جارٍ تحميل الأرشيف الحي.
Knowing Your God: Understanding the Uniqueness of the Christian Faith
واصِل الاستكشاف
مرتبطة بالمقطع الكتابي أو بموضوعات مشتركة.
لم تُترجم هذه الصفحة بالكامل بعد. يظهر بعض النص أدناه أو كله بلغة English، وهي لغته الأصلية.
Some people called atheists do not believe in or intentionally deny the existence of God. The Bible calls them foolish. Psalm 14:1 states: "Only fools say in their heart there is no God. They are corrupt and their actions are evil. Not one of them is good."
Atheists attempt to explain the world through scientific descriptions—how the sun was formed, how the earth came to be—but the Bible identifies this as foolishness in the heart. What they want to believe does not align with God's truth.
When God created us, He gave us the most precious ability: the ability to choose between right and wrong. Imagine if we had no choice—we would be robots. There would be no point for Christ to come and save us.
The proof that God genuinely loves us is that He allows us to choose Him and long after Him. When we make that choice, He reveals His secrets to us. However, those who choose to despise and reject the gospel face a different path.
2 Corinthians 4:4 explains the spiritual reality: The devil has blindfolded the minds of those who don't believe. When you refuse to believe, you give the devil permission to blind your mind. Every human being either chooses to follow God or follows the devil. There is no middle ground.
Other people believe in the existence of many gods and consult them based on their particular needs. These are called polytheists. When God created man, the Bible says He breathed into the lifeless body. This is proof that as long as we are living, there is a vacuum in our life that only God can fill.
In mankind's quest to seek God, people have entered into various religions, contacting different gods based on their needs. In this process, the devil has confused and corrupted the world so that people cannot find the way, the truth. Are you getting the point?
If you have the opportunity to preach the gospel or share tracts, you must do so with loneliness, with love, with compassion. Defend the gospel not with argumentative descriptions, but with a discerning heart. Some people are not listening because they want to hear; they want to argue. In that case, you must move on.
It is unfortunate that in the world today, an average believer cannot even defend the gospel. They cannot answer basic questions: "Why are you a Christian? Why do you believe in that?" When believers encounter people who challenge their faith, they become confused and return home troubled.
You must know your God. You must know the Bible. The devil works the same way you want to bring light—he wants to bring darkness. Light and darkness cannot coexist. Every day, either you are shining your light or darkness is reflecting back. There is no middle ground.
When a Hindu or a Muslim comes and tries to reason how God could exist, remember this: Every major religion first believes that Jesus Christ existed. They accept this historical fact. But the moment you say, "Christ is God Himself," that is where the line is drawn.
We do not serve the same God. I want to say this clearly and without apology. The demarcation comes when you ask: Do you believe that Christ is God Himself? If the answer is no—if they say He was a prophet, an amazing man, but not God—then we are not serving the same God.
The Bible says in Philippians 2 that Christ humbled Himself. Even though He is God, He did not assume that position of pride. He humbled Himself onto the cross. He did nothing to deserve the cross, yet He went willingly.
Every other god is made by man. They are man-made creations. A person first creates an image—perhaps a wooden stick, ceramics, or blocks—and then the devil imposes himself upon that image. But our God is different.
When Christ died, He came into our hearts. He lives inside of us. Our God says, "Your heart is my dwelling place." No other god can make this claim. Other gods cannot say they dwell inside their worshippers.
Notice this crucial difference: Those who worship other gods spend their lives trying to pacify their god through works, trying to show their god that they are doing their best, hoping that maybe—just maybe—their god will accept their prayer or acknowledge their deeds.
But in the gospel of Jesus Christ, it is completely different. The Bible tells us: "Before I was born, He has died. While I was yet a sinner, He gave Himself." All we have to do is walk in faith and believe. This is beyond normal human logical reasoning. This is spiritual truth.
Eighty percent of our work as a believer is faith. Period. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything depends on faith. Were you there when Christ died? No. Do you have any physical proof that Christ died? You were not born then. Some of us have not seen Christ with our physical eyes, and that is fine. The point is: I believe it as if my life depends on it. And how do I believe? By faith.
The Bible teaches unequivocally that there is only one God who created all things, sustains all things, and transcends all things. This is what we believe as Christians.
Jesus said in John 14:6: "I am the way, the truth, and no one comes to the Father except through me." If people do not believe this statement, then we are not following the same route. That is the basic truth of our gospel. That is the fact that matters.
