Becoming Like Christ

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Learn Of Me

BE SATISFIED WITH WHAT YOU HAVE!

Hebrews 13:5 In the New Living Translation it says, “Don’t love money, be satisfied with what you have. For God has said “I will never abandon you.”

Again, verse five in the Amplified version says “Let our character (your moral essence, your inner nature) be free from the love of money (shun greed, be financially ethical) being contented with what you have, for He has said “I will never (under any circumstances) desert you (nor give up, nor leave you without support), nor will I forsake or let you down or relax my hold on you (assuredly not).”

Several things stand out in this verse, but I want to focus on this point today: Be content with what you have

More often than not we are not satisfied with what we have. If we assess our lives truly there is something right now that we want, not need but want. I remember a book I read called ‘A Prisoner of Want’, the book opens up stating [Come with me to the most populated prison in the world, it’s name is WANT – the prison of want. You’ve seen her prisoners. They want something Bigger, Nicer, Faster, Thinner; They want a new job, a new house, a new spouse. If you feel better when you have more and worse when you have less, you’re in the prison of want. If your happiness comes from something you deposit, drive or drink or digest then face it – you’re in the prison of want!] This book speaks about people that are never satisfied, always wanting or should we say always coveting.

Today it seems as if though businesses strive off of our covetous behaviors. Worldly marketing feeds off of this desire to lure in customers. Even grocery stores prepare floor plans to place some items at strategic point in order to excite the compulsive consumer through their visual (Covetious) sense. Commercials seem to aim to make us feel as if though we are not living if we don’t have the latest of everything. The world wants us to feel incompetent if we do not have the latest cell phone or vehicle, If your clothes are not name brand, if our homes are not grand with curb appeal. Now a days these things give people recognitions and bragging rights, they even help some people to establish their self-worth and self-esteem. We find phrases like ‘Yesterday’s News’ and ‘Next’ expressed by many on social media now, increasing the pressure for us to be modern and keep up with the everchanging world.

With all this pressure we can easily find ourselves wanting financial stability, position, status, higher degrees, and power. We start running after one thing to achieve another. Money begins to be greatly valued because it gets us the things we believe we must have. The funny thing to me is that the same way the world rotates around its axil, going round and round; so does fashion and most everything else. The old hair styles, fashion, furniture, they all just circle back around. What was once ‘yesterday’s news is ‘tomorrow’s got’s to have’, it just depends on what year you live in. Take for example cell phones, they started off being big and bulky, then they went flat then tiny and then they started to get big again.

All these ‘got’s to have’ do one thing, they distract us. To acquire the things of the world, takes up most of our time. By the time you manage to pay for an iPhone 11 an iPhone 12 is out then shortly after that an iPhone 12max and there goes your bragging rights. By the time you get the keys for a 2022 Hilux, the 2023 model with one change, is out. So then, that one change, will show the whole world that you are not driving the latest version, you have been left behind. And so the hustle continues to stay on top of things. It is very hard to live in this kind of ‘lime light’. It is very demanding of your time and very taxing on your life, your body and your family. The price we pay to achieve the things of the world are costly and it’s not always monetary, sometimes it costs us our families, our marriages and even our lives. Yet with these obvious hectic consequences, many are still not satisfied with what they have! Many spend sleepless nights thinking about the things they want and where they can get the money to pay for it. And thus the Prison of WANT keeps a tight rein on us. This way of living can get so bad that some people compare life as drowning, being able to breath only when they have a little money in their hands. Yet the more money they have the more they want and the more they find to spend it on. They get so caught up paying back the bank, paying off the high utility bills, the school fees, the jewelry bill. Paying for clothes, shoes, make-up and now with growing popularity even ‘fake hair/wigs’. All because of wanting more and more and not being satisfied.

BUT GUESS WHAT? THIS IS ACTUALLY A VERY GOOD WAR STRATEGY!!!! A CLEAVERLY THOUGHT OUT ‘SPIRITUAL’ WAR STRATEGY !!!!

If indeed we need time to spend with God to get to know Him, time to pray, to talk with Him, to read the Word of God and meditate on them. Then what would be the most efficient strategy to stop this from happening? What could be the monkey wrench here? Distractions maybe? Time consuming distractions! You see satan knows a consistent communication line must be kept open between God and His children. So then how can he make their time counterproductive? How can satan make us so distracted that we do not spend this essential time with God? How can he get us PREOCCUPIED AND utterly exhausted for just one day, which can then easily turn to a week, and by the time you notice, a month has passed and a new habit is formed? Not spending time with God would be normal to us. How can he do this? By making the world we live in assiduous, keeping us always in a rush, busy and tired working hard to achieve the things of the world. It’s like a Hamster wheel effect, running, running, running and getting nowhere. You get tired and exhausted then spiritually you get nowhere. The apostle Paul in Romans 12:2 admonished us to not be confirmed to the world. To not be confirmed any longer to the patterns of the world. Paul knew what would be the end result if we did this.

