What is righteousness? Am I righteous? How do I become righteous? Do I need to do something for God to be accepted by Him? Can I live my life the way I like since Jesus has paid for my sins? This is a topic that is often misunderstood leading to errors. Therefore, it is essential that we understand what righteousness entails; hopefully, the above questions will be answered after this reading. Righteousness simply means you are right with God. You can't be partially right with God nor can you be partially wrong with God. You are either right with Him or not. Righteousness is like a two-faced coin. One side is righteousness by justification which is the foundation of the Christian life. This righteousness comes from faith in Christ Jesus and His work on the cross. The other side is righteousness by sanctification. This deals with the way we ought to live having been justified by faith in Christ. Both sides are crucial as one without the other is a sign you are not a Christian. The righteousness by justification is once and for all. Only God can orchestrate such a work. No man can. Sanctification on the other hand is a result of having believed and still believing in this work. It continues as we come to know God better and better till we depart from this earth, it goes on. So what about righteousness? Well, God is holy and cannot behold iniquity. So your sins must be atoned for when you approach Him that's why animals were sacrificed. Righteousness is the basis on which God deals with any man.

Over the years, the issue of generational curses has been quite serious. People who face problems and difficulties trace it to someone who cursed them or some evil covenant of their ancestors. Therefore, they feel the need to break such curses even after believing in the Lord Jesus. This is a very crucial and sensitive issue which if not understood, Satan can take advantage of you with it. This topic divides Christians today as we have some who believe it exists and there is a need to pray even after giving your life to Christ on the other hand, we have those who believe it doesn’t exist because we are a new creation in Christ. Well at the end of this teaching you will know what side to be on.

Every young person is excited at the sound of marriage. Not just marriage but the prospect of a relationship. Parents talk about it. A lot of home training is preparation for marriage life, especially for the girl child. Most teenagers are involved in relationships and have feelings for each other. The truth is that God is the creator of marriage, and He is the one who put these feelings in us humans. We all know that but, for what purpose? Surely there has to be a purpose for this. I believe God is not happy with a lot of marriage seminars and single’s forum meetings because what is usually accentuated is love, romantic love. The purpose is hardly emphasized. A result of this is the twisted viewpoint we have and the overemphasis on marriage (taking it beyond the context God intended it to be in). This teaching is aimed at looking in-depth at the cause for marriage to obtain not a family perspective, cultural perspective, social media perspective or a Hollywood perspective but a Godly one, a God-centred perspective or else this beautiful union that God created might end up being our undoing.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will Romans 12:1-2.

Most of us are familiar with the words of the Lord Jesus in Matthew 5 where He was addressing the law. It may look like He was making corrections to the law but that is not so. The law is perfect and has nothing wrong with it. What Jesus was addressing was the people's understanding of the law. The people had misunderstood the Spirit of the law therefore they were not able to get the message God was communicating through Moses. I used to think Jesus was introducing new things, but I have found the things He said in Matthew 5 in the Psalms and other books of scriptures. Jesus was revealing the righteous standard of God which is contrary to ours. If we don’t understand His standards, we might think we are okay and not as bad as the people around us. One vital thing we must know if we want a fruitful Christian life is that righteousness is what God calls it, not what we call it. If you are reading the scriptures and you see how harshly God reacts to a thing, it means that thing is a great issue not that God has problems. We look to God and observe His ways to know what is right and what is wrong. It is risky to walk with God using societal morality. When we study the bible, it is to learn holiness and righteousness according to the mind of God.

All over the scriptures, there is one phrase that keeps occurring which is “All things are possible with God”. There are different phrases that send the same message e.g., “Is there anything too hard for the Lord?” These statements were made to Moses, Mary, Zachariah, Abraham etc. God knows He can do all things. He is not confused. It is for our sakes that He keeps telling us this. It’s like He is saying ‘I can do all things but how much are you willing to believe for?’ You need faith to believe, and the strength of your belief depends on the measure of your faith. Yes, faith can be quantified. A man who has high faith today can have low faith tomorrow and vice versa. Therefore, faith must be constantly built. We must constantly work on our faith. By what Jesus taught, all things are possible with faith (Mark 9:23).