Abounding In Good Works
By Pastor Karina Maile
The Bible tells us that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23) NKJV and in Hebrews 9:22 NKJV it also tells us that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. Therefore, it was necessary in the Old Covenant the sacrifices of animals, those innocent animals paid the penalty of sins on behalf of the sinners, but because they weren’t humans those sacrifices had to be often and many, that was until Jesus, the Son of God came to earth and took the form of a man, and as a man He became that perfect Lamb of God. He sacrificed His sinless life on behalf of the entire human race. His sacrifice was so perfect that there is no need for any more sacrifices of animal or any other sacrifice for that matter. Since Christ’s death, the only thing God requires for forgiveness of sins is repentance and faith in Christ. There is no other way to obtain forgiveness of sin and gain eternal salvation but only through the person of Jesus Christ. The love of God, salvation and the favour with God cannot be obtain by doing good works but only through faith in Christ.
1- Good works flowing out of knowing who we are.
Galatians 2:16 NKJV says, “knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.” The good works we do is because our identity has changed, when we give our lives to Christ, He gives us a new heart, a new nature, and because we have a His nature we can’t help but to be like God and do good things. We begin to enjoy serving God and others and we are ready for every good work.
Romans 5:5-8 KJV tells us that “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. The love of God has already been downloaded into our hearts by the Spirit because of Jesus, we are now children of God, we don’t try to be sons and daughters, we become sons and daughters through Christ.
Before Christ did any ministry, God the Father spoke of His love and approval of Him. Jesus only had to walk in obedience to what God the Father already planned for Him to do. Matthew 3:16-17 NKJV “When He had been baptised, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”” How amazing is the love of God! Still the Lord says the same with us, His love for us is certain even before we do anything, the moment we decide to come to God through Christ and we get baptised, God’s love covers us, and He has assigned good works for us to do, look what Ephesians 2:8-10 NKJV says,“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
”God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.” (Acts 10:37-38) Any good works we do now in Christ are an expression of the Holy Spirit working through us and they are not to gain holiness or brownie points with God or indeed salvation. The good works flow out of our relationship with the Lord. No wonder in Colossians 1:9-10 NKJV the Apostle Paul says, “For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;”and again in Hebrews 10:24 NKJV says, “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works.”
2- The good works are a witness to the unbeliever.
The good works we do are also a witness to the unsaved. See what 1 Peter 2:12 NKJV says, “having your conduct honourable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.” And of course the Lord Jesus himself said: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16) NKJV
3- The good works are the garments of the Bride of Christ.
Lastly, Christ will be coming for a beautiful, perfect Bride dressed in fine linen, what does this mean? Revelation 19:7-8 NKJV tells us “Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.” We the Church are Christ’s Bride and need to be ready for His imminent return, there’s no time to waste, and as a bride in love get ready for the wedding day, we the Church must get ourselves ready by doing righteous works, good works that can glorify the Lord.
We have the grace of God and the anointing of the Holy Spirit to do it. We cannot fail! Tell everyone how much He loves us and how much we love Him while we get our hands busy serving and doing good works.
Opening The Heavens Over Your Life
By Pastor Steve Maile
There is a popular saying about prayer, Pray Until Something Happens =PRAYER. Yet true intercession is born in the heart of a worshipper, and out of true worship we can do effective warfare. The fact is that we are all involved in warfare, warfare it’s not just for some people but for every believer, we are at war with the realm of darkness and if you don’t know how to get into warfare through worship, you will be in big trouble.
In Isaiah 54:1 NKJV says,“Sing, O barren, you who have not borne! Break forth into singing, and cry aloud, you who have not laboured with child! For more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married woman,” says the Lord. When it says, “Break forth into singing, and cry aloud” God means what He says, He has put in all of us the ability to sing, you may not think you have a great voice, but that’s not the point. The Lord tells us to sing and we must sing.
Not all of our praying is quiet and meditative, there are times where we have to shout with the voice of triumph and there are times we must dance like David danced with all his might and there are times we need to pray loudly in tongues. Some Christians think this is not for them because they don’t feel comfortable being loud, but the Bible is clear that we must all do it. Singing will lead us into worship, warfare and intercession because singing to the Lord will bring miracles, deliverances, breakthroughs and healings.
The Psalm 57:9 NKJV says, “I will praise You, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing to You among the nations.” There is problem when we stop singing and stop gathering together as a Church, many people stopped going to Church and don’t realise that they are actually beginning to backslide. Bareness is the product of backsliding. Watching online services is not the same as face to face fellowship, many people cannot get to a good Spirit filled Church and can only watch the services online, but many others choose to stay at home for convenience and comfort, this is wrong because the vehicle to keep you on fire is the Church where the corporate anointing flows as we sing together. Bareness can be broken when you begin to sing and worship the Lord.
There are 800 reference of music in Scripture and 400 references to praise. The praise and worship in Church is not the warm up to hear the Word. Praise and worship is essential in the life of the born again believer for many reasons, Here are some of them:
1- Praise silences the enemy
2- Praise draws the presence of God because He inhabits the praises of His people. He lives on your praise.
3- Praise pierces the darkness and opens Heaven
4- Praise impregnates the atmosphere for faith and miracles
5- Praise will reveal those with demonic problem and set them free.
6- Praise prepares the way for true worship and intercession.
7- Praise releases the angels of God at work.
8- Dynamic Praise will be the Last Day expression of Apostolic warfare
The Psalms 40:3 NKJV says, “He (The Lord) has put a new song in my mouth— Praise to our God; Many will see it and fear, And will trust in the LORD.” It is good to sing songs and hymns we know, but we must also sing new songs by the Spirit. In many congregations the choir don’t give time to the Spirit to flow with new songs, it’s very much like a West End show and not worship. This cannot be. It also says, that “Many will see it and fear, and will trust in the LORD.” This means we need to sing to those who don’t know the Lord. We need to sing on the streets, especially when doing Evangelism, because when we do, the unsaved will fear and put their trust in God. Singing is a sign for the unbeliever. There are times to go to our secret place and worship the Lord but also there are times we need to shout as a Church and declare God’s Word. There are times we can pray in our hearts but also we need to do it audibly. As Hebrews 13:15 NKJV says, “Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His Name.” Notice the expression “fruit of our lips,”it means we must move our lips with praise, the fruit will abound according to the confession of our faith. And “sacrifice of praise” means, we have to do it even when we don’t feel like doing it.
In Amos 9:11 the Bible tells us that “In the Last Days God will raise the Tabernacle of David. In the Tabernacle of Moses and in the Temple of Solomon there were not worship or praise, only sacrifices. The Lord says He will restore the Tabernacle of David, because in the tabernacle of David there were worship and praise, songs and playing instruments 24/7- 365. God wants to restore true worship today back into His Church and even in the streets not performance.
Make sure you begin to get in the Spirit and sing aloud special in times when you are feeling sick, depressed, tormented, or find yourself in tough time. The key to your miracle is to sing to the Lord, because when we sing to Him, we focus on Him and how great He is and we realise that our problems are not as big compare to Him. “You that were barren, sing!” Says the Lord, “Sing, O barren, you who have not borne! Break forth into singing, and cry aloud!!!