Have you ever sat down thought and taught about WHAT ALL falls under the “Things of the World’. My son asked me one day, ‘What are the things of the world?’. At that very moment I too asked the Holy Spirit to help me to answer that question, so that he would fully understand the scope of ‘The things of the world’ and I heard the Spirit say ‘Everything that was not in the Garden of Eden when God created it, is from the world’. See God makes everything perfect, because He is perfect. So that Garden was made perfectly fit for Adam. The creator prepared everything His creation needed.

The ‘things/patters and systems of the world were not in the Garden of Eden. When I tried to encompass the mass number of worldly things that have been established since then, (by humans of course), up to this very day, it is immense to comprehend. The things we run after, the many time-consuming activities we engage in, the many time-consuming processes we must now do, and the many unnecessary things we work tirelessly to achieve are numerous. There are many distractions laid out, just about everywhere imaginable. In the book The Pilgrim’s Progress (Written by John Bunyan) there was a part of the journey for Christian called ‘Vanity Fair’ where there is something for everyone. Satan has studied us, he has spent enough time getting to know us, to learn what tickles our fancy! What allures us, what appeals to us, what passions and desires we long for. A great enemy, such as satan, will know these things for one purpose. Yet with all this knowledge we still tend to run after the rabbit like the dogs do at the racing track. Chasing something they will never catch. Just like we do always chasing after something we want.

AND WHY? Have you ever asked yourself ‘why do you do the things that you do? Or why is it that you never seem to be satisfied with having minimal things?’ Why do you give ear to those commercials, to what people think, to the lustful and covetous nature of the flesh? Some people are ashamed if they have an old vehicle or wear the same clothes often or if their nails and hair are not done to time or even if they dress modestly. What God has provided for them is not cutting it, but it should. In Matthew 6:8 Jesus said “for your Father knoweth what things you have need of before you ask Him.” Our Father is all knowing, all seeing and all able. He is Omnipotent – Having unlimited power, able to do anything. He is Omniscient – Knowing everything and He is Omnipresent – present everywhere at the same time. Can a Father like this not provide all that he rightly knows you need? He knows you, He knows you intimately. In Matthew 10:30 Jesus said “But the very hair on your head are all numbered” imagine that, who else knows you that well? In Jeremiah 1:5 God told the prophet “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you and before you were born I consecrated you”

In Psalms 139:16 King David said of God “you saw me before I was born, every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.” God knows everything, He knows all that we need. He knows our life, He created a plan for our life before we were even born. Because Jesus knew this of His Father he was able to say in Matthew 6:31-33 “Therefor take no thought saying what shall we eat, or what shall we drink or withal shall we be clothed. For all these things do the Gentiles seek, for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. BUT seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.” God is in absolute control of everything in every situation and every circumstance in life and God will always do what is right for you.

Jesus said again in verse 26 “Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are you not much better than they?” I like this question ARE YOU NOT MUCH BETTER THAN THEY? Our all-powerful God knows us thoroughly and says He will provide for us. We can check this one off of our ‘To Do’ list. The same way Adam had everything he needed God can do the same for each one of us. And this is truth because God cannot lie, God is ever faithful to His word. The problem though is not that God cannot provide for us but rather that we are not satisfied.

See God will provide what we need and what is best for us. But as Dr. Charles Stanley says ‘sometimes we have many creative wants and needs that are not according to God’s will.’ This is where knowing God and His will generally and specifically for you will help, for we cannot serve two masters. We cannot live with one foot in the world and one foot in the Church, wanting and desiring things from both sides and expecting God to deliver them to us at our beckoning. As followers of Christ we are not to occupy our time chasing behind the things of the world. We are not to get caught up in these potentially fatal schemes of the devil. Jesus said “Lay not for yourselves treasures upon earth. These things uplift the self-life, these things will in-depth you and enslave you, taking away time that should be for God, doing His will, time that should have been spent working for the Kingdom of God

Look at what Jesus told some scribes in Matthew 8:20 “the foxes have hole and the birds of the air have nests, but the son of man hath not where to lay his head.” The son of God was satisfied with what His Father provided for Him. He knew He was not to build treasures on earth. Establishing treasures for yourself here on earth will cause you to want to stay here. For where your treasures are, there will your heart be also. Your spiritual desires to be with God, if any, would be weakened. NOTE - (everything we see, possess, own and slave over in this world will eventually be burnt up, consumed by fire and be destroyed). Ih Nuh Worth It!