And they will hate you for saying this. That is normal. They hated Jesus Christ. The moment you declare that Christ is the only way, you are expecting persecution.
Our God died and He rose. Their gods are dead and rotted in hell. The Bible says in Revelation that great and old will stand before God in judgment. This means that from the day God made this earth, people who did not give themselves to Christ—people who were mighty on earth like Muhammad—they are in hell.
Muhammad died and stayed dead. But our God died, was buried, and on the third day He rose. Not only did He rise, He appeared to the apostles and showed them His hands and feet. He said, "Look at my hand. Do not touch me because I have not shown myself to my Father." Their gods have no life. Our God has eternal life.
I have come to realize that when I preach the gospel or share tracts, the gospel is good news embedded under God's anger. Jesus Christ has come to save. But if you reject it, just wait for His judgment.
Romans 1:18 confirms this: "God shows His anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness."
The gospel is good news. Romans 1:16 declares: "I am not ashamed of the gospel, for in it lies the power to save first the Jews and the Gentiles."
But we cannot force anybody to give their life to Jesus Christ. We can only be an agency sent by God. Yet sometimes it breaks my heart because people do not understand the heaviness of eternal separation from God.
All that Christ did was for one purpose: to restore the relationship between man and God—to bring us back into alignment. When we preach the gospel and encounter people who do not care, understand this: the devil has hardened their heart. But the day of judgment is coming.
We have much to do as believers. Hell is not even the final destination. Hell is temporary. The real condemnation is the Lake of Fire. People do not understand the weight of total, eternal separation from God.
The Bible talks about the "son of perdition"—one designed to deceive and blackmail. He was even willing to use money, thirty pieces of silver, to betray Christ. That was temporal, just temporary, over two thousand years ago. Hell is a temporary place. But the Lake of Fire is the eternal destination. We must ensure that we know God and have a relationship with Him.
Our God is unique in that He possesses attributes that other gods do not possess.
First: Omniscience—God knows everything. He is present in the past, the present, and the future simultaneously. The devil cannot be everywhere at the same time. He is not omniscient. He cannot see. If the devil could see God's plan to save man through Christ, he probably would have prevented men from being crucified. But he did not even see God's plan. The devil is looking and searching, but only God has the ability to see everything.
Second: Self-existence—God is self-existent. Every man-made god and every other god needs man's intervention to be established. Ask yourself: Who made your God?
There is a song that says, "Who is like you, O Lord?" In that song, someone says something profound: "There are some questions we will never get answers to. Where did this God come from? Our God is self-existent."
If we understand this, it brings us to a place of total fear, reverence, and humility before God. When you contemplate these things and the Holy Ghost fills your heart with this truth, there is no way you can help but worship and reverence Him.
Consider this: Our heads are suspended over water. Dig into the ground and you will reach where our heads are. The air that we breathe is suspended under water. When you look up at the sky, it seems as if you can touch it, yet it does not fall down. There is a great Architect, not bound by time zone or mass, who sustains all of this. What an awesome God we serve!
If you want to follow Christ, the Bible says you must first deny yourself and carry the cross. The cross is not easy. The cross is heavy. That cross is your flesh. It is your desires, your heart's wants. You must deny them and carry the cross.
It does not matter when you fall. When I am falling, I say, "Lord, I am losing." He knows that I am human. The Bible says in Hebrews 4:15: "We have a high priest. This simply means that whatever you are going through on earth, Christ knows it because when He was on earth, He was human like you. He drank water like you. He understood your infirmities. So He means that if He could go through it successfully, He has given us that same grace."
God is all-sufficient. Nobody made God. That is a period. Every other god was made, but my God—nobody made Him. The Bible says, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."
Realizing this: The sky we see is not the heaven where God resides. We cannot see God's heavenly dwelling with our physical eyes. The Bible talks about this in Daniel. When Daniel set his heart to pray, his prayer was answered in heaven. But there were powers and principalities that held that testimony in another heavenly realm—not the one we can see. That is not the same realm where God Himself resides.
God made everything. Psalm says He resides in the heaven of heavens. When Job describes the time when angels were in God's presence, the devil came to that realm where God was residing and said, "Do you consider my servant Job?" That realm where the devil came is not our normal plane of existence. It is a heavenly realm—the heaven of heavens where the greatest One resides. God is all-sufficient.
Our God is everywhere. The devil cannot be everywhere at the same time. He is not omnipresent. He is an angel—like Gabriel and Michael. You cannot see Michael here, there, and there simultaneously. Only God has the capability to be everywhere at once.
