Category: Inspiration

[The Glory Unveiled]

“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” ‭‭[ Joshua‬ ‭1‬:‭8‬ NKJV‬‬ ]

In every scenario of reality, our safety on the highway of evil addictions and temptations in general is tied to our obedience to the laws of God. A. W Tozer wrote, “the driver on the highway is safe not when he reads the signs, but when he obeys them. This explains why many road users, especially drivers get themselves in accidents. They read the signs alright, but many are not diligent enough to obey it. The same is the reason why many Bible reading believers are still caught up in horrible habits and temptations. Have you noticed that nobody had ever been tempted far away from the scriptures? Every temptation is around the word of God. It is as if temptations come to test our knowledge of the word of God and obedience to what we know. Eve was tempted, or rather quizzed about her current knowledge on the word of God and she failed. Jesus in the New Testament was also tempted around the word in Matthew 4:2–11. And it was His knowledge of the word which He practiced and became one with that saved Him. Our anchor verse of scripture above, gives us the passcode to success and prosperous freedom. It says to declare the word (read it) and meditate upon it daily. But then, it’s not enough to read and meditate. It says we should observe to do all that is written in the word of God. And then prosperity [freedom] will come. Prosperity lies behind the door that is labeled “practicing the word”. No good success comes to anyone who is not a practitioner of the word. Nobody can truly be freed from a negative habit or addiction except they become unfaltering practitioners of the word. Non practice of the word is also the reason for the many relapses in the progress of those who try to stop negative habits. Let us live in the word of God.

Prayer_Bead: Almighty God, thank you for your living word. As I meditate on it, I am transformed into the perfect image of Your Son and my Lord, Jesus.

Wisdom_Quote: Prosperity lies behind the door of practicing the word of God.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. [ John 14:27 KJV ]

Yesterday, we looked at how the hunger and thirst of so many people have led them into wayward behaviours and habits. But hunger or thirst is not a license to drink or eat just anything. No one eats poison because they are hungry neither do they drink concentrated acid for water. In today’s anchor verse, the Lord Jesus says He leaves His peace with us. But not the kind in the world, rather His kind, the one that takes away troubles and fear. In many people’s search for the peace they do not know, they bargain with the world for the “peace” it offers, drugs, pornography, theft, sexual abuses and promiscuities, and every other kinds of addictions and unhealthy habits there are. Their search for what could give them peace is not well defined as to direct their search. And so, many fetch for themselves all manner of evil habits and addictions that keep them farther in bondage and from peace than they ever had. A lack of knowledge of what they seek is the magnet that draws them deeper into the opposite island of their solutions. Are you looking for something that can offer peace but don’t know what exactly? The Lord Jesus shows you what it is—His peace. It’s the only all satisfying peace there is. This is not a religious cliche passed down through the church ages or a humbug of some secular ideals. It is the promise of a faithful Father to leave an inheritance of peace for all who have their being [believe] in Him. To many chronic addicts, their habits are just anxiety killers. People get hooked up on all sorts of habits because/(when) they are anxious. But the true killer of anxiety is peace. And not just any kind of peace but the peace that Jesus gives. If you’d receive that peace intentionally, anxiety and fear will be banished forever from your life with their attending evil habits. Every gift is to be received before the gift is activated. May you receive the gift of peace today and get an activation of freedom from the bully of evil habits.

Prayer_Bead: Prince of Peace, Thank you for the gift of peace given to me. I receive your peace into my heart and I live above fear and anxiety. In Jesus’ name.

Wisdom_Quote: The only missile that kills anxiety is the Jesus kind of peace.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

“Jesus said to them, “I am the Bread of Life. Come every day to me and you will never be hungry. Believe in me and you will never be thirsty.” [ John‬ ‭6‬:‭35‬ ‭TPT‬‬ ]

If you’ve ever eaten bread before, a lot of it, you’d agree that bread has the ability to quench hunger in a way that one begins to have no desire for any other food. When Jesus said, He is the bread of life, He was also saying that, He has the capacity to quench our hunger and thirst. There is a strong thirst for the desires of the flesh that launches people into negative habits and addictions. And keeps them going back to that habit again and again until they lose their willpower to it. That seemingly insatiable desire for the habit is fueled by the belief that, that is what they need to be okay. While in fact, it is just an indicator of an essential need but not actually that habit. This is why the desire—hunger and thirst—cannot be quenched by the negative habit. Their desire to want to indulge in the habit is just a signal that they need something higher than what they could immediately access. It’s a prompt that shows that they are in need of something encompassing and satisfying. This satisfaction however is not immediately a finite experience. But a progressive, ever increasing acquaintance with the solution. Hence, the scripture above says, “come everyday to me and you will never be hungry.” It has to be a continuous (daily) process of quenching that hunger and thirst with the truth of God’s word. To break free from an addiction, one must drink and feed daily on Jesus. A disconnection from Jesus is a reconnection to the addiction as the only thing that cuts an addiction is a continuous connection with Jesus. Addictions are active when we add more of the negative habits to our routines. And so, addictions break when we add positive habits, namely fellowship with Jesus to our routines. The positive habit eats out the root of the negative until the negative loses its hold over us. Let’s come everyday to the presence of God to quench every thirst for lust and sin, especially the sins that so easily pull us down (addictions.)

