So far our detailed study of what you were saved for when you renounced Satan’s kingdom of eternal death and darkness and henceforth entered into God’s Kingdom of eternal life and light moves us from seeing “Your position in Jesus Christ” in chapter four to seeing “Your practice and conduct in Jesus Christ” here in chapter five. In chapter four titled “Your position in Jesus Christ,” we have examined together what happened in you, to you and for you at the moment of your conversion when you were immediately saved from the penalty for all your sins in hell and you were there and then justified. That is, you were immediately declared righteous by God Himself just as if you have never sinned! Therefore, chapter four was all about seeing “who you are in Jesus Christ” which is summed up by all the blessings which became yours in Jesus Christ immediately you were saved from the penalty for all your sins in hell and you were there and then justified. But now here in chapter five titled “Your practice and conduct in Jesus Christ,” we will go one step further and examine in details what should be happening in you, to you, for you and through you as you are being saved everyday from the power of all sins and thus you are being sanctified. That is, you are continuously being set free from the power of all sins every day of your life depending on the degree to which you yield to the guidance and the direction of God the Holy Spirit. It therefore means that here in chapter five we will be seeing “Your practice and conduct in Jesus Christ” which deals with what you should be doing in Jesus Christ as you undergo a lifelong continuous process of being saved from the power of all sins every day of your life. Therefore, unlike chapter four where we have seen blessings which became yours simply because of being in Jesus Christ, here in chapter five we will be seeing blessings which you will get to enjoy and experience depending not just on being in Jesus Christ but also on the degree to which you yield to the guidance and the direction of God the Holy Spirit every day of your life!
Now this calls for a clear understanding of the following three facets of your salvation so that you can clearly distinguish “what is past,” “what is present” and “what is future” regarding your salvation. The first facet of your salvation is justification which deals with the past: the fact that you were immediately saved from the PENALTY for all your sins in hell when you sincerely repented toward God and truly believed in Jesus Christ as your personal lord and savior. The second facet of your salvation is sanctification which deals with the present: the fact that you are currently undergoing a lifelong continuous process of being saved from the POWER of all sins every day of your life. And the third facet of your salvation is glorification which deals with the future: the fact that in the future you shall be saved from the PRESENCE of all sins when you shall depart from this world and be ushered into the presence of God in heaven. Therefore these three facets of your salvation clearly show us that true biblical salvation is both a once in a lifetime event and a lifelong continuous process. The once in a lifetime event happened to you at the moment of your conversion when you sincerely repented toward God and truly believed in Jesus Christ as your personal lord and savior and you were immediately saved from the penalty for all your sins in hell hence you were there and then justified. That is, right there and then, God declared you righteous just as if you have never sinned! Then immediately after your conversion, a lifelong continuous process kicked in whereby you started being saved everyday from the power of all sins hence you are being sanctified. That is, you are continuously being set free from the power of all sins every day of your life depending on the degree to which you yield to the guidance and the direction of God the Holy Spirit. Finally, to mark the end of this process of your salvation shall be yet another once in a lifetime event in the future when you shall depart from this world into eternity in heaven and be instantly saved from the presence of all sins hence you shall be glorified. That is, you shall receive a glorified body that cannot sin, cannot become sick, cannot be disabled, cannot age and cannot die, which shall house your soul and your spirit forever and ever in heaven.
So to help you get a clear understanding of what I will be sharing with you throughout this chapter, I will briefly revisit that sewage illustration I used in chapter three. And as you can remember from that sewage illustration: I equated your lifestyle of loving, enjoying and practicing sin before you were saved to unwittingly wallowing in raw toxic sewage day in day out even though it was slowly but surely killing you. For it is true indeed that indulging in sin unhindered and unrepentant is equivalent to wallowing hopelessly and helplessly in raw toxic sewage that is slowly but surely drowning you to death. For like I supposed: if you would happen to accidentally fall into a sewage disposal pond, say, the size of a football field that is filled to the brim with raw toxic sewage, you would definitely be horrified there. The sickening sight of human dung covering your body from head to toe; the suffocating smell of toxic gases; the deafening sound produced by this raw sewage as it repeatedly splashes all over your body; the unbearable poking and scratching of your body by all kinds of debris floating on this sewage; and the unpalatable stream of raw toxic sewage rushing into your mouth as you try to gasp for breath; these and many more other predicaments would definitely prompt you to immediately try as best as you can to swim out of this raw toxic sewage before it drowns you to death. And as you can agree with me, everything in this sewage disposal pond would be repulsive, nauseating, disgusting and sickening so much so that you would not want to smell, touch, see, hear and worst of all taste any of that raw toxic sewage ever again! But thank God that this illustration did not end in tragedy of you drowning to death in your sins. For, immediately you acknowledged that sin (and any sin for that matter) is not your friend to be loved, enjoyed and practiced but is your greatest enemy to be hated, forsaken and avoided; God graciously sent you help in the person of our lord and savior Jesus Christ who willingly and successfully pulled you out of that sewage disposal pond alive before that raw toxic sewage of all your sins could drown you to death.
Now continuing from there after Jesus Christ has willingly and successfully pulled you out of that sewage disposal pond of all your sins alive, it is very natural and understandable that all the people witnessing this grand rescue would be cheering and celebrating your salvation. More importantly, you yourself would be rejoicing and celebrating as it would dawn on you that the imminent danger of drowning in the raw toxic sewage of all your sins is over and behind you forever and ever courtesy of the saving work of Jesus Christ. But soon after you are saved from drowning in that sewage disposal pond filled to the brim with raw toxic sewage, the next most important thing that must happen to you is to be thoroughly cleaned to get rid of all the sewage that got into your body and is on your body. Though you are now saved and you are therefore out of danger of drowning in that sewage disposal pond full of raw toxic sewage, you nevertheless do need as a matter of great urgency a thorough cleaning to get rid of all that sewage that managed to penetrate into your body through your nose and mouth and all that sewage sludge and debris that is covering your body from head to toe. For if you can visualize how you would be looking like: you would be covered from head to toe with sewage sludge and debris that got stuck on your body when you were fighting for your life in that sewage disposal pond. All your clothes would be completely soaked and soiled with that gruesome raw toxic sewage. Your body would be dripping with toxic sewage sludge thereby emitting a chocking rotten smell. Your hair would be completely drenched with the slimy sewage sludge. Your eyes would be itching and burning with unbearable irritating pain caused by toxic chemicals which seeped into your eyes as you were trying to scratch them. Of course, you would be sneezing and vomiting uncontrollably as an inevitable reflex action of your body to expel all that toxic sewage that managed to penetrate into your gastrointestinal tract and into your lungs through your nose and mouth. In short, you would be looking horrible as well as feeling miserable simply because no part of your body would be spared penetration of that gruesome raw toxic sewage.
As a result, you would be desperately craving to be thoroughly cleaned and totally freed of all that sewage sludge and debris! In fact you would be urgently begging over and over again to be thoroughly and completely cleaned to get rid of all the sewage that got into your body and is on your body. Therefore you wouldn’t mind if all your clothes that are soaked and soiled with that sewage are ripped off and thrown away so that you can be clothed with new ones. Also you wouldn’t mind or be ashamed to allow any part of your body to be thoroughly cleaned right from the crown of your head all the way down to the sole of your feet. In fact, without a doubt you would cooperate to the maximum as all the sewage that managed to penetrate into your gastrointestinal tract and into your lungs through your nose and mouth is carefully and skillfully removed. Likewise, you would cooperate to the maximum as all the sewage sludge and debris that got into your eyes, ears, and other parts of your body is removed. Also, you wouldn’t mind if all your hair that was irredeemably spoilt by the sewage sludge that got stuck on it, is shaved off. And as you are getting cleaned up, it wouldn’t matter to you if your body is scrubbed hard or gently or if it is sprayed with a jet of cold, warm or hot water. Neither would it matter to you the brand or the smell of the soap that would be used to clean you up. Moreover, you wouldn’t mind to bear any pain or any shame for as long as it takes to completely clean all that sewage that got into your body and is covering your body from head to toe. All you would care about is to see to it that all the sewage that got into your body and is on your body is completely and totally removed!
Now this expanded sewage illustration mirrors perfectly what this chapter is all about. For once you have been saved from drowning in sewage disposal pond which is equivalent to being saved from the PENALTY for all your sins in hell, then the next most important thing that must happen to you is to be thoroughly cleaned to get rid of all the sewage that got into your body and is on your body which is equivalent to being saved from the POWER of all sins every day of your life. And that is precisely what this chapter is all about. Therefore this expanded sewage illustration clearly shows you the need and the urgency to be saved from the power of all sins that you used to love, enjoy and practice before you were saved by equating all those sins to raw toxic sewage that got into your body and is on your body, and which must be totally and immediately removed. For, it goes without saying that after you have been saved from the penalty for all your sins which could have “drowned” you into hell fires forever and ever, then the next most important thing that must happen to you is to undergo a lifelong continuous process of being saved from the power of all sins every day of your life. And this is so that you can stop loving, enjoying and practicing any of those sins ever again. And instead choose to hate, forsake and avoid all those sins every day of your life courtesy of the on-going saving work of Jesus Christ through God the Holy Spirit who is now permanently indwelling you!
Therefore just as it is expected that after you have been rescued from drowning in a sewage disposal pond you would be desperately and urgently begging to be thoroughly cleaned to get rid of all the sewage that got into your body and is on your body. Likewise, after you have been saved from the penalty for all your sins in hell, you should be eager and willing to be set free from the power of all the sins that you used to love, enjoy and practice before you were saved. And just as it is expected that after you have been rescued from drowning in a sewage disposal pond you wouldn’t feel comfortable or even dare to walk around covered from head to toe with sewage sludge and debris; nor would you be comfortable to live even for one minute with that sewage that managed to penetrate into your gastrointestinal tract and into your lungs. Likewise, after you have been saved from the penalty for all your sins in hell, you shouldn’t feel comfortable or even dare to live your Christian life for one hour let alone for one day still loving, enjoying and practicing any sin no matter how small or insignificant it seems to you. But, just as there wouldn’t be any amount of pain or any amount of shame that could hinder, slow or stop you from being thoroughly cleaned to get rid of all the sewage sludge and debris that got into your body and is on your body. Likewise, there shouldn’t be any amount of pain or any amount of shame that could hinder, slow or stop you from yielding to God the Holy Spirit so that He can continue to set you free from the power of all sins every day of your life. And lastly, just as the main goal of rescuing you from drowning in a sewage disposal pond would be so that you could lead a safe productive life. Likewise, the main goal of God the Holy Spirit saving you continuously from the power of all sins everyday is so that you can lead a God-glorifying Christian life that is characterized by your good works every day of your life as a born again believer in Jesus Christ!
By the way, this forms the backbone of what we will be studying throughout this chapter on the subject of your sanctification which is twofold. For, on one hand, we will be seeing how you are continuously being saved from the power of all sins every day of your life. And on the other hand, we will be seeing how you are continuously being saved for good works which God the Father ordained that you should fulfill throughout your life in Jesus Christ. In summary, therefore, we will be seeing throughout this chapter how God the Holy Spirit will be training you to put off the old lifestyle of loving, enjoying and practicing sins so that you can put on the new lifestyle of doing good works which God the Father ordained that you should fulfill every day of your life as a Christian. Consequently, this chapter serves as a timely and an unforgettable reminder that even though you are not saved by your good works, you are nevertheless saved for good works. For, Apostle Paul explaining how we are saved wrote, “8For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9Not of works, less any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). Then in the very next verse he explained that we are saved for good works declaring that, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).
Furthermore, the Bible in Titus 2:11-14 shows us how saving grace justifies, sanctifies and glorifies a born again believer in Jesus Christ. First, it says that, “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men (Titus 2:11). This shows us how saving grace justifies a born again believer in Jesus Christ—saving him or her from the penalty for all their sins in hell. Then, it goes on to say that, “Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world (Titus 2:12). This shows us how saving grace sanctifies a born again believer in Jesus Christ—saving him or her every day from the power and practice of all sins. And then it finally says that, “13Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our savior Jesus Christ; 14Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify to Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works” (Titus 2:13-14). This shows us how saving grace glorifies a born again believer in Jesus Christ—saving him or her from the presence of all sins when he or she shall depart from this world and be ushered into the presence of God in heaven. It is therefore an irrefutable biblical fact that saving grace teaches a person who is truly saved to abandon old lifestyle of sin and embrace new lifestyle of righteousness which is characterized by zeal for good works. Therefore, you are a “work in progress” inasmuch as God the Holy Spirit is continuously working in you every day of your life to put off the old lifestyle of sin and put on the new lifestyle of righteousness characterized by zeal for good works!
Now, this is how God the Holy Spirit will accomplish that noble task of continuously working in you to put off the old lifestyle of sin and put on the new lifestyle of righteousness. First of all, God the Holy Spirit will be using the most important relationship you must always have with Him of being filled continuously with the Holy Spirit every day of your life. And secondly, God the Holy Spirit will be using the following three most important spiritual tools you must always use as a Christian namely: 1) the Bible, 2) prayers, and 3) authentic Christian fellowship.
So to begin with, God the Holy Spirit will be using the most important relationship you must always have with Him of being filled continuously with the Holy Spirit to train you to put off the old lifestyle of sin and put on the new lifestyle of righteousness every day of your life (Ephesians 5:18). This is because when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, God the Holy Spirit is first and foremost free to rule and reign over who you are, what you have and what you do thereby empowering you to become faithful and fruitful disciple of Jesus Christ who knows God intimately, loves God supremely, serves God faithfully and Glorifies God exclusively (Luke 11:13 and Matthew 22:37-40). Second, when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, God the Holy Spirit empowers you to become a faithful and a fruitful witness of Jesus Christ who effectively shares the gospel of Jesus Christ with all unsaved people wherever and whenever you are (Acts 1:8 and 4:31). Third, when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, you produce the fruit of Spirit which is love that is demonstrated by joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness and self control (Galatians 5:22-23). Fourth, when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, you are led by the Holy Spirit as a child of God who always shuns sins and embraces righteousness (Romans 8:14 and Galatians 5:18). Fifth, when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, you do not grieve the Holy Spirit by sin of commission (Ephesians 4:30) or quench the Holy Spirit by sin of omission (1st Thessalonians 5:19). Sixth, when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, you walk in the Spirit and therefore you do not fulfill the desires of your flesh (Galatians 5:16, 24). Seventh, when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, God the Holy Spirit is free to manifest any manifestation gift He wills in and through your life (1st Corinthians 12:7-11) as well as motivate you to use any motivation gift He has given you to edify the church and glorify God (Romans 12:6-8, Ephesians 4:11-12 and 1st Peter 4:10). And eighth, when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, you are able through the Holy Spirit to put to dead the deeds of the body so that you can live a God-glorifying Christian life (Romans 8:13). Therefore, if you are always being filled continuously with the Holy Spirit, then God the Holy Spirit will be giving you both the willingness and the ability to put off the old lifestyle of sin and put on the new lifestyle of righteousness every day of your life (Zechariah 4:6).
This therefore means that you are not a spectator in process of your sanctification but an active participant who must yield to the guidance and the direction of God the Holy Spirit as He will be training you to put off the old lifestyle of sin and put on the new lifestyle of righteousness every day of your life. So this is how God the Holy Spirit will be using the following three most important spiritual tools you must always use as a Christian (i.e. the Bible, prayers, and authentic Christian fellowship) to train you to put off the old lifestyle of sin and put on the new lifestyle of righteousness every day of your life.
