Man Of Peace Ministry -MOPM

09/03/2025

Don't avoid - engage

Sunday 9th March 2025

'I am sending them into the world, just as you sent me.' John 17:18 CEV

Jesus prayed: 'I have given them your word...my prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world' (John 17:14-18 NIV).

Where did Jesus dispatch his disciples? Into the world. He didn't say, 'Try to avoid the world. Just hang out with Christian people in the church, and keep your distance from people who use bad language and are bad people.' He says being sent as a representative of God into your job, your neighbourhood, your circumstances, and your situations is why you're on this planet. He says, 'As the Father has sent me, I am sending you' (John 20:21 NIV). You're not called to avoid the world, but to engage it. You say, 'But I don't feel comfortable around such people.' Then ask God to make you more like Jesus, who was known as 'a friend of sinners' (see Luke 7:34).

Jesus told his disciples, 'I am sending you out like sheep among wolves' (Matthew 10:16 NIV). It takes two things for a sheep to operate among wolves: courage and wisdom. It also takes total commitment. Albert Schweitzer gave up his standing as a superb theologian and world-class musician to serve the poorest people on another continent. Whatever God has called you to do, it will involve loving people and giving yourself to them.

05/03/2025

Bolga, Soe, Upper East region

05/03/2025

God's word overcomes!

Wednesday 5th March 2025

'You are...clean because of what I have said to you.' John 15:3 CEV

God's word is like a prescription from the doctor. We don't need to understand how the treatment works - we just have to trust the prescriber and faithfully take it. When we feed on God's word regularly, amazingly temptation loses its hold and overcoming strength replaces it. When a Scripture becomes real for us, our love for God's word increases. But this means reading our Bible even when we don't feel like it, think we don't have time to do it, or don't seem to be getting much out of it.

In the Bible it says: 'Rain and snow fall from the sky. But they don't return without watering the earth that produces seeds to plant and grain to eat. That's how it is with my words. They don't return to me without doing everything I send them to do' (Isaiah 55:10-11 CEV).

We don't have to be 100% certain or have overwhelming sensations to know that God's word is working in us. Bible reading will help keep us from sin - but sin will keep us from Bible reading. After his affair with Bathsheba, David wrote, 'I have thought much about your words and stored them in my heart so that they would hold me back from sin' (Psalm 119:11 TLB).

So what now? Are you wanting to live out of victory in God? Jesus said, 'You are already clean because of what I have said to you' (John 15:3 CEV). Bathe your mind in God's word each day. Let it flow over you to overcome your battles and wash you clean.

A heart sold out for Christ