Marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman blessed by God for the purpose of love, and family. The purpose of marriage is not sex, but love and family. Family is important to God. God visited Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden as family to fellowship with them (Genesis 3). 

Family is that fellowship between God, man and his wife. God also visited Abraham and his wife Sarah as a family (Genesis 18). In family He reveals himself perfectly to us. Family is what is important to God when we look at marriage. Love is another virtue of marriage. Jesus is the custodian of love. LOVE according to John 3:16 is God giving his Son, that's sacrifice. God gave the Word to the world. In a family God expect the man to be the custodian of love. The man should be the lover while the woman should submit to him in accordance to the will of God. 

There is no story in the bible where people get married in heaven. Jesus only gave us the parable of the ten virgins to describe his marriage with the church (the bride). Sincerely, no one marries in Heaven. The Sadducee, I call them Sad to see tried Jesus with a question about the resurrection (Matthew 22). However, Jesus replied them that no one marries in Heaven, rather they all would become angels of God. No marriage in heaven as we do on earth.

God Choosing a Wife or Husband For You

As for the point of God choosing a wife or husband for you, God's will should be our desire and purpose on earth. God chooses the person that compliments you spiritually, therefore what God has joined together let no man put asunder. A lot of people marry outside the will of God including some pastors and today their marriages are hell or have crumbled. God knows the heart of everybody. We are blind in that aspect, so we are not capable to know the perfect man or woman for us. Marrying anything is dangerous!

A good wife or husband can come from the will of God, that's Heaven. Several scriptures in the old testaments pointed many a time when the Lord warned the Israelite against marrying certain women and men. Getting married to them would corrupt them and their seed (children). These men are women are from idolatry background, and knew not the way of the Lord. The Moabite women are seductresses whose intention were to defile the men of Israel. If you choose a wife without God's will you might end up with a Jezebel. 

Do You Really Believe That Marriages Are Made in Heaven?

Marriages are ordained by Heaven, but Heaven doesn't make marriages as in conduct weddings. 

  

The thief does not come except for to steal, kill and to destroy. But I have come that you may have life, and have it more abundantly. (John 10:10).

What's An Abundant Life?

Abundant life as implied by Jesus is a life without the thief. It is also receiving all the things Satan has stolen from you. Revelation 5:12, says, 

Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.  Revelation 5:12

Jesus was slain and went to hell to receive all these things Satan has stolen from us. Jesus referred  to Satan and his cohorts as the thief. According to him, a thief is not only as robber or someone who steals, a thief is a killer and a destroyer.

Jesus pictured a life without the thief as an abundant life, since your all labours and  blessings are safe. We need to know the thieves against our soul.  

Jesus wasn't only referring to Satan the devil. Even though he used a singular term 'The thief', I think he was being holistic since he had cited other thieves in several scriptures. Now let's know who they are.     

The Thieves According to Jesus 

Apart from an armed-robber, burglars, scammers, the following are thieves against our soul.

1. False prophets.

 In Matthew 7:15 Jesus said, 

Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.  Matthew 7:15

False prophets are workers of iniquity who uses lies to prosper. I have explained iniquity in one of my post: The Difference Between Sin and Iniquity . Jesus said we should beware of false prophets, because they are only there for personal gains, scamming lies, and on a faith-destroying mission. It's so sad that many Christians have repented to the hands of false prophets. 

To live an abundant life, we must beware of false prophets.

2. False Christ. 

In Matthew 24:5 Jesus said,

For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. Matthew 24:5

False Christ can also be called Anti-Christ. Anti-Christ are false leaders, though an Ant-Christ can also be referred to as a false prophet, but here we are looking at false leaders in powers.  These leaders are cunning and crafty and have a deceptive nature. 

They say one thing, but do the opposite. They are your secret enemy. You might love them, but they don't love you.  

They pretend to love the people in order to win their trust, but in their action they betray them. 

They are always trying to manipulate their followers, and during election they become loving and kind to the poor just to grab power. After they've succeeded they forget about them. 

Beware of loving such type of people, they are thieves. They want to steal your trust and further manipulate or neglect you. You can read my post: The Attribute of an Anti-Christ. 

3. Friends of Hell. 

Friends of hell are witches and wizards around you. Witches and wizards are spiritual thief. They are killers, they are destroyers. Beware!

