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[The Glory Unveiled]

For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. [ 1 Corinthians 1:18 KJV ]

The gospel—the preaching of the cross—is the ignition point for unleashing the power of God. As in an automobile, the ignition allows the engine of the vehicle to be powered. Without the gospel, we cannot see, experience or access the power of God. The preaching of the cross makes the power of God available; it is an opening into the volcano of God’s power. It’s like going around a fortress that seem to have no entrance. But somewhere is imbedded an invisible entrance, seen only by certain people. The gospel is like this invisible entrance into the fortress of God’s power, seen only by those being saved. This means without the preaching of the cross, we cannot know the real power of God. This is also why the preaching of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing; a hidden door in plain sight. The apostle Paul said in Romans 1:16, that he is not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus because it is the power of God unto salvation. The preaching of the cross carries the power of God that brings salvation. Although, this seems like foolishness to those who have no faith, because it makes no sense, what matters is that it makes faith. In dealing with the realm of God, many things will not make sense, they only have to “make faith.” And the message of the cross will only begin to make sense, when we start the journey of faith into the finished work of Jesus. It is this faith that makes the gospel, the power of God to one group and foolishness to another. And, as the power of God that brings salvation, we must preach and teach it in love. So that those who used to see it as foolishness may begin to experience it as the power of God.

Prayer_Bead: Great Monarch of Zion, thank you for the simplicity of the gospel and the power concealed in it. Help me to preach it to my world. In Jesus’ name.

Wisdom_Quote: The preaching of the cross is the only escape route into the life of God.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. [ Matthew 5:13 NIV ]

God’s image bearers are the world’s natural agents of change and influence. Right from the beginning, God gave man the dominion mandate (Genesis 1:28). But our influence and impact is as a result of the qualities we possess that the world needs. And so, as long as we posses those qualities, the world will chase after us. We are also reminded from our text that it is possible to lose our saltiness [value]. This means we must consciously guard our saltiness. Our saltiness is the value people receive from us or perceive. If we lose the value they get from us, they won’t have any need to come to us again. And so, they will begin to trample on us. People only trample underfoot anything that has no value or adds no value to them. So, this can also be a way of checking our value rating by the way other people treat us. Do they look down on us or up to us, do they wish to be like us or disrespect us. While it is possible that some of these indicators may mean different things, they are mostly signs of a lost of value in the eyes of people. The text says that when salt loses its saltiness, it cannot be made salty again. If there is ever something we cannot regain when lost, we must carefully and intentionally protect it. The Bible says, wisdom is the principal thing, so we should get it. And in all our getting, we should get understanding as well (Proverbs 4:7). Wisdom and understanding always make people come to us. But foolishness [losing your saltiness] drives people away from us. As salt of the earth, we must preserve our saltiness. Our relevance and value to the world must not be tempered with by anything. So that the name of Jesus may be glorified through us.

Prayer_Bead: Mighty Father, thank you for making me the salt of the earth. I am relevant to my world. I diffuse the fragrance of the Lord Jesus wherever I go. Hallelujah.

Wisdom_Quote: People respect and honour values not just names.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. [ Matthew 11:28 KJV ]

The cares, pressures and demands of this world put so much strain on our souls. In our attempt to ease the burden and lessen the pains and frustration cooked by our daily toils, we end up worsening the situation. We end up adding more straw to the camel’s back. In our text for meditation today, we will discover that the solution, the rest we seek from this burdensome life is no where and with no one but Jesus. This is the truth that must be settled in our minds and hearts to save us from fruitless searching. Unless we come to terms with the reality that what we are looking for can only be found in Jesus, all our efforts and search will be futile. The solution we seek cannot be found in the places we usually seek them. Some of us are searching for rest in beer bottles, others from sexual immorality, drugs, gambling, addictions to pornography and wild living. But the conclusion of the matter is that, only Jesus is the place of rest. Every other advertisement is a scam, aimed at adding more weight to the burden we already carry. The reality of life is that, while we are in this body, we will labour, and along our labouring, we will be burdened with more than we can carry. Moses, in his earthly days was burdened too. He was weary and unsure of certain things that weighed on him. And so, he also came to the solution and this was what the Lord said to him, “My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.” (Exodus 33:14) This scripture emphasizes the truth that, rest cannot be found apart from God. The presence of God with us through the turmoil and the chaos is the assurance of rest we have. So, let us go to Jesus [through fellowship with His Spirit and His word] and receive rest for our weary and burdened souls. Let us approach with the assurance of faith that He gives because the solution is with Jesus.

Prayer_Bead: Dear Lord, thank you for giving rest to my soul from the burdens and weariness of this world. I surrender all to you.