First, God the Holy Spirit will be training you to put off the old lifestyle of sin and put on the new lifestyle of righteousness by guiding and directing you every day of your life using God’s written, inerrant, infallible and inspired word known as the Bible which governs faith and practice of all Christians (2nd Timothy 3:16-17, John 17:17 and Psalm 119:105). Therefore on your part, you will be yielding to that guidance and direction of God the Holy Spirit by reading, studying, memorizing, meditating and more importantly obeying the word of God taught in all of the 66 books of the holy Bible every day of your life. Second, God the Holy Spirit will be training you to put off the old lifestyle of sin and put on the new lifestyle of righteousness by guiding and directing you every day of your life to pray effective fervent prayers for God’s will to be done in God’s timing and for God’s glory in your life and in the lives of other people (John 15:7, Matthew 6:6-15 and 1st John 5:14-15). So on your part, you will be yielding to that guidance and direction of God the Holy Spirit by praying effective fervent prayers every day of your life for God’s will to be done in God’s timing and for God’s glory in your life and in the lives of other people. And third, God the Holy Spirit will be training you to put off the old lifestyle of sin and put on the new lifestyle of righteousness by guiding and directing you to engage faithfully and regularly in an authentic Christian fellowship with other true born again believers in Jesus Christ in a Bible-believing, Bible-teaching and a Bible-practicing church (1st Corinthians 12:12-27, Ephesians 4:1-16 and Hebrews 10:21-25). Therefore on your part, you will be yielding to that guidance and direction of God the Holy Spirit by engaging faithfully and regularly in an authentic Christian fellowship with other true born again believers in Jesus Christ in a Bible-believing, Bible-teaching and a Bible-practicing church. Therefore, if you are always using the Bible, prayers and authentic Christian fellowship in your life as a born again believer in Jesus Christ, then God the Holy Spirit will be giving you both the willingness and the ability to put off the old lifestyle of sin and put on the new lifestyle of righteousness every day of your life.
And if that happens in your life, (that is, if you are always being filled with the Holy Spirit every day of your life and if you are always using the Bible, prayers and authentic Christian fellowship every day of your life), then you will inevitably shift from being a convert and become a true disciple of Jesus Christ who brings God the Father maximum pleasure and glory through who you are (body, soul and spirit), what you have (material and immaterial possessions), and what you do (occupation, vocation and vacation) every day of your life. By the way, this is what you should be aiming at because it is the ultimate goal of becoming a born again believer in Jesus Christ. So with that lengthy but very important introduction, the stage is now set for us to explore together “Your practice and conduct in Jesus Christ” which is summed up by the following three things you must do as a born again believer in Jesus Christ every day of your life:
1) You must surrender to Jesus Christ who you are
2) You must surrender to Jesus Christ what you have
3) You must surrender to Jesus Christ what you do
So let us start our study with this very first thing you must do as a born again believer in Jesus Christ every day of your life.
The very first thing you must do as a born again believer in Jesus Christ is to completely surrender to Jesus Christ who you are: that is, your body, your healing soul and your regenerated spirit. Furthermore, you ought to surrender to Jesus Christ who you are every day of your life. And this is because you need Jesus Christ to rule and reign on daily basis over who you are (i.e. your body, your healing soul and your regenerated spirit) through God the Holy Spirit who permanently indwells you. For, when this happens, it gives God the Holy Spirit unlimited freedom to help you put off the old lifestyle of sin and put on the new lifestyle of righteousness every day of your life using these two ways. The first way is through God the Holy Spirit using the most important relationship you must always have with Him of being filled continuously with the Holy Spirit every day of your life. And the second way is through God the Holy Spirit using the following three most important spiritual tools you must always use as a Christian (i.e. the Bible, prayers, and authentic Christian fellowship) every day of your life. So let us see how you should go about surrendering to Jesus Christ who you are every day of your life, starting with your body.
What must be disturbingly sad to learn is this undeniable biblical fact that you like all the other born again believers in Jesus Christ have three spiritual enemies who on daily basis will be trying their level best to hinder, slow and if possible stop you from having a victorious Christian life. These enemies are the world, the flesh and the devil. But sad as it is to learn that there is unrelenting spiritual warfare that is being waged by the world, the flesh and the devil against your Christian life, this knowledge, however, helps you to be forewarned so that you can be forearmed.
So to begin with, the world refers to the widely accepted lifestyle which regards sinful actions and sinful attitudes to be both acceptable and pleasurable (1st John 2:15-17 and James 4:4). Therefore, the world is the way of life by which people knowingly defy God through their sinful lifestyle saying to Him as it were, “God you can say whatever you want, we won’t stop you. But we will do whatever we want and you shouldn’t stop us because we won’t stop doing it anyway!” The flesh on the other hand refers to the evil and ungodly influence of a person’s sin nature on his or her body drives and desires tempting him or her to have evil ungodly thoughts and evil ungodly feelings which will eventually lead that person to commit sin if he or she does not immediately resist those evil ungodly thoughts and evil ungodly feelings (Galatians 5:16-26). Simply put, the flesh is not the sin nature itself, but it is the unconstrained evil and ungodly influence of a person’s sin nature on his or her body drives and desires tempting him or her to sin with their body. And finally the devil whose name means slanderer or accuser is a fallen angel of the order of cherub who rebelled and sinned against God and henceforth became the archenemy of God commonly known as Satan, which means adversary or opponent (Isaiah 14:12-15 and Ezekiel 28:11-17). Notably, the devil or Satan is the father of all lies whose mission in the world is to steal, kill and destroy as he vehemently fights against God and all godliness hoping to lead as many people as possible into the lake of fire known as hell which was originally prepared for him and his angels (John 8:44; 10:10 and Matthew 25:41-46). Though Satan was completely defeated on the cross about 2,000 year ago when Jesus Christ died and rose again paying for all the sins of mankind (Colossians 2:13-15), he nevertheless moves to and fro throughout the whole world seeking whom he may devour (1st Peter 5:8 and Revelation 12:10); hence Christians must resist him and submit to God through obeying promptly what the word of God teaches in all the 66 book of the holy Bible and Satan shall flee from them (James 4:7).
Of these three spiritual enemies, it is the flesh which poses the greatest opposition to your Christian life. This is because the flesh is the only enemy within you while the devil and the world are enemies without you or rather outside of you. Consequently, the flesh being the enemy within you can and does actually attack you easily from inside of your own being anywhere anytime. Moreover, as you can easily notice from the definition of the flesh above, your sin nature targets your body drives and desires seeking to influence you to have evil ungodly thoughts and evil ungodly feelings, which if you do not resist immediately will eventually lead you to sin with your body. By the way, resisting those evil ungodly thoughts and evil ungodly feelings which are tempting you to sin with your own body is what the Bible calls crucifying the flesh in Galatians 5:24 or putting to death the deeds of the body in Romans 8:13. Therefore, it is for this reason that every day of your life you must surrender your body to Jesus Christ so that He can help you to crucify your flesh by putting to death the deeds of your body through God the Holy Spirit who permanently indwells you. Apostle Paul addressing this issue wrote, “1I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2And be not conformed to this world: but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:1-2). So if you would surrender your body as a living sacrifice to Jesus Christ as this scripture exhorts you to do, then Jesus Christ through God the Holy Spirit who permanently indwells you would protect your body drives and desires from the evil and ungodly influence of your sin nature. Consequently, all your body drives and desires such as air drive, water drive, food drive, sex drive, worship drive, your desire to be appreciated, your desire to be needed, and your desire for protection would be fulfilled and satisfied in the way and at the time that God intended them to be.
As a result, your air drive would be used for inhaling air and not for inhaling tobacco, bhang, and other illicit drugs. Your water drive would be used for quenching thirst with water and other healthy fluids and drinks and not for consuming alcohol and other intoxicants. Your food drive would be used for consuming healthy foods and not for chewing, swallowing and ingesting illicit drugs. Your sex drive would be used exclusively with the spouse you are lawfully married to for the purposes of pleasure, procreation and oneness (and that is only if you are in a monogamous marriage relationship between one man and one woman for life just as the Bible prescribes). And if you are not married, your sex drive would be held in purity by abstaining from all forms of sexual activities. Therefore, whether married or unmarried, your sex drive would never ever be used for any illicit sexual activities such as adultery, fornication, homosexuality, bestiality, prostitution, masturbation, pornography-cum-voyeurism, etc. Your worship drive on the other hand would be used for exclusive worship of Yahweh God of the Bible—the only true and the living God there is—and not for worshipping of self, gods, goddesses, idols, people, etc.
Your desire to be appreciated would be satisfied when you realize that only God can cause people to appreciate you, respect you or even honor you but not you coercing them, manipulating them or controlling them. Your desire to be needed would be satisfied by you fulfilling God’s purpose for your life and not through you seeking self glory or craving for attention. And finally your desire for protection would be satisfied by you realizing that only Yahweh God is your protector, your provider and your ever-present help in time of trouble hence you should always seek protection from Him and not from the so-called “anointed oil,” witchcraft or other evil ways. Same thing would happen to all your body organs from the crown of your head all the way down to the sole of your feet. Therefore, your eyes would be used to see only what glorifies God and nothing else (Psalm 101:3; 119:37 and Job 31:1). Your ears would be used to hear only what glorifies God and nothing else (Luke 8:21). Your mouth would be used to speak what glorifies God and nothing else (Psalm 39:1 and Colossians 4:6). Your legs would be used to go where God wants you to go and nowhere else (Matthew 28:19). And so it would be with all your body organs.
This seemingly unattainable Christian life is very much attainable if you would have a healthy Christian habit of being filled continuously with the Holy Spirit just as this scripture commands all Christians to do, “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18). For, if you would be filled continuously with the Holy Spirit as Ephesians 5:18 clearly commands you, then God the Holy Spirit who permanently indwells you would be free to rule and reign over who you are (body, soul and spirit), what you have (material and immaterial possessions) and what you do (occupation, vocation and vacation) thereby empowering you to become faithful and fruitful disciple of Jesus Christ who knows God intimately, loves God supremely, serves God faithfully and Glorifies God exclusively. And as for how you are to be filled with the Holy Spirit, all you need to do is to ask God the Father who is willing and is ever ready to immediately fill you with the Holy Spirit anytime any where you are as is clearly stated in this verse, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?” (Luke 11:13). And once you are filled with the Holy Spirit, then one of the most important thing that God the Holy Spirit would do in your life is to work in you both the willingness and the ability to do the perfect will of God just as this next verse clearly reveals, “For it is God which works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). And as God the Holy Spirit would be working in you both the willingness and the ability to do the perfect will of God, then you would first and foremost be willing and able through the Holy Spirit to put to death the deeds of the body as is alluded to by this scripture, “For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Romans 8:13—NKJV). And secondly, you would be walking in Spirit and therefore you will not be fulfilling the desires of your flesh just as this next verse clearly states, “This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16). And when all these things happen in your life, then you will have taken heed to this timely warning which reminds you that, “And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” (Galatians 5:24).
Now, what is worthwhile noting is the fact that to be filled with the Holy Spirit is extremely important so much so that just before Jesus Christ ascended back to heaven, He commanded all His disciples not to depart from Jerusalem until they were all filled with the Holy Spirit (see Acts 1:4-11 cf. 2:1-4). Considering that at that time all these disciples were already born again and had therefore been permanently indwelt by the Holy Spirit as is clearly recorded in John 20:20-23, then you can see why you too as a born again believer in Jesus Christ needs to be filled with the Holy Spirit just as all the original disciples of Jesus Christ were. Moreover, when you notice that these original disciples of Jesus Christ were filled with the Holy Spirit again and again as is recorded in Acts 4:8-12 and Acts 4:31, then you can see why you too need to be filled with the Holy Spirit, not once but again and again just as Ephesians 5:18 commands you to be filled continuously with the Holy Spirit. Therefore if you want a radical shift in your Christian life: from having worst outlook of life to having best outlook of life, from striving spiritually to thriving spiritually, from having temporal perspective to having eternal perspective, from investing blindly in what counts only for now to investing wisely in what counts both for now and for eternity; then you must be filled continuously with the Holy Spirit so that God the Holy Spirit can be keeping you day by day in the centre of God’s perfect will for your life. So, I beg you according to the unbreakable promise of God in Luke 11:13 that you should develop a daily habit of asking God the Father to fill you with the Holy Spirit so that you can fulfill God’s perfect will for your life every day. I strongly urge you to be filled with the Holy Spirit notwithstanding all the different theological positions held by different Christian denominations regarding why, when and how one is filled with the Holy Spirit. This is because the Bible in whole unequivocally teaches that all true born again believers in Jesus Christ need to be filled continuously with the Holy Spirit every day of their lives in order for them to lead God-glorifying Christian lives. See Zechariah 4:6, Ephesians 5:18, Luke 11:13 and 24:49 cf. Acts 1:4-8; 2:4; 4:8, 31; 8:14-17; 9:17; 10:44-46 and 19:1-7 among many other scriptures on why, when and how other born again believers in Jesus Christ were filled with the Holy Spirit just as you and I can and should!
In my case, I was filled with the Holy Spirit for the very first time in my life on Wednesday 29 March 2006. [1] This was almost two years from the day that I became a born again believer in Jesus Christ, which happened on Saturday 15 May 2004, at exactly 5:25 pm. [2] Now, immediately I was filled with the Holy Spirit, I willingly and unreservedly surrendered to Jesus Christ who I am (my body, my soul and my spirit), what I have (my material possessions and my immaterial possessions such as spiritual gifts, natural abilities and acquired skills) and what I do (my occupation, my vocation and my vacation) so that He could do with me whatever pleased Him through God the Holy Spirit. As a result of my unreserved surrender to Jesus Christ of who I am, what I have and what I do, I experienced radical changes in my life. First of all, God called me to abandon my career pursuit in the field of solar energy so that I could serve Him sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with all unsaved people while equipping saved people with the Word of God—the Bible. Soon thereafter exactly on 16 May 2006, God called me to write a soul-winning life-transforming book which culminated in this book you are now reading. And on the same day that God called me to write this book, God also graciously put in my heart unstoppable will and zeal to read the whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation so that I could know what His will for my life was. The end result was that I read the whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation twice in just the second half of year 2006! And from January of year 2007, I began a habit of reading the whole Bible once every year such that by the end of this year (2024), I will have read the whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation twenty times. And so, you too can do the same. You can be filled with the Holy Spirit. And also you can begin an exciting journey of reading the whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation, once every year, beginning today so that you can know and fulfill God’s perfect will for your life!
Remember, if you are truly saved you ought to be truly changed. However, this true change in your life from the old lifestyle of loving, enjoying and practicing sins to the new lifestyle of loving, enjoying and doing good works is not something you can do by your own strength, wisdom or determination. But rather, it is what God the Holy Spirit who permanently indwells you, will be doing in your life through the written, inerrant and inspired word of God known as the Bible (see Zechariah 4:6). Therefore to the degree you read, study, memorize, meditate and more importantly obey the word of God taught in all of the 66 books of the holy Bible is to the same degree and even much more that God the Holy Spirit will be helping you to put off the old lifestyle of sin and put on the new lifestyle of righteousness every day of your life. So I cannot emphasize enough the place and the role of the word of God in enabling you to shun the old lifestyle of sin and embrace the new lifestyle of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17). However, just to highlight few examples for you, consider these inspired words of the Psalmist regarding how to overcome sin, “Your word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:11). Then he prays, “Order my steps in Your word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me” (Psalm 119:133). And finally he confesses that, “Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105). Since reading, studying, memorizing, meditating and more importantly obeying the word of God taught in all of the 66 books of the holy Bible is crucial to help you put off the old lifestyle of sin and put on the new lifestyle of righteousness, I hereby invite you to right away embark on an exciting spiritual journey of reading the whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation once every year. In that regard, I have put at the back of this book “PLAN FOR READING THE WHOLE BIBLE ONCE EVERY YEAR” which I encourage you to use so that you can be reading the whole Bible once every year beginning today. For once you do that, you will know and fulfill God’s perfect will for your life as you obey faithfully and promptly everything taught in all the 66 books of the holy Bible.
