Jesus’ heart

[The Glory Unveiled]

Jesus replied, “Friend, do what you came for.” Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him. ( Matthew 26:50 )

“Friend” as used in this scripture refers to Judas Iscarriot. Now, Judas had just betrayed Jesus when that statement was made and in the heat of the betrayal, Jesus calls him “friend”. The words we articulate at any point in time reveals the state and attitude of our heart. How could anyone call someone who had betrayed him/her to be killed, friend? The way Jesus called Judas opens our heart to the depth of Christ’s love and the unconditionally nature of it. And more than that, for Christ to be able to mirror out that love in spite of having a will separate from that of the Father—while He walked the earth—meant that Christ was Love itself. He wasn’t acting in love but lived love. We are admonished through the grace of His calling to live His example to a dark world. Our present world wallows in darkness and wickedness but with Christ in our hearts through fellowship with His Spirit, we can light our world with love; the God kind of love that the world knows not. Let the world see, hear and experience Christ through you.

Prayer_Bead: My Father in Heaven, express your life and love to the world through me. Let the world see Christ through my words and actions.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

Return God’s property

[The Glory Unveiled]

“Caesar’s,” they replied. Then he said to them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” ( Matthew 22:21 )

What would you do if you borrowed someone’s item and the person requested for it later? You’d naturally have to give it back to them—the obvious thing to do right? God gave us life, so we must give our lives back to Him. A life not dedicated to the worship and service of God is spiritual robbery (in the sense that such a life is not returned). Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what is His. Our spirit, soul and body belongs to God. It is only appropriate to give back to Him what is His. But how do we give back to God? Its by applying Matthew 22:37, which says “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ *Our love for God is the true expression of our stewardship and giving back of ourselves for His glory*. Love is the selfless giving of self for the service and benefit of another as if one’s needs do not exist. Loving God with all our will, emotions, intellect and memory brings pleasure and glory to God. Give to God what belongs to Him in all circumstances. Let’s not rob God of His property.

Prayer_Bead: Father in Heaven, the source and sustainer of all things, I surrender and yield my spirit, soul and body to you. I love you with my heart, intellect and emotions.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

What did God say?

[The Glory Unveiled]

But about the resurrection of the dead–have you not read what God said to you, ( Matthew 22:31 )

Could it be that God has something to say about that issue disturbing your peace of mind? But you haven’t read about it yet? Could you be waiting on God to tell you something he had already said to you so many years earlier in His word? The will of God for us is often hidden in plain site. It is the responsibility of the believer to search it out. There is definitely something about what you are enquiring from Google and friends that God has an absolute voice on in His word. Have you not yet read what God said to you? There is a definite word to you as an individual in God’s word as well as a corporate word. Search the scriptures for the message God left in there for you. A clue to finding what God has to say to you is: eagerly desire to know what He said. Read the scriptures with the intent to find something and not just to know what the scripture says. Be very intentional in your study of the word.

Prayer_Bead: Father of all glory, open my eyes to see and my heart to discern what your word to me is. Give me a fresh passion for bible study.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

God in the beginning

[The Glory Unveiled]

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ( Genesis 1 :1 )

All things, irrespective of their make up and nature, begun with God. No beginning has meaning without the essence of God. Apostle Paul said in Acts 17:28 that in Him [God], we live and move and have our being. To mean we begun and exist because of God. Most of the chaos around us is as a result of not laying our foundations with God, in the ‘beginning’ or wanting God to continue something we didn’t allow God to build. No man can lay any strong foundation except that which is laid by the Lord. So exempting Him in the beginning and beckoning Him midway to do a quick fix is just so not the way to go about things. If the foundations–root, beginning–be destroyed, what can you do? No beginning is complete except God is the beginning, the inventor Himself. Most marriages, businesses, institutions etc begun without God sometimes with the excuse that such things are technocratic and hence do not need the help of religion [God]. But then, God encompasses all knowledge and learnings. So that without Him, nothing is without chaos as in the beginning of time.

Prayer_Bead: Father, who in the beginning of time was, and now is, I yield my all to you. I pronounce you as the foundation of everything in my life.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

The voice of true faith

[The Glory Unveiled]

30 Two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was going by, they shouted, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!” 31 The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!” ( Matthew 20:30-31 )

Sometimes in order to be heard by the Lord, we must ignore the voice of the world and people around us. And we must be consistent with our confessions too. Keep saying it, don’t stop talking it, until there is a reaction from the other end of the divide–heaven. The two blind men were consistent in their confessions regardless of the crowd. So that the louder the crowd tried to stop them, the louder they also made their voice heard. Sometimes, in the battle for heaven’s recognition, we must ignore what the status quo of the day is. We must ignore the “inappropriateness” of our faith. Actually faith is illogical, it is disbelief and doubt that tries to analyse and make logic out of spiritual truth and realities. Today, enter your prayer closet with the full assurance of God’s response to you if you push through the doubt screaming at you. Ignore the flesh, press on with expectancy and you’d not be disappointed, even as the two blind men were not.

Prayer_Bead: King of glory, help me to push through the noise of doubt and disbelief all around me. Keep my gaze on you alone in every chaotic situation.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

Haven’t you read?