Jezebels

Jesus spoke concerning Jezebel in Revelation 2:20, for Jezebel is a witch in the church. Jezebels are ministry destroyers. Jezebels are prophet destroyers. Jezebels are also family destroyers. They break churches and families. They are expert in the knowledge of seduction. 

They know how to open their body and to speak to people to fall for them lustfully. At night they do their real job by fornicating with innocent souls spiritually while those men (even women) are asleep. Jezebels can prophesy using the spirit of divination (a familiar spirit). This spirit is sent through a spell they cast on innocent souls. 

Sometimes these innocent men and women would be seeing a being chasing after them in their dreams. That's a familiar spirit following their movement in order to grab vital information concerning their life. 

Judas

Judas is the male counterpart . Judas are wizards .They do the same as Jezebels.  They have sex with innocent souls, choke them and afflict them while they are asleep or ignorant. Beware!

4. Demons.

Demons are destructive messengers of hell according to 2 Corinthians chapter 12. 

They usually present to our mind lustful and persuasive ideas or thoughts we often find difficult to resist even though we know they are wrong. Demons usually speaks to our mind using our own voice. Also, demons can attack a soul through dreams. 

They are strangers in our dream hired by our adversary against our soul. Satan uses demons;  witches and wizards use demons.  

5. Satan. 

Satan is the dragon, that old serpent. He's a bitter enemy of God and His children. He cruelly  seeks worship from man, and turns them against God. 

His best tactic in trapping man is his scamming lies. Scamming lies are lies that gives you false hope. He uses false hope and pleasure to take the real thing for you. No one lies more than the devil. 

What The Thief Comes To Steal?

According to the book of Revelation 5 verse 12, there are 7 things Satan and his cohorts come to steal from us:

1.  Power

2. Riches

3. Wisdom

4. Strength

5. Honor

6. Glory

7. Blessing.

We also can assume from here that an abundant life is a life of Power, Riches, Wisdom, Strength, Honor, Glory, and Blessing. 

 3 Vital Ways To Live An Abundant Life

1. Beware of the Thief.

 I've already explained who the thieves are. So beware to live an abundant life.

2. Receive Jesus into Your Life.

Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. Jesus is the way out of the thief. Without Jesus you are still in a relationship with the thief. When Jesus comes into your life he breaks the connection between you and the thief, by exposing the thief. Accept Jesus, you accept an abundant life.

3. You Have to Pay the Price of Obedience. 

As it is said:  "Obedience is better than sacrifice." According to the law, abundant life means receiving all the blessings written in the law (Deuteronomy 28). 

Don't be stubborn as Jonah lest you would be swallowed by poverty. Abraham obeyed God, and God blessed him. Obey before blessing. Obeying  God would take you to a level in life where no man bring you down. 

Conclusion

I believe you've been blessed by this post.  An abundant life is available to every born-again child of God, and every addicted follower of Jesus. As you follow  what is written here I pray that God takes you to a level where no man can bring you down. Be blessed! 

  

  

Three Keys of Riches

Jesus made his disciples to understand that greatness is all about potentials not possessions. He brought to them a little child and told them that for anyone to be called great in the kingdom he must be like this child, that is , he must be born again (be a child of God by obeying God's word). This came up while the disciples were arguing about who is the greatest among them.

"At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,...

"Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven."(Matthew 18:1,2 and 4).


Before talking about the two dimensions of greatness, I will define greatness from my perspective.

What is Greatness?
Greatness is reaching your full potential. According to Paul the Apostle, Greatness is reaching the mark (Phillipians 3:14).

Now, the Dimensions of Greatness

Greatness has two dimensions:

1. Mystery

2. Mastery


Mysteries are  visions and prophecies to be fulfilled. Greatness has its spiritual root where it begins. Before Jesus was born prophecies, predictions and visions have already foretold his greatness.
Great men of God in the bible were great because of what they saw: "Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree." (Jeremiah 1:11).  Where there is no vision the people perish in hardship, lack and reproach.  That's why David prayed wholeheartedly that the LORD should open his spiritual eyes (Psalms 119:118).

Also the book of Revelation 17 :5 tells us about the greatness of a woman:

"And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. ".

Mystery is the height of Greatness: Through the ability to understand visions and to know prophecies you are higher than any force on earth.  You find yourself in the position of power concerning your life and others. When the bible says wisdom is the principal thing, it is actually saying that mystery is the principal thing.