When you go out on a field to preach the gospel, even if you do not know how to express yourself perfectly, do not let the devil take that from you. So many believers are unfruitful—not because they do not love God, but because they have mingled with the things of the world, and God has taken away what He has given them.
There was a believer—I will not name him—who received salvation through great labor in the gospel. The apostle labored to build this man up in faith. His man is now in heaven. But because of the weight and loss of this world, he has decided he no longer wants to be a Christian. Who is your God? Know your God.
Those who know their God shall be strong and do great exploits. It is when you begin to consciously make effort to know God that He gives you strength. Nobody stumbles upon that strength by mistake. There must be intentional effort.
How can you know God if you do not spend time with Him? There must be something regimented in our life. There must be something that the Holy Ghost can activate. When that switch is turned on, you know that thing—forget it.
This is what is lacking in so many believers. The Holy Ghost cannot force us. He only lights the way. When that light comes, the more we know God, and the more we are strengthened.
Every believer will carry a cross. Every believer will go through struggles. But some people do not go through the same things as believers and still back away. If you are struggling, ask God for grace.
When I read the Bible and see how Samson fell—these were people anointed on their head. Some did not end well. But what is your story? After you say you have known God, what did you do with it? What have you done with it?
Our God is all-powerful and all-knowing. He is everywhere in this world and sees everything in darkness. It is very unique to me that millions of other people might be doing prayers, trying to access the same God, asking for answers. But God will not send your answer to another person's answer. He will send it to your own postcode, your own place, your own address. God has written your name on His palm.
Other gods do not even have that power. There is nothing like that from them.
When you know your God—even if you know Him a little, like a mustard seed—just be consistent in knowing Him. Do not stop there. It is not easy. Whoever told us this gospel is easy is deceiving us.
God, being innocent, came down to die for your sins. In a wicked world where people are killing innocent people, you must put on that boldness. Our God is all light.
You are now the light. My hand is the hand of God. My mouth is the mouth of God. When I lay hands on the sick, it is not only me—it is God working through me. Because God is light, you are the light of the world. Since we are saved and Christ is in us, the Holy Ghost is inside us, we possess this light by becoming the light of God in our environment.
Our God is love. The Bible says if you do not love your brother, you are a liar. But we must love everybody regardless of their religion. I will be honest with you—there are different levels of love. Some people deserve more love and care. But the most important thing is that we have the ability to love everyone. We must come to a place of reverence because God is love.
See how other religions keep their god. "Is your god sleeping? Why would you defend your own god?" Let your god defend itself. Our God said, "Vengeance is mine." Do not judge anybody. Do not judge anybody. Whatever you use to judge somebody, that is what you will be judged for because there is a God and there is a day of judgment coming.
Other religions try to enforce their own judgment on behalf of their gods. That is corrupted by the devil.
In conclusion, every Christian must believe and declare boldly that our God is holy. The opposite of boldness is fear, which simply means when you have fear, it is not of God.
So many times in our workplace, let people know who you are. Let them know who you represent. This is not about showing off or boasting. Let your character speak. Let people see that on Saturday or during your shift, you are different. Let them know that when you are talking about women, when you are watching things, kindness and boldness will be present.
You must be intentional about this. When you are preaching the gospel, be bold. Be bold. Boldness is proof that the Holy Ghost is at work. I would be so scared to kill you, but I will still let us go and preach the gospel. If I die, I die. Paul said, "For us to die is for Christ. For to die is gain." Get my point?
We need to be bold as believers because a timid believer is already failing—already a failed believer—because the devil knows this person cannot go far.
Our God died and He arose. Their god is rotten in hell. Our God is a true God because He answers my prayer and I see the place where my answer came from. Yes, I know my God is true.
By His blood—yes. If you go deep into that place, the altars of your forefathers' house that have been crying for generations—when it comes to your own generation and you say, "I am joining with Jesus for my sake"—He shed His blood. He reversed the universal sacrifice that had bound your family. That is the power of the cross. He reversed man from sin back to God's original design. That is the word that took place on the cross. I know my God. Do you know yours? Do you know yours?
In this wicked world, every day you enter social media, I shake my head. I am not scared, but I am scared. Where is this going? An innocent man with no proof—you take that man and you are not even feeling about it. Do you know your God?
Sometimes these are even Christians. These are people who go to church. They only make it like a Sabbath day thing. They look like they are living in the world instead of the kingdom of God.
