By Pastor Gitahi Daniel.

> Living a lust driven life means that one is always controlled by a very powerful feeling of wanting something. It is attributed to evil strong desires. Love driven lives, on the other hand, are pure and unselfish lives attributed to God.
> God is love and according to the scriptures love endures. If you have God in you, you will endure/tolerate/withstand.
> As mentioned, we are either living love driven lives or lust driven lives. How can we tell?

1. Lust is in an image. Love is friendship.
Love is when you prove what you are feeling for somebody to be genuine by actions and not mere words. Lust is just a show that people put up, it lasts but just for a short while.
2. Love is secure. Lust is jealous
When we are living love driven lives, we dont fear for we are in God’s love. God is love anyway. On the other hand, lust driven people are always insecure, jealous and dont have confidence in God and others for the feeling they mistake for love is lust. Lust driven marriages are havens of mistrust.
3. Love has no substitute. Lust substitutes.

If you love somebody, you will not leave them no matter what. The same case applies with loving God as believers. No matter the hardships we go through we have an obligation to not substitute Him for anything. Lust driven people have no problem replacing someone they claim to love with another in the face of challenges. 4. Love is Pure. Lust is sinful.
Love driven people live pure lives. Whoever has love (God) in them will definitely pursue righteousness and avoid sinning. Lust driven lives are characterized by sinfulness.
5. Love gives. Lust takes.
When we love we give. When we lust for something we take it most especially forcefully to satisfy that greedy urge to have. Love will give and also protect.

>Love is Heaven’s language and lifestyle.
If we must inherit the Kingdom of God, we must learn to love always. The Kingdom of God is love and righteousness therefore embrace, speak and live love. It is impossible to see God when we are not love driven.

>On the cross, Jesus paid 4 main debts for us: curses, poverty, sins and sicknesses. He clearly did not pay the debt of love, He gave us a command to love. For this reason, we are required to love with a love that cannot be substituted. If you do not forgive or you hold a grudge against somebody, no matter how bad they wronged you, you certainly lack love and are unworthy of the Kingdom of God. Bitter people and those unable to forgive are clearly living lust driven lives.

>You can examine yourself to see whether your life is love driven or lust driven. In Gal 5:19, the acts of lust (flesh) are clearly outlined They include impurity, jealousy, drunkenness, selfishness etc.1 Cor 13 speaks of love been indispensable and outlines the acts of love.

By Pastor Gitahi Daniel

•Love and lust are feelings often mistaken for each other. While love is pure, Godly, genuine and unconditional feeling, lust is founded on a selfish desire to have and, with regard to the sexes, exhibits an intense physical desire.
•Love is the greatest commandment issued to us by God. God is love (1 John 4:8.)
•The ten commandments are divided into two as far as love is concerned. The first four are all about loving God and putting Him first, while the other six are all about loving neighbours; others.
•Notice that the tenth command specifically says ‘you shall not COVET. Covetousness is in itself LUST, the strong selfish urge to have something.
•There are two types of love:

vertical love and horizontal love.
•While vertical love is manifested in the relationship you have with God as a man, horizontal love manifests in the love you have for your neighbor. Love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:31)
•You must learn how to love God first for you to truly love your fellow man. GOD is the CENTRE of love.
•Each of us is either living a love driven life or a lust driven life.
•In marriages/relationships with the opposite sex context today, many have fallen in the dungeons of lust. You can never influence somebody that you love into sinning i.e fornicating if whatever you are feeling for them is truly from God. Genuine love protects.

Major differences between love and lust
•Love is holy, is from God. Lust is fleshy, can be attributed to the devil.
•Lust harms, love sacrifices. The LOVE shown by christ on the cross was/is sacrificial.
Love comes from the heart. Lust comes from the flesh.
•Lust sees the outside, love sees the inside.
•Love comes from the heart, lust is fleshy, driven by the desires of the flesh.
•Love’s motive is to please God. Lust’s motive is to satisfy the flesh.
•Lust sees material things. Love sees the heart.
•Love is everlasting, lust is just for a short while.

Many people married out of lust, probably saw the great physical attributes of their spouses and were so attracted that they didn’t even realise they were being driven by lust. Those that are married out of love most probably looked deeper into their spouses hearts, and not the physicalitities.

