House2HouseMD

Dear Saints: The days have been evil not just in our time but since Adam and Eve disobeyed God by not trusting God and wanting to be God themselves. The Lord who made them was no longer sufficient for them, so they wanted more. Nothing has changed. The days are still evil. People are still making themselves their own gods. Are you your own god evidenced by total lack of faith and trust in Christ? Thank God He did not leave us alone to escape the evil days by our own ingenuity and smartness. We thank God for our Savior Jesus who has transformed us from darkness to be light in this world. We are not afraid of the evil days for we are confident in the Lord because greater is He (God the Holy Spirit) who is in us than he (the devil) who is in the world. (1 John 4:4). We must therefore understand the times we live in and redeem it for the glory of God. We do not run from the darkness but run to it and the light of Jesus in us will shine in the darkness. Darkness disappears when ligh...

Love, Grace and Peace to You The number one longing for every human being is to have peace. We long for peace in our hearts, in our families, in our communities, our nations. The rich and famous will pay anything for peace of mind and likewise the very poor. There is no set price for peace except for whatever it will cost. How do you get true peace? There is fake peace. All of life is lived from infancy to the grave seeking peace. There are no exceptions in the pursuit of peace for all humans. As we conclude our study of Ephesians, Apostle Paul offers and prays for peace to all. In essence, he is saying, the whole letter I wrote you comes down to only one thing, that you may have peace. Listen to Paul: 23 Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 24 Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen. Ephesians 6: 23-24 Still how do we get peace? Read all of the letter of Paul to the Ephesians but let’s...

Be a Tychicus As you come to the end of the movies, you see a long list of credits. There is recognition for almost everyone. There are the writers, producers, videographers, photographers, and including the janitors in some cases. The list of credits says to me that everyone is important and not just the main actors and actresses. As we come to the end of our study of the Letter of Apostle Paul to the Ephesians, one important credit is mentioned - Tychicus. Listen to Paul in Ephesians 6:21-24: 21 But that you also may know my affairs and how I am doing, Tychicus, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will make all things known to you; 22 whom I have sent to you for this very purpose, that you may know our affairs, and that he may comfort your hearts. 23 Peace to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 24 Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen. Please meet brother Tychicus (bro Ty) the ...

Watchful and Perseverance in Praying This Thursday May 7th 2015 is the National Day of Prayer in the USA. The theme this year is “Lord Hear Our Cry” 1 Kings 8:28. What a privilege to come together as a Church, the body of Christ from all races, tribes, denominations and nations to call out to our father and cry out to Him for our nation and for our people. Praying is not what we do. Praying is who we are in Christ. As we continue meditating on Ephesians 6, Paul emphasized on praying always and without ceasing, being watchful and persevering in prayer. Again, let’s hear Paul: “18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints— 19 and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak”. Ephesians 6:18-20 If we are praying i...

Mystery of the Gospel Some of the best sellers on New York Times are the mystery book series and the intrigues. We love mysteries. There are two kinds of mysteries. There are revealed mysteries and there are mysteries that still remain mysteries. What is the mystery of the gospel that Apostle Paul referred to when he requested the Ephesian Church to pray for him? If it is so important to Paul and we are to pray for it, then we must in the simplest way understand the mystery of the gospel. Here is Paul’s instruction on prayer and his prayer request in Ephesians 6:18-20: 18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints— 19 and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. We note that Paul wants the Ephesians and al...

What Are You Praying for? Pray for my boldness to make known the mystery of the Gospel Here is a dearly beloved family member who is in jail and imprisoned for no fault of his. He has just written you a very encouraging and challenging letter. He never for once mentioned feeling sorry for himself and the injustice he is receiving. He ends the letter by making just one request for you to pray for. Surprised! He is not asking you to pray for his release from prison. He is not evening asking you to pray for his daily up keep and food. Just one thing –“boldness to make known the mystery of the gospel”. What are you and I praying for? What fuels our prayers? If all our prayers are listed, what will be the most common theme? I submit to you that most of our prayers are motivated by fear. Unlike Paul, his prayers were motivated by love for His Lord. These are two different perspectives and two different results. Listen to Paul in Ephesians 6 on spiritual warfare and prayer: 14 S...

