Month: April 2021

[The Glory Unveiled]

Queen Vashti also gave a banquet for the women in the royal palace of King Xerxes. ( Esther 1:9 )

”A house divided against itself cannot stand” is very well exemplified in this verse of Scripture. The King Xerxes gave a banquet (verse 5) for all the people of the land of Susa. But interestingly, the Queen also gave a banquet for the women in the palace. The question is, are the women not part of “all the people in Susa”? This means Queen Vashti did not submit to the authority of the King. She had her own private agenda outside the plan of the king which was independent of the king’s authority. Her disloyalty to her husband and the king was verified when she finally disobeyed a direct request of the king which is a command for that matter. She became complacent as a result of her association with royalty through marriage. And so she disobeyed her husband again but this time in the capacity of King. What she didn’t realize was that, she could disobey her husband but not her King. Familiarity is a drug that drags you to the dungeon of rejection. God is our King and Father. He may ignore our negligence and childishness as Father, but as King, He will judge our every action. This is why it is a dangerous thing to undermine God or become familiar with Him. Just as Queen Vashti lost her Royal position (verse 19), any believer who undermines the authority of God lose some position or rank that they had been occupying. Let us hold steadfast to the word of God. And He will decorate our lives with the beauty of His glory.

Prayer_Bead: Father in Heaven, King of my heart, thank you for the grace to be in your presence today and everyday. Help me to continually obey your word and your voice. In Jesus name.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. ( Romans 6:13 )

The Lord Jesus did not only die for some part of us. We died by faith with Him and we were brought back to life through His resurrection. And because Jesus died for us, we owe our lives to Him; to live for Him. In our expression of that reality, that we owe every part of us to Him, we must offer ourselves as instruments of righteousness; conduits through which the righteousness of God will be seen and known. But then there is another agent who tries not to master the whole body of man but to specialize. What he does often, is to build his headquarters in a particular part of the body. And from that strategic place, he executes his evil plans and wickedness. This agent is the devil, father of lies. He extends his influence to territories through people, via the medium of sin. The devil may lure you to compromise on telling the truth, or being faithful or anything else. But what that actually means, is that, the part of us responsible for handling the responsibilities of that area is compromised and the devil has a headquarters there. A little yeast, leavens the whole dough (1Corinthians 5:6). That little compromise will become the stain that causes blemish in your garment. The surest way to deal with the devil’s agenda to have you offer any part of your body to him is to yield every part of you to God. And then God will work through you to announce His life and virtues.

Prayer_Bead: Gracious God, Merciful Father, thank you for the blessing of your Spirit in me, working through my choices and decisions as I yield myself to you wholly. I refuse to compromise the virtues of God.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” ( 1 Samuel 16:7 )

The prophet Samuel was supposed to go anoint a new king for Israel from the house of Jesse. He didn’t exactly know who it was in particular but he knew the address (location) of where the person may be. And so he came to the house of Jesse with a bottle of anointing oil. God knew who would be king but Samuel didn’t yet know. In that moment he thought it may be David’s elders brother, Eliab because he had the physical attributes and qualities. Unfortunately, he was rejected and God made a statement that necessitated today’s devotion. God said to Samuel, that He does not look at the things people look at; people look at the outward appearance. The lord looks at the heart. Our desires and appetite portray the things our heart cleaves to. What we continuously engage our mind in becomes the imprint of our hearts. God will not choose us for anything worthwhile unless the state of our heart is right. Eliab was rejected because his heart was not right. Whoever wants to do business with God, must work with His terms and conditions. We must intentionally disregard every attempt of the world and it’s system to buy into their “normal”. We are of a different citizenship and our culture is different. Glory!

Prayer_Bead: Omniscient Father, Mighty God, thank you for working on my heart to love and live for your good purposes. My confessions and actions are consistent with your desires for me. I am chosen for the display of your glory.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

“Arise, shine; for your light has come,
And the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. ( Isaiah 60:1 )

In theatre arts, usually, a stage is set before the drama is enacted. The stage becomes the background upon which the drama is displayed. In artistic drawings, the same principle of art is employed. The word of God asks us to “arise, shine.” But before we are asked to arise, shine, we are told that the reason for this command is that our light has come. The coming of our light is the backdrop for our shining and arising. We cannot shine or arise until the light comes. People are supposed to see our shining and glorify God. But before this could happen, we need to first wait for the coming light. Thanks be to God, our light has already come; Christ Jesus. Scripture says we have been called from darkness into light [and this light is Christ] see 1 Peter 2:9. Our anchor verse says this light that has come causes the rising of the glory of God because it unveils it. Light reveals what is hidden by darkness but darkness cannot hide what light holds. This is why we can shine, and the reality is that we are not actually shining but just just showing what was hidden by darkness. This is why it says, “arise”. Once we arise in the midst of light, we are shining. So let us arise, shine for our Lord is with us.

Prayer_Bead: Light of the world, Father of glory, thank you for coming into my life so that I can let the world see your glory. I arise with the gift of God to the benefit of the church. I am committed to serving in the body of Christ.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ( Romans 5:8 )

It is very difficult to help someone who has offended you and is still in the act of hurting you. It is just naturally difficult to sincerely love someone like that. Everything in you keep screaming “common sense” to you. But God is not a man. He didn’t wait for us to change into righteous people before He demonstrated His love to us. This He did as an example of His kind of love and nature. So that while we were still sinners; buried in the miry clay of sin and all its grievous acts, God through Christ took our place to die for us [the consequences of our actions through Adam]. This is a preamble for us also to exemplify in our daily living. Since we have the life of God, we have love in us and the only way that love can be seen is when we express it to others through our actions. God loved us and did something consistent with that love, so that there is no doubt in us about His love. We must show the world this love through our actions. Let brotherly love continue because we have the love of God in us.

Prayer_Bead: Merciful and everlasting God, thank you for your supernatural unconditional love. I am a product of your love. I radiate the residues of your gracious love.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.