by Pastor Chinedu Emmanuel

“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; …” Hebrews 12:2

The question, “What really matters?” was asked by a young man who felt lost and empty but desired to be a Christian. How would you have answered this question? What would you have talked about? The evil of the world? The eminence of heaven? Many believers would probably have nothing to say because they view Christianity as a mere religion. Christianity has become a routine; there is no genuine excitement or spiritual engagement. Christians need to rediscover what really matters; Christ Jesus! They need to develop a working intimacy with Him based on true knowledge of Him and knowing His love for us so we too can love Him. That love for Him will make Him our priority in life, not what we get from Him but who He is. If we build a relationship with Him based on our love for Him, even when things do not line up, we will still love Him, because we love Him for who He is!!!

Christ is all that matters. From Him comes life and everything else. We don’t know how to do anything; preach, teach, pray, or disciple without His help. When we disengage from Christ, we embrace emptiness – dead works. The moment you begin to think you can do anything without the help of Christ you begin to lose your place in God. Then we give the devil a platform to motivate our actions and words. That way he is able to set us up for failure and to influence us to make choices that will end in loses, defeat and even backsliding completely. We give him the opportunity to bring spiritual blindness because of our pride and trying to live apart from the Lord. Remember that without Christ we are hopeless in this world.

“In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope.” Ephesians 2:12 NLT.

Get rid of distraction by putting your focus on Jesus. The more of Him you know and allow, the more transformed your life will be and you begin to manifest the supernatural life of God-the new life Jesus gave you. As a Christian you should see and know things by your spirit. By our spirit, we can know what is not revealed to our natural senses. So, we can know we are healed even when the symptoms are raging. We can know how things will end from the perception of our inner man who always has an eternal perception. You know when you have received from the Lord even when you do not see it. It all happens as we grow spiritually through knowing Jesus Christ. He is the bread of Life.

“Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord.” James 5:14-15 NLT.

When we take our eyes off the light of God, we see nothing. The word is His light. Mary discovered what was important; sitting at the feet of Jesus to listen to Him. His word is life. It will give you everything you desire in life. Keep your gaze on Him because that is all that matters.

Pastor Chinedu Emmanuel is the Senior Pastor at Fountain of the Living Word Church, New Jersey.