SOUL, RIP OR THE PATIENT SOUL.

SOUL, RIP, or THE PATIENT SOUL.

By Felix Nyerhovwo Jarikre..

For ye have need of patience, that after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith, but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.

• Hebrews 10:36-39.

Patience is the active state of anticipation that LACKS ANXIETY because the outcome is positively pre-determined.

Moses was commissioned to deliver Israel from 400-years slavery under the cruel hand of Egyptian Pharaoh. The man was warned beforehand by God that Pharaoh would stoutly resist Moses, and denounce his mission.

That despite the various punishments unleashed against Egypt, the Pharaoh would remain unyielding and arrogant. Yet ultimately, it's not a matter of 'if’ but 'when’ the Pharaoh would release Israel to vacate the land of Egypt.

That Pharaoh would release Israel from slavery was a PRE-DETERMINED outcome. There was no question about it. What Moses required was patience, having the ability to stay the course, and refusing to quit until he won.

Patience is required for your confidence to be boosted.

It takes patience to process the manifestation of your expectation.

Patience is persuasive.

Patience has resolution.

Patience is resilient.

Why should you be patient ? What are you resolutely anticipating ? What is the promise that you hope to embrace, having done the will of God ? You have confessed Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. You have prayed and interceded for the welfare and progress of others. You have fasted, and deprived yourself of your hard-earned money to empower the weak. You have also not neglected to give part of your income to the pastor, teacher or prophet who teach you the Bible. With tenacity, you have professed the Word of God day and night, despite challenges. As you go about daily for your business or work, and living by faith to you has become like easy breathing, what is your anticipation ? Why have you chosen to do the will of God the way you do ? What do you expect to gain ? Is there a reward to all that you do ?

The Bible is precise that the reward you expect to receive is the PROMISE OF ETERNAL INHERITANCE. For you to be rewarded with the SCEPTRE OF ETERNAL INHERITANCE, it is absolutely necessary to LIVE BY FAITH, anchored with PATIENCE. So what's the PROMISE OF ETERNAL INHERITANCE ? How does it play out ? For one, the promise of eternal inheritance is not given to FLESH AND BLOOD. The promise of eternal inheritance EXCLUDES and ABOLISHES flesh and blood.

IT TAKES THE PROMISE OF ETERNAL INHERITANCE TO SAVE THE SOUL.

To appreciate the significance of this, let's look again at our heroes of faith in the Bible. Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Samuel, David, Daniel, and the prophets etc, these all had obtained a good report through faith, but they did not receive the PROMISE OF ETERNAL INHERITANCE THAT CAN SAVE THE SOUL !!

That means all the elders from Abel to John the Baptist,THEIR SOULS WERE NOT SAVED BEFORE THEY ALL WENT TO THEIR GRAVES.

By retaining the FLESH AND BLOOD nature, their souls managed to shy away from salvation until they all died in faith.

With this as background, Jesus preached: ‘ Come unto me, all ye that labour and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and YE SHALL FIND REST UNTO YOUR SOULS.’

Then Jesus allowed his flesh and blood incarnation to be destroyed to PERFECT THE HUMAN SOUL. ( At this juncture, take note: THAT A HUMAN SOUL IS PERFECTED DOES NOT MEAN THE SOUL IS SAVED.) The human soul is perfected for the soul to live by faith without limitations, and exercise patience. You require faith and patience to make your soul RIP. ( REST IN PEACE.)

Indeed, by offering his body ONCE FOR ALL, Jesus banished and ostracized flesh and blood from contestation. This was done because flesh and blood, a counterfeiter, is hostile to faith. Flesh and blood is not the soul. FAITH IS USED TO SAVE THE SOUL !!

Many souls, far from salvation, are trying to use faith to get material riches like cars, houses, money etc. Sad to say, but their struggle and frustration will never end unless their belief-system is altered.

FAITH IS NOT GIVEN TO CATER FOR FLESH AND BLOOD.

Because many of us are brought up on a relentless diet of false teachings that faith caters for flesh and blood, the more we pray and profess, the more we are diverted from God.

FAITH IS ALL ABOUT SELF-DENIAL OR SELF-DEPRIVATION. Faith gives material things. Faith does not get material things !! Despite all the hype invested on faith by false teachers, LIVING BY FAITH IS A PAINFUL PROCESS. Yet it is not lazy or irresolute. ( Indeed living by faith is not folding your arms, waiting for manna to fall from heaven. That ain't gonna happen !! So someone must get a job or start a business at whatever level.) Living by faith is the phase where you pray for the healing of others, and they get healed: but you pray for yourself, and nothing happens, or all you hear from heaven is: 'My grace is sufficient for you.’ So it takes a quick dash to the nearest pharmacy to be rescued from prolonged affliction.

