" Where is the wise of this world... ? "

" Where is the wise ? where is the scribe ? where is the disputer of this world? has God  not made foolish the wise of this world ?"  I Corinthians 1 : 20
 The wisdom of God expressed in His salvation plan through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ was not the wisdom of this world, nor of the " princes "of this world which comes to nought . 
The wisdom of God uses the despised and foolish things of  the earth to manifest His Glory.
1 Corinthians  1 : 25 -29. 
The preaching of the cross of Jesus is not foolishness and it is not just  another news item
It is the power of God and it is the hidden wisdom of God in a mystery which God ordained before the world began to bring about your salvation , unto your glory. 

  "... had they known it , they  would not have crucified the Lord of glory ." 
     1 Corinthians 2:5-8.
Disputers cannot comprehend the ways of God. and so  disputers believe that they are the " experts and the sole custodians of all knowledge and wisdom in the earth" .
They  would despise all things which they regard as "foolish things and ridiculous beliefs" .
Some would say ,"Death is final . What is the rationale in the belief that the source of life would be hinged on the death of anything or of any human being?".
" How could  a man who could  not prevent his own shameful death on the cross , promise others victory and life eternal?" Matthew  27:35 - 44 . 

Wise men are not disputers but they are seekers who are prepared  to go the extra mile to find out the veracity of any claim before dismissing it as " foolish and false".
" It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter ".
Proverbs 25 : 2.
Nicodemus was a ruler of the Jews , he was also a member of the Pharisee sect , one of the religious sects who  persecuted Jesus and demanded for His execution by crucifixion.
As a Pharisee , Nicodemus was well versed in the letter and the laws of the Jewish religion . 
He came under the cover of the night  for an unforgettable encounter with Jesus ; to check out Jesus' doctrine  of which he  had heard a lot of stories . 
That night Nicodemus received the  word of life , directly from the King of Kings Himself
John 3 : 1-21.
 The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God unto Salvation to every one that believe. Romans 1: 16.
When the wise get this revelation , they rejoice , embrace it and they apply the  wisdom  to order their paths . 
 Nicodemus had a life-changing encounter with Jesus Christ  and he went away convinced enough to become a disciple of  Jesus Christ.
 After the death of Jesus Christ  on the cross , it was Nicodemus who supplied the burial spices and joined hands with Joseph of Arimathea  to take away the body of Jesus Christ and to prepare Him for burial. 
John 19 : 38 - 42.
 You say you believe that there is one God and that , for you is the end of the story ?
 Not really the end. Anybody can believe that  there is one God.
 Even devils believe that there is one God  and they tremble at the knowledge. James 2 :19.
Your belief in one God is not enough to satisfy God's purpose for you to receive eternal life.
Also it is not enough to know that Jesus Christ is the spotless Lamb of God who was slain  to take away the sins of the world .
When the wise receive the Good News about Jesus Christ , it not just another "knowledge" for their archives . They take the most important step in the path of wisdom by embracing the Good News to the letter. 
They that are wise would receive and believe  the revelation  of  the Gospel thus : 
1. Accept that they have sinned and come short of the glory  of God and so they need a Saviour  to take away their sins. Romans 6: 20 -23. 
2. Believe in their hearts that for this reason in ( 1 ) above Jesus came to the earth .
The blood of Jesus was shed for the remission of sin . Jesus was crucified , He died , He was buried and Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after His burial.
Jesus is alive today and He lives and reigns for ever more as Lord , Saviour ,  and King in Heaven and on this earth .
 3. The wise would come to Jesus today prayerfully  confessing their sins . The wise would tell Him they have accepted Him as their Lord and Saviour and hand over to Him their burden of sin .
Now is the moment  to do that . Come  to Jesus and  He will accept you , cleanse you and make you whole again .

 3. People who had received the miracle of salvation would rejoice that they are saved unto eternal life ; and  the wise do not keep the Good News to themselves, they would tell others about it .
May your life be transformed by the power and the glory of Christ 's  resurrection as you live the  life of a daily confession of Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour . Amen.
^"" But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 
 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation ".
For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed ".
 Romans 10:8-11.

The Truth and Facts.

