YOUR LABOUR SHALL NOT BE IN VAIN

By Gertrude Manu Decker

1 Corinthians 15:58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. This is an exhortation, and is threefoldL( 1) That they should be steadfast, fixed in the faith of the gospel.” Do not let your belief of these truths be

• Language: English
• Publisher: TOPLINK PUBLISHING, LLC
• Release date: Feb 7, 2018
• ISBN: 9781948556248

Gertrude Manu Decker

I am Gertrude Manu, a born again Christian married with three children. I am a minister of the gospel, over two decades the Lord has used me to preach and teach His word to many that are depressed, broken hearted, those that are in bondage, and to heal the sick by His grace. Over the years in ministry I have faced a lot of challenges, that sometimes compelled me to have some negative thoughts but the Lord has always proved Himself faithful by making me understand that He is God Alone and He is closer than what we think of . This has moved me to write to as many in His vineyard who might be facing challenges in their Christian race or ministry to be encouraged to know that our God is a rewarder of the faithful and He will surely reward us in due season.      This is my third book, my first book is entitled you can make it through the storms, my second book is also entitled when the glory comes, and here is my third book entitled your labour shall not be in vain . My books are not totally fiction many of the messages are out of experience and they have touched many lives. God has called me in this time to encourage the weak and those that are weary. I minister both in churches and conferences. I live in Italy with my family.

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Your Labour Shall not be in Vain

Gertrude Manu Decker

Copyright © 2018 by Gertrude Manu Decker.

Paperback: 978-1-948556-23-1

eBook: 978-1-948556-24-8

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

All quotations are from the spiritfilled life bible, the new international version, the king james version and the amplified bible unless otherwise stated.

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Contents

Dedication

Thanksgiving

Introduction

1 Keep on Doing the Right Thing

2 There is Always A Reward, Whether Good or Evil.

3 Where Does the Reward Come From, Man or God?

4 What is the Nature of our Reward?

5 Therefore Faint Not

6 Your Eyes of Understanding Shall Be Enlightened

7 Sow in Tears and You Will Reap in Joy

8 He Will Make You A Tree of Righteousness

9 What is Your Memorial Before God?

In Conclusion

Testimonies

Dedication

This book is dedicated to the Lord God Almighty, to Jesus Christ my redeemer and to the Lord Holy Ghost my senior partner and my ever present helper in time of need. To my dear husband who has always been by my side, and to all who are labouring in the vineyard of the great one, God omnipotent; the creator of heaven and earth, the everlasting loving, caring, graceful and merciful father to him be all the glory, honour and power and dominion forever and ever amen.

Thanksgiving

My thanks goes to the Trinity, and to all who stood by me all these years: and to my husband and to my kids and all my prayer partners, God richly bless you all. And in memory of my dear mum, Madam Theresa Mensah, may your soul rest in perfect peace.

Introduction

1 Corinthians 15:58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. This is an exhortation, and is threefold(1) That they should be steadfast, fixed in the faith of the gospel. Do not let your belief of these truths be shaken. They are most certain, and of the most importance. Christians should be steadfast believers of this great article of the resurrection of the dead. A disbelief of a future life will open a way to all manner of licentiousness. It will be easy and natural to infer hence that we may live like beasts, and eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. (2) He exhorts them to be immovable in their expectation of being raised incorruptible and immortal. Christians should not be moved away from this hope of the gospel (col. 1:23). This hope should be an anchor to their souls, firm and sure, Heb. 6:19, (3) He exhorts them to abound in the work of the Lord, and that always. What vigour and resolutions, what constancy and patience, should those hopes inspire! They have the best ground in the world to build upon. As surely as Christ is risen, they shall rise. The labour of Christians will not just be lost labour; they may lose for God, but they will lose nothing by Him. He will never be found unjust to forget their labour of love. Nay, he will do exceedingly abundantly above what they can now ask or think. Those who serve God have good wages; they cannot do too much nor suffer too much for so good a master. If they serve him now, they shall see Him hereafter; they shall rise again from the dead, be crowned with glory, honour, and immortality, and inherit eternal life.