Pray, Pray and Pray The highest form of pride and arrogance is not to pray to the almighty God, maker of heaven and earth. Pride goes before fall so when you stop praying or rarely pray, watch out for a big fall. Pride equals prayer-less-ness. When I am not praying, I am declaring myself a mini god because I want to be in control and take care of all situations and their outcomes. Prayer is worship and we are worshippers. 10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age,[c] against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, ha...

Wield Your Sword of the Spirit – the Word of God Have you been pushed to the wall by Satan to be tempted and tested? Well, Jesus was and He is our example. How did Jesus respond? “It is written” simple. Listen to the conversation: “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” 4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” You can read the rest of the account in Matthew 4 and Luke 4. In Luke, it says, “13 Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time”. If Jesus faced temptation and testing so must we His followers. Satan and his demons don’t not give up easily because they will come back at “an opportune time”. Satan came back for Jesus at Gethsemane wanting Jesus not to go to the Cross. Jesus said, Father, your will be done and it was done. If Jesus the Son of God used the Word of God, so must we. It is war time. Let’s wie...

Take Your Helmet of Salvation. I had a recent conversation with a car dealer’s shuttle driver who gave me ride while my car was being fixed. The gentleman said that whenever one of his relatives dies and it rains during the funeral, that he is assured that the relative is heading to heaven. Woo! What an assurance of salvation. I asked him where hardened criminals go to when it rains during their funeral. He had no answer. Salvation is only in Jesus and there is no other way. I told him to stick with the Word of God for assurance of salvation for him or for any other. In our study today, we must put on one of the whole armor of God – the helmet of salvation. Unlike the shuttle driver, we must understand what salvation is, whether we have been saved and what we have been saved from and for. The purpose of this is to stand against Satan and his host of demons in our daily spiritual battle. Let’s hear Apostle Paul on our marching orders: 10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lo...

Take Your Shield of Faith We continue in our study and fight against our arch enemy, Satan and his hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. It is a daily battle and our Captain, the Lord Jesus has already won the war. We are only enforcing the victory, thus we are more than conquerors through Christ. Put on your whole armor today. Let’s look deeper into the armor of the “Shield of faith”. The Lord is our “Shield”. Let’s read the charge from Apostle Paul in Ephesians 6:10-16. 10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age,[c] against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. ...

Put on Your Gospel Shoes I did not say put on your dancing shoes though that may do well to some of us who are so uptight and depressed. Some believe “real Christians” don’t dance. Maybe they have not read the Bible. “Make a joyful noise to the Lord’. “Let them praise His name with the dance; Let them sing praises to Him with the timbrel and harp”. That is just a by-the-way conversation on dancing, another weapon in our arsenal. We are focused on spiritual warfare and today, we are being asked to put on our shoes of the gospel of peace for the purpose of standing strong. Satan, our enemy wants to trip us to fall. Let’s read it directly from Apostle Paul in Ephesians 6:10-15: 10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this...

Wear Your Breastplate of Righteousness With the snow and salt slush of past weeks, I decided to give my car a birth this past weekend. Most of the cars on the road are so dirty and are begging for a wash. The problem is that after the wash, the car shines very clean; however, there is still salt and melting snow slush on the road. The decision to wash the car is based on the need to remove the salt from the car which could cause damage. Yes, it will still get dirty again. The temptation is not to drive the car after it is washed so it will continue to look clean. Then it defeats the purpose for the car, to transport one from point A to B. We all have dirt and slush of sin that if not cleaned, we will be corroded and ruined forever. We all need a thorough birth to be made whole and clean. We need cleansing from sin though we still live in a sinful world that can still cause us to get dirty again. There is only one solution for being clean and right with God – Christ’s righteousness....

Put on Your Armor – The Belt of TRUTH. We have seen the recent barbaric acts by ISIS, the beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians in addition to the other past beheadings. Horrific and must not be tolerated and must be condemned and brought to justice. ISIS is a concoction from hell inspired by Satan - the "spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places". We must also accept the "TRUTH" that the beheadings are no different from the worldwide extermination of millions of innocent babies in the womb. WHO estimates 40-50 million annually (125,000 abortions per day). In the United States, it is about 3000 abortions per day. Instead of the ISIS knife, we are using a different kind of surgical abortion knife to sacrifice the unborn at the altar of convenience. Abortion is equally as heinous as ISIS and inspired by Satan and must be condemned and not tolerated and not practiced. The unfortunate thing is that our governments as well as the educated, the uneducated, ...