Take for instance a ‘not so good looking’ car whose engine condition is still intact. Love would see the ‘engine’ while lust would dismiss the car since the outer body is not appealing to the eye.

Disobedience

By Pastor Daniel Gitahi

•Disobedience is doing what God says we should not do. Concealing sin is an act of disobedience or defying God’s instructions to turn away from that which He does not take pleasure in,sin.
•In Prov 28:13, the Word is so clear that ‘Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.’
•Hiding sins will only block you from getting to your destiny and prevent you from been prosperous. As they say, choices have consequences and so does sin.
•With Adam and Eve for instance, at the garden of Eden, they sinned and tried to hide from God. They even changed their positions when God came calling (Gen 3:8.) The consequences is what we all know: the foundation of sins and death itself.
•When you sin, you switch from the position God put you in, assuming that God is together with you while in actual sense, Gods presence is already departed [ichabod.]
•We can never hide from God’s presence/we can never hide the fact that we are disobeying God for it is always made too obvious to us.

•What man keeps on doing is ignoring the voice that constantly keeps on warning.
•If only we learnt to obey God, our nations, lands, lives, families would change for the better.
•Jer 23:24, Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them?” declares the Lord . “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” declares the Lord .
•God is holy. He is righteous and does not take pleasure in man’s sinful nature.

• He is everwhere hence, everything done on earth: concealed or not, is usually in the open before His very eyes. Man can NEVER hide anything from Him.
Remember,
•Psalms 50:21, When you did these things and I kept silent, you thought I was exactly like you. But I now arraign you and set my accusations before you.

By Pastor Gitahi Daniel, CFF Donholm.

Previously, we looked at three benefits of reading the word of God. On this particular post, we continue with the fourth benefit and which, according to me, is the most important. You can look at the other three in the previous post on this blog. Blessings!

4. The word grows/matures your faith

Heb 11:6, And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

●Faith, according to Hebrews 1:1 is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
•Rom 10:17 says that faith comes from hearing and hearing the word of God.
One major step we make when we read the word of God often; is getting enriched in faith.
•Heb 11 talks about the elders of faith who obtained good reports through faith.
•Reading the word will grow your faith and faith will bring good report.
•It is important to note that, prayers and fasting give us power but we need to read the word to grow. Please note that prayers do not grow our faith, only the word does.
•Apply the word of God, what you read/hear, in every day life situations.

•Daniel came to face to face with death but could not compromise because of the faith he had in God. What we gather is that he was well acquainted with the word, and therefore, had a lot of confidence in His God. Daniel knew too well what God was capable of doing for he was aware of others’ past testimonies.

•Why were the likes of Abraham, Job and other men of faith in the Bible tested? Why do we go through tests today? God needs to see how much advanced we are in faith. Testimonies are made from tests and faith grows when we go through tests and pass them.
•While power comes from praying and fasting, faith comes from hearing the word of God.
•Therefore, we have three types of believers as far as praying and hearing the word is concerned.
1. Powerless faithless believer (do not pray, do not read the word)
2. Powerfull faithless believer (they pray a lot but do not read the word. They do not obtain good reports)
3. Powerfull, faithfull believer (they pray and read the word. They find the balance)
Be powerfull (pray and fast a lot) and faithfull (read and study the word a lot.) You will obtain a good report.

*Jesus left unto us two very important things i.e power and authority. Sadly, believers havent really realised how much they are operating without the two. While power is found in prayer and fasting, authority is in the word. Most believers have the power but lack the authority since they pray but the word does not dwell richly in them. Col 3:16, let the word of God dwell richly in you.

NB: When you pray you get the power to climb a mountain but when you have faith, you move the mountain.
For me, i would rather get a mountain out of the way than climb it. What do you say?

By Pastor Gitahi Daniel, Donholm CFF

•Heb 4:12, For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

•The word of God is the manual of life, without which, a believer will be shallow spiritually. As believers, we need to find the balance between talking to God (prayer and fasting,) and hearing from God (reading the word.)
•God told Joshua in Joshua 1:8, to meditate on His word day and night and to never let the word depart from his lips. As a result, Joshua would be prosperous and successful. (Think God, talk God, do God)

Q. What happens when you get accustomed to hearing from God?

1. You will know the will of God over your life. Many believers are living out of the will of God. There is a huge difference between praying to God for something and praying to God for something in His will. Romans 12:2, reminds us to be inclined to the good, acceptable and perfect will of God.
1 John 5:14 further says that God hears us if we ask anything according to His will.