So in conclusion, if every day of your life you will be surrendering your body to Jesus Christ, then Jesus Christ will help you to put off the old lifestyle of sin by enabling you to crucify your flesh through God the Holy Spirit who permanently indwells you. At the same time, He will help you to put on the new lifestyle of righteousness by enabling you to do good works with all your body organs, drives and desires. And with that permanently imprinted in your heart, let us now see how you should go about surrendering to Jesus Christ your healing soul every day of your life.
As a true born again believer in Jesus Christ, you no longer have a wounded soul but a healing soul which comprises of your mind that is being transformed to think good godly thoughts (Romans 12:1-2), your emotional centre that is being transformed to have good godly feelings (Colossians 3:12-17), and your will that is being transformed to make good godly decisions (Philippians 2:12-13). That is why I am calling your soul a “healing soul” to emphasize the fact it is undergoing a lifelong continuous process of transformation of your mind, your emotions and your will. Since your healing soul has faculties of mind to think, emotions to feel, and will to decide; therefore your spiritual enemy within you by the name “your flesh” targets each one of these three faculties. From the definition of the flesh we saw earlier on, your flesh refers to the evil and ungodly influence of your sin nature on your body drives and desires tempting you to have evil ungodly thoughts and evil ungodly feelings which will eventually lead you to commit sin with your own body if you do not resist immediately all those evil ungodly thoughts and evil ungodly feelings.
So you can clearly see that your flesh first of all targets your mind to think evil ungodly thoughts. Then, it targets your emotions to feel evil ungodly feelings about that person or that issue. Finally, it targets your will to make evil ungodly decisions leading you to commit sin. Therefore the deciding factor in overcoming your flesh is your will. Because you can either, exercise your will and choose to resist those evil ungodly thoughts and evil ungodly feelings and thus not sin (2nd Corinthians 10:4-5). Or sadly, you can exercise your will and choose to entertain those evil ungodly thoughts and evil ungodly feelings and thus sin with your thoughts and feelings which will eventually be expressed outwardly by your body organs, drives and desires (Mark 7:20-23). However, even though your will is the deciding factor in overcoming your flesh, the problem is that your will is also tempted by your flesh to choose rather to entertain the temptation to sin instead of choosing to resist the temptation to sin. So the only recourse you have is to wholeheartedly depend on God the Holy Spirit, who according to Philippians 2:13 works in all born again believers in Jesus Christ both to will and to do what pleases God. Consequently, as a true born again believer in Jesus Christ, you ought to depend on God the Holy Spirit every day of your life to work in you both the willingness and the ability to crucify your flesh so that you can resist any temptation to sin with your thoughts and with your feelings (Galatians 5:24).
Therefore, it is for this reason that every day of your life you must surrender your healing soul to Jesus Christ so that He can help you to resist evil ungodly thoughts, evil ungodly feelings and evil ungodly decisions through God the Holy Spirit who continuously works in you both to will and to do what pleases God. Apostle Paul addressing this issue of resisting evil ungodly thoughts, feelings and decisions wrote, “4For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; 5Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2nd Corinthians 10:4-5). Now, these weapons that are able to thoroughly crucifying the flesh which Apostle Paul is referring to are not physical weapons but spiritual weapons comprising of 1) the Bible, 2) prayers, 3) authentic Christian fellowship, and 4) being filled continuously with the Holy Spirit. Therefore, if you surrender your healing soul (that is, your mind, your emotions and your will) to Jesus Christ, then Jesus Christ through God the Holy Spirit would do the following three things to help you crucify your flesh. First, He would help your mind to be thinking good godly thoughts while at the same time resisting evil ungodly thoughts. Second, He would help your emotions to be having good godly feelings while at the same time resisting evil ungodly feelings. Third and finally, He would help your will to be making good godly decisions while at the same time resisting evil ungodly decisions. Consequently, your mind, your emotions and your will would all function in the way that Yahweh God your creator intended them to function.
First, your mind would be renewed day by day to be thinking good godly thoughts and not to be thinking evil ungodly thoughts. As a result, all your thoughts and acts of hatred will be replaced by thoughts and acts of love. All your thoughts and acts of cruelty will be replaced by thoughts and acts of kindness. All your thoughts and acts of sexual sins will be replaced by thoughts and acts of sexual purity. All your thoughts and acts of jealousy will be replaced by thoughts and acts of generosity. All your thoughts and acts of selfishness will be replaced by thoughts and acts of selflessness. All your thoughts and acts of pride will be replaced by thoughts and acts of humility. And finally all your thoughts and acts of wickedness will be replaced by thoughts and acts of goodness. Second, your emotions would be purified day by day to be having good godly feelings and not to be having evil ungodly feelings. As a result, all your feelings of hatred will be replaced by the feelings of love. All your feelings of sorrow will be replaced by the feelings of joy. All your feelings of jealousy will be replaced by feelings of generosity. All your feelings of wrath upon your enemies will be replaced by the feelings of grace and mercy upon your enemies. And finally all your feelings of fear and restlessness will be replaced by the feelings of faith and peace of God that passes all understanding. Third, your will would be motivated day by day to be making good godly decisions and not to be making evil ungodly decisions. Consequently, all your decisions would be geared toward giving God the Father maximum pleasure and glory through who you are (your body, your soul and your spirit), what you have (your material possessions and your immaterial possessions such as spiritual gifts, natural abilities and acquired skills) and what you do (your occupation, your vocation and your vacation) all the days of your life.
Once again, this seemingly unattainable Christian life is very much attainable if you would have a healthy Christian habit of being filled continuously with the Holy Spirit just as this scripture in Ephesians 5:18 commands you to do, “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.” This is simply because, if you would be filled continuously with the Holy Spirit, then God the Holy Spirit who permanently indwells you would among other things be using the written inspired word of God (i.e. the Bible) to produce the fruit of Spirit in your life which is described as follows, “22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23—NKJV). And as this fruit of the Spirit is continuously being produced by God the Holy Spirit in your life, then you would therefore be able to put off the old lifestyle of sin and put on the new lifestyle of righteousness every day of your life. Consequently, your mind would be able to think good godly thoughts just as this scripture clearly commands you to, “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things” (Philippians 4:8). Also, your emotions would be able to have good godly feelings as is alluded to by this scripture: “12Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; 13bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. 14But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. 15And let the peace of God rule in your hearts to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful” (Colossians 3:12-15—NKJV). And finally, your will would be able to make good godly decisions just as this next scripture clearly reveals, “For it is God which works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).
Therefore as God the Holy Spirit uses the written, inerrant, inspired word of God taught in all the 66 books of the holy Bible to produce the fruit of Spirit in your life, then you would be able to put off the old lifestyle of sin and put on the new lifestyle of righteousness every day of your life. Furthermore, this would become easier and faster when you learn yet another very important healthy Christian habit of praying effective fervent prayers every day of your life for God’s will to be done in God’s timing and for God’s glory in your life and in the lives of other people. This is because, when you pray or rather when you talk to God, God also talks back to you using most of the times, His written and inspired word taught in the 66 books of the holy Bible. That is why Jesus Christ encouraged all His disciples to, “7Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you: 8For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened” (Matthew 7:7-8). Then He went on to emphasize the importance of praying according to the word of God in the Bible so that your prayers can be heard and answered in the affirmative, saying, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done to you” (John 15:7). And this fact of praying in God’s will was also stressed by Apostle John who wrote, “14And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us: 15And if we know that He hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him” (1st John 5:14-15). For if you would pray in accordance with the will of God that is explicitly revealed in the Bible, then God would guide and direct your mind, your emotions and your will to crucify your flesh as is shown in this scripture, “6Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7—NKJV). It is therefore for this reason that the Bible commands you to, “17Pray without ceasing. 18In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1st Thessalonians 5:17-18).
In short, you are supposed to be praying to God on daily basis in accordance with His perfect will that is clearly revealed in the Bible so that your prayers can be heard and answered in the affirmative. Therefore, you should not pray to any saint, dead or alive. Neither should you pray to Mary mother of Jesus. Instead, pray directly to God Himself. Yes, you can do it. You can pray for yourself. You can take yourself boldly and directly before the throne of Yahweh God Almighty in prayers and make your requests known to Him (see Hebrews 4:16). You do not need some intermediary, the so-called special anointed person(s) to pray for you. Nor do you need any objects like prayer beads or rosary, because use of prayer beads or rosary in prayers is a pagan practice which has nothing to do with biblical Christianity. God will hear you just the way you are. Moreover, you do not need to change either the tone or the pitch of your voice when you pray to God. Neither do you need to wear certain clothes, robes, head-coverings, etc., so that God can hear your prayers. Most of those claims that you have to be dressed in a certain way so that your prayers can be heard and answered by God emanate from misunderstanding and therefore misapplying some of the Old Testament scriptures where what was exclusively meant for Aaron and all other Old Testament priests, is ignorantly applied to all Christians. So, remember this simple biblical fact that your outward covering cannot commend you before a holy and a righteous God!
As you pray, you do not need to use anointed oil, neither the so-called “anointed prayer cloths” supposedly from anointed servants of God. You simply do not need any of that stuff. That is actually idolatry. It is witchcraft dressed in Christian terms. Stay far and away from such kind of stuff. Simply pray the way you are! Talk to God like normally you would talk to a person seated next to you. So you do not need to shout as you pray to God. God is not deaf: He can hear you. Therefore do not wake up all your neighbors at the odd hours of the night praying at the top of your voice simply because people from other religions do that. So when you pray at night, pray silently in the quietness of your heart in such a way that you do not disturb or even wake up people sleeping in the same house with you. Remember you are praying to God not to people. Remember also that Christians behave differently! Their God is different from all other gods. In fact, He is the one and the only true and the living God there is. And as such, He has taught us clearly in Matthew 6:5-15 how to pray in a God-glorifying way. Therefore, you should always pray to God the Father in the name of Jesus Christ empowered by God the Holy Spirit. And once you do that, you can rest assured that you will be praying God-glorifying prayers for God’s will to be done in God’s timing and for God’s glory in your life and in the lives of other people.
In conclusion, if every day of your life you will be surrendering your healing soul to Jesus Christ, then Jesus Christ will help you to put off the old lifestyle of sin by enabling you to resist evil ungodly thoughts, evil ungodly feelings and evil ungodly decisions through God the Holy Spirit who permanently indwells you. At the same time, He will help you to put on the new lifestyle of righteousness by enabling you to have good godly thoughts, good godly feelings and to make good godly decisions. And with that well understood, let us now see how you should go about surrendering to Jesus Christ your regenerated spirit every day of your life.
When you got saved and became a true born again believer in Jesus Christ, at that very instant, your dead spirit due to trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1) was once and forever transformed into a regenerated spirit by God the Holy Spirit who infused it with everlasting life and then He permanently indwelt it (Ephesians 1:13-14 and John 3:1-16). Therefore your regenerated spirit is permanently transformed by God the Holy Spirit who also permanently indwells it hence it can never ever revert back to the dead spirit it was before you were saved. For Jesus Christ Himself said, “Verily, verily, I say to you, he that hears My word, and believes on Him that sent Me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death to life” (John 5:24). Also showing how a person is born again, Apostle John wrote, “12But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13—NKJV). So of the three dimensions of your whole being as a Christian namely: your natural body, you healing soul and your regenerated spirit, it is only your regenerated spirit that is permanently transformed. This is because your healing soul which is made up of your mind, your emotions and your will is undergoing a lifelong continuous process of transformation (Romans 12:1-3 and Titus 2:11-14). And your natural body is waiting to be transformed into a glorified body in the future when you shall depart from this life into eternity in heaven (1st Corinthians 15:50-57 and Philippians 3:20-21). Therefore unlike your natural body and your healing soul both of which need to be surrendered to Jesus Christ because the former is yet to be transformed and the latter is in the process of daily transformation, your regenerated spirit need to be surrendered to Jesus Christ not for transformation because it is already permanently transformed but so that He can help you to be using it exclusively for God’s glory and thus avoid misusing it or disusing it. So in comparison, your regenerated spirit is like a brand new car which is fully furnished with everything you need to drive it so that all you can do with that car is either to use it or to disuse it or worst of all to misuse it.
It is therefore for this reason that every day of your life you must surrender your regenerated spirit to Jesus Christ so that through God the Holy Spirit, He can help you to be using it exclusively for God’s glory and thus avoid misusing it or disusing it. Apostle Paul addressing this issue of why you must glorify God with your body and with your spirit wrote, “19What? Know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which you have of God, and you are not your own? 20For you are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit which are God’s” (1st Corinthians 6:19-20). Remember your spirit is the faculty or the spiritual avenue through which you meet and truly worship God (John 4:24). So before you were born again, your spirit was dead and was therefore unwilling and unable to know God intimately (1st Corinthians 2:14), to love God supremely (1st John 2:15-17), to serve God faithfully (Philippians 3:17-19) and to glorify God exclusively (Galatians 5:19-21). But when you got born again, your dead spirit was made alive and became a living or a regenerated spirit that is now willing and able to know God intimately (1st John 5:20), to love God supremely (Romans 8:35-39), to serve God faithfully (Philippians 3:12-15) and to glorify God exclusively (1st Corinthians 10:31).
Therefore, if you surrender your regenerated spirit to Jesus Christ, then Jesus Christ through God the Holy Spirit would do the following four things to help you use your regenerated spirit exclusively for God’s glory and thus avoid misusing it or disusing it. First, He would help your regenerated spirit to have willingness and ability to know God intimately and thus avoid misusing it or disusing it. Second, He would help your regenerated spirit to have willingness and ability to love God supremely and thus avoid misusing it or disusing it. Third, He would help your regenerated spirit to have willingness and ability to serve God faithfully and thus avoid misusing it or disusing it. And fourth, He would help your regenerated spirit to have willingness and ability to glorify God exclusively and thus avoid misusing it or disusing it. Consequently, your regenerated spirit would always be used exclusively for God’s glory and thus it would not be misused or disused.
Sounds impossible and thus it must be unattainable? Not when you know and experience the limitless power and presence of Jesus Christ working in you through God the Holy Spirit who permanently indwells you (Romans 8:9-11), seals you throughout your life (Ephesians 1:13-14), and more importantly, He continuously works in you both to will and to do what pleases God (Philippians 2:13)! That’s why the Bible says that: “11For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 12Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; 13Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our savior Jesus Christ; 14Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify to Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works” (Titus 2:11-14). And then the Bible goes on to elaborate on this truth declaring that, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). In addition, the Bible goes on to give the following exhortation regarding this truth saying, “9Lie not to one another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his deeds, 10And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him” (Colossians 3:9-10). And to crown it all, the Bible categorically affirms the certainty of this new nature you have in Jesus Christ declaring that, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2nd Corinthians 5:17).
