By Chijioke Nwauche
(Sunday, 26th February 2010)
[For a printable version click here.]
QUOTABLE QUOTES
Scripture reference: 1Co 6:13 Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.
Our emotions, desires, mind and will are often manipulated by the devil and we have been distracted. A time is coming when the Assyrians (the devil) will no longer come into our camp to trouble us at will. The Lord is setting up gates in our hearts to keep the enemy out; envy, lust, anger, hatred, bitterness; jealousy will all be in the past. No longer will we lend our members as instruments of unrighteousness. Now our emotions are in the habit of going about looking for which football matches to watch or what food to eat to satisfy the belly. The Lord will make all things new. Rivers of living water will spring up from the well of your soul bringing forth sweetness.
This is a call to rise from the level of carnality. God is opening a fountain of life unto a people that will heed His voice. He is taking us beyond the rudiments of the principles of being born again and He is bringing us to the place of life, where the channels, long broken will be established so that on a daily basis, the Spirit of God will minister and guide us in all our activities and we all will submit fully to the Lordship of Christ. We have been called as joint heirs with Christ to rule. Never mind the discouragements. The Lord is in the business of taking complete control over our lives. The time has come when them that are married, be as though they were not married and for them that are not married, I say: care not for it!
1Co 7: 29 But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none; v 30 And they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; v 31 And they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away v 32 But I would have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord:
In whatever circumstance you find yourselves, look to the Lord. Php 3:20 For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: {conversation…: or, we live or conduct ourselves as citizens of heaven}
THE BELLY
God has given us bodies to glorify Him. The scriptures say that out of our belly shall flow rivers of living water.
Joh 7:37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. v38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. v39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
In spite of this God-given ability to be a fountain of blessing, the rivers are capable of being blocked. God has purchased us to be filled with His Spirit’ not to be filled with meats which do not profit. Jesus said my meat is to do the will of God.
Co 6:19 What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? v 20 for ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s. v1Co 3:16 What? Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? v 17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye (your body, spirit and soul) are.
There is a spiritual law governing man; it is the law of the belly. What is the Belly? The Greek defines belly as hollowness, emptiness, a vessel, a house (tabernacle). In other words, it is something that must be filled. It speaks of hollowness in man which is crying out to be filled. But the million dollar question is, filled with what? In our fallen state man seeks to satisfy his cravings with carnal things? The devil has corrupted our God given desire to be filled; with the mind set, that we need to be filled with meats (carnal things). Know this: the reason why we are alive is NOT to eat, sleep, chase after money, watch T.V, do business, run to and fro; buying and selling etc. It is to glorify God and be filled with His glory in the temple of our bodies
1Co 6:12 All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.
v13 Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.
The belly will always look for meat even if the satisfaction is temporary. Even if it is trash, a hungry man will do anything to get food. This is the law working in our members, working in our hearts, working in our midst, causing us to seek satisfaction irrespective of the means. Today the Lord is addressing these workings. Our bellies He made it for Himself; the body is for the Lord; and the Lord for the body. The body spoken of here is not just the physical body but comprises the soul, your emotional needs, the things you desire, the needs in the mind. The whole soul (body or belly) is looking for meat, it is seeking to be filled but nothing can satisfy the soul of man, only God can. The world and the devil can bring all manner of things to fill us up, and you feel okay but the Lord has prepared the body that He might fill it with the water of His Word. There is nothing else you can put in the body that can truly satisfy. The deception is that the devil makes us feel comfortable at the level of meats, brethren your soul is not for meat, your body is not for meat and meat is not for your body.
May we not toil through life and not find the essence for which we were created. I repeat again; Man was not created for meat and meat was not created for man. The scriptures speak of the time of resurrection when every man will be expected to take up his body that he might inhabit his body. How is this body to be prepared? It is by obeying what is written in the word of God, so that we can be saved. Our emotions, mind, will etc when it obeys the word of God is saved and is being saved. Paul spoke of his desire that he might not be found naked, but that he might be covered (clothed in the righteousness of Christ).
There is a working, a contention for our soul. There is war going on in our hearts. Satan wants us to obey him, whilst God is requiring our obedience. This is the great contention. God made us and referred to us as wells. There are springs, fountains, rivers that are within us; we are expected to flow and be channels of blessing. The sad thing is that these rivers have been blocked by these carnal meats. Jesus said MY MEAT IS TO DO THE WILL OF GOD AND TO FINISH IT. What is your meat? Do you find pleasure in the presence of God? Is doing the will of God more important to you than food? Can we declare from our hearts like Job?
Job 23:12 Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.
What is it that gives you life (satisfaction, energy, joy,) that gets the upper hand in your daily activities? Is it the meat that perisheth? Which meats are we laboring for? Is food the thing that controls you? Is food your God? The scriptures speak of a people whose God is there belly, who love earthly things. Php 3:18 (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: v19 Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things).