2. You will be able to overcome satan’s temptations. The word enables us to know/discover the tactics, schemes, plans, wiles of the devil and take a strong stand against them (Eph 6:10.) Jesus Christ, our Lord overcame the devil when he came tempting Him in Matt 4: 3-4. The word of God did Jesus use against the temptations of the enemy. Looking at Heb 4:12 critically, if the word of God is a double edged sword, one side of the sword, enables us to pass tests while the other side enables us to overcome temptations. Remember and apply the word in tempting situations.
The word, therefore, teaches us what is right and what is wrong.
Matt 4: 3-4, Eph 6:17, Heb 4:12, 1 Cor 10:13

3. You start to mature in the things of God. In the face of challenges/obstacles, what does the word of God require of us? How should we respond to our enemies? Spiritual maturity is when you pray that God blesses your enemy: praying for them in the same manner you would pray for yourself. It shows in the prayers we make, whether we are spiritual babies or adults. Believers that invest richly in reading the word, can not and do not, for instance pray off the word. Praying against somebody, or making prayers of vengeance indicates spiritual immaturity. Take for instance making unbiblical declarations in prayer like “back to the sender,” what does it tell about a believer? Do your prayers glorify God? Do you pray with the wrong or the right motives? (James 4:3) Make a prayer that glorifies God not a prayer meant to ‘urge’ God into taking revenge for you against someone. All this is determined by how much we invest in reading and meditating on the word of God.
Romans 12: 17- 19, Heb 4:13, Prov 24: 17, 18, Prov 3:28

NB: if you are a prayerful believer who doesn’t read the word of God often, you are imbalanced. You need to hear from God as much as you speak to Him.

By Pastor Gitahi Daniel, CFF Donholm.

●Doubt is a state of uncertainty; having no confidence in something. We’ll deeply rely on Matthew 14: 22-33, as a basis for this subtopic. In verse 26, the disciples doubted whether it was really possible for Jesus to walk on water, and dismissed the idea thinking that only a ghost could. For starters, they only saw the negative (saw a ghost) and two, they limited their minds to other possibilities. How many believers today, see the negative, the devil, in every situation and halt their journeys?
•Peter, in verse 29, first believed that he could walk on water, but when he allowed doubt to get in the way, he started to sink (verse 30)
The first step into doubt is exactly what Peter told Jesus in verse 28: “if it is you.”
•If you allow negativity and fear to cross your mind, the aftermath will be inconsistency in the walk of Faith and stagnation in life, for doubt is a block and a wall that hinders physical and spiritual growth.
•Worry, fear, doubt and unbelief are well related where worry is the state of been troubled over something.
•The first main characteristic of doubt is WORRY.
•When we worry as believers, we are simply telling God that:

1. He doesnt back us/ does not have our backs when we need Him to.
2. Is never involved in our situations.
3. He is never present/ does not look out for us.
   •Worry is the complete opposite of trust. Trust is same as faith in the new testament. It is not possible to trust in God and cast our burdens unto Him fully, when we are in cocoons of mistrust.
   •Matt 6:31, the Word tells us to not worry about what to eat, drink etc for these are non- believers’ concerns but rather we should have our minds focused on been right with our God. Anybody that worries insults/ lacks confidence in God.
   The other main characteristic of doubt is FEAR
   2nd Tim 1:7, the Spirit God gave us does not make us fear. Please note that God does not take pleasure in cowardice.
   •Fear is a whispering NOISE.
   •Fear is a lying spirit, it makes you believe you are not capable of something, when in actual sense you are.
   •Fear will stop your dream.
   •Fear makes one live in the past.
   •Makes you remember your past mistakes
   •Paralyses your future.

Doubt simply says ‘you are not capable and you never will.’ Eliminate fear and worry, the underlying components of doubt and see yourself suceed physically and spiritually. Remember, the devil only comes to steal, kill and to destroy. Doubt is a form of DESTRUCTION that he is well armed with against God’s children. Be right with God. Dont doubt Him or His plans for you, you will conquer.