Jesus did say though, to lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where nothing can happen to them. Seek the things of God not the things of the world. Be satisfied with what God has provided for you, with what you have. The humble life that the Son of God lived is an example to us in two ways. First – He was satisfied with what His Father provided for Him and second – It was not a lifestyle that kept Him from doing the will of His Father. Jesus had time for Kingdom work.

We live in a world where the pressure to be apart of “Rat Race” is stifling. Today as you put on the television or the radio, even the signs on the road sides are all telling you what you should have or what you must have. Telling not asking! But God is saying Be Satisfied with what you have! Be satisfied with what God has provided for you. He created us and loves us unconditionally. His desire is for us to be reunited with Him through Jesus Christ. God sees what needs to be given to us as well as what needs to be taken or deprived from us in order to achieve this. Trust that God knows what is best for you. Not everything that we want will do us good. We cannot see the end result of many things, but God can and we know that He will not withhold any good thing from us.

1 John 2: 15-18 says “Do not love the world or the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” Amen Glory be to the Word of God!

Brother and sisters, it’s not worth it. All the stress that comes with trying to fit in and trying to keep up with the everchanging world has taken many to their grave without Jesus. Train yourself to be satisfied with what you have. Train yourself to stop valuing the things of the world. Every spot in your house or every space in your closet does not need to be filled. You do not need a matching shoe and a purse for every outfit you have. You don’t need to have a nice vehicle to feel good about yourself. You are not less of a person if you step out of the competitions the world has going. You will never have enough of anything to keep up with what satan has established because it was established to take you down. Women, we don’t have to look and feel like a young girl. Men you don’t have to have two women in your life to be a man. These things were designed to destroy your home and your family. Its okay to be faithful and to grow old together. Young girls, young boys don’t think you have to give up your virginity to be ‘normal’ or that you have to expose your nakedness to be seen. Many young people now a days are selling their bodies to buy things, things like phone credit, nails, clothes, hair, cell phones. Things of the world that are very temporal. The pressure for young people to fit in and to feel accepted drives them to become confirmed to the world. Don’t let the world be your measuring stick. Be satisfied with what you have, with who you are and how you look. Don’t follow the world, the things of the world were created to destroy you. To lead you down the path that leads to death. Start being satisfied with what God permits for you to have.

If you have already given your life to God and have heard Him today speaking to your heart, turn not away. If you have not yet accepted Jesus and find yourself caught up in this exhaustible lifestyle, today you can be freed, today you can accept Jesus and start to learn His ways and allow Him to provide for you as He sees best. I once heard a preacher say “When we take matters into our own hands its like telling God ‘You can’t provide for me, what you are doing is not enough, I have to do this myself’ Trust me this is not the message you want to send God. Surrender your life to Him and be satisfied with what God deems fit for you! Be satisfied with what you have even now!

I close with two stanzas from Jim Reeves song ‘This World is not my Home’ and I do hope that Mr. Reeves had accepted Jesus truely.

This world is not my home, I’m just a passing through. My Treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. The angels beckon me from Heavens open door. And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.

Oh Lord you know I have no friend like you! If heavens not my home, then Lord what will I do? The angels beckon me from heavens open door and I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.

Just over in glory land we’ll live eternally. The saint on every hand are shouting victory. Their songs of sweetest praise drift back from heavens shore. And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.



To God be the glory and praise.

https://youtu.be/ge30gyr82Co

Be Satisfied with What You Have. Isaiah 13:5-Be satisfied with what you have. Don't be running after the things of the world. This takes time from the purpose of God for your life.

YOU HAVE NOT YET LEARNT OF ME!

Ephesians 4:20-24 says “But ye have not so learned Christ; 21 If indeed you have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: 22 That you put off concerning your former conduct, the old man, which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 24 And that you put on the new man, which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness”.

Verse twenty in the Amplified version says “But you did not learn Christ in this way”! Easy Version says “But when you learned about Christ you did not learn to do things like that” It continues to say “I am sure that you have heard about Him properly. People taught you the true message that comes from Jesus. They taught you to change the way that you live. You must put away the old nature that you had before. That old nature deceives you. As a result, you want to do things that would destroy you. Instead let God’s Spirit make you think in a new way. Take up the new nature that God has prepared for you.”

