Category: Inspiration

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The making of a champion

[The Glory Unveiled]

If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small. [ Proverbs 24:10 KJV ]

There is a day of adversity that visits everyone, one way or the other. Adversities are not always the signposts of curses or punishment from God. Adversities sometimes come just to test our ability and strength. The human world is a place full of different kinds of currencies, among which is strength. But just as all currencies can be spent, strength is exhaustive too. Currencies are spent when there is a need; they are meant to meet our needs. But if a need arises and a particular currency couldn’t meet it, then it means we don’t have enough of the currency needed to meet that need. Strength is developed when we remain faithful under pressure and spent or needed in times of adversity. But when we faint where we should be strong, it means we are bankrupt of strength. Adversity is an indicative need for strength, even when that adversity is not knocking at our own doors but that of others. There’s a saying that if you fail to help others in their time of need, you will grow too weak to help yourself. Helping people is not a burden, it’s an opportunity. It offers the privilege to grow strong from practicing with other people’s challenges. So that when our own challenges arise, we already know how to handle them. While strength is spent on adversities, it is replenished when we remain faithful under pressure. The daily challenges and confrontations we face refine and define us. You see, confrontations are not bad, they are the raw materials that make us who we ought to be. Everyday, the world throws challenges at us. But strength, forged from resilience and remaining faithful under pressure is the key that frees our souls from weary.

Prayer_Bead: Almighty Father, thank you for the strength to help others and to stand through adversity. May your name be glorified through my life. Amen.

Wisdom_Quote: Helping people is not a burden, it’s a privilege.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

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King slayers

[The Glory Unveiled]

“So keep yourself sexually pure from the promiscuous, wayward woman. Don’t waste the strength of your anointing on those who ruin kings— you’ll live to regret it!” [ Proverbs‬ ‭31‬:‭3‬ ‭TPT‬‬ ]

The world around us has in it, so many distractions and forces that aim for our souls. Most of them look innocent and unsuspecting, but they are death in disguise. Interestingly, paying attention to advice and listening to wisdom speak, is all that is needed to escape the world’s lofty traps. Unfortunately, it seems that we are in a generation that does not heed advice. And as regret becomes the clothing of those who refuse to heed advice, many are regretting their past actions everyday. Today’s text is an advice given by the mother of Solomon [referred to as Lemuel, a name believed to be a Pseudonym for king Solomon according to Jewish legend]. The same advice is suited for every young person today, and hence the reason for our study. The strength of the young person’s anointing is wasted by sexual promiscuities. Sexual immorality is a bed of grave that has swallowed many innocent young people who slept in her arms. The promiscuous woman is referred to as “those who ruin kings” because many a king were destroyed by the promiscuous woman—sexual immorality. Even in secular history, there are countless number of people whose destinies are altered or even destroyed, because of sexual promiscuity. Solomon’s mother advised him to stay away from sexual promiscuities, but in the end Solomon married many women including wayward promiscuous ones who eventually led him astray and wasted the strength of his anointing. We are royalty too—we are a royal priesthood—and if we don’t heed the same advice given to the then young would-be king, we may end up with regrets like he did. But if you are already regretting, may God extend His mercy and help to you.

Prayer_Bead: Holy God, thank you for the opportunity to hear your advice through your word. Please help me to stay away from sexual immorality in every form.

Wisdom_Quote: Regret becomes the clothing of the man who refused to heed advice.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

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The wise virgin

[The Glory Unveiled]

Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.” [ Mark 7:13 NIV ]

The book of proverbs speaks of the adulterous and the virtuous woman. Both are symbolic of two systems in the church. One is religious and alluring, tempting the young and anointed one to come to her bed of compromise and sin, just like the foolish virgins who wanted to lure the wise virgins to give out their oil (Matthew 25:8). The other is the holy bride, wise, virtuous and pure, keeping her first love (“wedding vows”) for Christ alone. One system brings shame and despair; the other brings favour, honour, and glory. The two systems go as far back as the time of Jesus. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law represented the system that nullified the word of God by their traditions. In Matthew 23:13, Jesus accused them of shutting the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s face, and that they neither go in themselves nor allow others to go in. The same system is still operating today, except that today, the system has a rather larger network of players, enforcing the agenda of the system—hindering people from entering the kingdom of heaven. There are so many in the church who are enemies of the church, fighting the bride of Christ tooth and nail. They try to undo the work of Christ with their self made traditions and those handed down to them. But for the virtuous bride, the solution is wisdom. In this season and time of the church, just as it was in the parable of the virgins, it will take wisdom for the true bride of Christ, the church to escape the evil plot of the world’s church—the foolish virgin. It is only the Spirit of wisdom that can protect us from the religious church and unite us to the other, the holy church. This is why we must submit to Wisdom. We must make wisdom our quest in this season. We must stay with wisdom and let discernment enter our hearts. And then, no matter the temptations and distractions of the religious church, we will not be swayed.