When you spend time with God in prayer, something happens to you. When I come to pray, I do not leave the same way I came. I ensure that I do not leave the same. I might start with my flesh being tired—just mechanical, my brother. But after a while, something will click. Something will bring an image upon your heart.
One day I was tired from a twelve-hour standing shift. I was so tired. I took a shower and went to bed. Let me just spend ten minutes in prayer, I thought. I spent one hour. What happened? When you know God, He supplies strength. He supplies grace. No man can make up his own mind without God.
God has given everybody the ability to choose. He loves us so much that He gave Himself for us. "Whosoever"—that means it is your choice to know Him. And when you begin to know Him, He begins to reveal the deepest secrets of who your Father is. He can take you into visions.
Before I came to the UK, there were times when I was just praying. I was lying down in my house—my one-room self-contained house. My wife knows that place. I was just praying, and it took me into a vision of how my visa would come out. I had applied to sixteen universities, and none had accepted me. But I had prayers.
What am I saying? When we spend time with God, when I want to speak about something, because I have spent time with Him, when I am outside and somebody asks me questions about the gospel, I can answer because I have spent time with Him. The Holy Ghost Himself will be my mouthpiece. He will give me the words.
Boldness is a proof that the Holy Ghost is at work. A timid believer is already a failed believer because the devil knows that person cannot go far. We must be intentional about boldness in this last day.
Listen: there was one believer because fear is a torment. There was a problem, and I do not know who told her to go and beg her mother-in-law, saying the mother-in-law was responsible for their problem. When she told us, we said, "No, even if it is your mother-in-law, she is not acting in the flesh. She is acting in the spirit. So it is that spirit you attack in prayers, not by begging physically."
But she still went and begged. And lo and behold, the first son died. We told her again, "We need to pray because it is not about who—they do not act alone." The second son died. We now had to go into prayer by fire and force.
Do you know that while that prayer was on, it was revealed that the third son was about to die? But God intervened by the power of prayers because fear is a torment.
First of all, if these people actually knew their God—they were believers, not unbelievers—if they actually knew that there is nothing this God cannot do, no matter who, if they knew the power they carry in Christ, whoever was troubling them would have bowed. But because of fear, they lost two sons.
That will not be your portion in Jesus' name.
Wherever we are, let us know who we are. Whoever is boasting, they are boasting in vain. The Bible told us: "Greater is He that is in us than whoever that is in the world."
When you hear somebody boasting that they want to do something, you go into prayer: "Oh God, Father, scatter them, and it shall be so." As you say it, angels are dispatched.
Our journey is a call to prayer. Our journey is a call to seek God. Like the church did in Acts 12 when they took James—they took Peter. What did the church say? They started to pray. We do not have to wait until we have catastrophe.
Sometimes it might be too late. One of my greatest fears is knowing quite well that I could have done something prior to that time.
Sometimes you pray so that you do not have to pray harder. Pray so that you do not become the prayer yourself.
In conclusion: Every Christian must believe and declare boldly that our God is holy. Know your God in these last days. Know who you serve for yourself. Know who you serve for yourself.
There is a place for the prophetic. There is a place for the apostolic. But there is a place where you have to seek God in spirit and in truth, just as your pastor and your spiritual fathers have paid the price.
Some of us have someone who says, "Don't worry, I am not praying. My mother is praying for me in Nigeria." But your mother is going to die one day. What will happen then? We will just dig a grave for your own kids.
Somebody paid the price for you. Do not stop there. It is not good. I know of a mother who has been on night shift and night prayer for over fourteen years every night, so that her child would enjoy direct comfort. But that child must carry the cross. Mama has become old doing her own part to meet the Lord.
What will be your own case? What will your own children say? "My daddy prayed for me and gave me the liberty."
The Bible says when Abraham blessed his son, he blessed him knowing the God of his fathers. When you know God, it is not only for you. It is for the generation that is around you, for the people around you, for things that are to come.
But when you decide to turn away—one day in, one day out—sometimes it can happen when you are so busy. But your heart must say, "Lord, I need to find time."
When you feel like you are down, do not let the devil give you more condemnation. You do not have to know what to pray about. Just pray in tongues first. Let the Holy Ghost charge you first. Do not worry about yesterday. If not, start praying today. Just make up your mind to start.
But the devil will give you so many reasons: Where do I start? I do not even know your mind. I feel like I am becoming a stranger to God. I have not been praying for a long time. It is true. But He is still calling you today. Start now. Know God now.
God is calling. Answer. Do not delay.
