AM I BORN AGAIN? I feel something is missing

               Have you ever written exams and afterwards have this strange feeling that you have failed? In many cases you are even afraid to go and check the result. The reason is that you are not confident that what you wrote in the exams has met the requirement of the examiners; as a result there is this strange feeling that you have not made the mark.
               In the same way, you may have heard about Jesus and his desire to do you good. You like many others may have responded to the call to give your life to Christ so that you may enjoy the good that Jesus has to offer you. You may have prayed by yourself or a pastor prayed for you or both. Yet to your dismay, your life has remained the same. Your tastes and appetites remain the same. The things you pursued in life and the sins you enjoyed committing before the prayer to give your life to Christ remain attractive to you. You know that this cannot be God’s standard of righteousness, you are therefore filled with fear each time you hear about the coming of Jesus or the possibility of death. You don’t honestly know the judgment God has for you after this life. The biblical report that “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come” is yet to come true in your life.
                What is it that is missing in your conversion? Why is your conversion experience different from that of people in the bible? The answer to these questions are one. It is lack of biblical repentance from sin and faith in the Lord Jesus. The bible says, “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death” (2Co 7:10 NIV). True repentance involves experience of grieve in our heart about our sins against God. When we truly see that we have caused Jesus much grief through our lives of sin despite his suffering for us on the cross, then we feel grief for our foolishness. True repentance involves the knowledge of the fact that you are a sinner, owing God debts of obedience which you can never finish paying and the penalty for the debt is death. Your debt has temporarily separated you from God waiting for eternal separation in hell. But God in His love did not want you to perish in your dept so He decided to pay your debt for you. Jesus paid your debt by living a life of complete obedience and taking your place to die on the cross. True repentance involves appreciating this love of God, turning away from your sins and putting your faith in Him for your eternal salvation. It involves confession of the sins you have committed to God as much as you can remember and asking him in prayers for forgiveness. It involves returning things you have stolen, asking forgiveness from those you have wronged and beginning to do the right where you have been accustomed to do evil. Lastly, true repentance involves a quality decision to live for Jesus and not self.
                You may say that you did not know these things before. If you are right then the time to repent in truth is now. The bible says “In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.” (Act 17:30-31). 
If you chose to repent now, God will accept you, transform and make you his child. Jesus will say to you what he said to Zaccheaus (the man in the bible who repented in a similar fashion), “Today salvation has come to this house.” (Luke 19:9) If you desire to pray the prayer of repentance, your prayer to God should acknowledge
That you have sinned (Confessed all the sins you can remember to God). That you are turning away from your sin (tell God the kind of change you desire). That you want God to forgive your sins. (Ask God to make you clean in his sight). That you are submitting yourself to Jesus as your Lord and Saviour. (Offer yourself to God to serve him as your master and Lord)

You can pray now.

Yours truthfully

Ifiok Ukobo
For further counselling and help contact
THINK RIGHT AND LIVE RIGHT CLUB
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Email: tralright@yahoo.com, tralright@gmail.com

RESOLVE GENERATIONAL CURSES IN 5 MINUTES

On God's part, all generational curses has been rendered inoperative in Christ Jesus. When you repented of your sin and made Jesus Christ the Lord of your life, you automatically became a chosen generation and no longer a cursed generation. "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." 1Peter 2:9 (NKJV). Your inheritance of blessings and curses ceased to be from your parents but from Christ Jesus. "In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will." Ephesians 1:11 (NKJV).  Therefore, all your generational curses are broken in Christ. "13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"), 14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith." Galatians 3:13-14 (NKJV). This is the New Covenant law for Kingdom citizens.

You might ask, but why am I experiencing the same battles or challenges that my parents and grandparents experienced. If this is not generational curse, what is it? Remember that Satan is a thief who comes to steal, kill and destroy. The afflictions he placed upon your parents, he wants it to continue with you. Not because generational curses are still in force but because as a criminal, he does not respect heaven's edict that abolished generational curses until forced to do so. He is simply a rebel, practicing on you that which God has already ruled illegal. The good news is that God has given you authority and power to make him obey heaven's edict on the matter.

If you are born again, you have been made a king. The bible says concerning our Lord Jesus, “And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.” Rev 1:6 (KJV). Therefore you have received the authority to exercise dominion. If you are baptized in the Holy Spirit, you have received power to enforce your authority. You are God's policeman to arrest and stop the illegal activities of that criminal called Satan. The bible says “…what you prohibit on earth will be prohibited in heaven, and what you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.” Mat 18:18 (GNB). The responsibility is not on God but on you to act. The Holy Spirit is in you to help you if you choose to act.  All that it takes is for you to believe and act in obedience.

