Christian Living

WHAT HINDERS ME?

by Chi Onwuchekwa
04/30/18
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“Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, ‘See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?’” Acts 8:36 (NKJV)

Welcome to this edition of the RETURN OF THE KING journal.

In the book of Acts chapter 8, beginning from the 26th verse is the account of how the Holy Spirit led Philip to an Ethiopian eunuch to help explain certain portions of scripture to him. Philip preached Jesus to him and when they got to some water, the eunuch asked if anything would hinder him from being baptized by water. To be appreciated, I believe, is the zeal, the tenacity, the determination, the single-mindedness and resolution of the eunuch to experience what he has just learnt was available to him in Christ. He didn’t waver, he didn’t delay, he didn’t prevaricate - he opened his heart to his new found life and was eager to embrace what was his in Christ Jesus.

Colossians 1:13 tells us that when we give our lives to Jesus, we are translated into the kingdom of God’s dear son.  Membership of a new kingdom should lead to a logical assumption that we must do things differently from the way we are used to. But we must be diligent to find out what is different, and more importantly to pursue what we now know to be our inheritance in Christ and God’s expectation of us as His children.

If we are to follow in the footsteps of the Ethiopian eunuch, we must acknowledge and ask ourselves what hinders us:

• From being baptized in the Holy Spirit (John 3:5)


• From being baptized by water (John 3:5)


• From spending quality time with the Lord daily (Luke 6:12)


• From being faithful and committed students of the Word of God (2 Timothy 2:15)


• From being crucified with Him and totally surrendering to the Lord (Galatians 2:20)


• From sharing our faith and being faithful witnesses for Jesus (Acts 1:8)


• From committing to a life of holiness unto the Lord (1 Peter 1:16)


• From living the truth we now know according to scriptures (Philippians 3:16)


• From doing the works of Jesus, and indeed greater works (John 14:12)


• From laying hands on the sick, casting out demons, living victoriously (Mark 16:16-18)


• From worshiping God in Spirit and in truth (John 4:24)


• From renouncing the love of the world and anything in it (1 John 2:15)


• From seeking the Kingdom first - over and above all else (Matthew 6:33)


• From releasing and investing our gifts and abilities to the Lord (Romans 12:6)


• From committing to loving the brethren sincerely without hypocrisy (Romans 12:9)

If we set our hearts to appropriate these and many more that is ours in Him, we will find that the Holy Spirit is available to help us receive the free gifts of God and to overcome hindrances, if any, on own way.

To give our lives to Christ and not eagerly move on to appropriate and experience the fullness of Him and of His Kingdom smirks of complacency and brings to mind the scripture in Amos 6:1:

              Woe to you who are complacent in Zion…” (NIV)

God, our Father hates complacency, especially in spiritual things. In Zephaniah 1:12, the LORD states:

“It will come about at that time

That I will search Jerusalem with lamps,

And I will punish the men

Who are stagnant in spirit, … (NASB)

We need to give attention to studying the scriptures, so that by God’s Spirit, ‘...we might know the things that are freely given to us by God.’ (1 Corinthians 2:12). And having discovered what these are, we must, by continuous acts of simple faith, take possession of that which belongs to us in Christ.

May the Lord renew in us zeal for Him and for His Kingdom; may He separate us from the things that have kept us lost or far from Him; may He give more strength to the strong and pour fresh grace on the weary; may He purify and consecrate us that nothing is left of us but Him who is the fullness of the Godhead; may He revive and baptise us with His Holy Ghost and fire and may He keep us fervent and fruitful in Him till the end.

Shalom!

Chi Onwuchekwa