Conquering Your Territory through Time Conversion

Conquering Your Territory through Time Conversion

In life, every one must decide in what area of life he or she wants to be great. You must choose what territory you want to conquer. After deciding the territory you want to rule over, the next thing you must do is to invest your time into developing yourself and becoming the best in that territory. This means that you must convert all of your minutes and seconds into adding value to yourself in that field. 

To become the king of that territory you must not allow any of your time pass without converting it into building your skills in that area of life. You must arrest every passing time and convert it into growing your knowledge and prowess in that field. If you allow someone else to convert more time than you in your chosen territory, you automatically become a servant or a second class citizen in that territory and whoever it is who converted more time than you in that territory becomes your king and will lord it over you in that territory.

 If you don’t want to just live an ordinary life, then you will have to be intentional about converting all your time into that which you have been called to do. You must, first of all, evolve the consciousness of being the best in whatever territory you choose to explore and then invest all your time into it and you will be amazed how easy it is to become great. It doesn’t matter what your calling is, if you can invest all your time into it, then greatness will become your reward.

“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michaelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, 'Here lived a great street-sweeper who did his job well.” 

― Martin Luther King Jr.

Therefore the way to becoming the best in your area of calling is to invest more time than anyone else in that area of life. So you must decide what territory you want to conquer and give it all of your time.

Bill gates decided to rule over the world of software development and the world is enjoying Microsoft today. Can you imagine what the world will be like without Microsoft? Can you imagine what our school system will be like if there were no Microsoft in our world today? What about the banking sector, the financial sector, the internet world etc. There is almost no area of life that doesn’t need Microsoft word, office or PowerPoint today.

 But you see, the world is enjoying Microsoft because somebody invested his time into developing a software and today he rules over that territory. Bill Gates doesn’t have to look for a government job or wait for a government salary to survive. He is the boss and lord over his territory and the richest man in the world. But how did he become lord over money too? He did that just by converting his time into money. So don’t forget “money is made out of time”

Steve Jobs decided to rule over the world of microcomputers {phones and minicomputers} and today the world is enjoying iPhone, iPad, Apple store and all other apple products. Can you imagine how the world will look like without these products? Steve Jobs is dead but his products live on in the hands of almost everyone alive today. 

Why is it so? Because he produced the best phone product for the world. He didn’t just produce a normal product like other producers in his field. He invested time into producing the best. The amount of time you invest into your products determines the quality of the products. The latest iPhone was just released recently and the whole world is craving to buy it. Why are people ready to buy his iPhone at a very high cost when there are other cheaper brands of phones in the market? Why are people using the amount of money that could buy about five regular brands of phones to buy just one iPhone?  I guess you know the answer. The reason is “quality” and that quality was a product of how much time he invested into developing the knowledge of the iPhone and producing the iPhone itself. Because he invested more time than other phone producers, he has become the lord in that territory with almost no rival. 

That is what happens when you invest more time into something than others. You become the best among equals. You become outstanding. If you can decide to invest all your time into giving birth to a quality product, the whole world will celebrate you and everyone will be in need of your product. The world cannot do without his products even though he is dead. He was able to leave his footprint in the sand of history but only because he understood the power of time conversion. He became great because he converted his time into quality products.

Mark Zuckerberg decided to be the lord over social networking and invested his time into developing a product; Facebook. A product that almost everyone in the world is enjoying. There is hardly a person in the world who is not on Facebook or who hasn’t heard of Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg is only 32years old and has already ranked 5^th richest man in the world with a net worth of $55.3b as at October 2016. He launched his product, Facebook on February 4, 2004, from his Harvard dormitory room at the age of 20yrs.

Now the question is how such a young man could be that wealthy and be the lord of social networking? The answer is “Time conversion” He invested his time into developing a product for the world. He converted his time into a product to benefit the world. Do you have any product for the world? Are you ready to convert your time into producing something that the world will remember you for? Have you chosen the territory you want to conquer?