God expects us to eat Pr 24:13 My son, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste. However, we are not expected to; abuse our God-given appetite for food. Many of us abuse our body with food, eating any how, filling the body with all kinds of junk in the name of food. We need to repent.
Pr 25:16 Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it. It is written them that defile this temple (the temple of your body and soul) will be judged. We ought to eat but we should eat well, we should eat healthy.
Some have decided to get on with their lives; they say I will serve God later, for now I need to do my own thing. Remember the belly and the meats; they are all going to hell.
Brethren there is a meat that will endure unto everlasting life, that should you seek after. Eat of this meat and you shall receive eternal life. The body is not for fornication, the body is not for food, the body is for God and His word.
When you see honey don’t sit down before the honey and say, honey is this you? And you go ahead and fill yourself without any restraint. Is there a honey your soul has found? Are you gorging on the honey? Hear ye the word of the Lord today, ENOUGH. Your body is not for honey; your soul was not made just to eat honey. Your soul was made to be filled with the Holy Ghost. That is true on the natural level so also the spiritual. Yes our bodies need meat for physical energy but brethren remember the purpose of the Church is beyond meats. The meat of our lives is beyond physical food or vocation. The economy of our lives is beyond being paid a monthly salary. How is it that we think that God cannot care for the body He created? God is the one who created us, He can also recreate. Why should we think God cannot send us deliverance. God made our will, emotions, mind etc He surely can make a new one in Christ. If the body is for the Lord, be rest assured He has made a plan for it, He will surely provide. THE BODY IS FOR THE LORD BRETHREN.
God has purposed that we all shall be joined to Him to be of one Spirit in Christ (the body of Christ). Your greatest ambition therefore should be a desire to be part of the body. The catch is this, surely if the Lord made the body for himself where ever the body is He will make it His business to care for that body. If you belong to the body and you happen to find yourself in a situation of hell, don’t give up, cry out to the Lord He will answer. He will leave the ninety nine and come after you.
Lu 13:14 And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day. 15 The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering? 16 And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?
We are in the Sabbath of the Lord and the donkey of the Lord which has fallen into the pit will be delivered. The Lord is coming for you. In whatever condition you are, if you are part of His body He will come for you. He died for you, He will surely deliver. If you make yourself available you will be redeemed. The blood of Jesus is over us. We have a covenant with God; we are covered by the Blood. Brethren the Lord God is mighty and He is well able to take care of His own.
The place God dwells is a place of glory, so God making you His dwelling place infers that you will become glorious because God will manifests His personality through you. God will unveil Himself in us. He purchased you for himself, you are not your own. He wants to put his name (nature) in you. He has chosen Zionfor His dwelling place for ever. The temple of the Holy Ghost has no covenant with death, or sickness, or with idols or with carnality. Hallelujah! There are channels in our bodies for the Holy Ghost to flow in us. When Jesus resurrected there was no blood flowing in his veins, remember the blood was drained out of his body. What was nourishing his body? The power of God was flowing through him.
Our bodies are going to be changed and the time is now. Our bodies are meant for the Holy Ghost, though the Philistines (carnality, flesh) have blocked all the channels, today the Holy Ghost has come to unplug those channels. The power of God will flow through us, through our minds, our emotions, our will etc to touch men. Our bodies were created to serve God. May the Lord God unblock us that we may be channels through which His life will flow to touch and bless men around us.
The devil’s intention is on making us channels of evil, he wants our soul to serve and be controlled by carnal things. Resist him.
Your destiny in God is to be a joint heir over the works of His hands. Let us put the grumblings of ‘this man did me this or that’ aside, let us do away with ‘the complaints of I have no job or wife or children’.
God is asking for an offering of those things we hold dear, those things that compete for our attention, those things the devil uses to kill our time so we are unable to spend time with the Lord. He’s asking for the offering of the idols, those meats which when they come we say ‘God wait’. For Abraham, it was Isaac. It is the strength of your pleasure. It may be a relationship, a pass time, a besetting sin, a career, your wife or husband, the Lord is saying bring it as an offering. May we be in readiness to make an offering to the Lord so that we can boldly say like Paul but what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
( Php 3:7). Jesus made an offering; he gave up his exalted position and came down low to take our place and to bear our judgment upon himself.
Let us surrender to God and go beyond the meats, beyond the carnality, to the place where out of us shall flow rivers of living water, where our emotions, desires, and will, where all our members will be solely at God’s disposal to use as He may. The time has come for us to move on; the world is hungry for what we have; may the Lord equip, strengthen and cause us to be channels and fountains of water; that we might bring refreshing and ministry firstly in our homes, to our wives, our children, our friends and all those whom God brings us in contact with.