[The Glory Unveiled]

“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ ( Matthew 19 : 4 )

Accurate knowledge of the root—the beginning, the foundation—of a thing is essential for the sustenance and continuity of it. Knowledge cures ignorance and compensates for unnecessary embarrassment and troubles. Whatever it is that may be troubling us in any season of our lives has a solution somewhere in black and white [print]. It behoves us to read. There are certain questions, certain attitudes and ways of doing things that will never be displayed or portrayed by a person who has read. Ignorance is friends with unbelief, embarrassment, stagnation and destruction. What we are ignorant about or ignoring is often the same things that pay the bride price for our frustration. There is a knowledge you might be ignoring that holds the key to your next level. There is an ancient secret, hidden behind the charade of ink that is probably concealing the doorway into your announcement. Pick a book today. Read a book today. Get knowledge, don’t let the Wise One ask you one day, have you not read?

Prayer_Bead: Father in Heaven, thank you for making known your will in your word. Give me the fortitude and the tenacity to search the written word. Reveal to me anything that conceals my destiny.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

Don’t Sleep away your anointing

[The Glory Unveiled]

Then she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the LORD had left him. ( Judges 16:20)

Spiritual stability is not guaranteed because of anointing. What happens when the anointing is not immediately present? Samson was very anointed but he slept too much and he was also complement with the Lord’s ways. He didn’t balance the anointing with the discipline of body and soul. Sleep stole from the world the anointing and blessings of mighty men and women. Even today, a destiny is ebbing away somewhere because of sleep. Someone who is supposed to be awake this very moment to interceed for someone is sleeping. An apostle or prophet to the nations may be sleeping away his destiny somewhere now. Samson jeopardised the destiny and safety of Israel because of the indiscipline of his soul and body. Often, our destinies are tied corporately to the destinies of others, so that our failure is in part the failure of others. Ignorantly, like Samson we are deceived to think that the anointing could compensate for our bodily weaknesses. But unfortunately, the anointing has its place and discipline has its place too. Let us not sleep our destinies away.

Prayer_Bead: Father in Heaven, thank you for opening my eyes to the truth of your word. Keep me awake to your counsel and guidelines. Teach me to obey You at all cost.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

KEEP YOUR JESUS AWAKE

[The Glory Unveiled]

Jesus was in the stern [of the boat], sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” ( Mark 4:38 )

Is the Jesus in your boat asleep? There is no question of the presence or location of Jesus; He was in the boat. Suggestive of the fact that, Jesus can be in one’s life (boat) and yet the effect of his presence will not be felt if we don’t give Him room to act as the captain of our [ship] life. He was with the disciples, but that was not enough to activate His presence. Jesus only became real in the boat when He was engaged by the disciples. The woman with the issue of blood was not the only one in the vicinity where she touched the hem of Jesus and drew virtue from Him. But among those throbbing crowd, she was the only one who reached the power source–the virtue–within him. So that even though many people throbbed Christ, non actually truly touched Him beyond the physical touch. There is the need to consciously awaken, the knowledge of Christ in us through the study of God’s word. Awaken the Spirit of Christ; engage Him in a constant communion.

Prayer_Bead: Lord Jesus, my Love and Lord, teach me to constantly engage you in fellowship with me. Help me through your word to keep our communion alive through discipline and perseverance.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

SECLUDED UNTO GOD

[The Glory Unveiled]

1 But the LORD provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.2 From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the LORD his God. ( Jonah 2:1-2 )

Like Jonah, there are times God insulates us from the world and separates us unto Himself. God does this to catch our full attention in order to communicate a specific purpose to us. For instance, Moses’ burning bush experience was intended to catch his attention just as apostle Paul’s Damascus encounter gave God a firm grip on him. When Jonah was instructed to carry out an assignment, he thought he could choose to do whatever he wanted. There are times God gives us some free rides but unfortunately Jonah didn’t have any in that moment because all humans are actually like clay in the hands of the Potter (God) and He does with us what He please. Three days of staying in the belly of the great fish, Jonah was rewired in his understanding; Moses became a deliverer and a judge right on the mountain where he encountered God. Whenever men leave the presence of God if they were truly in the presence of God, they became susceptible to the call of God because the will and purpose of God is always clear in the presence of God. Let us walk yieldingly in the call of God for our lives.

Prayer_Bead: My Father in Heaven, give me a listening ear and an obedient heart. Teach me to walk in Your calling for me.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

Love: Priceless and Intentional

[The Glory Unveiled]

Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away. If one were to give all the wealth of his house for love, it would be utterly scorned. ( Song of Songs 8:7 )

Love is a living thing that is not easily killed, destroyed nor quenched. It is also priceless. So that the price you place on it is just a quota of how much it is truly worth and not necessarily the true value. Unfortunately, because love though powerful, is also mostly passive in expression, people tend to downplay its essence and substance. Largely, we take love for granted as a result of our ignorance of what love is, and what it may mean to others. Where there is true love, there is always a way. Impossibilities become very possible and barriers make way for unimaginable expressions. Many people see love as a soulish concoction running through the souls of humans. But if that were true there would be no hate in the world but unfortunately that is not the case. Like any other thing worthwhile, love must be very intentional. For instance, last night, many people might have been hurt, others helped, and some might have been heart-broken; largely unintentionally. But whatever it is, love must be very intentional to produce the desired results. Be intentional about love, don’t give up yet. Remember it is not easily killed, destroyed nor quenched.

Prayer_Bead: My Father and God, stir up the spirit of your kind of love in me. Help me to forgive those who wronged me and to be forgiven of those I wronged.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.