If you must record some greatness in your account before you leave this earth, you must value time and understand the importance of time conversion. Only through the conversion of time can greatness be bought. Only through the conversion of time can territories be conquered.

Someone may say, what if I am not a software developer or a computer literate? What if I am not into the world of science and technology? Well! The truth is that your territory doesn’t have to be the same as that of the great men mentioned above. You may not even need to have a formal education to conquer your own territory. You necessarily do not have to have gone to the university to become great. Just decide your own territory. It could be in tailoring. It could be in music or dancing. It could be in an artistic painting. It could even be in carpentry. Whatever your territory doesn't matter. What matters is the amount of time you are ready to invest into it to become the king of that territory.

The Melting Clocks

The Melting Clocks

Salvador Dali is among the most versatile and prolific artists of the twentieth century.  He is perhaps best known for his 1931 painting The Persistence of Memory, showing melting clocks in a landscape setting.While we cannot know for certain the true meaning, interpretation or analysis that Dali himself intended for his painting, I will, however, want to explain two of the assumptions about the meaning of the melting clocks that are most striking and most relevant to the subject of time management.

The first assumption; It is said that the painting conveys several ideas within the image, chiefly that time is not rigid and everything is destructible. I want you to pay attention to this line “Time is not rigid” It is destructible. It melts away before you know it. This is exactly what I have been trying to get across to you from the beginning of this time series. The idea that time melts and vanishes whether we like it or not is what the melting clocks of Salvador Dali depict. I have said before that as time diminishes, life diminishes alongside. 

In agreement with the first assumption of the melting clocks, I want to state at this point that nothing is stable in life including life itself. Everything diminishes and everything is destructible. Since everything is destructible including life, you should, therefore, make the best out of life while it lasts. The only way to get the best out of the diminishing life is to invest it into the fulfillment of your purpose.

 To invest your life, you must invest your time and make sure it doesn’t just melt away like Salvador Dali’s melting clock. The thought that your time and your life will melt away should create a sense of urgency to do something of worth with it before it all melts away.

 If you are given twenty-four hours of your life every day to do something with it, what would you do with it before it melts in the evening?  Sadly so many people stand and watch their life melt away every day without taking advantage of it to produce something of worth. This refusal to convert this melting life into a product happens repeatedly for fifty, sixty or maybe seventy years of a man’s life after which he dies with nothing left to benefit the next generation. What a waste of precious life! A life that could have been used to positively impact humanity is allowed to melt away into vanity. 

The tragedy of life is that it comes just once and before you know it, it is gone. Since life comes just once, I encourage you to give it your best shot. I dare you to maximize your life. You can create the best out of your life by understanding the wealth of time and converting that time into the life that you were created to live. I mean to say convert your time into fulfilling your purpose. I will reiterate; the best way to convert your time into products is through the power of solitude. Do not watch your life melt away just like that for life is too precious to waste it doing nothing.

The second assumption; others believe that the melting and distorted clocks symbolize the erratic passage of time that we experience while dreaming.

THE PROBLEMS WITH DREAMS

I find the second assumption of the melting clocks fascinating because it depicts the actual state of a majority of people on the earth. The tragedy of our age is that a greater percentage of people living today are only living in the dream world. Have you ever woken up from a dream and expected it to be still the middle of the night and are surprised to find that it is already morning? That is the realm in which most people live their lives; the realm of dreams.

 Everyone dreams of greatness and expects it to happen in the future automatically. The problem with these dreams is that they are always futuristic and gives a deceptive impression that there is still enough time to actualize them. The tragedy, however, is that you soon realize that the time you thought you had to fulfill the dreams had melted away before your very eyes. You suddenly come to terms with the reality that you are now sixty or seventy years old but did none of the things you dreamt you were going to do. The only thing you can do with the dreams when you realize it’s already morning is to regret wasting your life while you had all the time. You only regret not converting time into fulfilling your dreams while you had the time. That is not the kind of life you should live.

“Dare to live the life you have dreamed for yourself. Go forward and make your dreams come true.” 

