Category: Gospel

[ The Glory Unveiled]

He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish. ( John 21:6 ) 

”Technical know-how” is good but “spiritual know-what” is better. This truth is also expressed as “physical exercise profits a little but spiritual exercise profits all things” and again shadowed in 2 Corinthians 4:18 as what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal—the realm of the spirit supersedes the physical realm in all things. In our verse of scripture, the disciples had returned to their former life after Jesus had died. They went out to fish as they used to do before their call. On this faithful day, as usual, they had gone out to fish again and all night they toiled but caught nothing. The next morning at sea, they heard the voice of a man call out to them. This man was not a fisherman nor the son of one but then he gave these men—who had been fishing all their lives—advice on how to succeed, and they had a great catch. This man was the resurrected Christ Jesus. In another place, Peter’s first encounter with the man Jesus, he didn’t catch any fishes all night and when he met Jesus that morning things turned around after Jesus asked him to launched deeper and cast his net (Luke 5:4). There is something about spiritually knowing the times and seasons, what to do and when, that offers more advantages than just technical skills or knowledge. We must desire and learn the ways of the Spirit—by enrolling in the school of the Spirit—and then consistently exercising our spiritual senses in the matter. Life is more than just what we see and living by the dictates of the flesh is stressful. So, let us subscribe to the dictates of the Spirit.

Prayer_Bead: Father in Heaven, thank you for showing me the advantage of the spirit realm over the physical and teaching me to engage that realm over my life’s circumstances.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[ The Glory Unveiled]

Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.( John 20:11-12 )

Early on the first day of the week; the third day after Jesus’ death, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb of Jesus but it was empty. She went back to tell the disciples that the tomb was empty. Two of them came to see for themselves and it was actually empty and then they left the graveyard leaving behind Mary Magdalene. She stood outside the tomb crying. She wasn’t in haste to leave the tomb, she lingered on and as she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and then she saw what she nor the other disciples didn’t see the first time. There are certain revelations that would not come when we are in haste or impatient with the timing of God. We need to tarry long in the presence of God to see beyond the optical eyes. Now Mary Magdalene was the first to get there but the last to leave. She tarried long enough to meet the appointed time of God’s visitation. The secret place is a place where we must tarry if we want to see results. The two disciples who left too soon missed seeing the Lord. The opening verse says that Mary Magdalene had come to the tomb early morning, while it was still dark. This is also an attitude of someone who was intentional about seeing the Lord. She was probably restless in bed. She couldn’t wait for day to fully break. The eagerness and zeal with which we enter the secret place determines the reward we come out with.  

Prayer_Bead: Holy Father, Loving Lord, thank you for showing me the secrets of the secret place. Teach me to tarry in the secret place.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

“Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? ( Luke 15:8 )

Light is a mystery that is not easily understood. Even it’s scientific properties are inexhaustible. We see because of light and we are because of light. Jesus said His life is the light of all men (See John 1:4). In the verse of scripture above, an allusion is created of a woman who had lost a coin. Now, in Jesus’ narration of how the woman tried to find that coin, the woman’s focus was not directly on the coin but rather what could reveal the coin; light. So the scripture says she would light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully. The need for a light is paramount in the finding of the coin because without it, she cannot even sweep the house nor search for the coin. Light exposes and light reveals whatever is concealed in darkness. In another place, Saul had lost his father’s donkeys and for three days he had been searching for the donkeys to no avail. But then it dawned on him to get a “light” that would light his path to make his search easy and stress free. And so he and his colleague decided to go and see a Seer [prophet], who in their day and ours are like lights shining in pitch darkness. And then, the Bible says even before they could say anything to the prophet Samuel he told them all they needed to know about the lost donkeys and even about what they didn’t know. We see that whenever we need clarity and direction on any matter, we need the illumination from God’s word by His Spirit. What did you lose? Get into the word of God for light to find it because nothing is lost that cannot be found.

