Jesus transforms those that follow Him!

ByPastor Rufus Ajiboye Reading Time: 3 minutes
Welcome, dear readers, to our column “Daily word for spiritual strength”! I thank God for each of you and I pray, so that you remain thirsty for His word, thirsty for fellowship with Him because He is the source of life.We continue to speculate on God´s desire to change us for our own benefit. As we stated, by letting God to change us according to His will and following Jesus people around will see a reflection of Heaven in our life and in our ministry.Do you remember when the elders of synagogue, scribes and Sadducees met Jesus disciples after He was resurrected, they faced a supernatural courage in them. 
«Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and had perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled. They recognized that they had been with Jesus.». (Acts 4:13).
 What did the scribes and Sadducees conclude when they had perceived the unusual behaviour of the disciples? They recognised those men had been with Jesus! The disciples followed Jesus. When we look at the apostle Peter´s life, we should notice his birth name was Simon, not Peter. He became Peter after he began to follow Jesus. 
«One of the two who heard John, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his own brother, Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah!” (which is, being interpreted, Christ). He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him, and said, “You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas” (which is by interpretation, Peter)». (John 1:40-42).
 What was Peter´s true name? His true name was Simon that means a reed. Reed is a plant swayed by the wind. Applied to a human it shows us an unstable person, led by feelings and emotions. Reading about the life of Peter in the Bible, about the time he was called Simon you may notice what kind of person he used to be. Simon was emotional and testy person. He could leap for joy then suddenly become deeply oppressed. Simon was quite unstable with his character. It seemed he just proclaimed in the God´s Spirit saying “You are the Messiah” followed by what Jesus replied with “Get behind me, satan!” to Peter. Simon was tended to vary quite often, thus opening himself to the evil spirit of humanism (see Matthew 16:13-23).Though, after Simon had dropped his nets and followed Jesus, something happened to him. Jesus immediately spoke to him: “Simon your name will be Peter, that means a rock.” After Simon had become Peter, Jesus let him understand He would completely change him. Jesus said to Peter: “just follow me and I will change you, follow me and I will make you!”When scribes and elders of the synagogue saw Peter they marvelled saying: “He is an ordinary, uneducated fisherman, isn´t he?” They had no clue where Peter´s boldness and wisdom came from. But you definitely do, don´t you? Peter was changed by the Lord, Jesus Christ. He was changed by the Holy Spirit.Why did he get changed? Because he followed Jesus. If you constantly follow Jesus, you will be made better and better, that other people will marvel how tremendously your life has been changed. Jesus changes only those who follow Him. Jesus will also change you if you decide to follow Him. Be abundantly blessed in the Lord!Rufus Adjiboje, pastor

Support us so we can do more

We’ll get right to the point: we’re asking you to help us support our Church online minisry. We’re a nonprofit that relies on support from people like you. If everyone reading this gives €12 monthly, Spirit and Truth city Church can continue to thrive for years.

Similar Posts

  • What is compassion?

    AutorsPastor Rufus Ajiboye Reading Time: 5 minutes
    We must understand that Jesus’ disciples were not perfect; quite the opposite, they are ordinary people with „character issues”. Jesus did not wait until they become perfect, but sent them out to serve people. He did not have anybody else to send; so He worked with what He had. And He is calling us to do the same today; it applies to every one who considers himself to be His disciple. Jesus desires for God’s children to be filled with compassion and to help people allowing God to touch all the people around them with His love.If we see someone perishing physically because of some illness, we do everything to save him. We often do not realize that unsaved people are spiritually ill, that they are perishing and need salvation. We must do everything in our power to save them. So our hearts need to go out to them with love and compassion.

  • How to enter your ministry

    AutorsPastor Rufus Ajiboye Reading Time: 3 minutes
    Yesterday we started discussing how we can enter our ministry. We established that, first; we need a strong desire to serve. This desire is tied to our understanding of God’s will and the purpose of our salvation. As we talked about, ministry helps us to reveal our potential. Ministry helps us to find out about ourselves, our calling in the establishment of God’s Kingdom on earth and doing the works that are pleasing to God. God has predestined for us to do particular good works. God desires for us to be fruitful and glorify Him on earth. Through our ministry God wants to fill this earth with the knowledge of Him and His Kingdom. He wants us to establish His principles in every sphere of life and win people for Him by the ministry we do on earth.

  • What are the grounds or foundations of favour? II

    AutorsPastor Rufus Ajiboye Reading Time: 3 minutes
    Through faith in Jesus Christ we become clothed in his righteousness and nature. In the our spirit we have the perfect character of the Almighty God even though we do not become perfect in our actions immediately after becoming followers of Jesus. We reflect God’s life, character and thoughts more and more in our lives to that extent to which we submit ourselves to the new nature in our spirit. Our daily submission to God’s nature and character in us is what I call practical righteousness that qualifies us for God’s favour.

  • Wisdom of a man and wisdom of God

    AutorsPastor Rufus Ajiboye Reading Time: 4 minutes
    There are a wisdom of this world and God´s wisdom. God´s wisdom differs from the wisdom of this world the way that it´s hidden until the God Himself reveals it to the people. As for the wisdom of this world, that´s a human wisdom gained using five methods of perception, or sense: hearing, sight, touch, smell, and taste, which are the natural channels used to gain a knowledge.Differently from God´s wisdom that exists for our glory, the wisdom of a man once passes away. The Bible says, that «the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men», even more His wisdom is. God´s wisdom is much higher than the wisdom of a man.

  • How does a truly responsible person look like? II

    AutorsPastor Rufus Ajiboye Reading Time: 3 minutes
    A responsible person is organized, disciplined and diligent even when nobody watches him or her. Such a person determines what he needs to do, when he needs to do it and makes the necessary effort to accomplish it. A responsible person submits to what he needs to do. Since he understands the importance of being responsible, he cannot be idle or inert. A responsible person effectively uses his time, his energy and his resources.

  • The importance of stopping all activities and being alone with God

    AutorsPastor Rufus Ajiboye Reading Time: 3 minutes
    «From there He arose and went to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And He entered a house and wanted no one to know it, but He could not be hidden.»Jesus came to Tyra and Sidon to find some solitude and rest from people because His last day was coming closer – the day of His death on the Golgotha. Possibly, Jesus wanted to be alone with His Father to discuss what was awaiting Him on the Golgotha. Thus, Jesus was showing us an example of stopping all activities and being alone with God. We also need – every once in a while – to leave all the clutter of this world and all its cares and to find time for being alone with the Father. God is calling you today to find right time and a right place to be alone with God even among all the cares and stresses of this world. By doing it you will be able to gain access to godly wisdom, receive peace from God and succeed in this life.