                                                Ralph Waldo Emerson

 Dear friends I do not want you to live in the dream world because time erratically passes away in that world. Come to reality and begin to act now. Actualize the dreams now and don’t procrastinate them for the future. Use every second, minute and hour that you have to fulfil your calling your purpose and your dreams. Convert every passing time of your life before it melts away.

 Greatness is never achieved in the realm of dreams but in the realm of reality and the only way to achieving that greatness is to convert your time into added value to yourself and then to others. Your dream will only benefit humanity when you make it tangible by living it out. You are only great to the degree you impacted others with your life. Take hold of your passing time and convert it into living your dreams. Only then can you truly fulfill the great destiny that you were called to fulfill.

THE JUDGEMENT AND THE BOOK OF LIFE

THE JUDGEMENT AND THE BOOK OF LIFEThere is nothing that scares the believer more than the sound of the Phrase "Judgement day" Whenever the topic of judgement day is preached in church people become so cold and express extreme fear. Many people come out to the altar to repent and get born again even though they were already born again before. The majority go home with fear and resolve to make sure that they will work hard to become righteous even though God already gave them the free gift of righteousness.
They struggle to live holy in their own eyes for a week or at most a month and return back to status quo if the trumpet doesn't sound within that time. They continue to live recklessly for a long time until the next time the message of the judgement is preached again and the same cycle of trying to work hard to save themselves repeats.  

The reason for such religious attitude is that people do not understand the nature of God's judgement and hence expresses fear whenever the subject is raised. The thing that breaks my heart is that it is those who claim to be born again believers that least understand the nature of this judgement.
If the world does not understand it I at least will not be surprised but for the redeemed to not understand it raises a lot of questions in my mind. It is either we've not been taught or we've been taught wrongly.
It is for this reason that I write if perhaps I could reveal the truth of God to those who will care to believe it. The first thing I want to reveal about the judgement is:
(1) THE BELIEVER IN CHRIST WILL NOT BE JUDGED 

24 “I am telling you the truth: those who hear my words and believe in him who sent me have eternal life. They will not be judged, but have already passed from death to life{John 5:24 GNT}

From the verse above, the truth was revealed and this truth is that those who believe in Jesus Christ will not be judged. The reason they will not be judged is because they already have eternal life and that means that they have already passed from death to life. It is impossible for these ones to be cast into the lake of fire. This judgement that they will be exempted from is what I call the first judgement and I will explain it later in this article. 



(2) THOSE WHO DO NOT BELIEVE IN JESUS HAVE BEEN JUDGED ALREADY.

18 Those who believe in the Son are not judged; but those who do not believe have already been judged, because they have not believed in God's only Son.{John 3:18 GNT}

 From the verse above, it is revealed again that those { of  which the Christians are} who believe in the son are not judged. That is to say they are not condemned. If they are not condemned, then they are not guilty of sin and hence cannot be sentenced to hell. But we must note that the reason why the believer is not condemned or judged is simply because of his faith in Jesus Christ and not because he worked hard to save himself. It is not even because he didn't commit any sin. He is only declared free from judgement because of his faith.

However those who do not believe in Jesus as the son of God who came to take away the sin of the world have been judged and condemned already. Why are they condemned? Because they do not believe in the son of God. 

(3) GOD'S PEOPLE ARE THE FIRST TO BE JUDGED

17 The time has come for judgment to begin, and God's own people are the first to be judged. If it starts with us, how will it end with those who do not believe the Good News from God?{1Peter 4:17 GNT}

How can it be that the judgement will start from the house of God when we have said before that The believers will not be judged. Well the answer is simply because not all who are in church are believers. 

Many claim to be believers but their fearful attitude to the message of the judgement could just reveal to you that they are not true believers in the finished work of Jesus on the cross. They go to church but do not understand the sacrifice that was offered on their behalf on the cross and so are in an attempt to save themselves. This attempt to be self righteous plainly reveals that they do not believe that Jesus is their righteousness. They therefore can not be regarded as believers. 

