Looking around us today we see many people carrying out their various agendas in the name of serving and following the Lord. Many are sincere in what they are doing but getting results that are devoid of God. There is a whole lot of dynamics involved in walking with God. Some have an imposed conviction about who God is and what His demands are. These tend to do whatever they have to do without consideration for anything in the natural. Their personal convictions may not be based on the scriptures but some subjective understanding of a few verses in the bible. This is what I believe is the foundation for confusion in many lives. Subjective imposition over objective truth as contained in the bible. Let try to define our terms. The bible contains Truth in its objective sense. The personal experience or understanding we have is called our subjective perception/interpretation. When our subjective experience is based on objective truth, our lives stand a better chance to influence others correctly and bring honour to God. Many subjective experiences tend to create confusion when not subject to objective truth. Subjective dealings should substantiate objective truth, not lead us away from truth as it is contained in the bible. Do not allow subjective dealings cause you to deny objective truth. Case in point; I have no job and the bible says I should ‘bring the entire tithe into the storehouse’. Without a job I do not have the money to tithe so I decide to ignore the demand of objective truth. I reason, ‘God knows I do not have a job so I do not qualify for tithe to be expected of me.’ The right response should be to acknowledge my state (joblessness) but still base my relationship with God on the Word rather than limit God to my experience. I should rather go to God and say ‘Lord I need to give my tithe but without a job it is not feasible, can you please help me, show me what to do so I can come to the place where I can bring my tithe to the storehouse.’ That stance will open me up to God’s provision either to get money directly or get a job that pays me money. God’s response to this kind of prayer will be speedy because it shows that the person is committed to a life of obedience and is willing to act on the Word of God.

The three areas we will try to consider in this article are on salvation, prayers and being led of the Holy Spirit. Who is saved and what does it mean to be saved? Many we see have prayed the prayer of salvation without any real change in their lives. What does it mean to repent?

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE TRULY SAVED?
The debate about once ‘saved always saved’ and the possibility of loss of salvation in a person’s life both hang on different emphasis. When you consider the work done in Christ on our behalf, it is not possible to undo this because of our short coming. On the other hand when we see the righteous standards of God we wonder if it is not going to amount to double standards if God would welcome us into His Kingdom in our sinful state. My contribution is that the work done in Christ is for those who consciously accept the sacrifice of Christ and through a lifestyle of obedience maintain their walk with God. The work is mighty enough to practically change our nature so the out working of this change is what guarantees the growth into the fullness of God’s plans and purposes.

Does praying the prayer of salvation really change lives? The answer is yes and no. Yes if mixed with faith and action that is in alignment with the truth of our salvation and the sincerity of the faith involved. No, if the prayer was simply a mouthing of words without any conviction or heart felt commitment to life change. This is true for any type of prayer too. It is faith and the state of the heart that determines the efficacy of prayer.

So who then is saved? Let us examine the life a man in the bible who was saved and baptised and followed the anointed man of God that used to bless him. I am talking about Simon in the book of Acts chapter 8 from verses 9-24. Was he saved? Yes! Baptised? Yes! In fact was about to be filled with the Holy Spirit for Christian service. The apostolic grace in Peter picked the contents of his heart. His heart was in the gall of bitterness, in the bond of iniquity and full of wickedness. This was revealed as he attempted to use money to ‘tap into the anointing’. Such a wrong motive revealed major issues in his heart. He had no part in the matter of the Kingdom because his heart was not right. All the saved people whose hearts are not right do not have any part in the work of the Kingdom. I don’t think a pastor will see this reality because the anointing on the pastor is to care for the sheep not to necessarily pick what is in their heart. Hence many churches put people in places of leadership who do not have a right heart and such people will become doors to satanic activities in the future of that church or ministry.

LESSONS FROM A SOCERER
What lessons can we learn from Simon the sorcerer? First, that he was really saved and being saved at this level does not exclude the contents of his heart. Being saved does not remove the contents that were in the hearts before salvation. Time is needed to bring the soul to the place where it can commence the process of salvation in this dimension. Secondly, we can learn that whatever the foundation we had in our minds before salvation needs dealing with before the foundation of God’s Kingdom can be properly built into us. Many have foundations that end up destroying their Christian faith eventually because such foundations were founded on Satanic and demonic Simons foundation was in socerery and seeking to be in control was his style in the cult. He wanted to exchange the power with money so he can be in charge again. Every foundation seeks to come up from time to time to exert its influence in the lives of people. In the book ‘God’s Generals’, Roberts Liardon brings home the fact that many past lifestyles came up in the future of God’s generals to destroy them after they were mightily used of God. What are the various foundations we have today? Humanism, religion, immorality, and a lifestyle of gambling are all examples of foundations that need to be destroyed for the proper foundation in God to be planted. Some foundations are more subtle than others.

WATCH OUT FOR RELIGION
Religion (as used in this study) is a mindless game that tends to impose certain beliefs on people to externally regiment their lives without necessarily connecting their hearts in their exercises. It is without relationship with God but attempts to practise what looks like piety. Religion is a very terrible foundation that will destroy a true foundation in Christ if care is not taken. Demonic principalities are the chief ones involved in the strongholds responsible for the foundations of people so they can effectively thwart the efforts of the kingdom in any part of the world. Religion is the work of a principality. It combines the work of the flesh and all the factors of lusts and popularity and taking our significance from prideful things all beautifully camouflaged in religious clichés and terminologies. My observation about Christian religious spirits is that they have certain characteristics amongst others, namely they arrive at certain ‘convictions’ and become blinded by these convictions to the point that their minds are shut down to every other developmental factor that may be involved in the matter. If these convictions are in harmony with God’s ways of doing things they seem to be very forthright as Christians. Usually how they arrive at their convictions is questionable. The Word of God is supposed to be the basis for the Christian’s conviction not some out of this world deductions that tend to bring condemnation to others rather than an encouragement to grow. Religion does not encourage development of the minds of those involved in the understanding of the matters involved. So religion can be seen as conviction that negates mental development. It demands an unquestioning acceptance of certain belief without any attempt to derive any meaningful understanding. When Christ comes into our lives, His life in us energises our brain cells to give us a higher capacity to think properly. If Daniel and his friends can be ten times better than their peers in their days, the New Testament based on better promises surely has a better thing to offer us in that area.

A saved person is therefore one who is in constant touch with the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The Lord has an on going relationship with such a person through the Holy Spirit. The person can be corrected by God, instructed in new directions and encouraged when needed. It is the constancy of such relationship that guarantees salvation. So if this constancy is lost, salvation can be lost and the person may end up in hell. There are past, present and future dimensions to our salvation. We are saved, we are being saved and we shall be saved. He that endures to the end shall be saved. He that believes and calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. To believe in God is to put your trust in Him and accept His ways of doing things. It is like trusting your parachute not to fail you when you are on your way down from a plane in the air during a jump. We need to trust God and His unfailing Word for our lives. When the bible says Abraham believed God, it means he took his identity from God, laid the foundation of his life on, based his expectations on and committed and put his reliance on God. See Romans 4 verse 3 and read Romans 3:10 to the end. Faith involves the believing, speaking and acting on God’s Word. Acting in faith puts the power of God’s Word into action to bring about the fulfilment of his promises in all areas of life.

(Get the messages on CD or Tape titled ‘Eradicating Spiritual Confusion’. Check the websites www.fowm.org and www.kolaewuosho.com for further studies on destiny matters).

Rev. Kola Ewuosho