Southgate International

March 27 “ That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith…” (Ephesians 3:17). God expects every child of His to excel in every good work: it means we are graced to excel in life. 2 Corinthians 9:8 says, “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work”. The new creation is furnished with super ability and competence. This puts him in a position where he displays excellence in all things. “Eutarkeia” is the Greek word for “sufficiency” as captured in the above verse of the scripture and it indicates a state of self-sufficiency to the point where one requires no support. That’s the proof of the God-life you have now; it is effective, efficient and balanced. “Hikanotes” is another Greek word for sufficiency and its usage is found in 2 Corinthians 3:5 that says, “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God”. And this refers to comp...

March 23. “Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: And by him all that BELIEVE are justified from all things, from which you could not be justified by law of Moses” (Acts 13:38-39). Because of ignorance, a lot of religious folks think that by their works of righteousness, they are justified before God. but the scripture speaking says, “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin…” (Isaiah 53:10). That’s why I keep saying that what Jesus did on the cross has eternal impact; He (Jesus)having understood the extent of the impact of His death, burial and resurrection can boldly boast by saying, “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pick them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand” (John 10:28-29). T...

March 21 “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:4). In Habakkuk 2:14, the scripture says, “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea”. So this is the age and time where knowledge is essential, important and critical. In this age, if you do not have enough knowledge of God’s word, you will become a victim of the devil’s deception. The Bible also says, my people are destroyed because they lack knowledge (Hosea 4:6 ) knowledge is the key that opens the door to eternal things. It is through knowledge that we partake in what’s available to us in the kingdom we now belong to and not by our senses. That is why aside the Holy spirit that is in you now, you need so much of God’s word because the word is now your mirror; you can only see of yourself as much a...

March 20 “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that called us to glory and virtue: whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:3-4). The main reason for failure in the body of Christ has been a lack of the knowledge of redemption as contained in the New Testament (the epistles). A lot of believers have false assumptions about God and you know when a person has a false knowledge about God, he or she will also have a false assumption about his personality in Christ. These false assumptions are what have robbed the church of their faith in God and these assumptions are products of inaccurate teachings. We see an example of having a wrong mindset about the character of God in Job; it was obvious later on in his life that everything he knew...

March 19 “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name” (John 20:31). When a man hears the Gospel, believes it, he is saved and being saved mean that such a person has been reconciled back to the father. He now has peace and access to all that the kingdom of God has to offer. Remember mankind became estranged from God his creator through Adams disobedience. But today anyone who hears and believes the Gospel is reconciled back to God; has his relationship with God restored (the Gospel is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ) (I Corinthians 15:1-4). The above claim is what our today’s theme verse talks about. It reveals that the messages of the four gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John)are messages given for a man to hear and be born again but there’s more to being born again. God’s desire is to have all men saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (I Timothy 2:4...

March 18. “That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the ACKNOWLEDGING of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus” (Philemon 1:6). Our relationship with God must be based on proper understanding of His word especially as contained and revealed in the Epistles. To walk in the consciousness of who you’re in Christ, a believer must be properly taught and instructed from the word of God. You must understand that the believer can never be more efficient in his Christian experience than he is in his understanding of the scriptures. According to our theme verse, Apostle Paul’s prayer for his son Philemon was for him to “acknowledge” (Greek: “epignosis” Having a precise, comprehensive knowledge) as it has to do with who he is in Christ; what he has in Christ; and the abilities he has in Christ. Because if these truths remain muddled up in any believer, understands that the believer will be short in his Christian experience and the benefits of his identificat...

DMarch 15 “And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled…” (Colossians 1:21 NKJV). Christ Jesus initiated and established peace between God and man through His death on the cross; man had become alienated from the life of God through disobedience; but that was in the past because Jesus in the body of His flesh through death has reconciled us back to Himself. God is no more angry with mankind. All of His anger was put on Jesus when He hung on the Cross. Jesus did all of that on our behalf. That is why the Bible says,” To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them…” (2 Corinthians 5:19). God is not angry with the world, He loves the world (John 3:16). He is not counting anybody’s sin now, it is when a man rejects His offer of salvation and dies as a sinner, that such a fellow will meet God’s anger and judgment. Ephesians 2:14-15says, “For he is our peace, who ...

March 14 “My little children, these things write i unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:1-2). You might have come across certain people who have been Christians for long, yet not grounded and settled in simple realities and truths of the kingdom. They aren’t growing hence it is hard for them to accept all of what the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ has made available to them. This has left a lot of believers disquieted, unsettled and tormented. As a Christian, you need to be deeply rooted and grounded in faith and it is having precise knowledge of the truth about your personality in Christ that will help the believer get to that. And your personal study of, and meditation of the word of God is very vital. Just going to church isn’t enough. I’m always overwhelmed by the de...

                                            March 13. “Jesus the mediator of the new covenant and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel”  (Hebrews 12:24 NKJV). God does not condone sin but a believer shouldn’t be afraid of sin. God doesn’t compromise His standards; He does not relax His demands, hence, rather than dismiss sin, He assumed the responsibility of sentencing Himself. In Genesis 4:10 God testified of the unusual voice of Abel voices that was crying from the ground which implied that the cry of Abel blood was so strong to be silenced by any human force or by time. Much more God acknowledges the distinct nature of Jesus blood before His throne. The blood of Jesus is what advocates, pushes for and argues in our favour and this is one of the effect of Jesus’ substitutional sacrifice on our behalf. The blood ...