Therefore if you would grow deeply in love with the word of God taught in all the 66 books of the holy Bible by reading and obeying it daily, then no doubt that which seems impossible and unattainable would become very much possible and attainable. This is simply because Jesus Christ through God the Holy Spirit would give your regenerated spirit the willingness and the ability to know God intimately, to love God supremely, to serve God faithfully, and to Glorify God exclusively. However knowing and obeying the word of God taught throughout the whole Bible will not come without a price. There is an extremely high price to pay. And that extremely high price that you must pay to know and obey what the word of God teaches in all the 66 books of the holy Bible is your time. You must set apart adequate amount of time every day to read, study, memorize and meditate on the Bible so that you can obey and thus practice what the Bible teaches you!
So are you willing to pay this price by deliberately setting apart enough time each day to read the Bible? Remember, you always find time to do all those things you believe are very important in your life. Therefore as a Christian, you should always find time and adequate time for that matter to read the Bible, study it, memorize it, meditate on it, and more importantly obey all what it teaches you from Genesis 1:1 all the way to Revelation 22:21. And this is simply because what the Bible teaches you is infinitely important both for now and for eternity compared to anything else you might be doing, having or pursuing. So please read it. And read the whole of it from Genesis to Revelation, each one of all the 66 books of the holy Bible: 39 books in the Old Testament and 27 books in the New Testament. Yes indeed you can read the whole Bible. It is not that big.
The Bible has only 1,189 chapters, which if you would be reading 4 chapters per day, say for example 2 chapters in the morning and 2 chapters in the evening, it would take you only one year to read the whole Bible from cover to cover! By the way, you will find at the back of this book “PLAN FOR READING THE WHOLE BIBLE ONCE EVERY YEAR” which I have developed following this method of reading 4 chapters per day. In this plan, I suggest that you commit to be reading 2 chapters every morning to start your day with the word of God and 2 chapters every evening to end your day with the word of God. So do not fear these Bible chapters. They are not very long like the chapters of other books. In fact, Bible chapters are on average made up of twenty six verses and a verse is more or less like an average sentence. As a result, Bible chapters are very short. In fact, the longest chapter in the Bible is Psalm 119 which has 176 verses, most of which are very short. And by the way, all these 176 verses deal with the importance of knowing and obeying the word of God. Therefore you can easily read the whole Bible in one year. So resolve and thus commit yourself to be reading the whole Bible once every year to feed your soul and your spirit with the word of God. For the Bible will feed your mind and help you to be thinking good godly thoughts. It will feed your emotions and help you to be having good godly feelings. It will feed your will and help you to be making good godly decisions. And lastly, it will feed your regenerated spirit and help you to know God intimately, to love God supremely, to serve God faithfully, and to glorify God exclusively!
To enhance this, it definitely matters the Bible translation you will be using to accomplish this noble task of reading the Bible, studying it, memorizing it and meditating on it. While all Bible translations claim fidelity to the original autographs penned by the human authors whom God inspired to write the Bible, the fact of the matter is that there are notable and significant differences between various Bible translations. So what you need to know and consider when you buy a Bible is that the closer a Bible translation is to the original autograph, the closer it is to what God inspired human authors to write as His inerrant, infallible and inspired word.
Now, there two major collections of Bible manuscripts from which all these Bible translations we use today are translated from. So which of these two major collections of manuscripts best represent the original autographs which God Himself inspired human authors to write? Is it the Majority Text from which King James Bible was translated from way back in 1611 A.D.? Or is it the Critical Text from which many newer Bible translations have been translated from? Scholars are deeply divided on this crucial issue. But God does not leave us at the mercies of scholars when it comes to this very important question. I believe that God the Holy Spirit who inspired human authors to write every single word in the Bible comes to our aid whenever we read the Bible whether it is translated from the Majority Text or from the Critical Text by supernaturally protecting us from being misled or misguided by some ill-biased Bible translators in addition to helping us to arrive at the correct conclusion regarding any disputed word, phrase, clause or even a verse. Since I am not a scholar of Greek and Hebrew (the two major languages the Bible was originally written in), I have over the years been comparing and contrasting King James Bible translated from Majority Text to other English Bibles translated from the Critical Text including the 1965 Kikuyu Bible that is also translated from the Critical Text. And what I have noticed is that Bibles translated from the Critical Text have many omissions and alterations which undermine key doctrines of true Biblical Christianity, particularly the deity of Jesus Christ. [3] It is therefore for this reason that I regularly use and favorably recommend King James Bible, especially the Easy Reading Red Letter Edition that I have quoted throughout this book. In fact, this has motivated me to make this humble appeal to all interested readers of this book to be praying (as I usually do) for more King James Easy Reading Red Letter Bibles to be published and distributed widely all over the world. And if they are inclined, that they would also be praying for a Kikuyu Bible translated from Majority Text to be published as well, in order to spark and spur spiritual awakening amongst my fellow Kikuyus.
In addition to reading the Bible and obeying all what it teaches you, you also need the help of other true born again believers in Jesus Christ in your walk with God. To hit the proverbial nail on its head, no man is an island. Not in this world and certainly not in Christianity. Therefore you definitely need to join other true born again believers in Jesus Christ for corporate worship, prayers and study of the word of God among many other corporate Christian activities. In addition, you need to participate in the two mandatory Christian ordinances of being baptized in water by immersion and partaking of Holy Communion regularly with other true Christians. Hence you ought to develop this healthy Christian habit of engaging faithfully and regularly in an authentic Christian fellowship with other true born again believers in Jesus Christ in a Bible-believing, Bible-teaching and a Bible-practicing church (1st Corinthians 12:12-27, Ephesians 4:1-16 and Hebrews 10:21-25).
Now, the authentic Christian fellowship I am talking about is any gathering of two or more born again believers in Jesus Christ who engage in corporate worship of Yahweh God of the Bible as follows. First, they are united by their common saving faith in Jesus Christ. Second, they are guided and directed by God the Holy Spirit using all the 66 books of the holy Bible (39 books in the Old Testament and 27 books in the New Testament). And third, they are determined to always welcome unsaved people from all walks of life to come to their meetings so that they too can hear the true gospel of Jesus Christ and become truly and eternally saved. Therefore authentic Christian fellowship is not an exclusive club of true Christians where unsaved people are strictly not welcome but it is a true church of Jesus Christ where saved people gather to be equipped with the word of God and unsaved people are welcome to hear the true gospel of Jesus Christ so that they too can become truly and eternally saved. So in an authentic Christian fellowship you should expect to find these two things. First, there should be a thorough equipping of saved people with the word of God for the work of ministry commonly known as discipleship. And secondly, there should be a deliberate reaching of unsaved people with the true gospel of Jesus Christ to be saved commonly known as evangelism. In a nutshell, authentic Christian fellowship revolves around discipling saved people while evangelizing unsaved people.
It therefore goes without saying that as a true born again believer in Jesus Christ you need as a matter of your spiritual wellbeing to be engaging faithfully and regularly in an authentic Christian fellowship with other true born again believers in Jesus Christ in a Bible-believing, Bible-teaching and a Bible-practicing church. This is because, when you join other true born again believers in Jesus Christ in a Bible-believing, Bible-teaching and a Bible-practicing church, you first and foremost obey this clear commandment of God which says, “24And let us consider one another to provoke to love and good works: 25Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as you see the day approaching” (Hebrews 10:24-25). Secondly, you get to understand and experience the true meaning of the church of Jesus Christ which is described as “the body of Christ” in 1st Corinthians 12:12-31 showing that just as one organ of the body cannot function on its own but it needs all the other organs so you too need all the other members of the church of Jesus Christ in order to experience a God-glorifying Christian life. Thirdly, by joining other true born again believers in Jesus Christ in a Bible-believing, Bible-teaching and a Bible-practicing church, you get to fulfill all those “one another” commandments found throughout the whole Bible regarding what true Christians ought to be doing together. Finally, when you join other true born again believers in Jesus Christ in a Bible-believing, Bible-teaching and a Bible-practicing church, you get a golden opportunity to participate with other true Christians in the two mandatory Christian ordinances namely water baptism and Holy Communion. For once you get saved, then according to the commandment of Jesus Christ in Matthew 28:19-20, you should be baptized by another mature Christian by being immersed in water to signify that you have died to the old life of sin and you have been raised to the new spiritual life in Jesus Christ (Romans 6:3-5). Also, once you get saved, then you should be taking Holy Communion regularly with other true Christians obeying the words of our lord and savior Jesus Christ in Matthew 26:26-30, Mark 14:22-26 and Luke 22:14-22, which were later on echoed by Apostle Paul in 1st Corinthians 11:20-34 regarding why, how and when to take Holy Communion.
Now that you know the importance of joining other true born again believers in Jesus Christ in a Bible-believing, Bible-teaching and a Bible-practicing church, please do it, if you haven’t done it already. All you need to do according to Jeremiah 33:3 which says, “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you know not,” is to pray to God the Father asking Him to guide and direct you to a true church of Jesus Christ which believes, teaches and practices the Bible in the locality where you live, or where you work or even where you have travelled to for a short stay. Therefore call to God the Father in prayer and He will answer you and lead you to a gathering of two or more born again believers in Jesus Christ who engage in corporate worship of Yahweh God of the Bible guided and directed by all the teachings of the 66 books of the holy Bible, which they teach and apply in their lives based on the following four rules of interpreting the Bible.
First rule: Always remember that the Bible is the progressive revelation of the plan of God for salvation of sinful mankind which starts in the 39 books of the Old Testament and then it progresses on to its fullest, clearest and final version in the 27 books of the New Testament hence in order for you to interpret the Bible correctly, you must carefully consider what both the Old and the New Testament scriptures teach on that subject you are interpreting bearing in mind that the New Testament scriptures give you the fullest, clearest and the final revelation of that subject. Second rule: God says what He means and He means what He says hence the Bible must be interpreted literally unless it is plain and clear that the Bible verse or passage being interpreted is using figurative language such as symbols and metaphors. Third rule: Always allow the Bible to interpret itself by considering all the Bible passages in the Old and the New Testament which deal with the same subject so that you can come to the correct Bible meaning of the verse or the passage you are interpreting. Fourth rule: Never “read into” the Bible your own ideas or thoughts but instead you should always “read from” the Bible the message of God exactly as is clearly written on the Bible. In summary, therefore, God the Father can only lead you to a true church of Jesus Christ where Jesus Christ as the Head of that church guides and directs that church through God the Holy Spirit using all the 66 books of the holy Bible, nothing more, nothing less!
Therefore you are not under any biblical obligation to join or to remain in any fellowship or church that is not authentic but is known to be heretical meaning that it has one or all the following three marks of a heretical church. The first mark of a heretical church is denying or contradicting what the Bible clearly teaches on the following eight foundational doctrines which differentiate true biblical Christianity from false Christianity. The first foundational doctrine is that the whole Bible made up of 39 books of the Old Testament and 27 books of the New Testament is inerrant, infallible and inspired word of God which governs faith and practice of all true Christians. The second foundational doctrine is that the true nature of Yahweh or Jehovah God of the Bible is one God who exists eternally in three equal but distinct persons namely: God the Father, God the Son known as Jesus Christ and God the Holy Spirit in what is commonly known as the holy trinity. The third foundational doctrine is that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man all in one person, the second person of holy trinity. The fourth foundational doctrine is that Holy Spirit is God the third person of the holy trinity. The fifth foundational doctrine is that all human beings without any exceptions are born sinners by nature hence all human beings are sinners in desperate and urgent need of salvation. The sixth foundational doctrine is that salvation is a free gift of God which a repentant sinner receives by putting their faith in Jesus Christ and he or she is there and then justified or rather saved. The seventh foundational doctrine is that heaven is a literal place which shall be the final eternal abode for all people who are saved. And the eighth foundational doctrine is that hell is a literal place which shall be the final eternal abode for all people who die unsaved.
The second mark of a heretical church is adding or subtracting from the Bible thereby teaching church traditions, dogmas, personal dreams, visions and all other subjective experiences as truth even when all those subjective experiences clearly contradict and openly deny what is taught and affirmed throughout all the 66 books of the Holy Bible. The third mark of a heretical church is directly or indirectly allowing false teachings and false prophecies in their midst thereby knowingly misleading into spiritual destruction, mental destruction and even at times into physical destruction all those people who fellowship with them. So if you are in such a heretical church do not hesitate to immediately leave it because you have this clear command of God to do so: “3If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; 4He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof comes envy, strife, railings, evil surmising, 5perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw yourself” (1st Timothy 6:3-5).
Yes indeed, from such a heretical church withdraw yourself! For what has a sheep to do with a ravening wolf other than to be eaten? Or what has a true Christian to gain by listening week after week to a false teacher other than to be deceived to the deadly destruction of his or her soul? Therefore withdraw yourself from such a heretical church, but not so that you become a lone Christian who fellowships with no one else but yourself, but so that you can join a true church of Jesus Christ. So do not say that, “but I listen to sound biblical teachings on daily basis from a God-glorifying Christian radio station. Or I regularly watch sound biblical teachings on a God-glorifying Christian TV station. Or I regularly visit sound biblical websites and other online digital platforms from where I receive sound biblical teachings. Or I regularly read Christian books which have sound biblical teachings.” Do not say that. Reason being that all these sound biblical Christian radio stations, TV stations, books, websites and online digital platforms are supposed to complement what you are getting from an authentic Christian fellowship but they are not supposed to replace it or supplant it. In other words, these sound biblical resources are not supposed to make you a church-less lone Christian contrary to what the Bible teaches in Hebrews 10:19-25 that you should be regularly gathering together with other Christians. Therefore, in-person corporate worship of Yahweh God of the Bible is irreplaceable. And this is simply because of all those person-to-person, one on one church activities mandated by the holy Bible such as: regular gatherings of all Christians (Hebrews 10:22-25), water baptism of new converts (Matthew 28:19-20), partaking of Holy Communion together with other Christians (1st Corinthians 11:20-34), and experiencing God-glorifying Spirit-led use of all spiritual gifts whenever church members gather together (Romans 12:1-8, 1st Corinthians 12:7-11 and Ephesians 4:8-12) just to mention but a few.
However, if you live in a country where freedom of worship and freedom of association are nonexistent, try your level best to make use of online and offline digital platforms to access sound biblical teachings so that you can boost your spiritual growth. In addition, keep praying fervently that God would give you wisdom on how you can be having regular corporate worship of Yahweh God of the Bible albeit in small groups of just two or three Christians. And as you pursue this latter suggestion, know with certainty that while some people may despise and disrespect your authentic Christian fellowship of two or three Christians, Jesus Christ (whose only recognition matters) does not do that. Instead, Jesus Christ as the Head of the whole Church recognizes and honors with His special presence any authentic Christian fellowship of two or three Christians, just as He does to that of hundreds and thousands. And how we know that to be the case is because of the following comforting words Jesus Christ Himself spoke to His disciples on this issue, saying, “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them” (Mathew 18:20).
