Category: Gospel

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Unique gifting and calling


[The Glory Unveiled]

When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. (Jonah 3:6)

The opening verse of this chapter says, and the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time. Why would God insist that Jonah should be the man to go and preach to the people of Nineveh? So that even when Jonah tried to run away from his assignment, God’s word came to him a second time. Of all the men of God in his time, why will God insist on him? It is because God had graced Jonah with an anointing that was unique to him. We read in our focal text that when the warning of Jonah reached the people of Nineveh and the King, they all repented, from the least person to the king sitting on the throne. And so one will begin to ask, what kind of message did Jonah preach that was able to convince an entire city. What exactly did Jonah preach? The fact is that, more than what he said is what God graced him with. Our individual callings will open doors for us and cause people to listen to us. Your gift is unique to you, and it can only yield the intended results if it is used by you and no one else. This is why we cannot make much impact with the gifts of other people but ours. Let’s find our niche and we will be heard.

Prayer_Bead: Everlasting Father, Giver and source of all things, thank you for what you created me with. Thank you for my unique abilities that can not be replicated anywhere. Help me to trust you and love my uniqueness.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

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The mandate of our existence


[The Glory Unveiled]

But he said, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.” ( Luke 4:43 )

The daily life of Jesus Christ vividly displayed His ultimate goal. His life was so purpose driven that whatever He said or did was in line with the ultimate goal. He did nothing outside the confines of His mission. Here in this scripture, we hear Jesus reiterate His assignment. But in this rendition, the Lord Jesus used “must” to emphasize the weight of this mandate. He used another phrase that makes the purpose of his activities so important and unbending. He said proclaiming the good news of the kingdom is the reason why He was sent. So it means that as long as he was on earth, he was doing everything that would lead to the realization of that purpose. What a life? Jesus could not have ever been distracted because He knew the reason why He was sent here. If we come to know and understand our purposes, we will not live distractive lives. We will not be tossed about by just anything we hear. Let the purpose of our existence be the drive of our lives.

Prayer_Bead: Most High God, Thank you for sending me here on earth for a specific assignment. I pray that the reason for my creation becomes the drive of my life.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

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The mystery of Christ and the church

[The Glory Unveiled]

For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” ( Ephesians 5:31 )

The above scripture explains why Christ had to come in the flesh—The man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife. So Christ Jesus left the father and came to His bribe, the church. He came in the flesh and to the earth because His bride has flesh and is on earth. And then Christ and the church had to be one flesh according to the design. But since Christ had to go and prepare a place for his bride, (and yet had to be one flesh with his bride) He sent the Holy Spirit to be with us and in us as a seal guaranteeing that we are His (see Ephesians 1:13-14). So we are one body with Christ; we are one with Him through this mystery of marriage. Nothing gets to us without the knowledge of Christ. This truth reassures us that we are not alone in any situation or crisis at any point in time. Christ is always with us because we are “one flesh with Him”. Glory!!

Prayer_Bead: My Lord and my master, thank you for taking me into yourself and making me one with you. Help me to remain submissive to you in this union.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

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Reflecting the Glory of the Kingdom


[The Glory Unveiled]

And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. ( 2 Corinthians 3:18 )

Science teaches that the moon has no light of its own. It reflects the light it receives from the sun. So that at night, when we see a bright shiny moon, we will not attribute its beautiful effulgence to it but rather to the sun. Without the sun’s rays, the moon is just a huge dark dusty object. In the same way, naturally, creation has no glory on its own. And the Believer has no independent glory. All that is seen (the creation) came out of God and it is only God that gives it meaning. Just as the sun can only mirror the sun when it is properly adjusted and aligned to the path of the sun’s rays, even so the Believer must align. The scripture above says we do that by contemplating—interacting with, having communion with—the Lord’s glory. And this is done with an unveiled face. The Holy Spirit does the unveiling for us. Praise God! For the scripture says when one turns to Christ, the veil is removed. The world is waiting for us. But the world will continue to wait until we come to that place of interacting with God’s glory by properly aligning with His Spirit.

Prayer_Bead: Father of all glory, Loving Lord, thank you for the opportunity to show the world your glory. Please remove anything that stands in the way of your illumination. In Jesus name.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

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Kingdom functionaries


[The Glory Unveiled]

He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” ( Luke 11:28. )

This dispensation calls for intentionality with God. God is seeking those who will be doers of His word rather than hearers only. This is why God said that He will put His spirit in them and write His laws on their hearts. God desires more than lip service. We are called into fellowship with Him so that we can know the ways of the spirit and live as such by the drawing of the spirit of God. It is to this end that Christ went to the cross for us. God, through Jesus, has paved the way for us to receive God into our hearts and then we can live as children of God. When we hear the word of God, faith is birthed in us. This faith becomes the central administrative region from where God deals with us. God loves all humans because we are his image but God will only entrust responsibilities and assignments to those who have had dealings with the Spirit of God on their inside. God knows the hearts of such people. And they lean on the Holy Spirit for whatever they do because after that dealing, they have no life of their own. God is looking to enlist anyone that is willing.