Because living by faith is a CONVERSION phase in all ramifications, your soul is not permitted to feel inadequate or suffer lack. With the removal of flesh and blood from contention or reckoning, every limitation or restraint is removed also from what you can profess to satisfy your heart's desire. By conversion, it means you turn every challenge into a resolution with your mouth - THE GATEWAY OF LIFE.

Psalm 81:10: 'Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.’

Take a young woman or man without husband or wife, pressed with sexual urge. They can open their mouth without shame, and speak into the air: ‘ I'm sexually satisfied and satiated. I'm separated from lust.’ Just saying that meaningfully can make them whole and refreshed without doing anything crazy.

By the way, what is soul ? The soul is the PERFECTED HUMAN SPIRIT MADE IN THE IMAGE OF GOD BY THE BLOOD OF SPRINKLING.

Your soul as a personality is essentially the INFORMATION that is stored and retrieved from HUMAN MEMORY to facilitate your performance. And only you have access to your memory. You can delete or upload whatever information to enhance your faith-performance.

Like you must prevent hackers on the prowl to confuse your memory, flesh and blood must be enslaved, restrained and kept silent. Why ? The information available to flesh and blood is not valid or relevant to man's spiritual productivity. The speculations and opinions of flesh and blood must be banished from having a hearing before the soul.

Flesh and blood indeed should not be given VOCAL EXPRESSION in the presence of its master, the soul.

Christianity that promotes the DUALITY OF FLESH AND SPIRIT is a doggerel that must be smashed.

To be continued.

Marriage, Success & Sex in the Digital Age of Female Empowerment.( Part Three)

The story of Nabal in the Bible illustrates the tragic consequences awaiting a man who spurns or looks down on his wife's influence and direction. Like many rich men who have money to spare, and looking for a trophy wife, Nabal was able to arrange a marriage that made the beautiful Abigail to be his wife. We are told that the woman not only  had a 'beautiful countenance', she also had 'good understanding.' (see 1 Samuel 25:3) In the Bible, it was rare for a woman to be described in such manner. Superficial beauty is common, but good understanding is rare. Interestingly, while Abigail, the wife, had sterling qualities, the husband was ' churlish and evil in his doings.'
Why would this rare kind of woman agree to marry a man that was rude, abusive, condescending, violent in language and attitude, uncommunicative and secretive ?
Did she marry this man of great wealth to escape poverty, and climb the social ladder ? Did she enter the marriage with a misplaced hope that she had the ability to change  Nabal from his evil ways ?
Well, it took David's request from Nabal to reveal the questions that we cannot find easy answers to.

David had peacefully requested that Nabal should not forget to share a little part of his prosperity with David's men. That they never hurt or allowed anything to be stolen from Nabal's shepherds in Carmel. Continuing on a note of peace, David said: ' Wherefore let my young messengers find favour in your eyes: for we come in a good day: give, I pray you, whatsoever come to your hand unto your son David.'

Hearing David's message, Nabal was scornful and outraged: ' Who is David ?' He questioned. 'And who is the son of Jesse ? There be many servants nowadays that break away every man from his master. Shall I then take my bread and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men whom I know not where they are ? '

The story would be understood better in the context of the fact that Nabal was King Saul's loyalist. That made David as an outcast to be treated with malice, disdain and harshness, as far as Nabal was concerned.
As an outlaw, hiding from Saul's wrath, David was worthless and irrelevant, undeserving of any favour from Nabal.
To Nabal, David's survival in any form or appearance was a huge aggravation.
Better for David to perish as a starving fugitive than for any line of sustainability to be extended from Nabal.
What would Nabal gain to share a little part of his wealth to sustain David and his guerilla army ?
So he did not hesitate to turn down the fugitive warlord's request.

Incensed that his request was denied, David immediately raised a full-scale war against Nabal. Meanwhile one of Nabal's servants, sensing that evil was determined against his master, having dismissed David's request with ignominy, asked Abigail to intervene.  He confirmed they enjoyed David's full protection while keeping the sheep.
So Abigail quickly arranged abundant provisions to be transferred for the benefits of David and his men. Her unhesitant intervention was kept away from her husband. She refused to tell him.
On the way, she met David, still raging with indignation, fully prepared to waste Nabal.
Bowing herself to the ground, and falling at David's feet, she pleaded that regard should not be given to her husband, as his name Nabal spelled 'folly.' That it was her fault not to have seen David's messengers when they came calling.
That her intervention should be seen as a divine opportunity to stop David from shedding blood, and avenging himself with his own hand. Having the prophetic insight to recognize that David was divinely appointed to rule over Israel, she appealed that David should remember her at his enthronement, and not allow Nabal's denial to grieve or offend David.
Reciprocating her gracious speech, David received of her hand the provisions she brought.

Getting home, Abigail found Nabal holding a kingly feast in his house. He was merry and drunken. So the woman kept her silence, and told her husband nothing.
By morning, he was sober. Then Abigail told him all that transpired. According to the Bible, ' his heart died with him, and he became a stone.'  Ten days later, the LORD smote Nabal that he died.

To be continued