" For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,   
while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. 
For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal " .2 Corinthians 4: 17,18.( NKJV )) 
The family  and friends of Lazarus saw  him die, saw his corpse prepared for burial and then he was buried in a tomb, a cave which was sealed with a large boulder.
"These things He said, and after that He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.”  John 11:11.
 Lazarus had died  four days prior to the moment Jesus made this statement.
 Even minutes after his body died , the decay had set in and so after four days, the body of Lazarus was in an advanced stage of decomposition
Sleep and death look alike , sort of ; but they are as different as floodlight is to daylight.
 To everyone who was present at the funeral of Lazarus, it was obvious that ; not only was Lazarus not  "sleeping ", he was in fact stone dead and they had seen his body buried in a cave and sealed up for ever.
These were the indisputable facts about  the death and burial of Lazarus which stared the family and friends of Lazarus in the face before Jesus Christ arrived on the scene .
As far as the mourners  knew , that was the end of  Lazarus' life journey.
 " Jesus said  to her , Your brother  shall rise again ". John 11 : 23.
In  that atmosphere of sorrow and mourning , if  those words of Jesus Christ were heard by the mourners who were gathered  there , those words must have caused  raised eyebrows ,shock ,  anger , ridicule and  mocking words like : " Jesus has come again with his jokes ! "

 What are you SEEING now and what are you HEARING  now about the challenges in your life which have made the word of God sound  to you like "jokes "?
 You could  be in the depths of despair and depression because for many years now , you have seen your life become a roller-coaster of  rejection , failure , disappointment and shattered dreams.
Maybe the solid facts of your life experiences which you have been seeing are showing a vicious circle of you being " almost there ",  of rising and falling; sliding down into defeat and despair  again ?
Are you even thinking of you giving up the fight and doing the unthinkable ; 

Appreciation unto Joy

Sing to the LORD, for he has done glorious things;
let this be known to all the world.
Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion,
for great is the Holy One of Israel among you.”
Isaiah 12:5,6.



WORSHIP is my calling unto my God.
When I consider the goodness and faithfulness of the Lord in my life , I am transported into a realm of praise and worship !
God has filled my mouth with His praise and His honour , all the day.
I owe my God worship for who He is and for all He has done for me .
My God has been good to me ; for He daily loads me with benefits!
For He has broken the gates of brass and cut the bars of iron asunder.
God has made the expectations of the wicked to perish in my life and in my family!
My God has filled my mouth with His Word , with testimonies and with laughter.
He has made my feet like hinds' feet and set me upon my high places.
Hallelujah !
This is the Lord's doing ; it is marvellous in our sight! Psalm 118: 23.
"Therefore I will praise you among the nations, O Lord; I will sing praises to your name." Psalm 18:49.
Hallelujah! Blessed be your name Oh Lord , my God.
"That my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks for ever." Psalm 30:12

GLORY IN LIBERTY

I am crucified with Christ: nevertherless I live ; yet not I , but Christ liveth in me : and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God , who loved me, and gave himself for me. Galatians 2 : 20

The ability to analyse various options before arriving at reasonable conclusions and choices; sets Man apart from other creatures.
Liberty to choose a course of action , is one of the benefits bestowed on Man by God. Like any good parent would do, the gift given to a child is accompanied by a short instruction from the parent on how the child should use the gift.

When the relationship between God and Man started in the Garden, we see a loving God ; a Father who gave human beings the power to freely choose whether to accept or not , God as their Guide and their Father .
In the beginning , Man was given the role of “having dominion” over all the earth and its other creatures.
In addition to this responsibility , Man had the free will to choose between Obedience and Disobedience to God’s Law.
This freewill to choose between Life and Death was to be the deciding factor for the existence of Man’s relationship with God .
"Can two walk(or work)together except they are in agreement?"
The choice given to man was a simple one : to eat or not to eat.
“ Eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil and die ; or keep your fingers to yourselves , leave the fruit alone , zip up your mouth , keep moving and live !”
Genesis 2: 15 – 17.
To make this decision easy for Adam and Eve , God gave them thousands of other trees and shrubs from which they could eat.
It was not as if they were starving ; yet they choose to disobey God; out of their freewill .
They suffered the consequences of that choice during their life time and disobedient Mankind has continued to pay for that Original Sin , even till today.

Then , God sent His Son , Jesus Christ ; to offer Mankind a Way Out : His Salvation plan.
As it was in the beginning, so it is even today; the choice is simple : accept Jesus and live ; reject him and be condemned eternally. John 12: 44 - 50.
To facilitate Man’s choice , God provides GRACE to enable every Man make this right decision .
For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Philippians 2 : 13.
God has played His own part and then He leaves Mankind to freely decide to be or not to be partakers of the blessings of the Blood Covenant of Jesus Christ ; the Lamb of God , who was slain for the remission of our sins.
God made plain the benefits of this decision- making to enable Man realise the wisdom of MOVING UP from being “ just another of God’s creatures” to the elevated position of “Son ship / Daughter ship” . John 1 :12.
Therefore no human has an excuse for rejecting Jesus Christ.
The beauty in accepting Christ is ; it is by your own volition, for your own good.
No one is compelled to become a Christian by Birth or by threats of ostracism and by threats of death !
Every Christian has the liberty ; if they so choose , not to remain in the Christian Faith.
Every Christian knows that should he or she decide to quit the Faith for anything else ; their families and churches would not rustle up a murder squad to make them go “ missing ” and then deny all knowledge of what has happened to them!

