JOY! Magazine September 2018

I know I have addressed this topic before, but more and more I see it needs to be discussed again. I observe so much needless suffering and frustration amongst Christians that could be avoided and / or solved if we just used / practiced the spiritual gifts available to us through the Holy Spirit. I understand that not all churches teach on the topic of the giftings, but that is no excuse. You need to read the Bible for yourself and perhaps do a short study on this passage (You can also google “Commentary 1 Corinthians 12:4-12” and do some good research). If you read this passage in the Bible, you will find that they are clearly listed there for all who desire and ask for them. Have you ever…

Heavenly Father, I come to you in the Name of Jesus. I acknowledge that I am a sinner and that I cannot save myself; I need your forgiveness and salvation. I believe that Jesus died on the Cross, and on the third day He rose to be with You. I confess Jesus as the Lord of my life. I invite Jesus Christ to be my Lord and Saviour and I surrender my life to Him. Thank you Jesus for your unlimited grace that has saved me from my sins. Please, Lord Jesus, transform my life so that I may bring glory and honour to You alone and not to myself. Thank you Jesus for the gift of eternal life.…

For the Kingdom of God to establish itself in our land, we have to take up our authority that Jesus assigned to His Church and cast down demonic strongholds that obstruct the advancement of His Kingdom. It is therefore our responsibility to pray against strongholds of violence, corruption, corrupt political leadership, hatred, and racism. October Prayer Month is an annual event of radical prayer action whereby all Christians take hands and pray for national healing and restoration. We have and will continue to see the hand of God moving across our cities, as we pray and beseech the Father to bring peace and stability. We as Christians must have faith in our prayers, for only then will God answer from heaven and fulfil His promises. When Christians pray in unity;…

In my article last month, I made a case for the importance of having a philosophy based on Christ, as opposed to hollow and deceptive ideas. The obvious question then is how? Allow me to use an illustration I discovered while my wife and children were baking. I noticed that the baking sieve does three things: it allows certain substances through unchanged, it alters others as they pass through, and it opposes other substances passing through entirely. The mind – converted to Christ – should be actively doing the very same thing with ideas: allowing some, altering others before retaining, and opposing others completely. Whether we have consciously or unconsciously done so, we all depend on one or more ‘sieves’ to process all of life. It could be the Bible,…

Liberal parenting is nonsense I wish to comment on the article that you published, Ignorance – The Root of Socialism’s Popularity, by Nicolai Haussamer. It is sad to witness the shallowness of society today and one must encourage parents to go deep with their discussions in the home. Too many parents fail to understand how valuable their influence is over their children. We cannot leave our children to the world and the secular schools, leaders, media, and TV, etc., to be their teachers. Parenting comes with great responsibility. Please, pastors and youth leaders, use your influence to convince parents to engage in regular conversations about life. Nobody is really advising parents on their true role as moms and dads. Liberal books, newspapers, and counsellors would tell them to leave their…

A friend of mine recently told a story about the pastor of his church. He had a kitten that climbed up a tree in his backyard and then was too afraid to come down. The pastor coaxed, offered warm milk, and so forth, yet the kitty would not come down. The tree was not sturdy enough to climb, so the pastor decided that if he tied a rope to his car and drove away so that the tree bent down, he could then reach up and get the kitten. The kitty went flying He did all this, checking his progress in the car frequently. He then figured that if he went just a little bit further, the tree would be bent sufficiently for him to reach the kitten. But, as…