Month: April 2020

[The Glory Unveiled]

But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. ( Matthew 12 :28 )

The Holy Spirit substantiates the influence and tangibility of the kingdom of God. Without the Holy Spirit, the kingdom of God cannot be experienced here in the earth sphere and now. So that when we see or perceive the Holy spirit at work, then the Kingdom of God is here. If we express any gift of the Holy Spirit, we are actually manifesting the Kingdom of God. The Holy Spirit gives expression to the intents of God. He works the desires of God in ways that can be felt, heard and or seen. He paints the pleasures of God on the canvas of time so that the glory of God can rise from every dust. But the Holy Spirit is not a free lunch. He is not a free ticket either nor a free ride to the land of our sensual indulgence. He is a principled Being of God-class gentleness and attributes. Without the presence and workings of the Holy Spirit, God cannot be known as He is. So that without the Holy Spirit no man knows anything about the Kingdom of God. No wonder the Israelites of old couldn’t appropriate divine realities. They kept stumbling on the man Jesus because they didn’t know the Holy Spirit who would unveil Christ to them. Thanks to God, our case is different. We have the Spirit of Truth in us and with us, manifesting the Kingdom of God in our everyday experiences.

Prayer_Bead: Thank you Holy Spirit for expressing and demonstrating Christ Jesus in my everyday experience. Teach me to let the world see your Kingdom.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

So he [the owner] said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’ ( Luke 13 :7 )

Today’s Scripture for meditation emphasizes the need for fruitfulness. The metaphoric fig tree in the verse above refers to us. God planted us when we accepted Christ as Lord and Saviour. He also graced us with His word which is able to help us grow to maturity. The word of God is supposed to give us nourishment. So that we become like trees planted by rivers of water, whose leaves do not wither (Psalms1:6). God does not entertain wastage. The Bible tells of the feeding of the 5,000. After they had been fed, Jesus asked that the disciples should collect the fragments [so that nothing would be wasted], see John 6:12. God would always ensure that we have all our needs for life and godliness met.  But after God has done all there is for our sustenance and stability, we need to produce the results that merit God’s input. After many opportunities of God’s grace and patience, God demand significant output from us. But sometimes, the grace of God makes it seem like God does not demand any accountability from us whereas in reality, He does. Let us not receive God’s grace in vain (2 Corinthians 6:1). As we endure the watering and prunning of God, our lives must produce corresponding evidence of that working of God’s Holy Spirit in us. The workings of God’s grace produce in us the ability to reproduce His nature and attributes. Let the grace of God speak.

Prayer_Bead: God who does not speak in vain, whose words do not return void unless they accomplish that for which they were sent. Lord, let your word produce results in me.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. ( Jude 1:20 )

Most automobiles these days have turbo boosters, planes use turbofan engines to boost their thrust. We humans, use drugs to boost our immune systems. When something boosts another thing, it does not create a new thing but helps that other thing to function at its maximum capacity. Spiritually, there is a mechanism in place for us to boost our spirit. We are then able to build up–boost–our most holy faith; function at the peak of our faith. But the fact that the possibility of building up our faith exists does not mean that it is automatic. Like the Vitamin C drug that we take for boosting our immune system, one may have the vitamin C but its medicinal components are only explored when we take them. Likewise, we need to do something concise in order to build up our most holy faith and that, we are told it is praying in the Holy Spirit. Now, praying in the Holy Spirit means praying by the Spirit of God. The Apostle Paul says when we pray in tongues, we edify ourselves (see 1 Corinthians14:4). So also we boost our spiritual faculties intentionally by the speakings in the Holy Spirit. We unravel mysteries when we mingle our spirit with the Spirit of God through the language of the Spirit in genuine fellowship. No man builds anything by mistake. Let us intentionally build up our faith. Begin to build even right now by praying in the containment of the Holy Spirit.