Prayer_Bead: Omnipotent Father, Omniscient King, thank you for the light of your word that exposes every hidden things, even my inheritance in You. Guide me through your word and light up my life’s path.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God._

[The Glory Unveiled]

But we all, with open [unveiled] face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. ( 2Corinthians 3:18 )

We can only give out what we have within us. And what we have within us is what we took in. There is a famous account in the book of Exodus of how Moses was with the lord for forty days and night. Upon his return, Moses’ face beamed with the glory of God. Because he had been with God, he came down from the mountain reproducing what he had seen. What we see is what we reproduce. There is also a record in Genesis 30:38-39, of how some pregnant animals produced young ones after the colours they were exposed to by Jacob during their pregnancy, emphasizing the fact that we reproduce what we are exposed to. This is why Jesus said that the eye is the lamp of the body (see Matthew 6:22). Our body can only go where our eyes have lighted for us to go. For this reason we must be very careful what we permit our eyes to see continuously. Because what we continuously allow into our eyes have a way of recoding our reality so that our lives begin to echoe what we see. It is a dangerous thing to sell or hire our eyes to the world and a foolish thing to expect a glorious remuneration for it. By the Spirit of God, we are changed into the similitude of Christ as we behold Him in his word.

Prayer_Bead: Father in the name of Jesus, thank you for removing the veil that blinded me from seeing your glory. Change me into the image of Christ even by the Holy Spirit.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” ( Matthew 14:28 )

There is this distinguishing characteristic of faith that sets it apart from presumption and wishful thinking. Faith always waits to hear the voice of God first before it acts. In the verse of scripture above, Peter the disciple of Jesus, had seen Jesus walking on the water towards them [in a boat]. He had faith but his faith could not have been noticed or fruitful unless he waited for the voice of God and acted accordingly. Faith is about taking a risk because God had spoken it. Usually what God would demand of us would be something almost impossible to the ordinary man. And so in an attempt to carry it out, one would need faith; the conviction and trust in God to want to risk one’s reputation and even life. Though faith demands that we wait upon the voice of God, it takes more than just hearing the voice of God to being convinced about what God says and acting according to it as if we had a title deed to what God said. In Ezekiel 37:4;7 God told the prophet Ezekiel to prophesy to dry bones, and he did. In Genesis 22:2-3;10 God told Abraham to sacrifice his only son Isaac to him and he followed the instructions through until God interrupted him at the very last moment. All these acts are true demonstrations of faith because they risked everything to do what God asked them to do. Has God said something in His word about you? Take a risk and act in obedience to it; that is faith.

Prayer_Bead: Father in Heaven who is not pleased without faith, teach my heart to trust in you and the strength to act out my convictions of your word.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

So Moses was educated in all the wisdom and culture of the Egyptians, and he was mighty (powerful) in his speech and deeds.
And when he was in his fortieth year, it came into his heart to visit his kinsmen the children of Israel [to help them and to care for them]. ( Acts 7:22-23 AMP)

God has a mechanism for drawing men unto Himself and for getting them to carry out spiritual tasks. Usually, God uses burdens; a feeling of discomfort and unrest in one’s soul until what is impressed upon their heart is carried out to the letter. In the verses of scripture above, we see the channel through which burdens are borne in the hearts of people. Moses was first educated in the wisdom and culture of the Egyptians, mighty in speech and deeds. So, before a burden rests in the bosom of our spirit, we need to have had knowledge or exposure of some sort in the thing that would burden us. Moses knew the ways of the Egyptians so that when God drops a burden in his heart, he could nurse it in the light of that awareness or knowledge. But the awareness or knowledge may not exactly be tangible to the one who would later carry the burden. And then the second part is that it came into his heart. After the acquaintance with the knowledge that God would burden us with, He then drops the burden in the form of a discomfort about what could be the norm of others; or a thing that others wouldn’t be so discomforted about. So that when God wants to burden us with a task, we would be given a strong desire in our hearts, one that cannot be ignored. And then we become the hand of God and the feet of God in the execution of His purposes and plans in the earth. Is God birthing a desire in your heart? Get your heart in order so that you can nurture it.

Prayer_Bead: Father I thank you for putting a burden in my heart and helping me to do what you would have me do to the praise of your name.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ( Philippians 3:13 )

Most electronic gadgets these days including all smartphones are ran by operating systems that need frequent updating. Compared to phones that need no software updates, smartphones with the need, have higher efficiency and more adaptive to current needs and trends. In the same vein, spiritually we need to update our OS (operating system). In the verse of scripture for our meditation, the apostle Paul impresses that truth in the statement, “forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead”. The truth of God’s word is in layers of revelation and exposure. One man’s level of revelation and exposure is different from another. So that two people will experience the same reality but their interpretations will be different base on their depth of revelation in the word of God. Just as whenever there is a newer version of a software, one needs to update—‘forget’ the former version, we all need to update our spiritual softwares too. We need to have the current revelation of God’s truth at all times. And the agency for the tangibility of this reality in the Believer is the Holy Spirit. He updates us by giving us the current revelation of truth which is always in sync with what God wants to do in the present season. But we have a responsibility to strain for the current “software” of the Spirit. And we strain forward in the secret place, when we have fellowship with the Spirit of truth. Does your revelation of truth need updating?.

