Be Righteous
On Children's Ministry Day at House of Victory Assemblies of God Church, the children and teens express their commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Righteousness doesn’t mean you are right all the time. Righteousness means being in a right relationship with the One who made you in His image and with the human beings (others made in His image) around you. A lot of folks spend too much time trying to prove themselves right with excuses for not getting things done, or not having the things they think they deserve. Our human relationships, therefore, have become based on conditions (what he or she can give me), rather than on righteousness: treating others the way our Lord treats each of us—with unconditional, uplifting love.
The Lord said, “My food is to do the will of My Father who sent Me, and to finish His work” (John 4:34). Godliness with contentment is great gain (1 Timothy 6:6). These teachings indicate that when a person’s heart is connected to the Creator of life, his or her life reflects what the Creator wants you to be, to have, and to share with others. In that being, having, and sharing you express that the image of God, Father of all humanity, is alive in you; and that you are pleased, or content, with living a life worthy of God’s good pleasure.
Alice was a quarrelsome child. Whenever she didn’t get her way, storms of anger and destruction slapped the one denying her carnal desires. How is it then that, later on in life, she became a wife praised by her husband, a mother adored by her own children, and a comforting counselor to troubled teens without homes? She finally decided to get right with herself by getting right with God.
Atheism and agnosticism (an unbelief in the existence of a Triune God) and a whole lot of other “-isms” have bombard the minds of those who refuse to accept the truth, God’s Word, as truth for directing and guarding one’s life against the lies that hoover in the air around us. When one is connected to the Lord of Truth, he or she is indeed set free from the enslavement of sin that is attached to lies.
The source of any lie comes from the force of darkness, satan, devil, or any other names derived from occultic ‘gods’. The source of lies enters a human being though his or her weakness, that ‘hole’ not covered by righteousness—being divinely connected and humbly submitted to the source of Truth, the Lord God who is (i) the Father, (ii) the Son, and (iii) the Holy Spirit, the only Triune (of three beings as one who is) Creator of all creation.
THE THREE GREATEST LIES EVER TOLD
1. “You are not good enough.” → BUT GENESIS 1: 27: So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God is absolutely beautiful in holiness, perfect in righteousness, and truly comforting in His loving us. Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good (Genesis 1:31a).
2. “You can’t do it.” → BUT PHILIPPIANS 4:13: I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. The “things” referred to in this truth are the talents, the gifts, the skills you were born with and which are made stronger with your experience using them. God made you for a purpose and put into you everything you need to fulfill that purpose successfully; not for material gain only, but to share with humanity into order to make our earthly home a better place to live for all human beings (creations) and our environment. You got what it takes to make it, beloved, as long as you got Jesus Christ working in you. Yes, there are “successful-looking” non-Christians (unbelievers), but God peers into the inner life of every being; and where there is no light, there is darkness.
3. “You will never succeed.” → BUT PSALM 37:5: Commit your way into the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. What shall He bring to pass? He shall bring your righteousness as the light, and your justice [vindication] as the noonday. Those watching you and waiting for your downfall will marvel at the hand of favor over your life. That hand is God’s hand when you reach yours out to take hold of His. The Lord God is the lifter up of our heads and the drier of every tear we secretly shed. Give, or commit, everything you are, have, and do to the Lord, and rejoice at the good that He does for you; then you will never fear to let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16).
The truth is the Word of God, and believing in His Word is counted unto you as righteousness. As you continue to study and apply these truths (found in the Bible) to your life, you will experience your personal transformation into the image of God: absolutely beautiful in holiness, strengthened to do all things He asks of you, and perfected and vindicated in righteousness.
Never stop reading. Never stop applying. Never stop praying. Let God’s word cleanse you from every unrighteousness. Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary pure and holy, and righteous in You. Christ in you is your righteousness (Isaiah 54:14, 17).
© 2023 by Patience Osei-Anyamesem. All rights reserved. Published by The Light In Me Enterprise. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews or other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
Unless otherwise stated, all scripture quotations are from The New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The artwork depicted in the blog article is carefully selected to draw out the points made for healing of the soul, and by no means promote any ideologies from the various artists unless they are found in the center of God's perfect will.
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