The Bible Conversation

Two common causes of faltering faith. Life patterns  We may feel inclined to control the direction of our lives, according to the patterns we’ve seen from childhood to adulthood. Especially when we feel as if God’s not working fast enough to change our circumstances. Due to this, many turn to other sources for quicker results — dabbling in certain practices to “assist” in their walk as Christians. In the past, I hung on to this false power of control through new age and occult practices, as a consequence of a lack of faith. In Romans 14:23,  Paul said, whatever is not from faith is sin. If we are under this satanic influence, the enemy will make us feel as if this is who we are and that the negative sequence of our lives will continue, evoking thoughts of doubts and the need to control things outside of God, as we face life’s challenges. Needless to say, it’s all a lie. In John 8:44,  Jesus calls him “the father of lies.” It’s a trap to have you work against our Creator, ...

Luke 12:51-53 "Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law." Matthew 5:30 "If your right hand offend you cut it off" (This verse emphasizes the sacrifice we need to make to follow Jesus) Stephanie Ike Okafor said in one of her sermons, “You have to be mindful of the relationships in your life, because that’s the easiest way to lower your standards from trying to keep that friendship.” While in the process of dying to the flesh, and breaking ungodly habits, I found it difficult to be around some of the people I care about, partly because of my personality, as I was also in the process of detaching from my people-pleasing self in o...

Revelations 3:16 "So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold or hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth" Once upon a time, before fully submitting myself to Christ, I was engulfed in the world as a slave to sin. During these times, listening to secular music was a daily occurrence. I was the epitome of a lukewarm Christian; I ran to God in times of need, then back to the world. My attachment to this kind of music was the true definition of stronghold, and truth be told, I was comfortable with this way of life. Needless to say, the devil had me right where he wanted me. It was as if I was chained to the world and could only go so far out before I got reeled back in.  Secular music 2 Corinthians 10:5 "casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." (Our negative thoughts are not our own and we must always confront them with the word of God....

Be vigilant When we have a great calling on our lives, the enemy will often turn family and friends against us to sabotage our destiny. He devises a plan, hoping our pain from loneliness will turn into anger and resentment, leading to deep-rooted problems. If not dealt with immediately, these problems become barriers ingrained in our lineage, hindering our spiritual walk with Jesus. Secondly, the evil one attempts to lead us on the path of destruction, in our place of loneliness by manipulating our view of The Kingdom of Heaven and portray walking with God as burdensome, boring, scary, and lonely, luring you to “fit in” with the world. When the truth is that living in sin is the real bondage, it separates us from God, our sustenance and source of life, depriving us of true love, peace, joy, and the chance to live eternally. T he devil hates us all with a passion, and for that reason, he will put his best foot forward to overthrow the plans of God in our lives. You will overcome Matthew...

Love is powerful. Forgiveness, mercy, and grace gives us power in Christ. They are what connects us to our Heavenly Father, allowing us to hear and see Him all around us because that’s the kind of God He is. He’s a merciful, understanding, forgiving, and loving God ( Galatians 5:22-25) . Feeling distant from Him? Check your heart. With anger and hate in our hearts, we have little to no power in Christ. (Matthew 22:37-40) Satan uses anger and hate to destroy our spiritual position and sabotage our connection with God by keeping us spiritually stagnant ( Zechariah 3:1-4) .   Most of us avoid loving and forgiving out of fear, pride, and conformity. And these are what the devil forms in our lives to stop us. These are the strongholds used to block us from the truth and freedom in Christ  (2 Corinthians 10:4) . Hence the reason why we can’t give him any opportunity, if we do, he’ll make a place in our lives and build on it (Ephesians 4:27) . But we can fight against these strongho...

From childhood to now, as an adult, I’ve had countless experiences where suddenly there’s a soothing song playing in my head after experiencing some type of traumatic or emotional life event, or even an everyday issue. The words from these songs are almost always related to the situation at hand. As a Christian, I believe that since God is our maker and is all around us, everything is from Him and we all have our individual assignment and one purpose- to serve Him.  With that said, I believe that these music and songs that play in our minds at the most vulnerable and hardest points in our lives, communicates God’s love for us. It’s His mercy and grace. It’s Him bringing us comfort and sending us encouraging messages during a difficult situation. Not to mention, God’s angels are constantly working to guide us and keep us safe. When you feel inexplicable peace and strength or is consoled by a song playing on the radio or in your mind at a specific moment, during a time of trouble, re...

Satan had great power in heaven as an angel (Ezekiel 28:12–15), but as a result of pride, his position was beneath him. He went up against God and quickly realized that he was no match for our Creator. And though great, his powers are limited. Long story short, he was cast out of the Kingdom of Heaven, which led to the spiritual war of good versus evil. Since being expelled from Heaven, the world became the domain of the evil one, and for this reason, this beautiful place created by God also represents sin. God made His first human creation, Adam and Eve. Satan saw how beautiful and perfectly made they were, and of course, he made an attempt to sabotage their existence (Genesis 3). Unfortunately, Adam and Eve were manipulated by the devil and disobeyed God, which caused a grave spiritual shift, producing a sinful nature within us. We can take from this that, when we're disobeying God, we're giving the devil control over our lives.  The war between good and evil. With this chan...