Author: Pastor Rufus Ajiboye

Usually, we never dedicate time to something unless we realise its advantage and strict necessity for us. When we realise what we are losing by not understanding and hearing God’s voice, then we can become zealous and motivated to do our best in order to dedicate time and attention to it.
You must understand that satan is a thief and given a smallest chance he will take away all our privileges and opportunities in God.

What do we really mean when we ask ourselves: «What is God’s will for me?» The majority of people want to know: «What is God’s plan for me in this situation? What would be the right decision in this situation?»

We want to receive some directions and instructions from God in various life situations. We want to know God’s voice, since knowing His voice leads to knowing His will. God also wants every one of us to know His will in all things.

« In this love has been made perfect among us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgement, because as he is, even so are we in this world ».(1st John 4:17).

I can stand confidently stand before God only, when I have a witness in my spirit that I am living like Jesus lived while living in this world. Without the character of Christ the gifts of the Holy Spirit will be useless to the people around us, neither will they deliver true satisfaction to us personally.

1) Jesus Himself, while living on the earth, relied on Holy Spirit in everything, and we are called to follow in His step.

2) The baptism in the Holy Spirit is a God’s commandment for us, and not just an advice.

1) Jesus gave some commandments to the Apostles BY THE HOLY SPIRIT (verse 2).

Jesus Himself relied on the Holy Spirit in everything He did during His days in flesh. When He took on flesh, He was limited by it and He needed the Holy Spirit. As people we live in flesh and we also are limited by it. The only way for us to overcome these limitations is to rely on the Holy Spirit. We must be aware of the necessity and our dependency on the Holy Spirit. We must seek Him daily.

Paul is saying that many people hear the Gospel but still are not enlightened by that. These people had made their choice to continue living in sin, therefore, satan, the god of this world had blinded their minds so that the light of Gospel remains unveiled to them, regardless of how hard somebody tries to share the gospel with them. Nevertheless, Paul and his partners presented to others the brightest light of the Gospel, – that is Christ Himself, who is the image of God. Paul was convinced that people should be able to see God in Christ, so he preached Christ and instead of preaching about himself.

Based on 2nd Corinthians 4:1-5 we have already underlined the following principles:

1) We all already have a ministry – to reveal or manifest God to this world.

2) We must understand the ministry we received is by mercy and not by personal merits. It is by the grace of God.

The bible said we are the light of the world, so each of us is a light bearer. And as you know, light is intended to enlighten and drive away any form of darkness. We have to realize though, that we do not have light on our own. The light we radiate is the reflection of the light we have received from God. If we have a distorted perception of God, and His ways, then the light we radiate will also be distorted. Quite often so many Christian radiate distorted light because their lamp is not clean.

· We are called to behold the glory of the Lord. In other words, this is a call to focus our attention on Jesus as the only standard and model for our life. We can do that by focusing our attention on His word, His life and His examples.

· The word “beholding” in the passage above means a continuous action. In other words we should keep beholding the glory of God all the time.

«Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marvelled» (Acts, 4:13).

The first disciples of Jesus had spent time with Jesus and that reflected in their attitude to life,- they manifested God’s character through their lives. They were brave and bold for God; they boldly spoke of God, and testify of Him because they had spent time in the Father’s bosom.