Dear Beloved Saint:
The Lord, in His Treasure Chest, has a great sense of humor. This month, while I was waiting on the Lord, asking Him what I should write to you, He reminded me few of His Treasures inside His Treasure Chest : His Amazing Grace, His Unconditional Love, His Perfect Will, His Unfailing Mercy, and His Divine Counsel for all humanity. Regardless of color or race, His plan of redemption has not changed. It is forever renewed every morning because great is the faithfulness of God.
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sounds that saved a wretch like me…
Amazing Grace!
My chains are gone, I have been set free!
My God! My Lord! My Savior forever!
The Gospel I was born to destroy, I now preached!
The people I was born to hate,
I now loved and cherished!
The Counsel of the Holy Spirit and the Counsel of …
Jesus, during His earthly ministry, made it clear to the Jews that whatever He hears God the Father says do, He does. Jesus following God’s instruction till death, makes His blood becomes the only acceptable sacrifice on the Cross to redeem all humanity. Even while groaning in pain at the last hour of His death at Gethsemane, Jesus openly declares: “… O My Father, if it possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” Matthew 26:39
Jesus, in His Treasure Chest,
left us with the Counsel of the Holy Spirit , and
the Counsel of the Holy Scriptures.
This is why it is so important that we seek the Perfect Will of God,
a Will that can only be found in His counsel and His Prophets.
Paul, the Apostle, clearly addressed God’s Perfect Will for the life of believers when He says: “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that GOOD and ACCEPTABLE and PERFECT WILL of God”. Romans 12:2 .
Beloved, what is good for us may not be acceptable to God . In another time, what is good for us, and acceptable to God may not be His Perfect Will for our lives . To go after God’s Perfect Will then, we let God choose for us by seeking the counsel of the Holy Spirit and the counsel of the Holy Scriptures . When God chooses for us, God’s Perfect Will will not fail us, because it is renewed and heavenly insured every morning, and great is the faithfulness of God! Lamentation 3:20 . Our Free Will and Permissive Will may fail us, but God’s Perfect Will, will not fail us, says the Lord God Almighty!
Remember The Unholy Pride Called Free Willie
The point to remember is this : Pride and prejudice always go with Free Will and Permissive Will . To choose God’s Perfect Will over your Free Will is to swallow your pride and your prejudice, and put Him first in all you do. If you reject the counsel of the Holy Spirit, the counsel of the Holy Scriptures, and the counsel of His Prophets, what you have left on the table is the counsel of the Devil. This I call Unholy Free Willie.
Saint of God, one thing for certain, God can not lie! If He happens to lie at all, His lie will become the Absolute Truth . Nothing but the Truth! The whole Truth! Therefore:
At the beginning of Hosanna Revivals, the Lord prophetically gave us a command: “God’s way or no way!” So before I write to you every month, I must pray and fast for 3 days to seek God’s face. What He says to me I write to you.
The Transforming Power of God’s Amazing Grace!
The story of John Newton , a slave trader, who in 1748 encountered a violent storm, but through the rich mercy of our Lord Jesus, repented, pardoned, restored, and appointed to preach the Gospel which he long labored to destroy, shows the transforming power of God’s Grace!
· Simon Peter got so much prejudice in him to say no to God “three times”, yet by God’s Grace, through Peter, the Holy Spirit fell on gentile Cornelius and his household. Acts 10:12-16
· Paul, the Apostle, a tyrannical trial Lawyer, persecuted and jailed many early Christians , but by God’s Grace, he was saved; preached throughout the Asia Minor, and wrote 14 out of the 26 Books of the New Testament.
· Dr. Martin Luther King Jr , with the Freedom March to Washington; and his famous speech, I have a dream, transformed a whole nation with God’s Unfailing Love beyond the color of their skins.
· Nelson Mandela once imprisoned for many years for standing for Freedom, was freed to become the first black President in former Apartheid South Africa.
If God’s Amazing Grace can transform John Newton, to right the wrongs , and turn a man who once traded slaves to one who fought for their freedom, God can change you, your circumstances, your children and your nation! He is waiting for you to call on Him .
My Life, an Amazing Grace, and a Token of His Divine Mercy!
I look at my own life and behold I see John Newton’s song written all over it: I was born to a Muslim parent. At age three, I was taught to follow my Dad to the Mosque at 5 am in the morning to make a Call to Prayer.
Because of the bond between me and my Dad, and the piousness of his Islamic faith, he decided to send me to study Quran in another State. But by God’s Amazing Grace , my mother persuaded my father to let me go to regular school, a school that sings Christian hymns, and prays in the name of Jesus every morning before classes begin.
In 1979, after three days of wrestling with Jesus, under a local tent revival, Jesus finally won the fight. In His awesome glory, He visited me in my dream, and showed me the prints of nails in His Right and Left Hands.
From that moment on, my life was forever changed:
The Gospel I was born to destroy, I now preached!
The people I was born to hate, I now loved and cherished!
This is Amazing Grace, the unmerited favor of the Lord God Almighty!
This is the transforming power of God’s divine love!
At the beginning of my call to Hosanna Revivals, the Lord gave me “Amazing Grace”, a song written by John Newton, as our Theme Song . Please be my guest, click on the link below, and watch The Story of Amazing Grace:
September Prayer Fest
Now as you sow your glory seed to Hosanna Revivals Building Funds:
May the Lord blesses you,
May the Lord keeps you in the cleft of His Rock,
May the Lord makes His Face shines upon you, and
May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, be and abide with you now and always! Amen.