Guarding our beliefs

[The Glory Unveiled]

For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. ( 1 Corinthians 2:2 )

Usually, we are influenced by our environment; the people and things around us. We learn what we are surrounded by and continuously imbibe. The statement in the verse above was made by apostle Paul, after his conversion. He was who he was before his encounter with Christ on the way to Damascus because of the influence he had before that time. He was schooled to think against the Cross. He was always in the company of people who hated the people of Christ (Acts 7:57-59; Acts 8:1 & Acts 9:7). The apostle had a rich experience from his past about the power of association and influence. And so in his new found world, he has resolved to know nothing outside the boarders of Christ because in his old world, that resolve made him very powerful for the wrong course. In that regard, he has purposed to know nothing but Jesus Christ. As Believers still living in this secular world, we need to make the kind of resolution the apostle made and stick to it. There are certain things we must resolve never to permit into the confines of our heart and mind. We need a rigid system against all forms of ungodliness. The things we permit to influence us are the things that make us. As such we must be intentional about our environment and the people we surround ourselves with. Let us resolve to open ourselves up to the influence of the Holy Spirit above all else.


Prayer_Bead: My Father and my God, the Influence of the Cosmos and the Order of nature, thank you for the grace to know you alone in a crooked and perverse world.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

True love for God

[The Glory Unveiled]

If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. ( 1 John 4:20 )

Love in our day and time seem to have lost it’s true meaning and purpose. We profess and confess the love of God often than we can actually keep count. From the scripture, we see that saying we love God is not as important as loving our neighbours. This is because our love for God is measured against our love for our neighbours, the people we see all around us. We are created in the image and likeness of God, so to say that we love God but not the people who look like God is a contradiction. “I love God” has now become a religious cliché. One that has taken over our everyday religious discourses. But if we profess the love of God so frivolously but then meet the image of God [our neighbours] and we can’t extend love to them, then the things we say about our love for God are just like sounding cymbals–empty noise. Love is to be practiced. It is a practical venture. We do not love because we say we love. Instead we love because we do love. Love is what we do for others that we would want them to do for us mostly because we cannot do it ourselves or sometimes just to give them that assurance of care and affection. Let us not love in words but in deed (1John 3:18).

Prayer_Bead: Father of all creation, the expression and revelation of love, thank you for the understanding from your word, help me to love my neighbours.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

You have power

[The Glory Unveiled]

Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” ( Acts 3:6 )

It is said in the business world that a delegated power or authority cannot be further delegated [the Latin says, “delegatus non potest delegare]. This means that power given cannot be transferred to or shared with another. So even though Peter was with John, he didn’t say “what we have…” In the right application of delegation, a delegate does not show in the discharge of their duties that power was delegated to them. When power or authority is degated to another, that other person acts as if the power was directly from them. In the verse 12 of the same chapter as our focal verse, the apostle Peter reveals that what he said he had in our focal verse which is not silver or gold, was delegated power. The Lord Jesus had given His disciples power to thwart the works of Satan. It is that power delegated to them that the apostle spoke of that he had. And because he understood how delegation works, he exercised the power so excellently that the desired outcome was actualized as if it was Christ Jesus himself. In our walk with Christ, we have the same delegated power. We are to manifest the glory of the Kingdom of God through the demonstration of power. The world is in dire need of the power of God. We must show kindness to the world by letting them see God’s glory manifest. Exercise your power in the name of Jesus.

Prayer_Bead: Everlasting Father, King of Glory, thank you for your power given to me. On the strength of that power, I manifest your glory to the world in my daily life.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

Walk by revelation

[Unveiling His Glory]

When Pharaoh’s horses, chariots and horsemen went into the sea, the LORD brought the waters of the sea back over them, but the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground. ( Exodus 15:19 )

The Egyptian army had been chasing the Israelites down to the bank of the red sea. Before the red sea, the Egyptians seem advantaged as they were pursuing a nation made predominantly of weak men with slaves mentality. Suddenly the two groups, the Egyptians and the Israelites came to the bank of the red sea. At this point they were facing the same crisis. And even though they came before the same crisis, the Israelites were still more scared because of their servitude mentality. There are times, when even the seemingly mighty faces the same crisis as the weak [Covid-19 tells it well]. But then, it was right there at the mouth of the red sea that the Israelites would see their unknown advantage which was God. There is no general formula for getting out of a crisis. The way out of a crisis was always individualized. But the surest way out of a crisis is by revelation. So then the time came to walk by revelation (faith) rather than by sight. The Israelites walked right through the sea as if they were walking on dry ground. The Egyptians, thinking the way out of a crisis was a universal formula walked after the order of the Israelites but they were swallowed up by the sea. Here is our lesson, in a crisis, don’t imitate your neighbour, whether they are friends or enemies. Stick to revelation, inspiration and the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Prayer_Bead: God of all creation, whose oceans roar out His glory and whose rivers cry out His praise, thank you for giving me the secret to getting out of every crisis.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

Jesus speaks, Jesus does

[Unveiling His Glory]

28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” 29 “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. ( Matthew 14:28-29 )

Peter, the disciple, believed that the words of Jesus had the power to sustain itself. In other words, when Jesus spoke, the words would be carried out to the letter. There was always a performance of the things he spoke. So to the disciple, the surest way to know if it was Jesus who was walking on the water was for the person to ask him to come (verse 28). And if he was able to go to the person then it was Jesus. He trusted the word of Jesus. This very disciple had seen for himself, Jesus speaking to a fig tree and then it withered, he spoke to the waves of the sea and it was calm. So he had every reason to believe that the words of Jesus could sustain him on the water if it was Jesus. His bold attempt out of the boat reiterates his conviction and faith in the words of Jesus. Because if it was not Jesus, he was going to drown. But to trust that the words of Jesus could keep him afloat meant he truly trusted Jesus’ words. Unfortunately, most of us seem to have come to a point where the words of people are not taken so seriously. This is probably largely to the deceptions and falsehood that has coated our everyday words. But one thing still stands out, Jesus’ words will not fail, though the heavens and the earth may pass away (Mark 13:31). Hold unto His words to you. His words give meaning and life to our existence. His words carry the power to do what it says. He is not a man to lie.

Prayer_Bead: God of creation who by the words of His mouth framed the earth and by whose words gave live to everything in it, speak a word to me in Jesus name.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.