Prayer_Bead: Merciful Father, thank you for your grace and love. Thank you for the Spirit of Wisdom. And as we walk in the shadows of wisdom, deliver us from the religious church. Amen.

Wisdom_Quote: Wisdom is the way of escape for the holy church against the luring traps of the adulterous church.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

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God’s viewpoint

[The Glory Unveiled]

And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour. [ Judges 6:12 KJV ]

Perspective is a wonderful tool as it is important. The outcome of two people’s lives can be utterly different just because of their perspectives. Perspective however, is an art animated by the pencil of position. Where a person is positioned influences their perspective. God’s perspective is vast and encompasses the past, present and future of man’s existence and experience. As a result, God sees and calls us according to the end He had predestined for us and not by our present circumstances nor our past. In God’s vocabulary, He calls the things which are not as if they were because they are—from His perspective. Even before God had actually created man, He had created us. He had a perfect picture of what He would do which was not different from what He did. Whenever God says something, it becomes, because God’s word is reality. As at the time God called Gideon a mighty man of valour, according to our text, he was actually a mighty man of fear, from human perspective. He was literally hiding from the Medianites—the enemies of Israel at the time. But God was speaking from His reference point of reality. Gideon was not who God called him because he had some special qualities that set him apart, God called him a mighty man because God’s Spirit and presence was going to be with him. Apart from the presence of God, Gideon was a little man full of fear (see Judges 6:16). And so, Gideon was only as far from his true identity as the distance between him and the presence of God. His closeness to his identity was determined by his proximity with God’s presence. The same is true for us all. Our true destinies lie beyond the boundary of our acquaintance with what we perceive to be reality to what God calls us to do.

Prayer_Bead: Heavenly Father, thank you for calling me to come into the reality of the the person from your viewpoint. Help me in Jesus’ name.

Wisdom_Quote: The distance between our view and experience of reality and God’s view of our identity is the presence of God in our lives.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

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God’s purpose, God’s method.

[The Glory Unveiled]

The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.” [ Exodus 2:14 NIV ]

God placed within each one of us a knowing of what we have to do to feel fulfilled. Somehow, we seem to know what we are supposed to do or at least have a blurry idea of what it ought to be. While it is very clear to some people, to others, it is rather a slow process of discovery. But the method to arriving at that ideal destiny is not inherently known to us. For Moses, he was supposed to liberate the Israelites. He knew he had to set the people free from their captors but he didn’t know the right method nor had the right equipment. He had the passion and the skills but having passion and skills are not enough to arrive at the place of destiny. And so, he needed the Spirit that would guide him and direct his skills. Until then, he had invested in the wrong method. He thought he had to kill the Egyptians to liberate the Israelites—his method. But how many people could he have killed to succeed in liberating his people? We cannot have God’s results with our methods. We need God’s method in order to have His results. The reality is that, along our journey to destiny, we may become scared at the magnitude of what God is calling us into. The truth however is that, it is only bigger than us when we want to attempt it alone. But when we partner with God, we discover that it is possible. The question that the Israelite asked Moses gives us a clue to entering our calling and destiny. We need to be made into who we are called to be. “Who made you Judge and Ruler.” By any means, someone needs to make us and that someone is the One who destined us to the things we desire to do. Is there an urge, an inkling, a nudge to go in a certain direction with your life? Ask God for the vehicle, the means and method to carry out that task or desire. Use God’s method. Ask God and obey Him.

Prayer_Bead: Dear Lord, thank you for showing me to depend on you in my pursuit of purpose. Please show me your method to arrive at my destiny’s goal.