Personally, I have been encouraged by these words of Jesus Christ for a number of reasons. Top amongst them is the fact that from 2 October 2016 when I launched a Bible-believing and a Bible-teaching Church that I am currently planting in Thika town in central Kenya, I have not had up to date (June of 2024) authentic Christian fellowship of hundreds or even tens but of two or three Christians. Nevertheless, I have over all those years been faithfully pastoring those few Christians while fervently praying for numerical growth of this church in God’s timing and exclusively for God’s glory. So whether it is because of a slow numerical growth of a church like in my case or it is because you live in a country where there is no freedom of worship and freedom of association, be encouraged by those words of Jesus Christ in Matthew 18:20 if the only authentic Christian fellowship you can manage to have is made up of only two or three Christians. It is certainly better than none. And no doubt it is infinitely better than remaining in a church of hundreds or thousands of people where false teachings thrive or even where the “pastor” is nothing but a wolf in sheep’s clothing who exploits those people financially and lords it over them even to an extent of sexually molesting some of the women who attend services there. Simply put, if you will be faithfully and regularly engaging in an authentic Christian fellowship, know for sure that God the Holy Spirit will help you to put off the old lifestyle of sin and put on the new lifestyle of righteousness every day of your life.
In conclusion, if every day of your life you will be surrendering your regenerated spirit to Jesus Christ, then Jesus Christ will help you to put off the old lifestyle of sin by enabling you through God the Holy Spirit who permanently indwells you to overcome any temptation you might have of lacking the willingness and the ability to know God intimately, to love God supremely, to serve God faithfully and to glorify God exclusively. At the same time, He will help you to put on the new lifestyle of righteousness by giving you both the willingness and the ability to know God intimately, to love God supremely, to serve God faithfully and to glorify God exclusively. And with that we come to the end of examining how you should go about surrendering to Jesus Christ who you are: that is, your body, your healing soul and your regenerated spirit. So, let us now start examining together how you should go about surrendering to Jesus Christ what you have (i.e. your material possessions and your immaterial possessions such as spiritual gifts, natural abilities and acquired skills) every day of your life.
The second thing you must do as a born again believer in Jesus Christ is to completely surrender to Jesus Christ what you have: that is your material possessions and your immaterial possessions such as spiritual gifts, natural abilities and acquired skills. Furthermore, you ought to surrender to Jesus Christ what you have every day of your life. And this is because you need Jesus Christ to rule and reign on daily basis over what you have (i.e. your material possessions and your immaterial possessions) through God the Holy Spirit who permanently indwells you. For, when this happens, it gives God the Holy Spirit unlimited freedom to help you put off the old lifestyle of sin and put on the new lifestyle of righteousness every day of your life using these two ways. The first way is through God the Holy Spirit using the most important relationship you must always have with Him of being filled continuously with the Holy Spirit every day of your life. And the second way is through God the Holy Spirit using the following three most important spiritual tools you must always use as a Christian (i.e. the Bible, prayers, and authentic Christian fellowship) every day of your life. So let us see how you should go about surrendering to Jesus Christ what you have every day of your life, starting with your material possessions.
What must be humbling as well as encouraging to note is this undeniable biblical fact that you have God-given freedom of choice by which you get to freely choose what to do and what not to do. And this is more enhanced now that you are a true born again believer in Jesus Christ who is permanently indwelt by God the Holy Spirit who helps you to distinguish what is right from what is wrong. However, with this God-given freedom of choice comes also a crucial responsibility to always make right and wise choices in your life and avoid making wrong and foolish choices. The first wise choice you ought to make in your life according to these words of Jesus Christ is to, “Seek you first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). The good news is that you have already made this first wise choice in your life which happened when you sincerely repented toward God and truly believed in Jesus Christ as your personal lord and savior. That is when you actually chose the kingdom of Yahweh God of the Bible—the one and the only true and the living God there is—and received His righteousness that was imputed to you because of putting your faith in Jesus Christ as your personal lord and savior. So it therefore means that you have already made the right and wise choice regarding who you are (i.e. your natural body, your healing soul and your regenerated spirit), all of which you have already surrendered to Jesus Christ to save and sustain. Consequently, you are now ready to make the second wise choice in your life which is to completely surrender to Jesus Christ what you have (i.e. your material possessions and your immaterial possessions) so that He can help you to stop receiving, acquiring and using them for selfish gain and instead help you to start receiving, acquiring and using them for God’s glory all the days of your life.
This second wise choice in your life is also hinted to by these words of Jesus Christ in the latter portion of Matthew 6:33 where He said, “and all these things shall be added to you”. Though Jesus Christ was strictly referring to God’s promise to always provide food and clothing to His own children, this promise also reveals God’s willingness to provide you with all material and immaterial possessions you need in your life. Therefore it is of paramount importance to note that this second wise choice in your life which deals with what you have is actually what determines which direction your spiritual journey takes. For, you can erroneously view your salvation as a fire insurance which rescued you from eternal punishment in hell and thus sadly see no need to surrender to Jesus Christ what you have so that He can realign it to God’s perfect will for your life. Or you can correctly view your salvation as a divine surgery performed on your whole being which transformed you from a hopeless guilty sinner to a true worshipper of God the Father, who ought to bring God the Father maximum pleasure and glory through who you are (body, soul and spirit), what you have (material and immaterial possessions) and what you do (occupation, vocation and vacation) all the days of your life. Consequently, you ought to always remember that you have a crucial responsibility to make right and wise choices regarding what you have (i.e. your material possessions and your immaterial possessions such as spiritual gifts, natural abilities and acquired skills) so that you can spur your spiritual life to greater heights thereby bringing God the Father maximum pleasure and glory through who you are, what you have and what you do all the days of your life.
It is therefore for this reason that every day of your life you must surrender your material possessions to Jesus Christ so that through God the Holy Spirit who permanently indwells you, then He can help you to stop receiving, acquiring and using material possessions for selfish gain so that you can start receiving, acquiring and using all your material possessions for God’s glory all the days of your life. Our lord and savior Jesus Christ addressing this issue of not receiving, acquiring and using material possessions for selfish gain said, “Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consists not in the abundance of the things which he possesses” (Luke 12:15). And then He went on to give this commandment on how you should be receiving, acquiring and using all your material possessions for God’s glory saying, “19Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust does corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust does corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:19-21). And to sum up this matter on how you should be using all your material possessions for God’s glory all the days of your life, the Bible says that, “Whether therefore you eat, or drink, or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1st Corinthians 10:31). Therefore if you surrender all your material possessions to Jesus Christ just as those three scriptures above clearly exhort you to do, then Jesus Christ through God the Holy Spirit who permanently indwells you would help you to stop receiving, acquiring and using material possessions for selfish gain so that you can start receiving, acquiring and using all your material possessions for God’s glory all the days of your life. Consequently, you would be willing to avoid receiving, acquiring and using material possessions for selfish gain and instead be willing to start receiving, acquiring and using all your material possessions for God’s glory all the days of your life.
As a result, you would be willing like Zacchaeus was to return all material possessions you might have received or acquired unjustly to the rightful owners (Luke 19:1-10). In that regard, you would immediately return to the rightful owners all monies you might have received and acquired unjustly for selfish gain (Ephesians 4:28). Similarly, you would immediately return to the rightful owners all parcels of lands you might have received, acquired and have been using unjustly for selfish gain (1st Kings 21:1-29). Also, you would immediately return to the rightful owners all the buildings and motor vehicles you might have received, acquired and have been using unjustly for selfish gain (1st Timothy 6:6-10). Likewise, you would immediately return to the rightful owners all kinds of investments be they small, medium or large companies, businesses, etc, which you might have received and acquired unjustly for selfish gain (Psalm 62:10). In short, you would immediately return to the rightful owners all kinds of properties, items and things you might have received, acquired and have been using unjustly for selfish gain. And more importantly, you would resolve with unflinching determination to always be receiving, acquiring and using all your material possessions for God’s glory all the days of your life. Therefore, you would start working hard as you should so that you can legally and justly acquire your own God-ordained material possessions which you would be using for God’s glory all the days of your life (Proverbs 6:6-11 and Deuteronomy 8:10-18).
Seems impossible and thus it must be unattainable? Not so! Not when you have developed a healthy Christian habit of continuously asking God the Father to fill you with the Holy Spirit according to Luke 11:13 and Ephesians 5:18 so that God the Holy Spirit can help you to deny self. This is because, when self is seated on the throne of your life, it usurps God’s power and authority to rule and reign over your life making it hard for you to surrender all your material possessions to Jesus Christ as you should. But once you are filled with the Holy Spirit, God the Holy Spirit rules and reigns over who you are (your body, your soul and your spirit), what you have (your material possessions and your immaterial possessions such as spiritual gifts, natural abilities and acquired skills) and what you do (your occupation, your vocation and your vacation) thereby empowering you to become faithful and fruitful disciple of Jesus Christ who knows God intimately, loves God supremely, serves God faithfully and Glorifies God exclusively! Consequently, self is continuously denied its every attempt to rule and reign over your life thus enabling you to surrender all your material possessions to Jesus Christ every day of your life. And all these daily actions to deny self will be perfectly in keeping with these words of our lord and savior Jesus Christ who said, “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Luke 9:23). So the end result will be that Jesus Christ through God the Holy Spirit would help you to stop receiving, acquiring and using material possessions for selfish gain so that you can start receiving, acquiring and using all your material possessions for God’s glory all the days of your life.
And when that happens, then you will be fully convinced that all material possessions that you have or you will ever have in your life come from God the Father just as this verse clearly states, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17). And this is because God is the owner of everything in the whole universe according to Psalm 24:1. And as the owner of everything in the universe, God distributes material and immaterial possessions to the inhabitants of this world as He sees fit. This means that you are a steward or rather a manager of God’s property. Consequently, you ought to be faithful with what God has entrusted to you and also be contented with what God has given you, acknowledging that God knows the right thing you need and the right time you need it (1 Corinthians 4:2 and 1st Timothy 6:6-8). For the Bible says that, “For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly” (Psalm 84:11). Therefore you should never covet what belongs to other people because to do so is to find fault with the all-loving and all-wise Yahweh God of the Bible who knows what is good for you and the best time to give it to you.
Consequently, you should be contented with what God has given you just as the following scripture exhorts you to do, “6Now godliness with contentment is great gain. 7For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 8And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content” (1st Timothy 6:6-8—NKJV). Therefore you ought to guard against love of money which is the root of all evil (1st Timothy 6:10) by choosing to commit all your material possessions to be used at all times in the following two ways. The first way is through ensuring that all your material possessions are used to glorify God at all times and never ever used to support or even remotely promote anything that is evil, sinful or wicked. And the second way is through ensuring that your material possessions are used at all times to promote God-ordained ways and means of enlarging and entrenching the kingdom of God here on earth through your generous financial and material support of the work of God that is being done by faithful and fruitful disciples of Jesus Christ anywhere in the world, starting with the local church where you regularly attend. And once you do that, you can rest assured that God will help you to put off the old lifestyle of sin and put on the new lifestyle of righteousness every day of your life.
In conclusion, if every day of your life you will be surrendering your material possessions to Jesus Christ, then Jesus Christ through God the Holy Spirit who permanently indwells you will help you to put off the old lifestyle of sin by enabling you to stop receiving, acquiring and using material possessions for selfish gain. At the same time, He will help you to put on the new lifestyle of righteousness by enabling you to be receiving, acquiring and using all your material possessions for God’s glory all the days of your life. With that well understood, let us now see how you should go about surrendering to Jesus Christ your immaterial possessions every day of your life.
As we have seen in the previous section, surrendering to Jesus Christ what you have (i.e. your material possessions and your immaterial possessions such as spiritual gifts, natural abilities and acquired skills) is making the second wise choice you will ever make in your life after you have become truly and eternally saved. Therefore part and parcel of making this second wise choice in your life is to surrender to Jesus Christ all your immaterial possessions such as all your spiritual gifts, all your natural abilities and all your acquired skills. By so doing, Jesus Christ through God the Holy Spirit who permanently indwells you will help you to stop misusing, disusing or even using your immaterial possessions for selfish gain and instead help you to start discovering, nurturing and using all your immaterial possessions for God’s glory all the days of your life. Therefore this second wise choice in your life determines which direction your spiritual journey will take. This is because when you make it, you spur your spiritual life and journey to greater heights of always bringing God the Father maximum pleasure and glory through who you are, what you have and what you do all the days of your life. However when you fail to make it, you plunge your spiritual life and journey into oblivion inasmuch as your life will inevitably be dominated by worldliness, carnality and selfishness.
It is therefore for this reason that every day of your life you must surrender all your immaterial possessions to Jesus Christ so that through God the Holy Spirit who permanently indwells you, then He can help you to stop misusing, disusing or even using your immaterial possessions for selfish gain and instead help you to start discovering, nurturing and using all your immaterial possessions for God’s glory all the days of your life. Apostle Paul addressing this issue wrote: “17And whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him. … 23And whatsoever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not to men; 24Knowing that of the Lord you shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for you serve the Lord Christ” (Colossians 3:17, 23-24). Then Apostle Paul added the following regarding discovering, nurturing and using spiritual gifts for God’s glory: “6Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; 7Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teaches, on teaching; 8Or he that exhorts, on exhortation: he that gives, let him do it with simplicity; he that rules, with diligence; he that shows mercy, with cheerfulness” (Romans 12:6-8). And to show us that each Christian has at least one spiritual gift which he or she should discover, nurture and use for God’s glory, Apostle Peter wrote, “As every man has received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1st Peter 4:10). And to crown it all, the Bible says that, “15See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, 16Redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:15-16). This scripture underline the fact that time is of the essence in discovering, nurturing and using all your spiritual gifts, all your natural abilities and all your acquired skills for God’s glory.
Therefore if you surrender to Jesus Christ all your immaterial possessions (i.e. all your spiritual gifts, all your natural abilities and all your acquired skills), then Jesus Christ through God the Holy Spirit who permanently indwells you and who also continuously works in you both to will and to do what pleases God would do the following three things. First, He would help you to stop misusing, disusing or even using your spiritual gifts for selfish gain and instead help you to be discovering, nurturing and using all your spiritual gifts for God’s glory all the days of your life. Second, He would help you to stop misusing, disusing or even using your natural abilities for selfish gain and instead help you to be discovering, nurturing and using all your natural abilities for God’s glory all the days of your life. And third, He would help you to stop misusing, disusing or even using your acquired skills for selfish gain and instead help you to be nurturing and using all your acquired skills for God’s glory all the days of your life. Consequently, none of your spiritual gifts, your natural abilities or your acquired skills would be misused, disused or even used for selfish gain but instead each one of them would be discovered, nurtured and used for God’s glory all the days of your life.
This is because, Jesus Christ through God the Holy Spirit would give you both the willingness and the ability to stop misusing, disusing or even using your spiritual gifts for selfish gain and instead help you to be discovering, nurturing and using all your spiritual gifts for God’s glory all the days of your life. So to begin with, you would never misuse, disuse or even use for selfish gain any of the nine manifestation gifts listed in 1st Corinthians 12:7-11 which God the Holy Spirit might manifest when and how He sees fit in and through your life. In that regard, you would always use manifestation gifts of word of wisdom, word of knowledge, faith, healing, working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, speaking in tongues and interpretation of tongues to glorify God and edify the church. Consequently, you would never use any of these nine manifestation gifts to seek your own glory or worst of all to enrich yourself by directly or indirectly making people to pay you when Holy Spirit uses you to minister to them using any of these gifts. Similarly, you would never misuse, disuse or even use for selfish gain any of the seven motivation gifts listed in Romans 12:6-8 which God the Holy Spirit might motivate you to discover, nurture and use for God’s glory. In that regard, you would always use motivation gifts of prophecy, ministry, teaching, exhorting, giving, leading, and showing of mercy to glorify God and edify the church. As a result, you would never use any of these motivation gifts to seek your own glory or to enrich yourself. Likewise, you would never misuse, disuse or even use for selfish gain any of the four ministry gifts or offices listed in Ephesians 4:11 as Apostle, prophet, evangelist and a pastor-teacher. (And that is only if Jesus Christ the head of the church has permitted you to exercise any of those four gifts in His church according to the requirements He has clearly stipulated in the Bible. For example, to serve as a pastor-teacher you must have all the qualifications outlined in 1st Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9). So if you are called and qualified, then you would always use any of these four offices in the church of Jesus Christ to glorify God and edify the church and never ever for seeking self-glory or selfish gain.