Prayer_Bead: Precious Holy Spirit, the expression of God’s divine attributes. The revealer of the thoughts and purposes of God. Baptize me afresh with your holy fire and awaken a fresh desire in me even as you quicken me by giving me utterances.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. ( Isaiah 43:19 )

There is no denying the fact that we are in very sensitive and critical times–and well, many people may argue that preachers had always said these things but the Christ is still “not in view”. All of creation including inanimate things are yelling out words of caution to an unconcerned world. But like the proverbial ostrich, we seem to have buried our heads in the sand of modernisation and humanism, carefully crafted by unassuming men to defraud and rob people of destiny. But we are admonished to  perceive the new move of God. Throughout scripture, challenging times always came with a sort of deliverer or an awakening of some sort in the souls of people. In these times, God is doing a new thing. He is honouring–using–the dried places and the wastelands. So that what is unimagined, the undeserving and despised people and places of the earth will be used to the praise of God’s name. God is giving the part of the body that used to be hidden and unrecognised, preeminence. God is indeed doing a new thing in our generation. He is raising up mighty warriors for His end time agenda. Don’t look down upon yourself, you’re a worthy candidate of His army. You are to manifest His [treasured] glory.

Prayer_Bead: God of Creation, who does not speak in vain. Heighten my spiritual receptacles to receive from the pinnacles of your throne. Teach me to discern what you are doing in this season. And please don’t do it without me.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

Then God opened her [Hagar’s] eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy [Ishmael] a drink. ( Genesis 21 :19 )

The verse of Scripture is an excerpt from the account of Hagar’s banishment from the family of Abraham. On her way, she and her baby Ishmael ran out of water. Now, at the very point where Hagar had despaired and gave up her search, that was the very area where her solution was. The well of water was very close to Hagar but she couldn’t see it. Sometimes, in our search for things–peace, protection, security, food–we quit [give up] before we are opportuned to see breakthroughs. Hagar, like most of us came to her cross roads, she felt she couldn’t go any further. Particularly in these times, we are faced with very challenging crisis on every side, issues beyond our ability and control are fast demanding our attention. And unfortunately we don’t have the solution to most of them. We frantically sometimes do all we could to alleviate our situations but to no avail. In the split of a moment, let us put ourselves in the position of Hagar, imbibing her fears, anxiety and worries. What would you do when you have done all you could do? What else will you say when you’ve said all you could say? What will you do when you find yourself all alone in a crisis, in the middle of no where [figuratively]? The solution is in our dependence on the Lord by trusting His faithfulness and integrity. Let us trust the Lord impartially.

Prayer_Bead: Lover-God, thank you for your love and your grace. I ask that in my crisis, help me to look up to you as the Christ. In my mess, come through for me with a message as my Messiah.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

So he [the owner] said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’ ( Luke 13:7)

Today’s Scripture for meditation emphasizes the need for fruitfulness. The metaphoric fig tree in the verse above refers to us. God planted us when we accepted Christ as Lord and Saviour. He also graced us with His word that is able to help us grow to maturity. The word of God is supposed to give us nourishment. So that we become like trees planted by rivers of water, whose leaves do not wither. God does not entertain wastage. The Bible tells of the feeding of the 5,000. After they had been fed, Jesus asked that the disciples should collect the fragments [so that nothing would be wasted]. God would always ensure that we have all our needs for life and godliness met.  But after God has done all there is for our sustenance and stability, we need to produce the results that merit God’s input. After many opportunities of God’s grace and patience, God demands a significant output, otherwise He is obliged to cut us off. But sometimes, the grace of God makes it seem like God does not demand any accountability from us whereas in reality, He does. God’s grace is not in vain. As we endure the watering and prunning of God, our lives must produce corresponding evidence of that working of God’s Holy Spirit in us.