In earlier verses the Apostle Paul said “You must not live any longer like the Gentile people who do not know God.” Again he told them “They have not accepted the life that God gives. They have decided that they do not want to know about God. They do not even try to understand. They do not feel ashamed when they do all kinds of dirty things. They do more and more bad things just to please themselves.”

This is certainly not a desirous way to live, all because they did not want to know about God. If this route of self-destruction is not the life you want for yourself then it is clear that what you need to do is to get to know God!

So just how do we get to learn or know God? What in fact would motivate us to want to learn of God? Since these people did not Learn of God the apostle said that ‘their old nature deceived them and as a result they wanted to do things that would destroy themselves.’ He also said that “They cannot understand Gods true message because their minds are in the dark.’ Could it be that perhaps love for God was missing here? Could the lack of love for God indeed lead to this self-destructive state?

We know that scripture says that God made us in His own image and likeness. Scripture also says that ‘God is Love’. So it is safe to say that Our Father would have definitely created us with the ability to love. In fact, God wanted such a relationship with us, to be a loving Father to us to communicate with us. He visited Adam in the garden every day and spoke with him, He prepared everything for Adam and gave him tasks to do. God did what a loving Father would do for a child He loves. There was no act of self-destruction found at this point in scripture.

But after sin entered the world, humanity gradually lost hold of the Word of God, as the hearts of men strayed from God and hardened and as compromise settled in, love for God seems to have been minimized, short changed, watered down and in some cases completely forgotten. Now a days most people think of 1st Corinthians 13 when they think of love, but in the book of John a greater love is spoken of. John 3:16 starts off speaking about God’s love, “For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life”.

This is an established love being spoken about here, not an ‘IFFY’ kind of love or a ‘Tal Vez’ kind of love. This is Agape love which according to google is the highest form of love, the unconditional love God has for us. It’s the kind of love that transcends and persists regardless of circumstances. A love so deep that God actually gave His only begotten son to endure a treacherous death on the cross for all humanity. So how does having love helps us to learn of God?

As little babies we were not taught to love, but as time passed by, we grew to love our mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters even grama and grampa began to get those sweet kisses and hugs. We learnt to identify and love our family members because of the love they showed us over the course of time and as such we start to trust them, believe them and obey them. Up to today I still listen to my mother because I love her. A random person cannot just come off the street and tell me what to do. Why? Because I do not know him/her. If I did not grow up spending time with that person or developed a relationship with that person, they would not have any credibility in my life. Why would I listen to a stranger? So, its safe to say that without love there is no motive to listen to someone, without love for God a person will not be interested to get to know Him.

However, because we were created to Love God our Father and our Saviour Jesus. This innate imbedded need to love and be loved has manifested itself in many ways in the world today. Some go as far as falling in love with objects and getting married to them. Imagine! Things that are not even real or alive, things that are simply items. Yet if enough time is spent with that item, love can be developed for it. An un-natural kind of love, yes, but within the world today we find many forms of un-natural love being practised. Forms of love that the bible does not sanction.

As Christians though we are instructed to love God, to love our enemies, to love our neighbours and to not only love those that love us back in return. For many this is a difficult task, and it is, if we do not have Christ in us. So then how do we get Christ in us? How do we learn of Him? After accepting Jesus, we must spend time with Him. As babies learnt to love their parents, we too must learn as spiritual babies to love our God and Lord. This can only be done if as a child of God, we spend time with Him. Time to get to know Him, to get to understand His character, learning to love and trust Him and eventually to believe Him without a doubt.

Psalms 91 begins with “He that dwells in the secret place of the Most High…”, Matthew 6:6 says “But you, when you pray, go into your closet and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in the secret place” We get to know who God is, who Jesus is as we spend time in the secret place, as we spend time in the Word of God, learning His will through the words of the prophets, the disciples and the words of Jesus Himself. Spending time with Christ as we did with our husbands and wives before we got married. How any late-night discussions did we not have, eagerly waiting to meet that person again. Or even now with our best friends and so many other people on Social-Media. By Hanging out with them and bonding with them, we get to know people and develop trust in them and eventually believe them. This occurs only when we put in the hours with them. So too we need to make time for God.

Think about this…After working two weeks or a month, would you give your full salary to just anyone and trust that they will pay all your bills and that you would have no issues with them. No way! You would have to seriously know them and fully trust them in order to do that. Now a days some husbands don’t even trust their wife with their money and vice-versa. Some even say that the days of joint accounts between married couples are a thing of the past. For many people, it’s hard to just open up and trust someone, especially someone you have never met or seen before.