Prayer_Bead: Father, thank you for making a way for me to come to you in Christ Jesus. I pray for the grace to submit to you as you work in me to will and do your pleasure.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

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The Spirit of Religion


[The Glory Unveiled]

Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” ( Luke 18:39 )

The Spirit of religion and the philosophy of men has been around for a long time. The verse of scripture above is an excerpt from the account where a blindman had the opportunity to meet Jesus but the people around him tried to stop him. Interestingly the people who rebuked this man weren’t the onlookers. They were the very people who led his way. That is the religious spirit. This blindman was about to discover Christ for himself; he was about to have a personal relationship with Christ. He was discovering the path into the secret place, but the spirit of religion tried to stop him. Religion has always stopped true intimacy with God. It is that spirit that says that only the leader can know God for the followers so that the followers cannot have personal relationships with their Father. But the true seeker will not be held by the rebuke of religion. Instead, they will press on into that secret place of Kingdom realities. To the true seeker of Kingdom truth and experiences, the pull of religion is rather a push to them, to seek the Father even more earnestly. God is looking for true seekers of the realities of His kingdom.

Prayer_Bead: Sweet Jesus, Compassionate Lord, thank you for showing me the path into intimate fellowship with you. Thank you for setting me free from the religious spirit.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

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the Kingdom has come.


[The Glory unveiled]

But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. ( Luke 11:20 )

The Kingdom of God is that influence of God and His attributes that is extended to earth. In the beginning, the earth was void and without form, and then the influence of God came upon it through the word of God. Suddenly, there was order to the chaos. In the New Testament, we see Christ Jesus give order to a void and chaotic society; a people oppressed by demons and powers of darkness. He healed the sick and worked miracles. Jesus by His words drove out demons and restored order, reinforcing that ancient truth that the Kingdom of God is present in a place when the power of God is tangible in that place. In our day and age, there is so much disorder and darkness that needs the attention of the power of God. There is a high demand for the expression of the kingdom of God by the demonstration of the power of God. The kingdom of God is enclosed in our spirit and the world can only feel it or be influenced by it when we act by the SPIRIT of God. The kingdom of God is in the demonstration of power. And that power rests in us awaiting awakening. Let the world see the kingdom of God in and through us.

Prayer_Bead: Governor of our realm, Gracious Father, thank you for expressing your kingdom here. Use me as an instrument to announce your power.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

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A call to true worship


[The Glory Unveiled]

The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men. (Isaiah 29:13 )

For far too long, many of us have been living the Christian life as if it were a movie script we had to act out. So that there is no sincerity in our expression of the things we profess. We hear people say things they don’t mean but as if compelled, they say them. Most of these religious cliches are spoken in the most seemingly “spiritual” atmosphere, giving people some form of goofy feelings. Our mouth and lips should only express those things that our hearts are full of. If we truly honour God and are full of gratitude for Him, then our lips will be an extension of those things. But these days, we hear people, compelled by the praise of men to say things they have no conviction nor experience with. God says that these people worship Him with the rules taught by men and not from intimate dealings of the Spirit of God. Men can only teach what is earthly but those who will worship the Father in spirit and in Truth are those who will worship by the tutelage of the Holy Spirit. The wind of the season and the decade we have been ushered into demands that we have real intimate relationship with the Father. We need to truly come to that place with the Father where we can live for God sincerely from our hearts, devoid of the comments or praise of men. God is seeking for true seekers of spiritual realities in God.

Prayer_Bead: Lover of my soul, Spirit teacher, thank you for showing me the blueprints to intimacy with you. Guide me by the deep calling of your Spirit.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

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A resting place for God.


[The Glory Unveiled]

Arise, LORD, and come to your resting place,
you and the ark of your might. ( Psalms 132:8 )

The Old Testament captures a number of events which suggests that the Lord had no place among the people of that time. They built tents and resting places for themselves but they had no place to host God. The ark of God had to be carried about on the shoulders of men. But King David thought that it was inappropriate for God not to have a place among them. And so he sought to build God a resting place. Now, that house for God was a template of the kind of house that God would dwell in—us. God would later make His dwelling with us and in us. Jesus said, I am in the Father and you are in me ( see John 14:20). There is the need to make place for Christ in us, now more than ever. The world has come to a stage where it has become rather difficult to make a definite (exclusive) place for God in us. The Lord knows those who are His by reason of having a place in them. Our body, the Bible says is the temple of the Holy Spirit but He does not live in every temple. He lives in temples dedicated to Him. This calls for consciously making our bodies His temple and dwelling place through consecration.

Prayer_Bead: Omniscient Father, thank you for the opportunity to house your presence. Consecrate this house for your dwelling.

#GNews: Unveiling hearts to Christ.

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It’s all well intentioned


[The Glory Unveiled]

She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. ( Mark 5:26 )

The woman referred to as “she” in the verse was the woman with the issue of blood for twelve years. The scripture says that she had spent all the money she had in search of a cure but instead of getting better, she became worse. The intricate workings of God are hard to fathom. There are times when it seems like life and it’s circumstances have conspired against us. But often, such drawings are the wooing of God to being us into our kairos moments. If this woman with the issue of blood had been healed by any of the doctors she encountered, she probably wouldn’t have met Jesus; in other words she wouldn’t have encountered salvation. The doctors could have helped her flesh but not her soul. All the events of her life led to that memorable encounter with Jesus. As this year comes to an end, we must be very intentional about everything around us because God is intentional about us so much that everything that happens in these times are ushering us into the atmosphere of glory and miracles. All the event in our lives are set ups for divine encounters. Let’s trust God.

Prayer_Bead: Author and Finisher of our faith, guide of the universe, thank you for causing everything to work for my good. Help me to remain aligned to your eternal purposes for me.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.