Emmanuel Okoro (aka MrLift)

The law could not save us, if it could there would be no need for grace. We are told that if there was nothing wrong with the old, there won't be any use establishing the new. "For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second". (Heb.8.7) The law was a mirror that reflected what God wanted from us but does not have the power to make us do what He wants. So our text says: "if we could be saved by keeping the law, then there was no need for Christ to die." Meaning Jesus died so that we do not have to live our lives based on and by the law. "I am not one of those who treats the grace of God as meaningless. For if we could be saved by keeping the law, then there was no need for Christ to die."(Gal.2.21NLT) His death also introduce us to grace -the ability of God to do for us what we could not do for ourselves. He made His grace available to us so we could live by this available grace and become ...

At some level, we are all living to impress. Whether we are impressing our peers or impressing our subordinates. And most important is impressing our superiors. Who are you trying to impress? Studies have shown that the craving for praise is just as addictive as drugs and alcohol. Little wonder most people are transfixed on their phones trying to find out how many likes what... they posted on social media has generated. The struggle is real. Some people may find something interesting and as a result, post it on social media but once it does not generate the expected buzz in terms of likes, comments, and shares. Their opinion of that thing changes. Who do you live to impress? "Christ's life showed me how, and enabld me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress ...

The law in one sense was a defective reflection of God. It reflected who God is; though not a perfect reflection. The law says don't steal, God does not steal. The law says do not lie, God does not lie, etc. But there was more to God that law could not show or give to us. As a result, God has given us His grace. His grace was not just a reflection of Himself but was God Himself. The law would should you what to do but could not grant you the ability to do it but grace did not just show you, He did it for us. The essence of the law was to satisfy God but grace came and did that on behalf of mankind. The reason why the Apostle says here that he quiets being a 'law man' but instead became God's man "What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn't work. So I quit being a "law man" so that I could be God's man". (Gal.2.18 MSG) Are you 'law man' who is still strivi...

The law was made for man and not man for the law. The law was made as a guide to help man see what needs to be done but it is impotent to make man able to do what it requires of man. The faith of Jesus Christ on the other hand does not show man what is required of him but actually satisfies the requirements of the law. So if a man believes in the faith of Jesus Christ, that satisfies the works of the law, such a man by extension satisfies the requirement of the law. Jesus tells that he has fulfilled the law. "Don't misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to fulfill them." (Matt.5.17 NLT) What is fulfilled has been satisfied. A cheque that is cashed at the bank has fulfilled its purpose. So the Apostle Paul tells us that: "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be ju...

The story is told of how the Prophet Elijah was to be taken away from the earth and he asked his servant Elisha to ask but for one thing. This is very important because whatever he asked was going to be granted. If you have the chance to ask God for just one thing what will that be? It is reported that Elisha asked "a double portion of Elijah's spirit". He did not ask for Elijah's power, he did not ask for Elijah's character or influence but Elijah's spirit. "And when they had gone over, Elijah said to Elisha, Ask what I shall do for you before I am taken from you. And Elisha said, I pray you, let a double portion of your spirit be upon me." (2Kgs.2.9) Elijah's spirit was the essence of who Elijah was. If Elisha got his request granted, with it will come Elijah's power, character, and influence. So that the spirit who was at work in Elijah will also be at work in Elisha. Little wonder, he parted the River Jordan just as his ma...

The Apostle James had a very interesting concept as it relates to submission. He tells us that a man is tempted when the man is drawn away by his own lust. In other words, a man chooses the temptation that he falls for. "The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust." (Jas.1.14 Amo.) As the priest recites the Lord's prayer and came to the phrase, 'deliver us from evil', he paused and marveled at the evil he had submitted to without much resistance. And he wondered if there were some evil he could have delivered himself from. The truth is that certain things would not tempt certain people. It, therefore, follows that we pick out our temptations and not the other way around. "To them we did not yield submission even for a moment, that the truth of the Gospel might continue to be [preserved] for you [in its purity]. (Gal.2.5 Amp.) The solution proffered by ...

When I saw the expression "false brothers", I had to double-check because as far as I am concerned, the concept of 'brotherhood' and 'being false' should not be used side by side in the same sentence. "This matter arose because some false brothers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves." (Gal.2.4 NIV) I am reminded of the first family and how dysfunctional the brotherhood was exemplified. But that was not false brothers. It was just brothers fighting. But when wolves put on sheep's clothing, then false brotherhood comes to play. People who are one thing in your presence and then something else in your absence. Notice from the onset, their motive was to deceive. As a result, they pretended to be brothers to infiltrate the ranks to spy on their freedom and then reduce them to slaves. "While we were in conference we were infiltrated by spies pretending to be Christians, who ...

At the beginning of his ministry, the Apostle Paul tells us that he did not confer with flesh and blood. He went straight into Arabia for three years; isolating himself in the place of preparation, where he says God himself revealed what he taught to him. After fourteen years of ministry, he comes back in Galatians 2:2 to say this: "I went because it was specially and divinely revealed to me that I should go, and I put before them the Gospel [declaring to them that] which I preach among the Gentiles. However, [I presented the matter] privately before those of repute, [for I wanted to make certain, by thus at first confining my communication to this private conference] that I was not running or had not run in vain [guarding against being discredited either in what I was planning to do or had already done]. (Gal.2.2 Amp.) To make sure you did not run in vain? You did not want to have run in vain? You do not want to be discredited either in what you were planning to d...

One way you can ascertain that something is of God is that last last it brings God glory.  It may start bad or downright ugly as was the case with the three Hebrew boys. Their situation could not have been said to be nice and dandy but at last, God gets the glory.  "And they praised God because of me." (Gal.1.24) Sometimes God allows your situation to so deteriorate that you become the talk of the town. God allowed it to go from bad to worse so that by the time He resolves it when He gets through with you, no one would be able to take the glory and people will praise God because of you.  We have heard that people gathered because they wanted to pray for someone but in your case, people will gather because they want to praise God because of you.  That means you may have to hold on because the road ahead may not be easy neither is it smooth. It may require tenacity, a staying power that activates God alone to be able to step into your situation so that in t...

Character and reputation are sometimes siamese twins; one may be more important than the other but they both have their place.  Character may be good or bad. If it is good, it is what God thinks of you while reputation is what others think of you. Let me say this also that when I say character is what God thinks of you, what I mean is that, that is the highest possible expression of virtues; whether you live up to it or not is determined by the amount of discipline you are willing and able to work into it. It is also what you are when no one else is watching you.  Reputation -what others think of you, maybe a pointer to what God is about to reveal. Jesus asked his disciple what people thought about him. It wasn't because he was insecure but that he wanted to reveal something about himself that no one would or could have thought of him. "But they had heard only, That he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed."(Gal.1.23...

Growing up in Warri many years ago, one of the signs to show that one has 'arrived' or that one has made it in life was that one had a bar in one's house. So you'll see people living in a single room apartment but they found a way to create a bar where you had assorted spirits and wines.  The bar was the place where the gist takes place. After a hard day's work, friends gather at the bar and unwind, secrets you probably won't hear anywhere else. It speaks to friendship, of intimacy and comradeship.  "Now [note carefully what I am telling you, for it is the truth], I write this as if I were standing before the bar of God; I do not lie'. (Gal.1.20 Amp. ) The Apostle spoke and said as he wrote, it was as though he was standing right at the bar of God. In other words, he was hanging out with God. He was God's buddy. How intimate are you with God? Can you pick up your phone and dial Jesus' number and say, 'hey, we are hanging out today? There are...