Hence God will start the judgement from his house so as to separate the sheep from the goats. He will need to draw a line between those practising religion based on Moses's laws and those who have entered a true relationship with him through his son Jesus Christ. 

Not all Jews are Abraham's seed. Only those who are in Christ are the true descendants of Abraham.

 Again for he is not a real Jew who is only one outwardly, nor is true circumcision something external and physical. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly: and true circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit not by the fulfilment of the letter of the law. His praise is not from men but from God.


It is because the house of God is mixed up with those who only practice religion without faith and those who simply hope to be saved by their faith in Christ; that is why judgment will start from God's own people. God will draw a line between faith and works and between religion and true relationship. He will draw a line between the works of men and the finished work of Christ.

Again don't forget that he came to his own and his own received him not but as many that received him he gave the power to become sons of God. Therefore among God's people, there are those who believe in Christ and there are those who believe in the laws to save them. 

Remember; Those who believe in the son will not be judged but those who do not believe are judged even though they are both mixed together in one unit called church. This is the reason the judgment is starting from the house of God.



(4) THE BELIEVERS SHALL BE BOLD ON JUDGEMENT DAY

17 And as we live with Christ, our love grows more perfect and complete; so we will not be ashamed and embarrassed at the day of judgment, but can face him with confidence and joy because he loves us and we love him too.

18 We need have no fear of someone who loves us perfectly; his perfect love for us eliminates all dread of what he might do to us. If we are afraid, it is for fear of what he might do to us and shows that we are not fully convinced that he really loves us. 19 So you see, our love for him comes as a result of his loving us first.{1John 4 TLB}

From the verses above, you could see that those who are true believers are not to be afraid of judgment day. That shows that those fearful people in the church who dread the judgment day are not true believers. They are only religious people who are trying to save themselves by obeying ten commandments and Jewish laws. 

Those true believers who have entered a faith and love relationship with God through Christ Jesus shall not be embarrassed nor ashamed on judgment day. They shall be bold to stand before the one who loved them and gave his life for them so that his blood could wash away their sins. 

Those who are in church and fear judgment day are not convinced that God truly loves them and if you ask me, they should be called unbelievers.

(5) UNDERSTANDING THE BOOK OF LIFE

What I am about to reveal to you about the book of life will shock you. Most Christians have argued that you will be judged based on the works or good things you do and that your works will determine whether or not you will enter heaven or hell. Fortunately, they have a scripture to back up their argument which I would like you to read before I reveal the truth of God to you from that same scripture. 

 12 I saw the dead, great and small, standing before God; and The Books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to the things written in The Books, each according to the deeds he had done. 13 The oceans surrendered the bodies buried in them; and the earth and the underworld gave up the dead in them. Each was judged according to his deeds. 14 And Death and Hell were thrown into the Lake of Fire. This is the Second Death—the Lake of Fire. 15 And if anyone’s name was not found recorded in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the Lake of Fire.{Revelations 20:12-15}



The scripture above is the most dreaded scripture in Christendom and it is from it that the threat of hell is preached in most churches to scare believers. 

Unfortunately for the religious minds, the scripture does not say what they preach. What then does it say someone may be asking in his mind. Well let me reveal the truth of God to you. 


A careful look at the verses above will reveal to you that there are two kind of books here; one is The Books and the other is The Book Of Life.The Books was used to judge the deeds or the works of men but nobody was cast into the lake of fire because of what was written in The Books whether it be good or bad. The only entity that was cast into the lake of fire was Death And Hell but not humans. This shows you that the judgement from The Books according to works is not what decides who enters heaven or the lake of fire. That Judgement is only a judgement of rewards. This is what I call the Second Judgement. It will only reward people according to the works{good or bad} that they've done. Nobody is thrown into the lake of fire based on the books.



But if you look at the last verse you will find out that people are thrown into the lake of fire only if their names are not found written in The Book Of Life. It is this book of life that determines who enters heaven and who enters the lake of fire. Fortunately for the believer in Christ his name is already written in the Book of Life and hence the believer in Christ CANNOT be cast into the lake of fire. This is what I call the first Judgement for which the believer in Christ is exempted because his name is already written in the book of life.  