Second, Jesus Christ through God the Holy Spirit would give you both the willingness and the ability to stop misusing, disusing or even using all your natural abilities for selfish gain and instead help you to be discovering, nurturing and using all your natural abilities for God’s glory all the days of your life. Consequently, you would never misuse, disuse or even use any of your natural abilities for selfish gain but instead you would use all your natural abilities for God’s glory. In that regard, if you have natural abilitiy to compose, play and sing music, then you would always use it to compose, play and sing God-glorifying music and never again use it to compose, play and sing sin-promoting self-glorifying music. Similarly, if you have natural abilitiy to write or author books, then you would always use it to write God-glorifying books, magazines, phamlets, and any other such kind of God-glorifying literature and never again use it to write sin-promoting self-glorifying books, novels, magazines, phamlets, and any other kind of sin-filled and sin-promoting literarure. Likewise, if you have natural abilitiy to invent, assemble and repair mechanical or electrical gadgets including all kinds of machines, then you would always use it to glorify God and never again use it to enrich yourself by charging your clients exorbitant fees and prices. Also, if you have natural abilitiy to paint and draw, then you would always use it to paint and draw God-glorifying paintings and drawings and never again use it to paint and draw sin-promoting self-glorifying paintings and drawings. Also, if you have natural abilitiy to knit, then you would always use it to knit God-glorifying products and never again use it to knit sin-promoting self-glorifying products. Also, if you have natural abilitiy to excel in sports and athletics, then you would always use it to glorify God and never again use it for self glory by seeking to become a “star” or an “idol” the same way unsaved sportsmen and sportswomen seek to be idolized as gods and goddesses respectively. Finally, you would always use all your natural abilities for God’s glory and never again misuse, disuse or even use any of them for selfish gain.
Third, Jesus Christ through God the Holy Spirit would give you both the willingness and the ability to stop misusing, disusing or even using all your acquired skills for selfish gain and instead help you to be nurturing and using all your acquired skills for God’s glory all the days of your life. Consequently, you would never misuse, disuse or even use any of your acquired skills for selfish gain but instead you would use all your acquired skills for God’s glory. In that regard, you would always use all your acquired skills of reading, writing and doing arithmetics for God’s glorify and never again to promote all kinds of sins and rebellion against God. And if God has blessed you with acquired skills in mechanics or in carpentry or in masonry or in metalwork or in plumbing or in tailoring or in electrical and electronics, etc, then you would always use those skills to glorify God and never again to rip off your clients. Similarly, if God has blessed you with acquired skills in science or in technology or in engineering or in mathematics or in medicine or in pharmacy or in nursing or in geology or in linguistics, etc, then you would always use any of those skills to glorify God and never again to enrich yourself by charging your clients exorbitant fees and prices. Likewise, if God has blessed you with acquired skills in fine arts such as painting, drawing, music, sculpturing, etc, then you would always use those skills for God’s glorify and never again to promote sin and rebellion against God. Also, if God has blessed you with acquired skills in poetry and cinematography, then you would always use those skills to promote and proclaim spiritual truths and biblical facts about God and godliness and never again to promote sin and rebellion against God. Also, if God has blessed you with acquired skills in accounting or in auditing or in entrepreneurship or in economics or in business management, etc, then you would always use those skills to glorify God and never again to rip off your clients by illegally enriching yourself through corruption. So to crown it all, you would always use all your acquired skills for God’s glory and never again misuse, disuse or even use any of them for selfish gain.
Sounds impossible and thus it must be unattainable? Not so! Not when you are used to being filled continuously with the Holy Spirit just as you are commanded to do in Ephesians 5:18. This is simply because, when you are filled continuously with the Holy Spirit, you give unlimited freedom to God the Holy Spirit to rule and reign over who you are, what you have and what you do (Acts 1:8; 4:8-12, 31). As a result, God the Holy Spirit gives you the willingness and the ability to completely surrender to Jesus Christ all your immaterial possessions such as all your spiritual gifts, all your natural abilities and all your acquired skills (Philippians 2:13). Additionally, when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, God the Holy Spirit is free to manifest any of the nine manifestation gifts listed in 1st Corinthians 12:7-11 in and through your life and that is exclusively when and how God the Holy Spirit sees fit. Also, when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, God the Holy Spirit is free to motivate you to use any of the seven motivation gifts listed in Romans 12:6-8 to glorify God and edify the church. Also, when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, God the Holy Spirit is free to empower you to use any of the four ministry gifts or offices listed in Ephesians 4:11 to glorify God and edify the church. And lastly, when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, God the Holy Spirit is free to help you use all your natural abilities and all your acquired skills for God’s glory. Inevitably, the end result would be that Jesus Christ through God the Holy Spirit who works in you both to will and to do what pleases God would help you to stop misusing, disusing or even using all your immaterial possessions for selfish gain and instead help you to start discovering, nurturing and using all your immaterial possessions for God’s glory all the days of your life.
Now, as for me, surrendering all my immaterial possessions to Jesus Christ, particularly my acquired skills did not come easy. This is because, when I got saved on Saturday 15 May 2004, I was waiting to graduate in two months time with a degree of Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Engineering from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) in Juja, central Kenya. So my initial plan before and even after I got saved was to immediately get a scholarship so that I could do a Master’s degree in the field of solar energy, hoping that God willing I could proceed on to earn a Ph.D. in the same field and eventually become a Professor in the field of harnessing solar energy. That is what I wanted to do with my life. It was the career path and the preferred profession that I wanted to pursue in my life. Moreover, I thought it was perfectly in order since many things were lining up to point in that direction. First, the research project I had done in my fourth and fifth years of study as a partial fulfillment of the requirements for my degree in Agricultural Engineering received great approval soon after my graduation. This is because, based on it, I co-authored with the Lecturer who supervised that research project a scientific paper titled Performance of a solar dryer with limited sun tracking capability which was received, accepted and then duly published in the Journal of Food Engineering and has been available online at www.sciencedirect.com since 26 April 2005. And second, the prospects of getting a full scholarship to do the forementioned master’s degree at JKUAT were almost coming to fruition by the end of March, 2006. Consequently, I thought that my dream was about to come true of advancing in my profession right from acquiring MSc in the field of solar energy to earning a Ph.D. in the same field till God willing I become a Professor in the field of harnessing solar energy. Though my intentions were not at all sinful inasmuch as all I intended to do was to help my country Kenya and all other countries along the equator to optimally harness solar energy they have in abundance in order to meet their ever-increasing energy needs, God had a different plan for my life nonetheless.
This different plan that God had for my life was not a plan that I could have known on my own neither stumbled upon it by trial and error. No, not at all! Instead, this was a plan that I could only know and embrace through sincerely surrendering to Jesus Christ not just who I am but also what I have and what I do so that He can do with me whatever He wants, whenever He wants and however He wants. And this is exactly what happened. Throughout December of 2005, I prayed fervently to God the Father asking Him to reveal to me His perfect plan and purpose for my life and also help me to embark on it wholeheartedly, starting from 1 January 2006. And true to His word in Jeremiah 33:3 which says, “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you know not,” God revealed His plan and purpose for my life. It started with a great shake up to dislodge me from the throne of my life. For, even though I was truly saved, I was nevertheless still sitting on the throne of my life attempting to guide and direct my life instead of letting my lord and my savior Jesus Christ to do it for me. This great shake up which was extremely painful happened between January and March of 2006 and led me to eventually vacate the throne of my life when I willingly surrendered the throne of my life to Jesus Christ my personal lord and savior who rightfully deserve to sit on it.
This happened on Wednesday 29 March 2006 between 9 and 10 pm when I vacated the throne of my life and willingly surrendered it to my lord and savior Jesus Christ. So in this serene hour of the night, I humbly asked God the Father to fill me with the Holy Spirit according to His promise in Luke 11:13, while at the same time, I unreservedly surrendered to my lord and savior Jesus Christ who I am (my body, my soul and my spirit), what I have (my material possessions and my immaterial possessions such as spiritual gifts, natural abilities and acquired skills) and what I do (my occupation, my vocation and my vacation) so that He can guide and direct my life through God the Holy Spirit however He wants, whenever He wants and wherever He wants. The end result was that I willingly and joyfully accepted God’s perfect plan and purpose for my life which entails reaching unsaved people with the true gospel of Jesus Christ while equipping saved people with the word of God in all the 66 books of the holy Bible. Consequently, I accepted that while there was nothing wrong or sinful about advancing in my profession till I could have eventually become a Professor in the field of harnessing solar energy, God had nevertheless ordained me before He formed me in my mother’s womb to become a Christian author and a Pastor-Teacher. Hence I willingly shelved all my ambitions to become a Professor in the field of harnessing solar energy and joyfully embraced God’s perfect will for my life to become a Christian author and a Pastor-Teacher.
In short, it was by surrendering to Jesus Christ all my immaterial possessions, particularly my acquired skills that I got to discover and embrace God’s perfect will for my life. And so you can. You can surrender all your immaterial possessions to Jesus Christ and by so doing get to discover and embrace God’s perfect will for your life. Of course not everyone is called by God to leave their profession like I did. I believe that not many people are truly called by God to leave their profession or career so that they can serve Him in “full time ministry” because all Christians are in full time ministry whenever and wherever they are. However, there are those Christians whom after salvation God sees it fit to call them to leave their profession or career so that they can serve Him full time preaching to all unsaved people the true gospel of Jesus Christ while teaching all saved people the whole Bible. Since there is a possibility that you could be one of them, the best thing you can do is to find out whether or not you have such a calling by humbly asking God the Father to reveal to you what He ordained you to become before He formed you in your mother’s womb (see Jeremiah 1:5 and 33:3). And if you find out that you are one of those many Christians whom, even before you got saved, God had already ordered your steps and stops into the career or profession He had ordained for you before He formed you in your mother’s womb; then use that career or profession to advance the kingdom of God. Imagine what could happen if all Christians did that. Imagine what could happen in the field of entertainment if all Christians who are gifted by God with the skills of composing, playing and singing music would be using those skills to advance the kingdom of God. Also, imagine what could happen in schools, colleges and universities if all Christian teachers, tutors and lecturers working there would be doing everything they can to point students to Jesus Christ for eternal salvation of their souls. Lastly, imagine what could happen in hospitals if all Christian doctors, pharmacists, clinicians, nurses and technicians working there would be concerned not just for the physical healing of all their patients but also for their spiritual healing such that they would be doing all they can to point their patients to Jesus Christ for eternal salvation of their souls. Therefore kindly join the growing number of Christians who are using all their acquired skills for the advancement of the kingdom of God.
In conclusion, if every day of your life you will be surrendering your immaterial possessions to Jesus Christ, then Jesus Christ will help you to put off the old lifestyle of sin by enabling you through God the Holy Spirit who permanently indwells you to stop misusing, disusing or even using your immaterial possessions for selfish gain. At the same time, He will help you to put on the new lifestyle of righteousness by enabling you to discover, nurture and use all your immaterial possessions for God’s glory all the days of your life. And with that we come to the end of seeing how you should go about surrendering to Jesus Christ what you have: that is your material and immaterial possessions. So, let us now see how you should go about surrendering to Jesus Christ what you do (i.e. your occupation, your vocation and your vacation) every day of your life.
The third thing you must do as a born again believer in Jesus Christ is to completely surrender to Jesus Christ what you do: that is, your occupation, your vocation and your vacation. Furthermore, you ought to surrender to Jesus Christ what you do every day of your life. And this is because you need Jesus Christ to rule and reign on daily basis over what you do (i.e. your occupation, your vocation and your vacation) through God the Holy Spirit who permanently indwells you. For, when this happens, it gives God the Holy Spirit unlimited freedom to help you put off the old lifestyle of sin and put on the new lifestyle of righteousness every day of your life using these two ways. The first way is through God the Holy Spirit using the most important relationship you must always have with Him of being filled continuously with the Holy Spirit every day of your life. And the second way is through God the Holy Spirit using the following three most important spiritual tools you must always use as a Christian (i.e. the Bible, prayers, and authentic Christian fellowship) every day of your life. So let us see how you should go about surrendering to Jesus Christ what you do every day of your life, starting with your occupation.
The third wise choice you will ever make in your life after you have become truly and eternally saved is to surrender to Jesus Christ what you do (i.e. your occupation, your vocation and your vacation) so that He can help you to stop engaging in all ungodly occupations and instead help you to get godly occupation and be using it for God’s glorify all the days of your life. Just like the second wise choice, the third wise choice you will ever make in your life after you have become truly and eternally saved helps you to spur your spiritual life and journey to greater heights of bringing God the Father maximum pleasure and glory through who you are, what you have and what you do all the days of your life. It is therefore for this reason that every day of your life you must surrender your occupation to Jesus Christ so that through God the Holy Spirit who permanently indwells you, then He can help you to stop engaging in all ungodly occupations and instead help you to get godly occupation and be using it for God’s glorify all the days of your life. Apostle Paul addressing this issue wrote, “Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needs” (Ephesians 4:28). Then writing to the church of Colossae, Apostle Paul added the following, “23And whatsoever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not to men; 24Knowing that of the Lord you shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for you serve the Lord Christ” (Colossians 3:23-24). Therefore if you surrender your occupation to Jesus Christ, then Jesus Christ through God the Holy Spirit would help you to stop engaging in all ungodly occupations and instead help you to get godly occupation and be using it for God’s glorify all the days of your life. Consequently, you would resolve to always be avoiding all ungodly occupations and instead get godly occupation and be using it for God’s glory all the days of your life.
As a result, you would be willing to immediately stop engaging in all ungodly occupations you might have been engaging in before you were saved such as peddling of illicit drugs or making and selling illicit brews or stealing or working as a prostitute or operating money laundering syndicates or running gambling business or aiding and abetting abortion and all other kinds of crimes. Moreover you would be willing to get godly occupation and be using it for God’s glory all the days of your life. In that regard, if God has blessed you with an occupation as a businessman or as a business woman, then you would always use it to glorify God and never again to rip off your clients by either overcharging them or selling fake or faulty products to them. Similarly, if God has blessed you with an occupation as an electrician or as a mechanic or as a carpenter or as a mason or as welder or as a plumber or as a tailor or as a shoemaker, etc, then you would always use it to glorify God and never again to exploit your customers for selfish gain. Likewise, if God has blessed you with an occupation as a teacher or as a lecturer, then you would always use it to glorify God and never again to mistreat pupils and students seeking to lord it over them. Also, if God has blessed you with an occupation as a doctor or as a pharmacist or as a clinician or as a nurse, etc, then you would always use it to glorify God and never again to enrich yourself through charging exorbitant fees and prices. Also, if God has blessed you with an occupation as a mechanical engineer or as an electrical engineer or as a civil engineer or as an agricultural engineer, then you would always use it to glorify God by coming up with excellent designs and never again to rip off your clients by compromising on standards and safety for monetary gain. Also, if God has blessed you with an occupation as a manager or as an administrator, then you would always use it to glorify God and never again to lord it over your juniors while secretly stealing money to enrich yourself. Finally, if God has blessed you with an occupation as a government officer, then you would always use it to glorify God and never again to seek influence and affluence through corruption.
