In late October 1998, as I was waiting on the Lord, God ministered to me by His Spirit that He wanted to take this church through four types of renewals namely:
Personal Renewal for personal cleanups and divine encounter
Corporate Renewal for corporate rediscovery of purpose
Functional Renewal for individual placement in the body based on Charisma and character
Structural Renewal for systemic network of continuity of discovering the lost, developing the discovered and deploying the developed.
All these summed together makes up a Balanced-Healthy Church which is that of our dream.
As the Resident Pastor, I believed that God would do some renewals in my life to effect the things that He wants to do in me and through me. So, I opened my heart to receive a touch from heaven. On Friday, December 5, 1998, as I was in the office meditating, I saw myself dead, buried and then resurrected into a new life, yielding my life anew unto the Lord as a vessel for His glory. The words of Apostle Paul became real to me; “you are now dead.” I saw myself dead to self pride, self gratification, self defense, self praise, self will and to all things that has to do with self. I saw myself dead to human praise, human opinion, human impression, human criticism, all manner of vain imaginations and philosophies. Self has now been dethroned and Christ has now been fully enthroned in my life. I could now say as Apostle Paul, “my only purpose in life is to please Him.”
From then, I have peace in the midst of my storm, I have joy unspeakable in the midst of unappealing situations; I have vibrant “hope against hope;” the will of God becomes cheap for me to receive and obey; to work for the Lord is now a thing of joy to me and the grace of God has become my “daily manna.” I discovered that it has been “myself” standing in the way of God for what He wants to do in me and through me; but now, I can see that things are different. I AM CHANGED. Hallelujah.
SELAH
Brethren, I now invite you to “follow me to die” so that we could experience what God is about to do “As One.” We are ready to fly in the realm of the Spirit. GOFAMINT is at the verge of her breakthrough. It is only the “reckoned dead” people that God is waiting for.
WHAT IS SELF?
Self is not one particular activity or habit that can be located; instead, it is a life: “a way of life.” We may describe it by its various activities, characters and manifestation it produces, but actually, it is a lifestyle (Galatians 5:19-21; Romans 1:18-32). In Romans 8:3-8, it was rendered in KJV as the flesh who dwells within and who controls the mind of man. Galatians 5:17 says that the self life (flesh) is in constant rivalry and struggle with the Spirit. Self is a life. It grows, it manipulates, it invents and it reproduces. Whenever you see a certain behavior in you that is against the Word of God, it clearly shows that the flesh is still in control of your life.
The flesh is like a fruit bearing tree. It brings forth fruit in its season. Whereas you need to cultivate the fruits of the spirit, the works of the flesh naturally grows and manifests.
“But when you follow your own wrong inclinations, your lives will produce these evil results: impure thoughts, eagerness for lustful pleasure, idolatry, spiritism (that is, encouraging the activity of demons), hatred and fighting, jealousy and anger, constant effort to get the best for yourself, complaints and criticisms, the feeling that everyone is wrong except those in your own little group, wrong doctrine, envy, murder, drunkenness, wild parties, and all sort of things, let me tell you as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Gal.5:19-21 (TLB).
God never pampers the flesh. He sends destruction to it wherever it is found. Any work that is based on the flesh will be destroyed. Any congregation that is built of the principles of the flesh will not last. No matter how the work is thriving, if self is in it, God will not accept it. No matter how prosperous your life seems to be, if self is reigning there, if the sin of “I” is still there, God will destroy it. When you allow God to deal with self in you, you are going to bear about the wisdom, the power and the glory of God.
The reason why the church of God is not as it supposed to be, and why many are still dysfunctional is because of living “self life.” If you are not delivered from self, if there are still some things that you are hiding from God, God will not allow you be used for noble things. You could be doing menial things, things that are inconsequential, but nothing significant and glorious will you be able to handle because you will surely ascribe God’s glory top yourself. Nothing significant will happen to you and through you as a Christian until you deal with “SELF” and all its manifestations for where we are going, “self life” will not have a place.
WHAT IS THE WAY OUT?
“I have been put to death on the cross with Christ; still I am living; no longer I, but Christ is living in me; and that life which I now am living in the flesh I am living by faith, the faith of the son of God, who in love for me, gave himself up for me.” Gal. 2:20 (Bas)
Apostle Paul gave us the answer to the problem of the flesh (self life) and that is, “Death with Christ.” These are some of the steps to deal with the self life:
Lay hold on your “self life”. Identify those areas out of control in your life; call them as they are (2Cor.13:5).
Bring them to the cross by faith and nailed them with Christ. This takes place by renouncing them and by exposing them to the light of God’s Word (Gal.2:20; Col.2:8-15).
Take on a new life from God’s word, and ask for the grace of God to align your life with the Book (Romans 12:1-2; Col.3:1-17).
Pray for the fullness of His Spirit surrendering your will absolutely to His will (Rom.8:9-16).
Publicly pronounce yourself dead to the old ways and make yourself available for the master’s use (2Tim.2:19-22).
THEN YOU ARE QUALIFIED TO TAKE YOUR PLACE IN HIM.
The hallmark of personal renewal is deadness to self. God is ready to do new things only through “reckoned dead” people. I AM A DEAD PASTOR that has been resurrected into the new life to be a carrier of the new move. Only those who are dead to the old life, old systems and old order can flow along. A carnal person cannot understand it for it is meant to be spiritually discerned. Come brothers! Come sisters! Come adult! Come youths! Come children! “Follow me to die” so that we can all flow with the flow, invade the market place and the nations with the gospel of the kingdom of God. To the glory of God GOFAMINT House of Hope shall be “a praise" in the land.
Copyright 2010, The Gospel Faith Mission International House of Hope, 3812 38th Street, Brentwood MD 20722, 301-277-8319
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