Prayer_Bead: Lord Jesus, you are my Lord and King. Help me to come to you everyday for the quenching of my thirsts.

Wisdom_Quote: Addictions are created from repeated additions of negative habits.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, [ John 11:6 NIV ]

It would seem that God is late sometimes, in attending to the most pressing needs of our lives. But let’s analyze the timing of God by using the story of Lazarus as a case study. Was Jesus late to attend to Lazarus? Jesus’ friend, Lazarus, was sick and Jesus was sent for. Now, Jesus who heard of Lazarus’ illness stayed two more days at where he was. Unimaginable, right?Considering that it is recorded that Jesus loved Lazarus (John 11:3). One would ask, is that how you treat someone you love when they are in need of your help? Lazarus needed Jesus when He was sick but Jesus stayed two more days until Lazarus died. And then after Lazarus had died, He now came around. Many times God seem to come around only when it seems too late as in the case of Lazarus. But then just like in the case of Lazarus, God comes in the fullness of His timing, when He will get the glory. And so, even though Lazarus had died and in that moment he couldn’t pray to God or send for Jesus [the solution] by himself, Jesus came anyway. And he who was dead came back to life to the glory of God. In the timing of man, it may seem late but in God’s reality, it is not. Our human timing does not change or stop the power of God nor hinder the expression of His sovereignty. God is not late even when people think or say He is. God is not constrained by our calendar. He does not exist within the boundaries of time as we are and so, time obeys Him. Whatever seems like it’s late is actually on time on God’s calendar. Our expectations can delay and the timing may seem to have elapsed but it is not late; God is not late. He is on time to the glory of His name.

Prayer_Bead: Dear Lord, thank you for always being on time concerning every issue of our lives. Let your name be glorified.

Wisdom_Quote: Delay in our expectations is not an expiration of God’s provision and power.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

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

Timing is important to work as the time we choose to work influences the output of our work. This was why Jesus said in John 9:4, that we should work while it was day for the night comes when no man can work. In our anchor verse, we learn that even though no man can “work” [be occupied upon] during the night, the enemy operates when men are not at work. And so, while everyone was asleep, the enemy came to work. There is always a time when everyone will sleep because it is supposed to be the time for sleep. But the time for sleep can also be for defining destinies. It is usually at night that destinies are altered and traded. The wheat in the field got corrupted with weeds because it was night. It is important that some men stay awake to watch over the work that was done during the day, when all men sleep at night. The watchers have a responsibility to preserve the wholeness of what was done during the day. Of what use is our toil during the day, if it is not protected from the enemy at night? From the beginning of creation, work was fashioned into humanity. God instructed Adam, the template of humanity, to work and keep the garden (Genesis 2:15). When gardens are left unattended to, they become forests. And so, God asked man to dress and keep the garden in order to maintain it. But he was not only to keep weeds out of it but also the enemy of their future; Satan. Unfortunately, while Adam “slept“ (was insensitive to his surrounding) the enemy came to invade his ecosystem. The enemy comes to work when the workers are asleep. But if the watcher is at post, the enemy will not come to sow weeds. Hence, let us keep watch in prayer against the evil seeds of the enemy. Lets guard the garden of our souls.

Prayer_Bead: Omniscient God, thank you for showing me when the enemy goes to work. Help me to keep watch over the garden entrusted to me. In Jesus’ name.

Wisdom_Quote: The output of work is influenced by its timing.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

“You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men;” [ ‭‭II Corinthians‬ ‭3‬:‭2‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ ]

The New Testament Bible is a collection of epistles (letters) written to different churches and individuals. In the time of these letters, there was also the culture of ministry validation through the writing of letters of recommendation. In the book of Acts, we see some examples where the apostles wrote notes to be sent to the churches and places where other unpopular ministers were supposed to minister. These notes (epistles) were read to make the people see the preacher as a valid conduit of God’s word. And so was the culture, but then, in writing to the Corinthian church, the apostle Paul now says that the people are their epistles, written in their hearts but known and read by all men. These people have become instruments of validation. It is clear and safe to assume that the Bible is Jesus in letters—every scripture is a piece of Jesus. And when you absorb so much of Jesus that you become His look-alike, lost in Him, then you become another Bible [epistle] to people. So that people can close their Bibles but still read Jesus in you. Our lives can be so mingled with Jesus’ life so much that people cannot tell the difference between the Jesus they read about in the epistles, recorded in the Bible and our own lives. The Lord Jesus knows us because He loves us deeply, but we do not know Him as He knows us because we do not love Him as deeply as we ought to. And because you cannot love someone deeply whom you do not know, we have a responsibility and a call to study the word of God even more. We must dedicate our lives to the study of the word of God and becoming so transformed by it that all men can know and read Jesus through us just like the high priests, the rulers and elders read [perceived] Jesus in the disciples (Acts 4:13).

Prayer_Bead: The Word of God who became flesh, thank you for giving me the privilege to be swallowed up into you, so that all men would see you in me.

Wisdom_Quote: Anyone who embodies scripture becomes an epistle because every scripture is a piece of Jesus.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.