Sounds impossible and thus it must be unattainable? Not so! Not when you have learnt a healthy Christian habit of being filled continuously with the Holy Spirit as you are commanded to do in Ephesians 5:18. This is because when you are being filled continuously with the Holy Spirit, God the Holy Spirit has unlimited freedom to rule and reign over who you are (your body, your soul and your spirit), what you have (your material possessions and your immaterial possessions) and what you do (your occupation, your vocation and your vacation). As a result, God the Holy Spirit works in you both the willingness and the ability to completely surrender to Jesus Christ your occupation according to Philippians 2:13 thereby making it possible and attainable for you to stop engaging in all ungodly occupations and instead to get godly occupation and to be using it for God’s glory all the days of your life. Furthermore, this is made easier and more enjoyable if you have learnt (as you should) a healthy Christian habit of always using the three most important spiritual tools you must always use as a Christian namely: 1) the Bible, 2) prayers, and 3) authentic Christian fellowship. And once you learn to do that, then, Jesus Christ through God the Holy Spirit who works in you both to will and to do what pleases God would help you to stop engaging in all ungodly occupations and instead help you to get godly occupation and to be using it for God’s glory all the days of your life.
Imagine what could happen if all true Christians (i.e. all true born again believers in Jesus Christ) stopped engaging in all ungodly occupations and instead got godly occupations and used them for God’s glory all the days of their lives. For example, imagine what could happen in the society should all true Christians stop stealing, conning, gambling, paying and receiving bribes, engaging in money laundering activities, making and selling ungodly digital content, etc, and instead commit to be working hard to provide for themselves and others just as the Bible teaches in Ephesians 4:28. No doubt, many unsaved people especially those from other religions would not only admire Christianity but also they would sincerely repent all their sins and truly believe in Jesus Christ as their personal lord and savior and thus become true Christians themselves. Also imagine what could happen to the pornographic industry should all true Christians stop secretly viewing pornographic content. No doubt, the pornographic industry would suffer a heavy economic blow leading eventually to its collapse. Also imagine how many lives of babies could be saved all over the world should all true Christian doctors, clinicians and nurses stop aiding and abetting abortion and all true Christian women stop secretly aborting babies. Likewise, imagine the spiritual growth and the limitless power of God which all the true churches in the whole world could experience should all true Christians completely stop engaging in astrology, divination, fortunetelling, magic, necromancy, sorcery and witchcraft.
Similarly, imagine also what could happen to gambling and betting industry should all true Christians stop swallowing the lie of Satan that gambling and betting are some of the many justifiable ways of earning an income and instead realize that these practices are actually condemned by God in the Bible, specifically in Proverbs 13:11; 20:21; 28:20 and Jeremiah 17:11. Secondly and more importantly, imagine what could happen to gambling and betting industry should all true Christians realize that all forms of gambling and betting thrive and survive on the unholy trinity of greed, covetousness and love of money which is the root of all evil, each of which is espoused by both the promoters and the participants of gambling and betting practices. In light of those facts, all true Christians should forthwith stop promoting or participating in any gambling and betting practices. No doubt, should that happen, most of those radio and TV stations which depend on gambling and betting to keep afloat would have to close down because all true Christians would finally realize that gambling and betting practices have nothing to do with God blessing the so-called “lucky winners” as is usually proclaimed by the promoters. But rather, it is a subtle way through which promoters of gambling and betting practices exploit participants’ greed, covetousness and love of money, to fleece them of their meager yet hard-earned money. And they cleverly do this by giving the so-called “lucky winners” just a small percentage of all the money which the participants of that gambling and betting activity send to them while they greedily keep the rest of the money in their insatiable bid to enrich themselves. And to make the matter worse, promoters of gambling and betting practices from these radio and TV stations repeatedly parade and publicize the so-called “lucky winners” to lure more people into these gambling and betting practices while reassuring the would-be participants that what they are doing is legal and licensed hence it is okay to unreservedly participate in it.
It is therefore for this reason that all true Christians should always remember that, in these last days we are living in prior to the soon return of our lord and savior Jesus Christ to rapture His church, there will be a formidable almost unstoppable trend all over the world to legalize, license and promote many sinful and ungodly practices such as abortion, homosexuality, euthanasia, gambling, betting, etc. Consequently, every true Christian must always remember that not everything that is legalized, licensed and promoted is actually right, good and godly to engage in because some of them are outrightly sinful, evil and ungodly. In other words, just because something is legal does not make it moral. For example, just because there is a growing trend in the whole world to legalize homosexuality, that does not and cannot make homosexuality moral simply because it is categorically condemned by God as sin in Genesis 19:1-26, Leviticus 18:22; 20:13, Romans 1:24-27, 1st Corinthians 6:9-11 and 1st Timothy 1:8-10. Likewise, just because gambling and betting industry is legalized in a country, that does not and cannot make it moral simply because it is categorically condemned by God as sin in Proverbs 13:11; 20:21; 28:20 and Jeremiah 17:11. Therefore the only right and God-glorifying thing to do as a true Christian is to totally shun all gambling and betting practices and instead embrace all other God-glorifying ways and means of earning an income. And with that strong appeal, I kindly request you to join the growing number of true Christians who have purposed in their hearts to completely stop engaging in all ungodly occupations and instead they have purposed to get godly occupations and to be using them for God’s glory all the days of their lives.
In conclusion, if every day of your life you will be surrendering your occupation to Jesus Christ, then Jesus Christ will help you to put off the old lifestyle of sin by enabling you through God the Holy Spirit who permanently indwells you to stop engaging in all ungodly occupations. At the same time, He will help you to put on the new lifestyle of righteousness by enabling you to get godly occupation which you will be using for God’s glory all the days of your life. And with that well understood, let us now see how you should go about surrendering to Jesus Christ your vocation every day of your life.
As I mentioned in the previous section, surrendering to Jesus Christ your vocation is part and parcel of making the third wise choice you will ever make in your life after you have become truly and eternally saved. Unlike occupation which primarily is the work you do to earn a living, vocation by its very definition is any kind of work that you have special fitness or ability to do for a noble cause of serving God (in case of true Christians) and for a noble cause of serving humanity (in case of unsaved people). So a person engaged in a vocation is first of all able to skillfully and excellently do that work. Secondly, that person does that work for a noble cause of either serving God or serving humanity but not primarily for monetary gain. Furthermore, a person gets to their preferred vocation because of the insatiable passion they have to pursue that particular vocation for a noble cause but not necessarily because of the grades they got in their academic pursuit. Additionally, most of the people who engaged in vocation do so because of the special calling or enabling that God has graciously bestowed upon them. Therefore vocation from a Christian perspective is what you do as a Christian because you have a calling of God that is demonstrated by the insatiable passion and the unstoppable will and zeal you have to use all your spiritual gifts, all your natural abilities and all your acquired skills to serve God. Notably, what makes a vocation that a Christian has different from a vocation which an unsaved person might have is the fact that all Christian vocations spring out of the seven motivation gifts listed in Romans 12:6-8 while all vocations of unsaved people spring out of insatiable passion they might have to do something noble either for self satisfaction or for fame.
Now all Christian vocations spring out of the following seven motivation gifts listed in Romans 12:6-8 as follows: 1) prophecy, 2) ministry, 3) teaching, 4) exhorting, 5) giving, 6) leading, and 7) showing mercy. In a nutshell, God the Holy Spirit uses these seven motivation gifts to motivate Christians to use all their natural abilities and all their acquired skills to serve God. To give you a taste of what I am talking about, here are some of the Christian vocations which spring out of the motivation gifts of teaching, exhorting and prophecy. First is a call of God to become a pastor-teacher. Second is a call of God to broadcast the truth of God through establishing as well as working in Christian radio and Television stations and all other online and offline platforms. Third is a call of God to become a Christian author who writes sound biblical books. Fourth is a call of God to become a Christian apologist who defends Christian faith from critics of biblical Christianity using all the teachings of the 66 books of the Bible in conjunction with historical facts, philosophical truths and scientific evidences, which confirm all the teachings of Biblical Christianity to be both true and reasonable. Fifth is a call of God to learn Hebrew and Greek (the two major original languages that the Bible was written in) for the purposes of translating the Bible into different languages. Sixth is a call of God to record and produce audio Bibles. And seventh is a call of God to compose music to convey sound biblical truths.
Likewise, here are some of the Christian vocations which spring out of the motivation gifts of ministry (serving) and showing mercy. First is a call of God to establish orphanages to help needy orphans. Second is a call of God to help street families and children. Third is a call of God to provide relief food and other items to the needy people in the society or people who are facing calamities. Fourth is a call of God to build and run Christian based schools and hospitals. And fifth is a call of God to serve God as a missionary doctor, nurse, teacher, engineer, mechanic, electrician, carpenter, mason, etc. Lastly, here are some of the Christian vocations which spring out of the motivation gifts of leading and giving. First is a call of God to lead a church or a parachurch organization. Second is a call of God to lead in public sector as a God-glorifying government officer. And third is a call of God to be giving money and other materials generously to support the work of God.
These and many more other vocations that I could not list here because of the limitations of space and time are some of the Christian vocations you might have or you will eventually have once you know and embrace God’s perfect will for your life. So if you haven’t discovered what your vocation is, ask God to reveal it to you, and He will do it. However, once you discover and start using your Christian vocation, note that you must be surrendering it to Jesus Christ on daily basis so that He can help you through God the Holy Spirit to stop using it for selfish gain and instead help you to be using it for God’s glory all the days of your life. Our lord and savior Jesus Christ alluded to this truth when He said the following to His disciples in what is commonly known as the golden rule, “Therefore all things whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do you even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets” (Matthew 7:12). Then writing to the church of Corinth, Apostle Paul encouraged all Christians to always use their vocation for God’s glory saying, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be you steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1st Corinthians 15:58). Finally this scripture shows us that it is God who calls and gives people special fitness or ability to perform certain tasks which we refer to as vocations: “2See, I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah: 3And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, 4To devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, 5And in cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship” (Exodus 31:2-5). Therefore if you surrender your vocation to Jesus Christ, then Jesus Christ through God the Holy Spirit would help you to stop using your vocation for selfish gain and instead help you to be using your vocation for God’s glory all the days of your life. Consequently, you would resolve to always be using your vocation for God’s glory all the days of your life.
As a result, if you have motivation gifts of teaching, exhorting and prophecy: then you would have an insatiable passion and unstoppable will and zeal to see to it that all the teachings of the 66 books of the holy Bible are clearly proclaimed and are truly believed by all people in all places throughout the whole world. So first and foremost, you would have great will and zeal to teach the whole counsel of God from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21, if God has called you to become a pastor-teacher. Or you would have great will and zeal to establish and run sound biblical Christian radio and TV stations and all other online and offline platforms, if God has called you to become a Christian broadcaster of the truth of God. Or you would have great will and zeal to write sound biblical books, if God has called you to become a Christian author. Or you would have great will and zeal to become a Christian apologist, if God has called you to defend Christian faith from critics of biblical Christianity. Or finally you would have great will and zeal to translate Bible into various languages, if God has called you to become a Bible translator.
And if you have motivation gift of showing mercy, then you would have an insatiable passion and unstoppable will and zeal to alleviate pain and suffering from other people. Consequently, you would have great compassion for orphans such that you would be regularly volunteering to help them even to an extent of establishing orphanages for them. Or you would have great will and zeal to help street families and children and all other homeless people. Or you would have compassion to provide relief food and other items to the needy people in the society and those people who are facing disasters and calamities. And if you have motivation gift of ministry or serving, then you would have an insatiable passion and unstoppable will and zeal to use all your natural abilities and all your acquired skills to serve other people and by so doing serve God. So you would have great will and zeal to serve needy people as a missionary doctor, nurse, teacher, engineer, mechanic, electrician, carpenter, mason, etc. Or you would have great will and zeal to build and run Christian based schools and Christian based hospitals to serve needy people and by so doing serve God. And if you have motivation gift of giving, then you would give your money and other resources generously and regularly to support the work of God. Finally, if you have motivation gift of leading, then you would humbly and diligently lead either in a church or in a parachurch organization or even in a public sector as a God-glorifying government officer. If all Christians do that, then the limitless transformative power of Christianity will be felt in every society wherever Christianity goes!
This seemingly impossible and unattainable Christian life is very much possible and attainable if you have a healthy Christian habit of being filled continuously with the Holy Spirit just as you are commanded to do in Ephesians 5:18. This is because, when you are filled continuously with the Holy Spirit, God the Holy Spirit gives you both the willingness and the ability to surrender to Jesus Christ your vocation. Also, when you are filled continuously with the Holy Spirit, God the Holy Spirit produces in your life the fruit of Spirit which is love that is demonstrated by joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness and self control (Galatians 5:22-23). For, it is by the means of this fruit of Spirit that you will be able to love God supremely by loving other people selflessly using your vocation. Also, totally surrendering your vocation to Jesus Christ cannot be impossible or unattainable if you have a healthy Christian habit of reading, studying, memorizing, meditating and more importantly obeying the word of God taught in all of the 66 books of the Bible every day of your life. This is due to the fact that when you know and obey the word of God, that word of God has the power to transform you into the person that God wants you to be (Hebrews 4:12). Also, when you have a healthy Christian habit of always praying effective fervent prayers for God’s will to be done in God’s timing and for God’s glory in your life and in the lives of other people, you will find yourself using your vocation to serve God by serving other people (1st John 4:20). Lastly, it cannot be impossible or unattainable for you to use your vocation to serve God if you have a healthy Christian habit of engaging faithfully and regularly in an authentic Christian fellowship with other true born again believers in Jesus Christ in a Bible-believing, Bible-teaching and a Bible-practicing church. And this is because you will definitely learn a God-glorifying habit of serving other people in an authentic Christian fellowship if you regularly attend one (Romans 12:9-21 and Philippians 2:1-4).
Imagine how many falsehoods could be exposed and thoroughly defeated if all Christians could be using all their vocations for the advancement of the kingdom of God. For example, imagine what could happen to the lie of evolution if all Christians who are gifted by God with the skills of geology, biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, engineering and linguistics could be using those skills to expose and defeat this long-held lie of evolution for the advancement of the kingdom of God. For there is no greater lie that is undermining biblical Christianity today than the lie of evolution by which billions of people all over the world are being deceived that this universe and everything in it came into existence all by itself about 15 billion years ago when an infinitely hot dense point exploded eventually leading to the formation of all living and non-living things in the universe through mindless undirected series of small gradual changes over billions of years. So evolution categorically denies and rejects the irrefutable biblical fact that this universe and everything in it was created by Yahweh God of the Bible about 6,000 years ago in 6 literal days of 24 hours each. This lie of evolution that the universe was not created by God but it gradually evolved has led many people to question and doubt the Bible because the Bible clearly teaches in Genesis chapter one and Exodus 20:11 that God created this universe and everything in it in 6 literal days of 24 hours each, and that He did it about 6,000 years ago based on the ages given in genealogies and all other dated events in the Bible.