March 12 “And Jesus, said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62). A ‘touchstone’ is something that provides a standard against which other things are compared or judged. It is a reference point, a basis which other things can be evaluated. A lot of believers are unable to stay on course in pursuit of their God-given assignment because they’re easily distracted. In Paul’s admonition to the brethren in the church at Corinth he said, “Not that we (have audacity to) venture to class (even to) compare ourselves with some who exalt and furnish testimonies for themselves. However, when they measure themselves with themselves and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding and behave unwisely”(2 Corinthians 10:12 Amp). Apostle Paul is saying that when people begin to measure themselves with themselves and compare themselves with one another, they’re behaving unwisely. This is what ...

March 11  “And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you” (2 Corinthians 6:15-17). Your faith will be very ineffective when you don’t know who you are, what you have, and your abilities in Christ.  That’s why I keep saying that Christianity is not a religion but a lifestyle where man houses God and takes the presence of God to wherever he goes. When you acknowledge that as a believer you house God, it makes your life exceptional. One of the amazing blessings of Christianity is that God tabernacles in us; He lives in us; we’re the temple of the living God, it doesn’t get better than that. This i...

March 10 “But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit” (1 Corinthians 6:17). At salvation, what God did was to make the believer one with Him; the biggest thing about our salvation in Christ Jesus is our oneness with the Lord. We’re not mere believers or followers of Him, but we’re in fellowship with Him. Not only was our spirit recreated at salvation, we were immersed into Christ which means that you’re literally joined together with Him inseparably but are being separated from the world. And now that we’re literally joined together with Him in an inseparable union, we’re members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones (Ephesians 5:30). His intention being that our thoughts and actions should always be in line with His purpose and will for our lives. Consecration scripturally means to separate and treat differently. This is where the word holiness is derived from. A lot of people especially religious folks don’t really know what holiness is. We’re not called holy...

                                                                                            March 8. “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his son” (I John 5:11). The word of God carries inherent ability to produce what it talks about; it carries the life and the spirit of God in it. That is why Jesus, emphatically said, “it is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you they are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). What Jesus meant in the above statement is that, He was lifting the curtain and letting us see the realities, available in the kingdom. It means that the word of God carries in them power, energy and the creative ability of God; His words ar...

  March 7 “l he shall go before, him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just (righteous)…” (Luke 1:17). Until a believer understands the importance of his “in Christ” status, he will keep struggling in his walk of faith. The realization of who he is, what he has and his abilities in Christ as contained in the epistles is what will make his victory over Satan and his cohorts a mere work over. The greatest thing said of the new creation is that he is in Christ hence Paul in his mandate to disclose the revelation of the mystery used signature phrases like “in Him”, “in whom” and “in Christ”. These signature phrases is what describes who we are, where we are, what we now have and most importantly our sonship position in Him now. By implication, it means we have become to Him (God) what Jesus is (the son) is to Him. We have the nature and attributes that made Jesus so beautiful to th...

  March 6. “Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick….” (James 5:14-15) The Bible especially in the epistles teaches us what to do when healing is needed. It reveals to us that the believer has inherent power to heal the sick. This is true but unfortunately, a lot of believers in some churches, don’t accept, recognize, preach about or mention the power of God. There are many good ministries who do talk about good Christian virtues like humility, love, patience etc. but do not go on to talk about the power of God. The new creation church is a wholesome church such that no one should be sick, however if anyone is sick, healing should be ministered to such a person. By my survey, I discover that people have withdrawn and gradually moved away from the power side of God they have moved away from the supernatural and the Bible speak...

  MARCH 4. “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14) We stated yesterday that the reason most believers are cut off from supernatural things is because of their naturalness. When it comes to the things of the spirit, they’re ignorant of the ways of God, they’re like Jacob, who came to a place, made himself a pillow and lay down to sleep. Unknown to him, God was in that place and he never knew (Genesis 28:10-16). One of the reasons a lot of believers remain sick for a long time is because they are always thinking normally, as human beings should. You’re cut off from the supernatural were you’re analytical or logical. The reason a lot of believers couldn’t speak in tongue even after being born again for several years is because they are natural, analytical and judgmental. It is when you move from the natural state to the sup...

  MARCH 3 “His flesh is consumed away that it cannot be seen; and his bones that were  not seen stick out. Yea, his soul draweth near unto the grave, and his life to the destroyers. If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to show unto man his uprightness: Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom.” (Job 33:21-24). When a man’s health is challenged, everything he has loses value. Nothing in this world interest him anymore – all he wants is for him to get strong again. But I am always surprised that there are people who don’t believe in miracles and yet are committed Christians. You see, of the many things I am constantly learning of in the Ministry, one of them is the realm of the supernatural. There is a supernatural dimension to Christianity and if you cut out the supernatural in Christianity, you’ll be left with philosophy or something. The greatest barrier to the supernat...

  March 2. “A vast crowd brought to him people who were lame, blind, crippled, those who couldn’t speak, and many others. They laid them before Jesus, and he healed them all. The crowd was amazed! Those who hadn’t been able to speak were talking, the crippled were made well, the lame were walking, and the blind could see again! And they praised the God of Israel.”  (Matthew 15: 30-31 NLT) Beloved, no matter the sickness or debilitating condition anyone is experiencing, none is impossible with God to change. If only the one experiencing such condition would believe the word of God, there will be a difference. Now, in believing, we put our faith to work and get our earnest desires including our healing. That was why Jesus said to the man whose son was tormented by an evil spirit that “Anything is possible if a person believes” (Mark 9:23). God is gracious and kind, always having His power extended to all who believe. So there’s no need enduring painful health condit...