You act in obedience by resisting the devil. The scripture says to resist the devil. “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Jas 4:7 (KJV). If you will not only be a hearer of the word deceiving yourself but a doer of the word then God will do the work. You become a doer of the word by obeying the command to resist the devil and God will do the work by bringing about result. Start obeying the word.

Some may ask, where and how do you see the devil to resist him? You catch the devil through his acts. Jesus was dealing with the devil when he went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil. When thoughts that are contrary to scripture drop into your mind, that's the devil. Resist that thought by refusing to dwell on it. Speak out to renounce and replace it with the word of God. When a sickness comes on you, that's the devil. Refuse to accommodate the sickness in your mind, rather think on the scriptures that promise you good health. When your children are leaving the faith, that’s the devil. When you seem weak and unable to overcome sinful habits and addictions that's the devil. You resist him by standing on the promises of God, renouncing Satan's desires over your life and refusing to believe you are helpless.

If you are born again, you have both the authority and warrant to arrest that criminal called Satan. If you are baptized in the Holy Spirit, you possess the power to enforce your authority. Therefore, claim and stand on what the word of God says concerning that thing and at the same time rebuke and destroy the works of the devil in that area of your life. You can't lose if you don't give up. If you are not born again or you are not sure whether you are born again, click here for help.

Notice also that God is not the one putting generational curses on people. God said in  Jeremiah 31:29-30 (NKJV)   “29 In those days they shall say no more: 'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, And the children's teeth are set on edge.'  30 But every one shall die for his own iniquity; every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge." Those days have come in the New Covenant and God is not putting any curse on you. On the other hand, the devil derives pleasure from continuing bondage from generation to generation. So the devil is your enemy, he is the one you are dealing with. The bible makes it clear in 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV) that we have a completely new deal in Christ.  “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."

Your future is not based on what you inherited from your parents but what you inherited from Jesus. “In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will” Eph 1:11 (KJV). You are a new man in Christ but if you don't renew your mind in the word, you aren't putting on the new man. We are charged in Ephesians 4:22-24 (NKJV)  “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." You have to believe it and let it renew your mind by thinking in line with it, before the new man in you can manifest.

What about going to the village to pray at the family compound, look for strange object buried in the ground, etc., in order to destroy your link to the past? If that is always necessary for our freedom, Jesus would have recommended it to at least one of the people he ministered to.  But in all cases of healings and deliverances, the people’s problems terminated with their encounter with Jesus Christ. Your generational problems too will terminate the moment you believe what Jesus did for you and act on it without retreating. The Apostles also were used of God to usher many into the freedom that Christ bought for us. They ministered in many Gentile territories that were known for worshiping plethora of gods.  Yet there is no evidence of one of them advocating for going home to do family deliverance. If there was anything Paul said about the past it is this "No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead." (Philippians 3:13).   I suggest that we should do the same thing.

Some argue that some people had results going home to do those kinds of deliverance. They may have had some relief perhaps but not freedom. You must understand that walking in freedom is not possible without operating in the truth. Results of relief is not always a validation of method or theology but God actions of love for the hurting people. This is why some will say to God on the last day, we healed and prophesied in your name and God will say to them, depart from me ye workers of iniquity. They had what appeared to be results but they were wrong in interpreting it to mean that God had accepted their lawless lifestyles. God is love and is constantly looking for how to do loving things to his people.

Let no one make merchandize of you in the name of breaking generational curses. Your curses were borne by Jesus on the cross on your behalf. Faith in Him makes what He did to be credited to your account. Submit to God by believing His word then resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Written by Ifiok Ukobo

If you need help in overcoming the devil, you can reach me through the email: tralright@yahoo.com

