Emmanuel Okoro (aka MrLift)

Good conscience "Keep praying for us, for we are convinced that we have a good (clear) conscience, that we want to walk uprightly and live a noble life, acting honorably and in complete honesty in all things. (Heb.13.18 AMP) Your conscience is the voice of your spirit. It is not the voice of God, not the voice of the Holy Spirit but of your spirit. And depending on how you have trained your conscience, it leads you. If it has been fed junk, it will not recognize good from evil.  That is why it s important to clear your conscience. And the Apostle Paul here in our text says prayer should be made for him and his team members so that they have a good (clear) conscience.  How? That they walk uprightly  And that they live a noble life,  Acting honorably  And in complete honesty in all things This way your conscience is kept clean, free from contamination.  Today, be determined to walk upright, live a noble life, act honourable and in complete honesty...

The joys of leadership "Be responsive to your pastoral leaders. Listen to their counsel. They are alert to the condition of your lives and work under the strict supervision of God. Contribute to the joy of their leadership, not its drudgery. Why would you want to make things harder for them?" (Heb.13.17 MSB) Here in our text, we were admonished to contribute to the joys of our leaders. The verse also contrasts the person who contributes to the joys of leadership and the person who makes things harder for leaders.  What sort of a follower are you? The truth is, everyone is a leader in a certain sphere. A husband may be a janitor in his place of work but he is the leader in his home. A child may be a follower at home but a class captain in school. But even more important is that everyone must be a leader of his or her own self.  And when we set out to make the work easy for our leaders, the Bible says we contribute to the joys of leadership. Ask yourself what and wh...

Praise is a sacrifice "By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name." (Heb.13.15) Praise is a sacrifice. Sometimes you are asking yourself what you should praise God for. Situations and circumstances do not seem to give you enough reason to praise God, that is when you should praise Him because praise is a sacrifice.  Anyone can praise God when the going is good and rosy. They can see the breakthrough, lay hold on the blessings, children doing well in school and business is going just as planned. At these times, it is okay to praise God. But what do you do when the reverse s the case? That's when you offer the sacrifice of praise. And how do we do that? The fruits of our lips giving thanks unto His name. Our words are the fruit of our lips. One thing that giving a sacrifice of praise does for you is that it keeps praise on your lips in the bad times. And because you are offer...

Share with those in need  "Don't forget to do good and to share what you have with those in need, for such sacrifices are very pleasing to God. (Heb.13.16 NLT) If there is one thing we must not forget as believers is that our mandate is to do good. The Apostle Paul tells us that the reason we are born anew in Christ Jesus is so that we can do good  "For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago." (Eph.2.10 NLT) In our text, it says "Don't forget to do good and to share what you are with those in need." Why does it say we should not forget? Because we tend to focus only on our needs. But we must learn to share, especially with those in need.  Finally, it says that doing good and sharing with those in need is not because it is convenient but because it is a sacrifice. And that this sacrifice is pleasing unto God.  Find someone who has a need you can meet to...

Love God, not money, love money, not God  "Stay away from the love of money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, "I will never fail you. I will never forsake you." (Heb.13.5 NLT) It appears we cannot love God and money at the same time. Don't take my word for it. Jesus said, "You cannot love God and mammon.  "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." (Matt.6.24) What then constitutes the love of money? What would one have done to show that one loves money? Does loving God presupposes that one cannot love money? What does it mean to love God? If I drew you a picture of the person who loves God what features would the person have? To answer these questions we must draw a contrast between greed and God.  Loving money means putting money above and beyond God. Prioritizing money above God. Even though i...

Honour marriages "Give honor to marriage, and remain faithful to one another in marriage. God will surely judge people who are immoral and those who commit adultery." (Heb.13.4 NLT) I have heard it said that people are good when it is easy and convenient but that when push comes to shove, they flip. Is that you? Is that everyone? Or are there those who are faithful irrespective of? Give honour to marriage and be faithful to one another in marriage.  I said that to say, it is a given that it is not easy to be faithful, especially in a marriage. To be faithful to one person all year round twenty-four-seven. Does it sound out of this world, an impossible task?  If it was easy there will be no honour in it. There is a reason gold is more valuable than stone. The stone we can pick off the street, gold we can't. We have to dig deep to get it.  There is something valuable, honourable when it is not common. The reason we give honour to marriage is that it is not easy....

Suffer with those who suffer  "Don't forget about those in prison. Suffer with them as though you were there yourself. Share the sorrow of those being mistreated, as though you feel their pain in your own bodies. (Heb.13.3 NLT) Empathy is a success factor. Jesus exemplified empathy more than anyone I can think of. In fact, Jesus took empathy a step further and became a substitution for the sins of the world.  "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." (2Cor.5.21) Our text says, don't forget those in prison...don't forget those who are hungry, orphans, and those who are suffering, mistreated, and in pain.  When you empathize with those who suffer or are fatherless and widows, the Bible calls it true religion  "Pure and lasting religion in the sight of God our Father means that we must care for orphans and widows in their troubles, and refuse to let the world corrupt us....