Prayer_Bead: Father of all spirits, Lord of all lords, thank you for the constant update of the spirit by your word. Teach me to remain in the secret place until the current revelation is updated into my spirit.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ( Galatians 3:28  )

In our world today, almost everything is done on the premise of social stratification. Even T. V commercials are done from this same perspective to reach targeted consumers. We have divided humans and our way of life according to different philosophical ideologies and societal standards. The imaginary margins are drawn to separate one human from the other. But in Genesis 1:27, it was not so. God created mankind (all of humans) in his image and likeness. This means there was no disparity between humans from the beginning. We were (are) all like God. And whatever was in the beginning is the true pattern and the original intention for that thing. In the beginning, God did not put any wall of divide, be it social, political, economic, religious, tribal or racial, between those He created. In the New Testament reality verse of scripture above, the apostle Paul reiterates this truth. We are all one in Christ. The wall of divide that had separated us from God and divided us into factions had been broken when Christ Jesus went to the cross on our behalf. In Christ Jesus we have become one body even as the scripture says that we are the body of Christ—members together of one body (1Corinthians 12:27; Ephesians 3:6). Let this be our mindset so that nothing and no one would demean us or break our self esteem.

Prayer_Bead: Loving Father and King, thank you for breaking the wall of divide erected by the law and giving me access into You through Christ. My worth is not in my gender or bank account but in the finished works of Christ.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God._

[The Glory Unveiled] 

The LORD your God will drive out those nations before you, little by little. You will not be allowed to eliminate them all at once, or the wild animals will multiply around you. ( Deuteronomy 7:22 ) 

Sometimes what happens in our lives and around us which seem like God does not want us to be happy is actually meant to bring us the ultimate joy. It is like love “undiluted in a translucent bottle”. And as a result of the translucent nature of the covering, it is difficult to interpret the intentions of God accurately sometimes; so that we misinterpret the oracles of God as much as we misinterpret everyday life. After the Israelites had newly come into the land of their inheritance—which was at the time occupied by the other nations—-a vast land, they could not immediately fill it up. So God in His wisdom expressed his love for the people by not driving out all their enemies at once. Wow. God left some of their enemies in place to save the land from being taken over by bush and wild animals. The Israelites were not so many to fill up the land so that wild animals would not multiply and so God would have to use their enemies to drive away wild animals by allowing some of the enemies to lodge temporarily. Sometimes the presence of an “enemy” or an “oppressor” is to work the plans of God for us. So it may be that it is God that is preventing you from eliminating your “foes” at once. God is intentional about everything that concerns us. The seemingly challenging circumstances around us are making way for the expression of a greater weight of God’s glory. Hold on.

Prayer_Bead: Loving Father, thank you for your protection and display of love towards me. Even if I don’t immediately understand it, I know you love me and are committed to it.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

*GLORY NEWS BROADCAST*

[The Glory Unveiled]

Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” Before our eyes, make known among the nations that you avenge the outpoured blood of your servants. ( Psalms 79:10 )

The people who “claim”, not “believe” that there is no God are quick to ask the question that makes the theme of today’s GNews. These folks, whom the Bible actually addresses, “fools” (Psalms 14:1; 53:1) think that God does not exist because if He did, they should be able to control him. Ultimately, the reason why they wouldn’t accept the existence of God is the fact that this God does not lend Himself to be handled like a guinea pig or a lab rat. By the way, no one can control Him that’s why He is God in the first place. But the point is, God has given humanity too many evidence of His existence, even His silence. The things in the world attest to the fact that there’s got to be a God out there. These created things are the voices of His invisible attributes. In the scripture above, for God to prove Himself, the speaker says God should avenge the outpoured blood of His servants. But then one would ask, is that the only thing and even closest thing that proves the existence or Omnipotence of God? Surely not. Psalms 115:3 says God lives in heaven and He does whatever pleases Him. So God could do whatever He would do when He would and how He would do it. The only reason why God would do what a man asks Him is because of the degree of the relationship that person has with Him. God would listen to Moses on almost every occasion because of this reason; intimate relationship. So God would be proved true and all men lies by women and men who have a working relationship with God. Whenever people ask “where is your God” check your relationship with Him or find out why He is silent.

Prayer_Bead: Father in heaven, Omnipotent God, thank you for silencing the nations and the people. Announce to all hearts in the silence of their souls that you are God.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God._