Spiritual Wickedness in the Heavenly Places We can learn a whole lot from military strategy disasters. The disasters/defeats were mostly due to surprises from the opposing forces and in many instances lack of intelligence and proper supplies for the defeated army. Here is one of the examples in the Wikipedia under ‘List of military disasters’: “The Six-Day War, (1967) in response to Arab threats of invasion, Israel launched surprise air attacks which almost completely destroyed the Air Forces of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria, then launched a series of ground, air, and naval attacks which saw the capture of the Sinai from Egypt, the West Bank from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria, and heavy Arab losses in personnel and material”. We all agree that we are in warfare. In this spiritual war, Satan’s key strategy is surprise and diversion. The devil will surprise you when you least expected thus we are told to be vigilant, alert and sober. But the greatest infliction of the devil ...

Wake Up, In War – Be Strong in the Lord How absurd it would be for United States, Nigeria, France, Israel, other countries of the Middle East and the rest of world governments to take for granted the diabolic, barbaric acts and atrocities by Al-Qaeda, Boko Haram and ISIS or any other such groups. Imagine the U.S. President and citizens declaring that September 11(9/11) destruction of over 3000 lives was just a coincidence and no big deal so let’s just move on and live our lives as usual. How even more absurd when you and I as believers go about living as if there is no warfare from our arch enemy Satan whom Jesus said has one purpose – to steal, kill and destroy our lives (John 10:19). In light of all God has done in our lives – saving us from sin and death by His grace, filling us with His Spirit, calling us into His Church family, equipping us for the work of ministry and the fact we have to live as His witnesses with conducts that bring Him glory, Apostle Paul concludes his Ephe...

Eyeservice and Menpleasers – Employees and Employers Ms. Nadia Lopez, 37, is the principal of Mott Hall Bridges Academy in New York. She is very dedicated to her job that her students noticed her when she was not trying to impress anyone. Last week, Ms. Lopez and one of her students, 13 year old Vidal Chastanet visited the White House on the invitation of President Obama. If Ms. Lopez can be noticed by the many around the world and the president of the United States, how much more will God notice her diligence and hard work? God noticed Ms. Lopez. Brandon Stanton, saw Vidal walking home from school and took a video of him that has gone viral. This is what Vidal said about his principal, when asked by Stanton. "Who's influenced you the most in your life?" "My principal, Ms. Lopez." "How has she influenced you?" "When we get in trouble, she doesn't suspend us. She calls us to her office and explains to us how society was built down around ...

Children Obey Your Parents I know that no child is going to be reading this blog. It means, I am writing to parents, adults and perhaps those still stuck in childhood and have refused to grow up. When was the last time you got a child to do everything you wanted them to do? When was the last time as a child you did what your parents told you to do? I was an “obedient” child but I am sure I was like you. I did not find it pleasant to do everything my parents asked me to do. I may do them but with some attitude that earned me punishment. I heard about the girl who was told to sit down and she would not and finally she did. She then said, “I am sitting down but I am standing on the inside”. I had it to the full last night. It was homework time with Jonathan. He wanted me to help him with his math fractions. He was required to express in fraction a problem that was described in words and narrative. I tried to help him but he would not listen to me. He did not want me to use words a...

Leave and Cleave – Cut the Cord I recently saw a movie where the groom was waiting at the altar for the bride to walk in for the marriage ceremony. Well the bride did not walk in but ran away with the wedding cake baker. The run-away bride said she could not compete with the groom’s mother. The groom does everything the mother and his dad tells him. The wedding was called off. Many engagements should have been called off just like this one. Many would be saved from life time of heartache and frustration. Are you still a mama’s boy or are you still a daddy’s girl? Are you still bowing to their every command, instruction and counsel? Let’s cut the cord and run to the arms of each other in marriage. That is what God told us in Genesis (“leave and cleave”) and now repeated by the Holy Spirit thru Apostle Paul. Let’s read Ephesians 5: 21-33: . 21 submitting to one another in the fear of God.[c] 22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is head of the...