(6) THE BELIEVER'S NAME IS IN THE BOOK OF LIFE

 20 But don't be glad because the evil spirits obey you; rather be glad because your names are written in heaven.”{Luke 10:20 GNT}

22 But you have come right up into Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the gathering of countless happy angels; 23 and to the church, composed of all those registered in heaven; and to God who is Judge of all; and to the spirits of the redeemed in heaven, already made perfect; 24 and to Jesus himself, who has brought us his wonderful new agreement; and to the sprinkled blood, which graciously forgives instead of crying out for vengeance as the blood of Abel did.{Hebrews 12:22-24 TLB}

One of the ignorant prayers I hear believers pray is that God should write their names in the book of life. Well if you ask me that prayer is coming too late because the believer's name was already written in the book of life right from the foundations of the world. If there should be any prayer at all it should be for the name not to be erased from the book of life but believe me you don't even need to prayer that prayer as long as you still keep on believing in Christ. All who believe in Christ are the redeemed of the Lord and their names are registered in heaven already.

The believer in Christ is already living in the heavenly Jerusalem, mount Zion; the city of the living God. The verse above did not say the believer is going to come to the heavenly Jerusalem, it says the believer has already entered mount Zion. The believer has joined the church of the first born whose names are already written in heaven.

But did you notice that the people who have come to mount Zion are having fellowship with countless happy angels? Not fearful angry angels but happy angels. How come the people who are in heaven having fellowship with God the Father, the son and His angels, are still living in fear of the judgement day? Why is the believer afraid of Judgement day when he is already having fellowship with the judge of the universe and His angels?

Did you also notice that the spirit of the redeemed{The Believer} is already made perfect in heaven? How come church people are considering what is happening in their human body here on earth to decide whether they will make heaven or hell? Are they not aware that their spirits have been saved when they accepted Jesus as their saviour?
 You will also notice that the believers are already having fellowship in heaven with Jesus the mediator of the new covenant and His blood grants forgiveness to all of their sins. Are they not aware that his sprinkled blood graciously forgives instead of crying out for punishment like Abel's blood?
Even Paul and the apostles knew that the believers names are written in the book of life already. How come the present day believer is ignorant of that truth?

 3 And I ask you, my true teammate, to help these women, for they worked side by side with me in telling the Good News to others; and they worked with Clement, too, and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are written in the Book of Life.{Phillipians 4:3 TLB}


(7) THOSE WHO OVERCOME SHALL NOT BE ERASED FROM THE BOOK OF LIFE

 5 Those who win the victory will be clothed like this in white, and I will not remove their names from the book of the living. In the presence of my Father and of his angels I will declare openly that they belong to me.{Revelations 3:5 GNT}

The scripture above is another part of the bible that religious minds have misunderstood. Most pastors have preached that for the believer in Christ to have his name indelibly written in the book of life he or she must overcome. That is true. However their understanding of the word "overcome or win the victory" is wrong and clouded with Moses's veil. They preach that to overcome means to obey all the commandments and the Jewish laws and hence push believers back into the self-sin of self righteousness. The sin of trying to save yourself by obeying Jewish laws.



It is true that Jesus said that those who overcome shall be clothed in white and their names shall not be erased from the book of life but the bible also explained how to overcome:

4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.

5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?{1John 5:4-5 KJV}




The truth therefore is that the believer in Christ has already overcome because he believes that Jesus is the son of God who died to take away the sins of the world. He is born of God. The victory that overcomes the world is our FAITH therefor e the believer in Christ shall be clothed in white and his name shall not be deleted from the book of life. Above all Christ shall present us to God in the presence of the angels that we belong to Him.



I hope that by now you have understood the nature of the judgement. If you do it should make you worship and give all the glory to Jesus for he is the one who made it possible for us to be born again with our names indelibly written in the book of life. All the glory should return to him and not to our religious self- righteousness. Thanks be to God who gives us the victory.