THERE IS ALWAYS A REWARD FOR ANYTHING WE DO IN LIFE, BE IT GOOD OR BAD; David in spite of all what Saul tried to do to him, because he has set his heart to do the right thing, God stood by him and rewarded him justly by placing him on the throne of Israel with a wonderful promise that was predicting that there will not lack a seed of David to sit on the throne (Jeremiah 33:17-18) For thus saith the Lord; David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel: Neither shall the priests the Levites want a man before me to offer burnt offerings, and to kindle meat offerings, and to do sacrifice continually. This is to say that there will always remain a seed of David, they will not be consumed; neither through war or sickness:

The motive behind all what we do is very, very important in the eyes of the Lord, the bible say’s God weighs the heart of men. The bible also say’s in Corinthians that our works shall pass through the fire; in the book of Thessalonians, Paul said something that; some preached Christ in other to add more hurt to his injury and some out of good conscience.

The king David, wanted to build a house for the Lord, but God said you cannot because your hands are full of blood: but that did not stop him to contribute to the materials needed to construct the house of his God, he said I have prepare with all my might the things needed to build the house of the Lord. He also said one time that he will not give anything to God which does not cost him nothing. Which means he really had the heart the desire to build God’s temple, some will say with their mouth will build with you when they know very well that, that is not what they really intend to do as it happened in the midst of the people of Israel. The people of Israel one time were building the broken walls of Jerusalem, some men went and said we want to build with you your God is also our God but when they denied them assess they turned against them and made the work difficult for them to continue, it means they were not genuine but unlike David when God said no that did not prevent Him from contributing to the construction of the temple of God. So no matter how fervent your oppositions are it should not prevent you from doing what is right if indeed that is what is in your heart.

The bible says they that sow in tears shall reap in joy (Psalm 126: 5). The bible also say’s in Proverbs; he that waters shall be watered himself: and also he that gives to a prophet shall receive a prophet reward. There is a proverb; that says; as you are washing the dirty clothes of someone you are also cleaning the dirt in your nails. As you encourage others God will also put words of encouragement in the mouth of others to give unto you. Hezekiah had his life extended because of his deeds (Isaiah 38: 1,5 In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came unto him, and said unto him. Thus saith the Lord. Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live. Go, and say to Hezekiah thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years.). What can I say of Job, his deeds, how he endured in affliction; at the end God gave him a double of all what he has lost; the word of God says that for our shame we shall have double honour and that is exactly what happened to Job.

In Genesis 18 God visited Abraham in a form of a man and Abraham asked his wife to prepare a meal for them and after they have eaten they blessed Sarah and affirmed the promise; at the same time Abraham’s nephew lot was saved because God revealed His intention toward Sodom and Gomorrah and Abraham interceded on their behalf because of his nephew Lot. In Colossians 3:23-24 everything that we do we should do it heartily as if God is standing right in front of you; because you will certainly receive your reward, and you will also entertain Angels unaware. Your labour shall never be in vain!

Chapter 1

Keep on Doing the Right Thing

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. (Romans 12:1,2) Our lifestyle and body, we are stewards. In this passage the apostle Paul reminds Christians that we are but stewards over our physical bodies. Many Christians live a defeated life by yielding to the flesh which seemingly has a will of his own. Paul was keenly aware of this fact and dealt with it in passages such as Romans 8: 1-13. In recognition of the challenge the flesh poses to the Christian lifestyle, the apostle Paul instructed the believer to put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lust thereof. (Romans13:14) Paul’s insights into the Christian life in Romans 12 are that the Christian life-style is possible when (1) Christians present both Spirit and body to Christ: (2) Christians recognize that the Christian life is sacrificial and (3) Christians recognize that the Christian life-style is holy not worldly, but God- conscious and God centered. Nothing else is