Recently I was sharing with someone that does not trust God nor believe in Him and I could not blame her because she does not know Him; so then how could she truthfully say that she trusts Him and believes Him or even loves Him! She like most of the world and Christendom knows only general information about Him but nothing in depth. She has never had a personal encounter with Him or took time to get to know Him. Today with Cable TV and the internet many of us know about Kim Kardashian and many other celebrities but that’s about it. They don’t know us and they would definitely not trust us with their money. We simply know ABOUT them, but no relationship exists between us and as a result we would not trust nor love each other.

There is only one way to get to know Jesus and that is by spending time with Him. Time in silence, quiet time, time in the closet dedicated just for Him. Once we start spending time with Christ and start a personal relationship with Him, THEN and only then will we start to know Him and get to truly love Him and obey Him. I love Him because He first loved me but I would have never found that out, for myself, if I did not make the choice to start spending time with Him.

Some babies can be taken from the arms of their parents by a stranger but this is not normally the case. Most babies who have already learnt who their parents are will not willingly go with a stranger and if that stranger still manages to sn**ch them away, they will cry and push, stretching their hands out to return to the comfort of mommy or daddy where they feel safe. For those who do not spend time with God, that is what He is to them, a stranger. They do not want to be with Him, so they keep looking back with outstretched arms to the world where THEY find their comfort. The things of God are distasteful to them.

Many others confess that they love God and Jesus our Lord, but God who truly searches the heart knows that for many, this is just said out of formality. Love from the lips only! There is no debt there, or as the world says “No love Lost” But there is indeed a lot to lose, Mark 8:36 says “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul”. If we are not yet obedient to the Will of God for our lives it is because WE HAVE NOT YET LEARNT OF HIM! If we are still struggling with sin, if we find it hard to follow Jesus, hard to forgive, hard to love, hard to stop malice, grudge, po*******hy, adultery, having s*x before marriage, lying, stealing, gossiping, bitterness and all the fruits of the flesh, then WE HAVE NOT YET LEARNT OF HIM!

This is not because Christ does not want to know us or meet us in the secret place, He is there, He has extended the invitation of salvation to everyone. He is waiting, His hands are stretched out towards us, He is even at the door, He is ALWAYS faithful on His part. The wavering and deliberation, the hesitation and pushing off till tomorrow or till next year or till we get old and have nothing else to do, all these are on our behalf. It is our decisions and our choices that has kept us from learning of God. God has even asked us “Today if you hear my voice, turn not away’. It’s as if He is saying to us son/daughter don’t leave without Me. Take Me with you, welcome Me in your heart.

Once you truly get to know God and taste of Him and feel His yoke, you WILL out of love and reverence for Him, follow Him, Serve Him and be obedient to Him without hesitation or faltering. The standard God wants us to reach can only happen if we truly love Him because the flesh will not desire the things of God nor see the value in such things. The hesitant and stagnant Christian lives some of us now live would have new fuel, if we start spending time with Him. Many of us are regretful for not being where we know, we should rightly be, in our Christian walk. Many envy the eleventh-hour Christians that are coming up and moving with fire and passion in the service of God.

This is not because you have been deprived or restricted from growth in the Kingdome of God; but rather because you have not yet learnt of Him, but how can you Know Him if you do not love Him and how can you love Him if you do not spend time with Him. But there is hope. With Christ there is Hope! Even if you had chosen to go your own way; or maybe you did not want to come out of your comfort zone, or if you were not willing to make sacrifices. Today you can start, I can start, we can all start to learn of Him. Spend time in the secret place with Him, spend time in the closet, when the world is quiet, when the kids have gone to sleep, when you can give Him all of you, all of your undivided attention, spend time with Him. Spend time reading His Word, then your relationship with God will grow, then you will be able to love Him and trust Him and believe Him truly. Then you will find no difficulty to do the things God asks you to do. Obedience to Him will be out of a joyful reverencing heart.

We simply must spend time with Him in order to Become Like Him.

May God help us and give us grace to make right decisions and choices and to follow Him dedicatedly and to spend time in the secret place with Him so that our lives will transition into His. I close with the words form the Song “The Saviour is Waiting”

The Saviour is waiting to Enter your heart, why don’t you let Him come in?

There’s nothing in this world to keep you apart, what is your answer to Him?

Time after time He has waited before and now He is waiting again.

To see if you’re willing to open the door, O how He wants to come in!!!!



If you’ll take one step towards the Saviour my friend, You’ll find His arms open wide.

RECEIVE Him and all of your darkness will end, within your heart He’ll abide.

Time after time He has waited before, and now He is waiting again.

To see if you’re willing to open the door, O how He wants to come in, O how He wants to come in….



To God ONLY be all the Glory and Praise!



Amen and Amen…

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