Prayer_Bead: God who does not speak in vain, whose words do not return void unless they accomplish that for which they were sent. Lord, let your word produce results in me.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? ( Luke 24:5 )

Faith is the underlying substance of our everyday realities. The women spoken of in the verse were women who had been with Jesus. They had heard Jesus tell them that He would be betrayed, crucified, buried but raised on the third day. So if they had believed that Jesus would be raised on the third day as He said, they wouldn’t have gone to Jesus’ graveside with spices and perfume to anoint His body and to preserve it. They went with things needed by a dead man not a man who was alive. If they had believed that Jesus would rise on the third day, they would have sent something denoting of that. Often as Believers, we look for our solutions in the wrong places. We sometimes seem to look for life in places of death, hope in hopeless places, joy in places of pain and freedom in prisons; we look for things in places they cannot be found. And this is largely or mostly because of a lack of faith. With the Spirit of discernment, we are able to discern where we need to go to find what we need. There are hidden treasures positioned for our glory. But the glory is revealed when we discover these treasures. We need the understanding of the Spirit of Truth and the eyes illuminated by revelation to see what is ours and where to find it. Let us look right.

Prayer_Bead: Jehovah-Bara, thank you for the revelation from your word. Guide me into my inheritance and the hidden riches of dark places. Open Lord my eyes and mind

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

3 He [Zacchaeus] wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd.4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. ( Luke 19:3-4 )

Do you have your vision of the Christ clipped? Is the world and the voices of people eclipsing your understanding of divine truth. Has the full image of Christ been hidden from your sight because of your environment, physical challenge or something you cannot control? Sometimes life’s situations and the challenges that come with them seem to block our view of Christ. In the recent crisis we face, many Believers have their faith dumpened and their hope crushed. Sometimes we tend to succumb to the pressure from the world and the pains of dashed hope. Some of us just agree to flow with the status quo. We talk ourselves into believing that we are not good enough, we are not righteous enough or maybe we don’t have the advantages of other people to know Christ through His word, prayer and nature. But like the man Zacchaeus in today’s Scripture verse, we can do something about the fixed “problems” we have. We can use our challenges to our advantage to challenge us into exploring new territories and ideas. Zacchaeus was a short man who couldn’t have seen Jesus neither Jesus he, but he didn’t give up, he didn’t compromise with the situation, he did something that unbelievably put him at a position that all could see him including Jesus. Beloved, if you find yourself in a compromising position, reposition yourself.

Prayer_Bead: God without impossibilities, the lover of my soul and the reason for my existence, thank you for your grace. Order my steps into the full knowledge of your truth.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

[Urged on] by faith the people crossed the Red Sea as [though] on dry land, but when the Egyptians tried to do the same thing they were swallowed up [by the sea]. [ Hebrews 11:29]

Reading this account in the old Testament book of Exodus, the whole story seem like a fictional tale. And even when one tries to imagine it as a nonfiction, it still seem irreconcilable to reality. For instance, it seem that the crossing of the Red Sea by the Israelites was just automatic without any efforts from them. It seem that they just walked through on dry land. But then reading from this verse of Scripture, one will discover that if it were just so automatic, the Egyptian army should have walked through the red sea as well [ just like their Israeli target ] without any crisis or whatsoever. The only significant difference between any two persons or group of people is mostly their faith in God or otherwise. Faith discriminates. Faith always shows the disparity between the person with it and the person without it. In Hebrews 11:6, the Bible says without faith, it is impossible to please God. The Egyptians who pursued the Israelites and anyone without faith, carry out their enterprises by their strength. And as the Scripture further says that the arm of man will always fail us, when we move on to execute any plan like crossing a seemingly impossible huddle, we need faith else our frantic efforts will just be fruitless. A word of caution,  be careful what you try to imitate from other people especially when it has dire consequences without the requisite faith, knowledge or skills. Faith will always discriminate between what is genuinely sponsored by God and what is by our strength.

Prayer_Bead: Thank you Father for the Spirit of faith given to me from the hearing of the word of God. I pray that you teach me to walk in the practicality of my faith.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.