants us to have them but not to be enslaved by them.
We have to come to a place in our walk with God where we own nothing. This means that God will have access in every area of our lives because everything in this Kingdom belongs to Him (King) including ourselves. In this life, we are only stewards of all we have including our lives.
1 Kings 3:3-4 And Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David, except that he sacrificed and burned incense at the high places. Now the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place: Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.
Solomon offered to God not because he needed something but out of love. That's why God was moved by what he had done and asked him what he wanted. (1 Kings 3:5-9). Solomon just asked for a hearing heart: one which obeys God and follows His instructions.
Seeking things should not be our main motivation for living. When your life comes into oneness with God, you will attract what you need in life (Matthew 6:33, Matthew 8:36-38)
1 Kings 11:1 But King Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites—
How do you move from loving God to loving foreign women? You loved God but what happened when women (the things of the world) came?
None of us is an exception, we can fall into the same trap as Solomon.
Many believers can't stand because they think life ends here. If only you believed in your heart that this world is a transit point, you would care more about what lies on the other side: eternity.
That's why we need to be conscious of the truth that life is beyond the earth here if we are to make the sacrifices we ought to as the church because what we see determines the sacrifices we are willing to make (Hebrews 12:2).
The reason why men in the Bible were able to make these sacrifices is because they saw far; Abraham lived a life awaiting to go to heaven (Hebrews 11:9-20). The only thing he built permanently were altars; where he communed with God and similarly a permanent altar where you interface with God daily is what you must build because the value of your life comes from there.
Ecclesiastes 7:8 The end of a thing is better than its beginning;...
How you begin is not so important as how you end. Therefore don't compromise because your future is bright.
Read Judges 16:21-28
Samson used the gifts and anointing to his advantage to get women, money, show off, etc just like many believers today. It took him losing his eyes to come back to his senses and God later restored his strength but not his sight.
We don't own anything in this kingdom. Therefore you need to ask the owner (God) for permission before using His property because we are stewards.
How do you know you are still spiritually healthy/ How do keep on a highway after we have started?
1. HUNGER FOR GOD
Psalms 63:1-2 O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water. So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, To see Your power and Your glory.
Early means God is number one in everything you do and your spirit, soul (feelings, thoughts, imaginations, and will) and body yearn for Him.
The moment you lose affinity for the things of God and the word "EARLY" is no longer in your life, know that ill health has come to you.
Do you still have the affinity for the things of God or you began well and slowed up along the way like Solomon? Test yourself and see that you stay on course (2 Corinthians 13:5).
Anything that is of God will draw you closer to Him. If something draws you away from God, then it's not from Him