42 And he sent us to preach the Good News everywhere and to testify that Jesus is ordained of God to be the Judge of all—living and dead. 43 And all the prophets have written about him, saying that everyone who believes in him will have their sins forgiven through his name.”{Acts 10:42-43 TLB}


Do You still think the believer should be Afraid Of Judgement Day? Drop your comments below. God Bless you.

TRUE RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD{CONCLUSION}

      


I can go on and on mentioning people in scriptures who had short falls and sinned against God but were pardoned because of relationship.They were still called heroes of faith. I could talk about Samson with his women problem, Jacob the supplanter and deceiver, Moses with his anger problem and how he became a murderer. Let’s hear what God said to Moses:

⁴⁸ That same day the Lord said to Moses, ⁴⁹ “Go to the Abarim Mountains in the land of Moab opposite the city of Jericho; climb Mount Nebo and look at the land of Canaan that I am about to give the people of Israel. ⁵⁰ You will die on that mountain as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor, ⁵¹ because both of you were unfaithful to me in the presence of the people of Israel. When you were at the waters of Meribah, near the town of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin, you dishonored me in the presence of the people. ⁵² You will look at the land from a distance, but you will not enter the land that I am giving the people of Israel.”{Deuteronomy 32:48-52 GNT}

Moses dishonoured God before the people and he and Aaron were unfaithful to God. God told him he will see the Promised Land from a distance but he will not enter the land. Indeed Moses did not enter the physical Promised Land as God had said. He died and was buried. The accuser of the brethren, Satan wanted to have Moses go to hell but God who is rich in mercy and grace could not allow that happen. He had to send angel Michael to go contend with Satan and take delivery of Moses’ body.

⁹ Not even the chief angel Michael did this. In his quarrel with the Devil, when they argued about who would have the body of Moses, Michael did not dare condemn the Devil with insulting words, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”{Jude 1:9 GNT}

The bible stated that Michael the arc angel contended with Satan about the body of Moses. The reason may probably be because of His sins. But the good news is that because of true relationship, Satan was rebuked and Moses was given eternal life. You see he didn’t enter the earthly Promised Land but he received eternal life. But wait a minute! Was Moses guilty? Yes. Did Satan have the right to want his body? Yes. But what Satan didn’t know was that the death of Jesus Christ on the cross paid for Moses’ sins too even though Moses died many generations ago before Christ’s death on the cross. All the men of old who had a relationship with God had their sins pardoned. God didn’t punish their sins because He planned to grant them forgiveness through the death of Christ on the cross Even though they were guilty of sin, He declared them innocent. Christ came and took away their sins.

²⁵ For God sent Christ Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to end all God’s anger against us. He used Christ’s blood and our faith as the means of saving us from his wrath.^[g] In this way he was being entirely fair, even though he did not punish those who sinned in former times. For he was looking forward to the time when Christ would come and take away those sins. ²⁶ And now in these days also he can receive sinners in this same way because Jesus took away their sins.

But isn’t this unfair for God to let criminals go free, and say that they are innocent? No, for he does it on the basis of their trust in Jesus who took away their sins. 

²⁷ Then what can we boast about doing to earn our salvation? Nothing at all. Why? Because our acquittal is not based on our good deeds; it is based on what Christ has done and our faith in him. ²⁸ So it is that we are saved^[h] by faith in Christ and not by the good things we do. {Romans 3:25-28 TLB}

Now Moses can enjoy God’s glory because God declared him “discharged and acquitted”. He now sits with the great cloud of witnesses, perhaps as one of the presiding elders.

How glorious it was on that mountain of configuration, when Moses and Elijah appeared talking with and to bear witness to our Lord Jesus. It was so glorious that Peter desired to build three tents there for Jesus, Moses, Elijah.

 Six days later Jesus took with him Peter and the brothers James and John and led them up a high mountain where they were alone. ² As they looked on, a change came over Jesus: his face was shining like the sun, and his clothes were dazzling white.³ Then the three disciples saw Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus. ⁴ So Peter spoke up and said to Jesus, “Lord, how good it is that we are here! If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.{Matthew 17:1-4 GNT}

No wonder John wrote” and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth.