Wisdom_Quote: Man’s method does not produce God’s results.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

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Lifetime slavery

[The Glory Unveiled]

And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. [ Hebrews 2:15 KJV ]

The mind and belief system of a person is cultured by the things that dominate that mind. Overtime, they become so bound and content with the bondage that when a window of opportunity presents itself for their freedom, they will still choose the bondage. The Israelites were in bondage for so long a time that when the time for their freedom came, it was very hard for them to believe it or go into the land of freedom. A famous psychoanalytic theorist, carried out an experiment on conditioning. Lab rats were caged for a period of time, after some time, the cage was opened but these rats will not go out because they thought they were still caged. The long experience of being in a cage had conditioned them into thinking that they were never free even when they were. This same feeling happens to many believers who seem to trust their experiences more than they trust God’s word and plan. Reality and truth is actually what God says it is, not what we feel. The Bible says, “let the weak say I am strong” (Joel 3:10). This means your experience may be weakness, but the Bible says your reality is strength. And your faith must agree with the word of God to carve out that reality experientially. Fear is a slave master. Fear enslaves more people than all other factors put together. And because fear is not always visible, it can enter anywhere it is allowed, enslaving whoever hosts him. Fear has killed so many potentials and people, prematurely. Many people and dreams came to their untimely death because they welcomed fear. Today’s text speaks about the fear of death. And because fear always keeps people in bondage, such people become perpetual slaves. Jesus overcame sin and death and took the keys of hell and death (Revelation 1:8). Hence, our freedom from the bondage of fear is in Jesus. He who has Jesus, has the power over fear because they have the Spirit of love, sound mind and power. You’re not in bondage any longer. You’re as free as you choose to be.

Prayer_Bead: Mighty God, I worship you. Thank you for Your Spirit in me. I am free from the bondage of fear.

Wisdom_Quote: Fear subjects its hosts to a lifetime of bondage.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

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Another man

[The Glory Unveiled]

And the Spirit of the LORD will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man. [ 1 Samuel 10:6 KJV ]

There is a version of us that the world has not yet seen. Indeed eyes have not seen, ears have not heard nor hearts conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him (1 Corinthians 2:9). There is much more than we are experiencing and displaying of our lives. Gideon couldn’t believe that he could save his family, talk less of saving his nation (Judges 6:15). That other man; the mighty man of valour was hidden within him until he let it out. The Bible records other people who were “another men” but only entered that otherness after they had encountered the Lord. Jacob changed to Israel (another man), Abram to Abraham (another man), Elisha became another man when he took the mantle of Elijah, Moses became another man after the burning bush experience, Samson became another man whenever the spirit of God came upon him. These transformations into another man happened in the Old Testament by different means even though the Spirit of God was in the background for them all. In the New Testament, we become another man through intimacy with God; in prayer. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says we are changed into another man; the man Jesus as we behold His glory [face] like in a mirror. We behold until He is formed in us. Moses beheld God on the mountain until he radiated God when he came down. We are supposed to do same through our fellowship with God until we became another man. One who can do business in deep waters on behalf of the kingdom of God. The Spirit of God came upon Saul and he became another man, so that the people who saw and heard him marveled at him. The world will only marvel at the glory we are only after we become another man. Keep beholding His face.

Prayer_Bead: Loving Father, thank you for all your provisions for me. Help me to behold you until I’m formed as the other man that I am. So help me, in Jesus’ name.

Wisdom_Quote: There is another layer of God reality hidden within you.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

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Twice as much

[The Glory Unveiled]

And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before. [ Job 42:10 KJV ]