But thank God that this lie of evolution has been exposed for what it really is by born again young-earth creationists [4] who have been using their God-given skills in the fields of science, technology, engineering, medicine and mathematics to objectively and unquestionably demonstrate scientific and historical accuracy of the whole Bible. These born again young-earth creationists no doubt have motivation gifts of teaching, exhorting and prophecy and that is why they have great will and zeal as Christian apologists to defend Christian faith from critics of biblical Christianity. But much to the contrary, some of the famous evangelical theologians have sadly embraced gap-theory, day-age theory and all other kinds of theories of evolution desperately attempting to conform Genesis chapter one to the views of secular scientists who dogmatically insist that the earth is billions of years old. However, their attempt to do so raises more questions than answers. Chief amongst them is this question, “How could there have been millions of deaths of fossils before Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden when the Bible clearly teaches in Romans 5:12 that death came into the world when Adam sinned?”
So I thank God that born again young-earth creationists have firmly stood for the authenticity, integrity, historicity and accuracy of the whole Bible from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21. This is because, for over five decades now, these born again young-earth creationists have been using their God-given academic skills as Christian apologists to unquestionably prove the scientific and historical accuracy of the account of creation recorded in the book of Genesis and the rest of the Bible. At the same time, they have been exposing the following lies, denials, errors and omissions of the theory of evolution. First is the lie and the fraud of using doctored diagrams of embryonic recapitulation to deceitfully teach that humans had gills in the womb. [5] Second is the circular reasoning employed in dating of fossils. [6] Third is the unquestionable assumptions embedded in the methods used to date rocks and fossils. [7] Fourth is the conflicting dates produced by different dating methods. [8] Fifth is the failure of dating methods to correctly date rocks whose ages are already known. [9] Sixth is the denial of world-wide flood in Noah’s days even though there is enough physical evidence in form of millions of fossils encased in layers of sedimentary rocks laid down by water catastrophe all over the world. [10] Seventh is the rejection of intelligent design even though it is clearly seen in all living and non-living things such as in the marvelous design of DNA molecules found in all living things and in the fine-tuning of the universe. [11] Eighth is the lack of any valid transitional forms in spite of over 150 year of rigorous search for them. [12] And ninth is ignoring the implications of irreducible complexity in all living organisms which rules out possibility of any of them coming about by evolution. [13] All these and many more such deceptions, denials, errors and omissions of the theory of evolution have shown that evolution is nothing more than a blatant lie that is sadly embraced by all those people who reject Yahweh God of the Bible, the one true and the living God who created this universe and everything in it in 6 literal days of 24 hours each, about 6,000 years ago.
All in all, born again young earth creationists have proven that true science and the Bible should never be in conflict with one another but in perfect harmony. This is because true science and the Bible have God as their common source inasmuch as science deals with living and non-living things which God created while the Bible is the written word of God which records truthfully, accurately and correctly everything in it including everything about living and non-living things which scientists study. It therefore follows that science conducted truthfully can never be in any conflict with the Bible since both of them come from the same source, that is, Yahweh God of the Bible. But science conducted deceitfully: science that refuses to follow the evidence wherever that evidence leads; science which rejects evidence whenever that evidence clearly points to intelligent design and a transcendent cause of the universe that is beyond the universe itself; such a science must be categorized as false science and must also be rejected by all people, especially all true born again believers in Jesus Christ simply because it is seeking to undermine their faith in God. Furthermore, beyond the rejection of this false science, all true born again believers in Jesus Christ must invest their time, prayers, money, resources and most important of all, their God-given academic skills to promote true science which freely follows evidence wherever that evidence leads.
So you too can make your contribution especially if God has gifted you with skills in the fields of science, technology, engineering, medicine, mathematics and linguistics by committing to be using these skills to objectively and unquestionably demonstrate scientific and historical accuracy of the whole Bible. And this should be with greater urgency and fervency if you like me were born here in Kenya or anywhere in Africa south of Sahara, where evolutionists call “the cradle of life” cleverly attempting to further their racist evolutionary ideas that dark skinned people evolved from apes even though true science shows that God gave dark skinned people more melanin to protect them from the harmful UV rays since they live in the zone of abundant sunlight. Therefore you can follow in the footsteps of all those born again young-earth creationists, who for a period of over 50 years have been using their God-given academic skills as Christian apologists to unquestionably prove the scientific and historical accuracy of the whole Bible from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21. Notable among these Christian apologists is Dr. Ken Ham, the founder of Answers in Genesis apologetic ministry, whose website www.answersingenesis.org and Creation Museum readily avail the latest credible research findings which convincingly prove the scientific and historical accuracy of the account of creation recorded in the book of Genesis and in the rest of the Bible.
In short, therefore, kindly purpose in your heart to completely surrender your vocation to Jesus Christ so that He can help you to stop using it for selfish gain and instead help you to be using it for God’s glory all the days of your life.
Now, as for me, my current vocation of being a Christian author and a Pastor-Teacher did not come suddenly but God guided me slowly and gradually into it. He started immediately I got saved on Saturday 15 May 2004 by leading me the next day on Sunday evening to start a daily habit of listening to the verse-by-verse Bible teachings on the radio by the late Pastor Chuck Smith (1927-2013) of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa in California, USA. And as I continued to learn the word of God and to apply it in my life, God called me to become a Christian author on 16 May 2006 and He has since then led me to write this book you are now reading. This authorship call was accompanied by a great will and zeal to read and study the whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation. That led me to develop a habit of reading the whole Bible once every year, starting in year 2006 when I read the whole Bible two times in just the second half of that year. This insatiable longing to know and understand what the whole Bible truly teaches led me to join Calvary Chapel Bible College Nairobi in February of 2009 intending to do a two year degree course in Bachelor of Biblical Studies (B.B.S) to deepen my theology. But due to financial constraints, I had to discontinue my studies there after one semester and started homeschooling myself in theology using physical books, e-books and DVDs loaded with sound biblical teachings that I was receiving from Calvary Chapel ministries. So after eight years of being equipped with the word of God and seeking God daily in fervent prayers, God called me to become a Pastor-Teacher on 25 October 2012 so that I could plant a Bible-believing and a Bible-teaching church in Thika town in central Kenya. And not long after that I was ordained as a Pastor-Teacher on 5 January 2014 and relocated to Thika town in July of that year to embark on the on-going task of planting a Bible-believing and a Bible-teaching church known as Calvary Chapel Amazing Grace Thika. Eventually, I launched Sunday morning worship services on 2 October 2016 and since then I have been laboring for my Lord Jesus Christ while patiently trusting Him for spiritual and numerical growth of this church in God’s timing and for God’s glory. So what an exciting long winding journey that led me to my vocation as a Christian author and a Pastor-Teacher! A vocation that I love so much so that I have been surrendering it to Jesus Christ daily so that He can help me through God the Holy Spirit to be using it for God’s glory all the days of my life. Likewise, you too can discover the vocation that God has called you to have and then start using it for God’s glory all the days of your life.
In conclusion, if every day of your life you will be surrendering your vocation to Jesus Christ, then Jesus Christ will help you to put off the old lifestyle of sin by enabling you through God the Holy Spirit to stop using your vocation for selfish gain. At the same time, He will help you to put on the new lifestyle of righteousness by enabling you to be using your vocation for God’s glory all the days of your life. And with that well understood, let us now see how you should go about surrendering to Jesus Christ your vacation every day of your life.
The third and the final aspect of surrendering to Jesus Christ what you do, is surrendering your vacation to Him every day of your life. And just as it is with your occupation and your vocation, surrendering to Jesus Christ your vacation is part and parcel of making the third wise choice you will ever make in your life after you have become truly and eternally saved. Now, by vacation I am referring to all the times of rest you might have throughout your life as a Christian and not just a holiday break you might take from work as an employee or a holiday break you might have from your studies as a student.
Generally speaking, there are six categories of vacation or rather times of rest that you might have throughout your life as a Christian. The first one is the daily rest when you rest every day after work by taking adequate time mostly at night to rest and sleep so that you can allow your body to recuperate and be refreshed. The second one is the weekly rest when you rest for one whole day after every six days of work for purposes of physical rest to refresh your body (Exodus 20:8-11; 23:12) and spiritual rest to edify your soul and your spirit as you join other Christians to worship God the Father in spirit and in truth (Matthew 11:28-30, Hebrews 4:1-11; 10:25 and John 4:22-24). The third one is occupational rest when as an employee you take a break from work so that you can rest and be refreshed at the time appointed by your employer e.g. annual leave, furlough, etc. The fourth one is educational rest when as a student you take holiday break from your studies so that you can rest and be refreshed at the time appointed by either the government or your education institution. The fifth one is the national rest when you use national holidays as time to rest and thank God for His grace. The sixth and the last one is the religious or spiritual rest when you join other Christians to celebrate biblical feasts. The main one being the Feast of Passover which focuses on the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ by which He made our salvation possible. The other major biblical feasts are the Feast of Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles though they are rarely celebrated by most Christians. Instead, Christmas is given prominence even though it has clearly been shown to be based on the Roman feast of Saturnalia when the birthday of Tammuz—a false Babylonian messiah was celebrated. [14] Therefore, all biblically sound Christians usually use this time of Christmas holiday not to argue about the actual month and the exact day our lord and savior Jesus Christ was born but to point all unsaved people away from all false messiahs so that they can believe in the true messiah—the true Jesus Christ of the Bible who came into this world as fully God and fully man all in one person (the second person of the holy trinity) to seek and save us sinners (Luke 1:26-37; 19:10).
In light of all these various times of rest which constitute your vacation as a Christian, you therefore need on daily basis to be surrendering to Jesus Christ all your vacations so that He can help you through God the Holy Spirit to stop misusing any of your vacation and instead be using all your vacations in the way God intended them to be used. Now, this is what the Bible says about how we Christians ought to be using the gift of time, “15See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, 16Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 17Wherefore be you not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is” (Ephesians 5:15-17). Also, Apostle Paul writing to the church of Corinth on the same subject reminded us that, “Whether therefore you eat, or drink, or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1st Corinthians 10:31). Therefore if you surrender all your vacations to Jesus Christ, then Jesus Christ through God the Holy Spirit would help you to stop misusing any of your vacation and instead be using all your vacations in the way God intended them to be used. Consequently, you would be willing to stop misusing any of your vacation and instead start using all your vacations in the way God intended them to be used all the days of your life.
As a result, you would be willing to immediately stop denying your body the physical rest it needs every day and purpose instead to be getting adequate time every day mostly at night to rest and sleep so that you can allow your body to recuperate and be refreshed. Similarly, you would be willing to immediately stop denying your body the physical rest it needs for a whole day after every six days of work and purpose instead to be resting for one whole day after every six days of work: first, for purposes of having physical rest to refresh your body; and secondly, for purposes of having spiritual rest to edify your soul and your spirit as you join other Christians to worship God the Father in spirit and in truth. Also, you would be willing to immediately stop misusing your holiday breaks as an employee and purpose instead to be using your holiday breaks in the way God intended them to be used. Also, you would be willing to immediately stop using your holiday breaks as a student in ungodly activities and purpose instead to be using your holiday breaks in God-glorifying activities. Likewise, you would be willing to immediately stop misusing national holidays with worldly activities and purpose instead to be using your national holidays as time to rest and thank God for His grace in your life. Finally, you would be willing to have religious or spiritual rest by joining other Christians to celebrate biblical feasts mainly Passover to remember how death and resurrection of Jesus Christ made your salvation possible. In the same vein, you would be willing to redeem Christmas celebrations from all kinds of paganism by using this time of Christmas holiday to point all unsaved people away from all false messiahs so that they can believe in the true messiah—the true Jesus Christ of the Bible who came into this world as fully God and fully man all in one person (the second person of the holy trinity) to seek and save us sinners.
Once again, this seemingly impossible and unattainable Christian life is very much possible and attainable if you have a healthy Christian habit of being filled continuously with the Holy Spirit so that God the Holy Spirit can give you both the willingness and the ability to completely surrender your vacation to Jesus Christ every day of your life (Philippians 2:13). Also, this seemingly impossible and unattainable Christian life is very much possible and attainable if you have a healthy Christian habit of reading, studying, memorizing, meditating and more importantly obeying the word of God taught in all of the 66 books of the holy Bible every day of your life (Psalm 119:105). And this is simply because, when you know and obey the word of God, that word of God you know and obey transforms you into a person who glorifies God with who you are, what you have and what you do all the days of your life. Also, this seemingly impossible and unattainable Christian life is very much possible and attainable if you have a healthy Christian habit of always praying effective fervent prayers for God’s will to be done in God’s timing and for God’s glory in your life and in the lives of other people (John 15:7). And this is because when you pray in this way, God will answer your prayers and enable you to completely surrender your vacation to Jesus Christ every day of your life. Lastly, this seemingly impossible and unattainable Christian life is very much possible and attainable if you have a healthy Christian habit of engaging faithfully and regularly in an authentic Christian fellowship with other true born again believers in Jesus Christ in a Bible-believing, Bible-teaching and a Bible-practicing church (Hebrews 10:21-25). And this is because when you engage faithfully and regularly in an authentic Christian fellowship, you will definitely learn how to be using all your vacations in the way God intended them to be used all the days of your life. Therefore when you are being filled continuously with the Holy Spirit and you are also always using these three most important spiritual tools (i.e. the Bible, prayers, and authentic Christian fellowship), then no doubt God will enable you to stop misusing any of your vacation and help you to be using all your vacations in the way He intended them to be used all the days of your life!
So in conclusion, if every day of your life you will be surrendering your vacation to Jesus Christ, then Jesus Christ will help you to put off the old lifestyle of sin by enabling you through God the Holy Spirit who permanently indwells you to stop misusing any of your vacation. At the same time, He will help you to put on the new lifestyle of righteousness by enabling you to be using all your vacations in the way God intended them to be used.
This brings us to the end of chapter five where we have explored in details YOUR PRACTICE AND CONDUCT IN JESUS CHRIST which can be summarized as follows:-
Y ou Must Surrender to Jesus Christ Who You Are
Being filled continuously with the Holy Spirit every day of your life,
Knowing and obeying the word of God taught in the whole of the Bible,
Praying effective fervent prayers for God’s will to be done in God’s timing and for God’s
glory in your life and in the lives of other people,
And engaging faithfully and regularly in an authentic Christian fellowship,
Then every day of your life you can and you should be surrendering:
Your body to Jesus Christ to glorify God with your body,
Your healing soul to Jesus Christ to glorify God with your soul,
Your regenerated spirit to Jesus Christ to glorify God with your spirit,
Y ou Must Surrender to Jesus Christ what you have
Being filled continuously with the Holy Spirit every day of your life,
Knowing and obeying the word of God taught in the whole of the Bible,
Praying effective fervent prayers for God’s will to be done in God’s timing and for God’s
glory in your life and in the lives of other people,
And engaging faithfully and regularly in an authentic Christian fellowship,
Then every day of your life you can and you should be surrendering:
Your material possessions to Jesus Christ to glorify God with what you have,
Your immaterial possessions to Jesus Christ to glorify God with what you have,
Y ou Must Surrender to Jesus Christ What you do
Being filled continuously with the Holy Spirit every day of your life,
Knowing and obeying the word of God taught in the whole of the Bible,
Praying effective fervent prayers for God’s will to be done in God’s timing and for God’s
glory in your life and in the lives of other people,
And engaging faithfully and regularly in an authentic Christian fellowship,
Then every day of your life you can and you should be surrendering:
Your occupation to Jesus Christ to glorify God with your occupation,
Your vocation to Jesus Christ to glorify God with your vocation,
Your vacation to Jesus Christ to glorify God with your vacation,