Someone may be wondering why all my examples stemmed from the Old Testament. Well, the bible says that if the ministration of death and condemnation was glorious how much more glorious shall the ministration of righteousness be.

⁹ If the plan that leads to doom was glorious, much more glorious is the plan that makes men right with God. {2Corinthians 3:9 TLB}

If the people under the old covenant had their sins pardoned due to the relationship they had with God, don’t you think the people of the new covenant will receive much more pardon? If men were forgiven when the blood of bulls and goats that couldn’t take away sins was in operation, how much more forgiveness will we have now that the precious blood of the lamb has been shed for the remission of sins. If the faulty priesthood system of old could intercede for sinners, what about now that we have a great high priest over the house of God, even Jesus Christ who makes intercession for us.

For the same Jesus who said “if you deny me before men, I will deny you before the angels” also said this to Peter:

³¹ “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to have you, to sift you like wheat, ³² but I have pleaded in prayer for you that your faith should not completely fail.^[g] So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen and build up the faith of your brothers.”

³³ Simon said, “Lord, I am ready to go to jail with you, and even to die with you.”

³⁴ But Jesus said, “Peter, let me tell you something. Between now and tomorrow morning when the rooster crows, you will deny me three times, declaring that you don’t even know me.”{Luke 22:31-34 TLB}

Jesus knew Peter was going to be tempted and that he would fall when tempted, but said something amazing “But I have prayed for you that your faith will not completely fail” What a heart of forgiveness and genuine love! Church folks would rather condemn you and gossip about your sins instead of praying that your faith fail not. We all know the story of how Peter denied Jesus Christ thrice. When Jesus resurrected let’s see if he denied peter:

¹⁵ After breakfast Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these others?”^[d]

“Yes,” Peter replied, “you know I am your friend.”

“Then feed my lambs,” Jesus told him.

¹⁶ Jesus repeated the question: “Simon, son of John, do you really love me?”

“Yes, Lord,” Peter said, “you know I am your friend.”

“Then take care of my sheep,” Jesus said.

¹⁷ Once more he asked him, “Simon, son of John, are you even my friend?”

Peter was grieved at the way Jesus asked the question this third time. “Lord, you know my heart;^[e] you know I am,” he said.

Jesus said, “Then feed my little sheep. ¹⁸ When you were young, you were able to do as you liked and go wherever you wanted to; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and others will direct you and take you where you don’t want to go.”¹⁹ Jesus said this to let him know what kind of death he would die to glorify God. Then Jesus told him, “Follow me. {John 21:15-19 TLB}

Peter was reinstated into leadership and was asked to feed the little sheep. You know the story about peter on the day of Pentecost how he preached and three thousand souls were saved. His faith did not fail. True relationship sustained Him.

I will have to summarise this topic by stating emphatically that all you need is a satisfying relationship with God through faith. This faith works by love. If truly you are born again by faith then don’t begin to doubt your righteousness. I can’t tell you that you won’t be tempted or even fall. You certainly will. But what I want you to know is that when you fall, your sin might break fellowship for some time but it will not break relationship. You remain a child of God by faith. You are still the righteousness of God IN CHRIST JESUS. Keep your faith alive, fellowship will be restored and know that your relationship is steadfast.

Only those who are not in God’s family, who are not born again, are without a relationship with God. They lack relationship with God because they lack faith. But as for you when you received Christ Jesus by faith, God gave you power to become His child. God is not a man that He should lie neither is He the son of man that He should repent. He has said “Whosoever believes in Christ will not perish but have everlasting life” and so shall it be. You have eternal life because you have Jesus. And if you are reading this topic and you have not accepted Christ Jesus. You can make up your mind today to come into true relationship with God so that you too can have eternal life.

¹¹ And what is it that God has said? That he has given us eternal life and that this life is in his Son. ¹² So whoever has God’s Son has life; whoever does not have his Son, does not have life {1John 5:11-12 TLB}