The story about Job’s test seems to have been about Job’s faithfulness to God. But the story took a different turn when his friends came into the picture. Job was on the chart for a [spiritual] test of his faithfulness and commitment to God. But when his friends came into the equation, the trajectory changed as if it had ricocheted from its initial path by some flat surface. In the end, Job’s deliverance depended on his friends. Sometimes, what gets us into a problem will not be the reason for our deliverance. Sometimes, the door that leads out of a problem looks nothing like the door by which we entered. And so, for Job, he needed to pray for his friends to have his deliverance. But in any case, everyone needs to take an initiative for any change to kick start. Job had to stop trying to convince his friends, he needed to quit trying to prove to them how good and innocent he was, to praying for them. That was probably not what he would have wanted but that was necessary to have the desired outcome. Your situation may be waiting for an input from you before it invites the desired change you envision. For your current situation or challenge, what must you do to change the narrative? What are you pushing back on? Maybe that is what is delaying your expected progress and change. And like Job, captivities can turn around indeed. God gave Job twice as much as he had before the trial because he prayed for his friends. And to pray for his friends, he had to first forgive them. Forgiveness opens closed doors and opens new ones. Your “twice as much” blessing is waiting for your initiation. Forgive who you must and pray for those you should.

Prayer_Bead: God of Abraham, the covenant keeping God, thank you. Please help me to do what I must to bring to pass what I’m expecting.

Wisdom_Quote: Captivities lose their voice and power in the face of forgiveness.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

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Qualification for the missionary

[The Glory Unveiled]

When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”
“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” [ John 21:15 NIV ]

The twentieth century revivalist, preacher and writer, Vance Havner is quoted to have said, “the primary qualification for a missionary is not love for souls, as we so often hear, but love for Christ.” This statement by the missionary who has gone to be with the Lord is a statement of fact extracted from Jesus’ words to Peter, who was sent out into the mission field with the other disciples. Jesus wanted to send Peter to the mission field to feed his lambs (people who were ignorant or had no experience with the word), He asks Peter whether he loved Him. One would wonder why that question and if at all that was even fair in that moment? It would be thought that Jesus should have asked Peter whether he loved the souls (lambs) he was being sent to. But instead, Jesus asks whether Peter loved Him. This shows us that the basic requirement for the mission field is not love for the souls (lambs) but rather love for the Saviour. If we don’t love Jesus enough to obey His instructions and commands, we cannot be zealous enough to go out to invite souls into the kingdom of God at all cost. The only thing that can adequately fuel our decision and commitment to go out to the mission field to witness to souls about the Lord is first of all our burning love for Him. Jesus said to Peter, “if you love me, feed my lambs.” The same words are spoken to us today. If we love the Lord, then it will be proven by our witnessing to souls. Our love for God should be expressed in our missionary activities. This is why our love for souls cannot be the true fuel for missions because we do not love any soul more than Jesus who died for them and us all. And so, our missionary endeavors must be powered from a deep love for the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, Jesus asks us the same question as He did Peter, “do you love me [Jesus] more than these?

Prayer_Bead: Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for showing me the primary qualification for working in your vineyard. Help me to love you more than every other thing.

Wisdom_Quote: The primary qualification for a missionary is an ardent love for Christ.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

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Keep it nearby

[The Glory Unveiled]

No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it. [ Deuteronomy 30:14 NIV ]

The New Testament copy of our anchor scripture is recorded in Romans 10:8. The scriptures speak about the proximity of the word of God and how we are without excuse as believers, for that matter. The word that shows us what we ought to do is the same word that judges us; the word of God in our hearts and mouth. And so, we have no excuses to give for our negligence. Just as a man who has fire extinguishers in his house but failed to use them to control a fire that broke out and later became uncontrollable has no one to blame nor excuses to make. But then, sometimes, even though people have fire extinguishers, their houses still get burnt to ashes because their extinguishers are far from the place of the fire. In the same way, people become casualties of temptation’s fire outbreaks because their spiritual fire extinguishers are far from them than they ought to be. The place of the fire refers to the sins that easily besets you. Hebrews 12:1, says “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.” Do not keep your fire extinguishers in a different room from where you predict your fire to break out. If your fires break out around sexual temptations, pornography, theft, alcohol, or whatever it is, you should get your extinguisher close by—throwing off the things that entice you in those areas. The word of God is in your heart, it is in your mind. Obey it, when the Holy Spirit prompts you with a word that forbids you from doing something; whatever it is that kindles the fires of your temptation. Just obey that word of God in that moment without any reservations or reconsiderations and then your house will not burn.

Prayer_Bead: Gracious Lord, Merciful Father, thank you for teaching me your word. Help me to always obey your word promptly. In Jesus’ name

Wisdom_Quote: Houses burn not because they do not have fire extinguishers but rather because they were not used.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.