Category: Gospel

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Release your ‘suddenlies’


[The Glory Unveiled]

Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. ( Acts 16:26 )

The apostles Paul and Silas had been praying and singing hymns in the earlier verse of this chapter (Acts 16:25). They had been held prisoners for the sake of the gospel. And then this (the account in this verse) happened while they invited heaven into the prison through the portal of praise and prayer. The apostles Paul and Silas would have obviously desired to be released from prison but that desire wasn’t at the top of their priority list. All they wanted was the kingdom of God expressed even while in their chains and cuffs. But we know better; the kingdom of God always comes with other things as bonuses (Matthew 6:33). And in this case, their freedom. See, if we desire the other things most suddenly, we most first seek the kingdom and its righteousness most passionately. And then almost suddenly God will do the things we don’t even anticipate. The suddenlies of kingdom citizens are anchored upon a search for the kingdom. If we would want to experience genuine kingdom realities that the world cannot explain, we must first seek after the Kingdom and the one who sits on the throne in that Kingdom; our Father.

Prayer_Bead: God of Dunamis and suddenly miracles, thank you for showing me the way into sudden kingdom realities. Give me the heart of a seeker to seek after your Kingdom and the kingdom of my Lord Jesus Christ.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

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Heaven’s perspective


[The Glory Unveiled]

Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. ( Mark 12:43 )

Jesus was the physical representation of heaven on earth in His earthly days. He was on earth as the envoy of heaven. Whatever he said about a matter is what heaven says and whatever he approves is what heaven approves. It is interesting that the perspective of heaven and the assessment of earth are divergent. The story of the poor widow teaches us that we should look for the one thing that heaven will recognize and do it or give it. Many people came out to put money into the treasury but in the lens of heaven none were captured, except the old widow. This will draw our attention to enquiring of how heaven measures. What is the instrument of measurement? How does heaven recognize substance? Heaven measures from the state of the heart. And what comes from the heart is what we truly give. The others who gave into the treasury of the church gave because they had excess but the poor widow gave because that was all she had; that’s from her heart. Like the poor widow, let us learn to give from our hearts rather than out of our abundance. And let us do what heaven recognizes and not what men will applaud.

Prayer_Bead: Father in heaven, thank you for teaching me to give from my heart. Thank you for your grace that leads me into pleasant places.

#GNews: Unveiling hearts to Christ.

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Be careful what you wish for


[The Glory Unveiled]

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, ( Ephesians 3:20 )

The ability of God is infinitely indescribable with human language. An Infinite God cannot be defined by a finite man. Our definition of His possibilities will be constricted by our shortsightedness and inability to see beyond the “now” of our reference. God’s ability spans the length of all humanity’s human years put together. If we understand this truth, we will not limit ourselves by restricting God to only the things we know and think He can do. God is able to do not only (but far more—exceeding abundantly) the things we ask Him in prayer as well as the things we think or imagine. If this were not possible, the speech impaired and the sick who is unable to talk would have been unfortunate. But they are not. Everyone can pray to the Father through their thoughts and imagination. This explains why sometimes we experience certain phenomena which we may not anticipate nor have “prayed” (consciously) for. We experience some of these phenomena because we think about them or imagine them. Most of the things we experience are actually answers to the prayers of our thought and imagination. For this reason, we must guard carefully what we think about and imagine. Would you want to experience what you think about? If not, then think about the good you would want.

Prayer_Bead: Father Lord, precious Holy Spirit, thank you for presenting to the father, the thoughts of my heart and the imagination of my mind. Make them acceptable in thy sight.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

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the cloud of witnesses


[The Glory Unveiled]

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, ( Hebrews 12:1 )

What we do in the secret place is more important in our day than what we announce in the public to the hearing of everyone. God is seeking after sincere hearts. The cloud of witnesses spoken about in this verse of scripture are equipped with the ability to see both in the secret and in private; they see whatever is done in our realm. There is nothing hidden from them. No wonder they are called “cloud of witnesses”. They are actually witnesses to everything that happens around us. It is for this reason we have to be more careful what we do behind closed doors than what everyone sees. Unfortunately, today, we see and hear so many things going on in the church that shouldn’t even be mentioned among us. We hear of leaders and people who are supposed to be examples to others (including their followers) doing and subjecting themselves to things that are not worthy of them. These people sometimes do these things because they are convinced that no man is seeing them. But they forget that the Lord and the cloud of witnesses are witnessing everything going on in the world, even in the most secret of places. The author of this verse says we should throw off things that hinder us and the sins that entangle us. Let us throw them off so that we can run the race before us.

Prayer_Bead: Father in heaven, maker of the universe, thank you for the cloud of witnesses and for reminding me that I am always being watched irrespective of where I am.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

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Spirit compass

[The Glory Unveiled]

And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws ( Ezekiel 36:27 )

We cannot align to the pattern of heaven and the path of God except we are given His Spirit. But then we can only receive His Spirit after something has been done about our hearts. Jesus, speaking to his disciples said we do not pour a new wine into an old wine skin. Instead a new wine is poured into a new wine skin to preserve both the wine and the wine skin (Matthew 9:17). Likewise, the Holy Spirit of God (new wine) is only given to hearts that have been transformed (new wine skin). In the verse of scripture before this verse (Ezekiel 36:26), we see that God says He will give His people a new heart; He will take away their stony hearts. The stony hearts cannot accommodate the Spirit of God. And so before the Spirit of God is given, we must have had our hearts changed. In this verse of scripture we also discover why some people cannot follow the decrees of God no matter how hard they try. It is not in their strength to, it is in the enabling of the Holy Spirit given to people who have had new hearts.  It is the Holy Spirit that moves us to live like Christ. Without Him, we are totally opposite of Christ.