CONTEND OR BE DEFEATED

         If you are a true Christian, you are contending against some doctrinal errors where ever you may be living. If everything looks okay to you and there is nothing to contend for, watch it, the possibilities are that you have been deceived. Wrong teachings have become mainstream and dominant in such a way that no true Christian can remain true without fighting hard to retain what was originally given to us by Jesus Christ and His Apostles. The root of this error in many cases has been a corrupted doctrine of grace.
        These errors are not new. As early as 90AD, Jude had noticed with grieve of heart that the truth of the faith is being corrupted by some teachers in the Church. He therefore wrote  in Jude 1:3-4 (NKJV) "...exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ."
         This is a command to Christians of every generation to contend for the truth of the gospel that was delivered to the saints. What does it mean to contend? It simply means to struggle or exert oneself to obtain or retain possession of,  the body of Truth of the gospel that was once and for all delivered to the saints. We are not only to contend for the truth but do so earnestly, that is, seriously with sincere and intense conviction without fear nor apology. Some people may say you are judging others when doing this but the word of God says contend earnestly for the faith that was once and for all delivered to the saints.
            Why is this contending necessary according to this scripture? Because Satan is using some people to corrupt the Church by distorting the doctrine of grace, turning it into lewdness. Notice that the foundation of the error according to the passage in Jude rest on a wrong understanding and application of the doctrine of grace. In Jude's words, these people are those "who turn the grace of our God into lewdness". How do they do this? Through their teachings. Their teachings about the grace of God motivate in their hearers responses that are inclined to, characterized by, or inciting to lust or lechery, obscene or indecent.
             Apostle Peter warned that these teachers will become regular in the last days. He wrote in 2 Peter 2:1-3, 14, 18 (KJV) "1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. 3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. 14 Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children: 18 For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error."
            These people are able to continue in the path of destruction because they choose to remember only the goodness of God. The love and goodness of God is something we must constantly keep before us so the enemy may not deceive us to seek relationship with God based on our merits rather the finished work of Christ. However, the bible teaches us to "Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off." Romans 11:22 (NKJV). In other words, to stay in the truth and enjoy the grace of God without the error of succumbing to lewdness, we must keep before us not only the goodness but also the severity of God. Any attempt to focus only on the goodness of God to the omission of the severity of God will lead to lewdness.
          Consequently, Jude said to all who cared to listen, "But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe." Jude 1:5 (NKJV). These things are quoted in the epistles and other New Testament scriptures because they are relevant to us who are in the New Covenant relationship with God. God does not address issues that do not exist.  The Times call for you to earnestly contend for the faith or be deceived into condemnation.

TRANSFORMATIONAL EDUCATION

                                       Transformational Education
                                                       By
                                               Ifiok Ukobo
All education promotes values whether it was intended to or not. Often, asymmetric relationship between teachers and students mean that secular thought patterns embedded in the curriculum is the only voice permitted in the classroom. But there is another reality waiting for the child at the close of the school day, a reality taught at home, lived within the community and assumed in every transaction. A reality that is intrinsically African. A reality they readily fall back on in moments of crisis, confusion, and frustration. At such times, the classroom voice and the values it postulated ceases to have any effect. The chicken has come home to roost as they say, and the only voice being heard is that of the culture. What we had invested years to acquire has now, in a moment given way to that which is culturally African. Can this be the reason our public officers can deliver papers that are by western standard excellent yet cannot implement same in their countries? What would have been the result if the voice in the classroom was not opposed to the values and culture of the African, but rather utilized them to give contextualized education. What if education was made to be culturally relevant?

We need to examine the values promoted by education in Africa over the years to ascertain their appropriateness for building African communities. My observation is that education given in Africa, has not promoted nor replicated values that are in tandem with the social and cultural identity of the African. Our sense of community and awareness of the Holy is constantly assaulted. We Africans are being conditioned to think and appreciate family, relationships, gender roles, beauty and community like westerners. Western styled living, appreciation of life and values are presented as the ideal. It has become the norm that local innovations and creations must be appreciated abroad first before it can be appreciated locally. It has always intrigued me that Mongo Park, an English man was credited for the discovery of River Niger even though the locals were the ones showing him around and ferrying him in their boats. A more disturbing issue is the fact that this position was taught to our children in schools for decades. This kind of education tends to communicate the values of passivity, low expectations concerning one’s potential and capabilities to our children. Consequently, our youths have been condition to always expect salvation from abroad. The result is an African identity crises that condition a perpetual policy failure rooted in mistaking westernization for development.

Can the universality of Education be asserted and preserved without insisting on customs and values that are adversarial to our identity as Bible believing Christians and Africans? The answer should certainly be yes. We do not need to become secular Europeans to be educated. Questions such as "Does education modify culture or culture modifies education" are often misleading and need not be our concern? Such questions seem to put up education against culture, a fight that neither can win. It might be more helpful to seek ways education can be made to be more culturally relevant and contextually effective. In this way education and culture can be partners in progress.