Month: June 2020

[The Glory Unveiled ]

He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “O Sovereign LORD, you alone know.” ( Ezekiel 37:3 )

The Lord had taken Ezekiel, the prophet into a valley full of dry human bones. And there in the valley the Lord asked him whether the bones could receive life and live again? Ezekiel responded thus, only God knew. Now that statement right there set the tone for what would happen next. Sometimes in a crisis, we make negative confessions. We say things out of fear or anxiety and such words go to hinder the outcome we would have hoped for. A typical example was a  statement made by an Officer of the King in 2Kings 7:19. He said God could not do anything about the famine crisis in Israel even if the floodgates were opened. You know the rest of the story. He actually saw the miracle happen but he didn’t partake of it because of his confession. But here, in the valley, Ezekiel made the right assessment of the situation and realized that he couldn’t help the situation thus only God could.  Whatever situation we are confronted by, we must always live in the consciousness that God knows all things and He can change any and every circumstance. Ezekiel could have said that “Ah Lord, you know these bones cannot live again, why bother me?” And that statement would have denied him the opportunity to see for himself the power of God at work. He wouldn’t have learnt these lessons from that experience too. God can get the best out of the worst. Remember He calls light out of darkness and order out of disorder and chaos. He is God over all things, both living and dead situations. Our assignment is to put our absolute trust in Him.

Prayer_Bead: Father of creation, thank you for your Sovereignty and your love for humans. I pray that you’d help me to trust you even against the odds as Ezekiel did.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled ]

In the first year of his (Darius son of Xerxes) reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the LORD given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. ( Daniel 9:2 )

The word of God carries within it the knowledge that represents our freedom. Some Israelites had been exiled from their home country, and sent to Babylon. After a long time, some begun to find a new home in the foreign land. They had almost forgotten that they had come from another place. While others diligently waited for the deliverance of the Lord. And yet that deliverance seem to be forever away from them. After some years, Daniel decided to refer to the scriptures for solution. He found out that God had said something to them on the matter: their predicament was for a period of seventy years. But did you know that if they had spent a little over the seventy years it would have been their doing? [Some extra biblical materials suggest it was over seventy years]. Now what does that mean to us today? God is telling us today to discover for ourselves His promises and plans for us in the Scriptures and act accordingly. The solution or freedom we seek is only guaranteed in the confines of God’s Word. But we cannot know it unless we discover it and act by them. Like Daniel, let us go back to the scriptures to discover what God is saying about our current circumstances and current world events.

Prayer_Bead: Jehovah God, my Lord and King, teach me your statutes and your precepts. Order my steps in your word. Help me to discover your plans for me in your word.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled ]

“Ah, Sovereign LORD,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am only a child. [ Jeremiah 1:6  ]

Behind the scenes, fear is the real excuse for non performance and neglect of the call of God upon us. Underneath all the beautiful excuses people give for not wanting to carry out their calling is fear. The fear of what could be and what may not be. It is nothing other than what “ifs”, “I can’ts” “whys” etc. These questions and statements we give permission to stop us from acting are actually the voice of fear. When God called Jeremiah as a young boy, he too like many others before him was afraid and wanted to reject the call. But in verse 8 of our focal chapter, we see God talk about Jeremiah’s problem; fear. The Bible says we have not been given a spirit of fear [by God]. So anytime we become afraid, we must be quick to realize that the devil is at it again, trying to dissuade us from following the path of God for us. Fear has stopped many great dreams from seeing the light of day and many desires and aspirations failed because of this same plague. If we would let go of fear, we would see God’s glory. We would manifest dimensions of God’s glory the world is yet to see. But the first step is to let go of fear as it is not of God but the devil. Like light, when faith appears, fear (darkness) flees. The two cannot stay together. God tells Jeremiah that He (God) is with him so that he could have faith and not fear. The same is true in our case. God is with us. We can do whatever God says we should do.

Prayer_Bead: Father in Heaven, thank you for your word. Help me to trust in your word. Let fear be far from me as the east is from the west so that I may fulfill my calling.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. ( John 13:17 )

There is a common statement that says there is nothing free, even in Freetown. Usually, whatever we see to be free cost someone else something. So in that regard nothing can actually be free in the “free” sense of the word. In the body of Christ, the concept of free has excused many of us from our responsibilities, making the majority of believers lazy. There are those who still believe that manna would just fall from heaven into their laps—yes, miracles do happen. But a General of the faith once said that more miracles happen with a prepared mind. Jesus had just taught His disciples a very important lesson that needed emulation. But He (in our focal verse) tells His disciples that knowing about the lesson is not enough. Because mere knowledge wouldn’t permit the blessings to come upon a person. What allows the blessings is the doing of what we have been told to do. Almost every believer knows of the blessings of God recorded in scripture and often claim them by word of mouth. But it is only a few who dare to go beyond “I receive” to doing what is required to acquire it. In the Old Testament (Ezra 9:12) the LORD told his people that they would eat the good of the land if they do not do certain things. So even then, the blessing came with a responsibility. Responsibilities protect the blessings of the Lord against abuse. So that any one willing to take responsibilities for the blessings could partner in it. We would be blessed if we do what we know to do that God impresses on us to do. We participate in the blessing by partaking in the responsibility.

Prayer_Bead: Awesome God, Faithful Father, thank you for your words. I pray that you will guide me by Your Holy Spirit to do all that is required of me to partake in your blessings.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

Father, glorify your name!” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” ( John 12:28 )

In the shadow of the cross, few days to His crucifixion, Jesus had a short but intense conversation with God in the presence of other people. He had prayed the words of that first line in the verse of scripture we are considering for today’s devotional study. And then immediately, almost as in a dialogue, God [the father] responded to the Son in the hearing of the people present; even though most of the people could not decipher what was said or who said it (verse 29). In the verse 30, He said that the voice of the Father was for the benefit of the crowd. Now, that goes to mean that Jesus wanted us to learn a thing or two from that encounter. The account teaches us that God is a relational God. He loves to commune with us when we pray. God speaks, God responds to us when we pray to Him. Anytime we pray to God, there should be a response from the other end of the conversation. When we truly engage in prayer, God would respond to us. He hears, He knows, He loves. When we pray, we need to be assured that God hears us. Irrespective of our location, once the terms of the conversation is met, God hears us. And if we have this assurance that God hears us, we must approach our prayer closets with confidence from hence forth (1John5:14). This should give us settled and absolute knowledge (trust) that God would do what we ask. God would glorify Christ in us when we fellowship with Him in the sincerity of heart.

Prayer_Bead: Creator of all created things, both visible and invisible, Lover of my soul, thank you for communing with me when I pray. Teach me to recognize your voice when you speak.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.