Prayer_Bead: Spirit Divine, Lover of my soul, thank you for working in me both to will and to do according to the purposes of God. Thank you for a new heart.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

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The sound of power


[The Glory Unveiled]

For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. ( Luke 1:44 )

The verse above speaks about Mary’s greetings to Elizabeth while they were both pregnant. That fateful day when Mary visited Elizabeth in her home, she was probably not the only person nor the first person to greet her relative. Many people might have greeted her that early morning, including other pregnant women. But it is not recorded that the baby in Elizabeth’s womb leaped for joy at the sound of any other person’s greetings except Mary’s. We would have to carefully examine what it is about Mary that caused this. Mary was promised she would be overshadowed with the Holy Spirit. And that she was carrying a son who will be called the son of God (Luke 1:35). So we can agree that, it is who Mary carried on her inside that determined what happened around her. She carried the power of God wrapped in man and so she could affect what other people carried. The impact we make in life are dependent on what we carry. We cannot expect to impact lives if we do not carry the impacter. We cannot give what we do not have. Hence, let us travail to have what will influence the world around us; the power of God.

Prayer_Bead: Omnipotent Father, thank you for the power of the Holy Spirit. Thank you for what I carry on my inside and the impact I make in the world.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

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God will return


[ The Glory Unveiled]

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. ( Genesis 3:8 )

There are times when God seems to leave us for some time. But usually these short “absences” of God is a test of our integrity and commitment to God’s word. In the experience of Adam and Eve (in the old dispensation), when God excused them for a moment, their test begun. The devil, in the image of a serpent came to deceive them. That moment was the test of where their true allegiance (trust) was. And unfortunately when God returned, He discovered that, man (Adam and Eve) had been swayed to the side of the devil, through their choice to act in contradiction to God’s word. In the New Testament, Jesus came to show us the way of the Father, principles and culture of the kingdom and then He left for a while, to prepare a place for us. He said He will return again. But will He find us in the way He paved for us or we will be hiding? The Lord will definitely return. We need to remain in our assigned places and call, when the Father returns.

Prayer_Bead: Father in Heaven, thank you for my assigned place in you. Please help me to remain committed and a faithful steward. May I be at post on your return.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

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Spiritual convocation


[The Glory Unveiled]

All who claim me as their God will come, for I have made them for my glory, it was I who created them. ( Isaiah 43:7 )

This verse of scripture is a summon of the children of God; it is a spiritual convocation of the children of God. And the reason for this gathering is for the glory of God. All the creations of God are extensions and manifestations of His glory. But the apex of that expression is man. So anytime God wants His glory manifest, a man is called to the scene. The Bible says, Jesus is the express image of the Godhead. When God wanted to make a show of His invisible attributes and glory, Jesus came to the scene with the covering of man. He associated with sinful man, was tempted as man and suffered the weaknesses of man but was without sin. How could this be except it’s an expression of God’s glory, for the Scriptures says that God cannot be tempted by evil. In this call of the children of God (in the verse of scripture above), God is seeking to display His glory in the earth through as many as will honour His call. For He created us in His image and likeness so that we can mirror His glory. But apart from Him, we cannot reflect His glory. This is why we need to attend to this call. God is still calling out to let His glory be seen.

Prayer_Bead: Father of all glory, maker of all things, thank you for bidding me come to demonstrate your glory and wonderful attributes. Free me from anything that holds me back from you. In Jesus name.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

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Just one thing


[The Glory Unveiled]

Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, ( Philippians 3:13 )

This world seem to present us with so many things, but usually, in this life, impact is made from giving attention to some particular thing. We seem to make the most impact when we concentrate on definite goals. Specialization distinguishes individuals from the masses. The apostle Paul might have had so many things ahead of him but the driving force that could aid him to achieve those things is “one thing”. So he said, “this one thing I do…” what one thing do you have to do to change the trajectory of your life? What one thing have you ignored that could set you apart for the glory of God. There is a definite thing that is committed to everyone for the extension of the influence of God’s Kingdom. You have the one thing that separates you, find it and do it. Most of us have been stagnant; making no progress because of the fact that we have decided not to do the one thing we must do. A progressive life, has more ahead than behind. Let’s reach forward to the things ahead of us in Christ.

Prayer_Bead: Awesome God, Mighty God, I give you praise for teaching me the one thing you have given me grace to do effectively. Help me to fulfill your purpose and plans for me.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

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While men slept


[The Glory Unveiled]

But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. ( Matthew 13:25 )

The above verse of scripture is an excerpt from a parable of Jesus Christ concerning a man who sowed good seeds on his farm. But when the harvest time came, he saw what he didn’t sow sprout (appeared) as well. His servants, perplexed, asked their master whether it wasn’t good seeds he sowed. Our lesson? It is not enough to sow the good seeds. It is also important to watch over the good seeds until they sprout. Usually we sow so much that we forget or ignore to watch and water the little seeds in us. We go for impartation programs and anointing services but sometimes we don’t seem to get the desired results because we seem to sleep (relax) after sowing the good seeds. Sleeping offers the enemy opportunity to sow his evil seeds as well. The Psalmist said, I will watch and give heed to the Lord and sing praises to the Lord (Psalms 59:9). Watching is as important as waiting. Let us not only sow seeds and continue to sow while we sleep. But instead may we develop the attitude of watering and watching the seeds with good character and godly anticipation.

Prayer_Bead: Dear Lord Jesus, Omnipotent Father, thank you for the good seeds I have sown. Please help me to watch it until it sprouts to the praise of your name.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.