A Believer’s knowledge of the Word of God concerning the repercussions for negative choices ; gives him the Wisdom as to the responsible use of his God – given freewill power to make choices .
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear ; but of power , and of love , and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1 :7 .
There are millions of “ways” and lifestyles clamouring for Man’s attention and set up as snares and distrations. Millions have chosen to follow these wrong ways .
But there is only One Way ; Jesus Christ , leading to the Father .
Very few are willing to follow Him to the end. Matthew 7 : 13 ,14.
God has given us the sound mind and power to weigh the consequences of our actions before making choices; so that the Word of God will ,always , remain true.
What man is he that feareth the Lord? Him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose.
His soul shall dwell at ease ; and his seed shall inherit the earth.
The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him ; and he will shew them his covenant . Psalm 25 : 12 – 14.
I appreciate this great privilege of having the power to choose , freely .
The list of alternatives at my disposal , is quite lengthy .
I could have chosen to follow and remained on the wrong way , for life!
I do not cease to thank God that I am counted worthy to be among those human beings who have been given this unmerited favour of believing in the Lord Jesus Christ.
I have chosen to remain a Christian ; not out of fear and coercion and , definitely , not because I want to please or impress anybody.
I could decide to renounce my Faith , shelve my Holy Bible , stop going to church ; stop teaching and preaching , stop writing my blogs !
Nobody in my family or church would beat me or kill me should I decide to do these.
The Beauty of this Faith is that I have the LIBERTY to choose to make this drastic swing ; change to another religion and another lifestyle ; without fearing for my life and without having to go into hiding from my family and my church , for the rest of my life !
What could happen is I would receive a lot of "Why! Why ?!" emails and text messages and counselling!
Of course , I know my family , my friends, my pastor and my entire church would become highly alarmed and fear , greatly, about my mental well being .
They would immediately launch into unrelenting, feverish prayers and deliverance sessions for me!
This scenario is not going to happen because I intend to hold on to this Gift of Love which I have been given by my Lord and Saviour. I know I have made a perfect choice from a sound mind and this Gift shall endure forever .
The call from God to all Mankind remains the same . The Choice is up to you to make.
Deuteronomy 30: 19- 20 , Isaiah 1: 18- 20.
Today , is the your Day of Salvation. Decide now , who you will choose.


.

He makes all things Beautiful

For thou , O Lord , hast made me glad through thy work; I will triumph in the works of thy hands.
O Lord , how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep. Psalm 92 :4,5.

Sometimes , we throw up our hands in despair and give up when we realise the futility of our "fix-it" efforts. When we try to fix things; to make them look better or to put broken pieces back together again.
There are some repair jobs in the home which we can have fun doing them; with a little flair for D.I.Y.
But there are some "hard stuff" which demand the professional touch for any repair work to be effective on them and there are some damages that are irreparable , by any human professional.
Like a broken beautiful porcelain china vase , or discoloured and damaged laundry.
I have lost , at least, a couple of pretty woolly clothing , which came out shrunk to a size or two smaller; because I forgot to turn my washing machine to the correct temperature settings before starting the washing .
Also, we all must have experienced the horror of seeing stained and damaged light-coloured clothes because we didn't separate the colours before they went into the washing machine . Damaged laundry are an annoying sight and fit only for the bin!

There is hope and remedy for all things which are hopelessly damaged and unwanted in our lives when we hand them over to the Mighty Restorer.
The Creator of all things beautiful , has the solution and the ability to make all things ugly and damaged , beautiful again. Hear him:
The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts : and in this place I will give peace , saith the Lord of hosts . Haggai 2 :9.

" Awake , awake , put on thy strength, O Zion: put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem , the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean.
Shake thyself from the dust; arise and sit down, O Jerusalem; loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion." Isaiah 52 :1-2.

You say: " I have heard all these words before!
When will God turn around this situation in my life; from ashes to beauty ; from reproach to glory ?"
God makes all things beautiful in his own time .
He declares it and sees the end of a matter from the beginning of it. Isaiah 46:10.
Delayed answers to prayers are not "No" answers from God. Delay could be God's way of saying to you : " Wait. What you are asking for is far smaller and less glorious than what I have in store from you!"
Believe God in that situation and praise the Lord for your BEST is yet to come .
God makes ALL things beautiful for all who wait and trust in him.
I decree grace and strength into every life awaiting His beauty and glory. Amen
Praise waiteth for thee, O God ,in Sion: and unto thee shall the vow be performed.
O thou that heareth prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come. Psalm 65 : 1,2.