Mastery which is the other dimension of greatness is having a thorough understanding of your work, (your gift, your talent, your career, your academics) here on earth. Mastery will bring you into  limelight of fame. The bible is one revelational book that teaches one about the rewards of diligence (the bible is more than a literature, the bible is LIGHT). When you understand the thing you do and build on it , we call it 'skill'.  Learning is just a way of gathering experiences. 1 Corinthians 9: 25-26 says,

 "And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: "

Mastery is base area of Greatness: when you are good in something you do,  you attract favours and reward for it. But mastery takes one thing that many lack- Temperance!
Temperance is one positive character that keeps you in the track of greatness. "And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:"

'When one is out of temperance, one is out of greatness'; different sought of people come from behind to overtake him (and he is left behind).

"But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway."

(1 Corinthians 9 : 27).

God loves you.

This article was written by Jeremiah Ogedegbe, tweets     

   

   

Success is in three levels. Success is all about making history in a kingdom. The definition of success is restricted to Kingdoms. Every Kingdom has its goal, dreams and aspiration to the glory of that Kingdom. Successful people in the world are those who fit the goals and dreams of their Kingdom. The Lander  Brothers  built the first airplane. Sir Isaac Newton,  Michael Faraday,  Eistein,  to name but a few, were all successful in the science domain.   Other fields as well has great men, great business men and great artist etc.



What is Success?

From my point of view Success  is fufilling the dreams and aspiration of the kingdom you belong to. Or (personally) fufilling your dreams and aspiration in life. What drives people in life is the dream of becoming successful.



The 3 Levels of Success:


1.  The Kingdom of  this World. The world is the organisation of   human everywhere on earth. We have  the  individual unit which i call the Psychological unit of the world, as Solomon said in Ecclesiates 3: 11,

" He hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end."  

Then the other unit is the ethnic unit, which is the background of our society- the differences in society like culture, language, traditions. And the last unit is the Globe or Global unit which is the spread of civilization (the coming  together of people from diverse parts of the world, where laws, faith, believe are shared worldwide).  Success in this level is subjected to the two levels  to be mentioned. That's why one can be rich, well educated and honored yet tormented or controlled by spiritual forces. As it is said: "The spiritual controls the physical." Sad that people are blind to know  this in reality. The highest place of this Kingdom is where the Beast sits, reign i.e the Throne of the Beast. As we know, America is that highest place of power here on earth. 


2. The Kingdom of Darkness.  This Kingdom according to Revelation 13:2  gives power and authority to the Beast. "And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority."

This Kingdom is immediate to the first Kingdom (the Kingdom of the World). This is where we have the Principalities, powers, rulers of Darkness of this World, and Spiritual Wickedness in high places.  Ephesians 6 :  12  says,

"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."

The high places are the covens where all of them gather. This Kingdom is responsible for the destruction of the souls of men. They capitalize in spreading deception to corrupt people toward godliness. They draw people into perdition. Don't be fooled by the wickedness and abomination that go around the earth, most of these acts like pornography, lesbianism, incest, whoredom are the culture there in the coven. These witches and wizards come to have sex with people while they are asleep. To them success is fufilling the destruction of the soul of men. You shouldn't think they are going to feel guilty about it. NO!

3. The KINGDOM OF LIGHT.  This is the master of all the Kingdoms. Whether agreed or not this kingdom remains powerful over all. John the baptist said in John 3 : 31, "He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all."  Success is this kingdom is by making disciples for God (Matthew 28:19).  Successful men in this kingdom are seen in the bible, men like Paul the apostle who wrote two-third of the books in the new testament. Men like David. Men like Abraham; the prophets, Moses who led the Israelite through the Red sea. Also we have women who were successful too, like Deborah the prophetess, Sarah, Hanah , Esther and so on.

 I Draw A Conclusion From Here           
   
 According to Paul's revelation in 2 Corinthans 12:1-2, he talked about been taken to the third heaven. It means there are 3 heavens. Heaven is the high place of power.
From the 3 Kingdoms We have 3 Heavens that brings laws to inspire the success of their Kingdom:

1. The First Heaven- The Throne of the Beast
2. The Second Heaven- The Throne of  the Dragon
 3. The Third Heaven- The Throne of Grace (God's  throne).


This article was written by Jeremiah Ogedegbe.