Wisdom_Quote: Rest is a place in Jesus.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. [ Matthew 26:41 KJV ]

Watching [being alert] goes hand in hand with praying. Either is insufficient to deal with temptations that aim at our humanity. Whenever temptation or tests come our way, we should not depend only on either prayer alone or watching alone. Dwelling on just either of these for help in times of temptation will only end in surprising disappointment. There are very prayerful believers who fall every time into the arms of temptations, sometimes immediately after prayers. Did you realize that Jesus was tempted immediately after His 40 days of fasting and prayers. His prayers didn’t stop the temptation, but what gave Him victory was both prayers and his ability to watch (discern). Watching is a spiritual skill of looking through the eyes of Scripture to judge or interpret our world and experiences. Watching without praying means that we can recognize/identify the temptation but still fall in it as the capacity to escape it is unavailable. Yet praying without watching is just like being blindfolded but having a very sharp machete. No matter how skillfully you brandish it, you will mostly miss the target. This is why they go together and Jesus being aware of this instructed the disciples who were with Him to watch and pray. This recipe is particularly because of the weaknesses of our humanity. Jesus said that the spirits of the disciples were willing but their flesh were weak. Hence, watching and praying helps our spirit to superimpose the flesh. And with temptations all around us, sensitivity through the word of God and prayer is a necessity.

Prayer_Bead: Lord Jesus, thank you for showing me the way out of temptation. Help me to always watch and pray.

Wisdom_Quote: Praying and watching go hand in hand for the way of escape to manifest.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, [ John 5:39 NIV ]

There is a deception in our world that makes people think that because they have access to the Bible, they can get whatever they want out of it. And because of that, everyone seem to have their own opinions of what the Bible says based on what they may be looking for. The solution however, is not in the text but in whom the text speaks about. The scriptures are like a signpost that point to someone, Jesus. And so, if we want to have what the Scriptures promise but don’t want to see Jesus or meet Him, then we would be running a lost race. No matter the seriousness or diligence we involve in our search, it would yield no results. This is why people of other faith, can take the Bible and read it, analyze it, and yet, not see Jesus, who the scriptures point to. They read and argue out the scriptures but cannot see the only person in the text. Some of these people are convinced that they will find eternal life because they know a lot. But truth is, salvation is not in what you know but who you know; namely Christ Jesus. May we not be caught in the habit of always analyzing the scriptures but not following it’s directions thinking that eternal life comes from the texts themselves, when we should be pursuing a relationship with the person about whom the Scriptures testify—Jesus. If we can see the testimony of the scriptures and believe them, salvation will be guaranteed. The texts by themselves kill but the Spirit of the text, the testimony of it, gives life (2 Corinthians 3:6). So, instead of trying to impress our flesh by analyzing the texts to prove anything apart from the deity of Christ, we should rather humble ourselves to come to Jesus for life.

Prayer_Bead: Dear Jesus, thank you for the scriptures that point to you. Help me by your Spirit to see you alone every time I study the scriptures.

Wisdom_Quote: Scripture is the signpost that points us to Jesus.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business? [ Luke 2:49 KJV ]

Almost everyone is busy with something these days. Many of us have become so busy about every other thing but the important things. Like Martha, who was busy with the unessentials when Jesus visited them. Many of us have become used to being so preoccupied with activities and we confuse being busy with being productive. In our anchor text, the Lord Jesus was taken to Jerusalem for the Passover festival at age twelve. At this event, Mary and Joseph lost him because they assumed he was somewhere among their entourage. They were busy with the festival while their Son was busy about the real business of the day; the father’s business. At that ceremony, it would seem that those who were busy with the Passover celebration were the most hardworking or most busy. But their busyness was towards the wrong thing for that season. Jesus was busy about the need on the Father’s heart in that season. And so, He was almost surprised when they were looking for Him. The question now is, what are you busy about? The world has preoccupied us with so many nothings. Jesus asks a question here expecting an answer? It’s a question about purpose recognition. We need to discern our purpose and the seasons allotted to its execution. And if we are able to do that, our busyness will be meaningful and productive in the face of God, even if the world does not see its relevance. Because our aim is to please our commanding Officer, the Lord Jesus Christ and not the world. Let’s get busy about the Father’s business.

Prayer_Bead: Dear Lord, thank you for your precious word. Give me the urgency of purpose and help me to be busy about your business alone.

Wisdom_Quote: Real busyness is being busy about the Father’s business.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. [ Genesis 3:6 NIV ]

When our feelings and desires take the lead from God’s word, sin begins. Our feelings and desires are not authorities over us, God’s word is. But when we allow our feelings to dictate what is right, then sin becomes our culture. When Moses left the Israelites in the wilderness for a brief moment to go and seek the face of God, they could not wait patiently for the word of God. And so, they gave room to their feelings and emotions to become authority. And then sin began to reign in their camp. They made idols for themselves and did every other thing God was not in support of. If Eve had trusted God’s word as the only authority in her life, she would not have invited sin and death into the human race. Reading our anchor text, we will notice that after Eve saw (recognized) that the fruit was pleasing to the eyes, she acted impulsively—she took some and ate. Whereas she should have gone back to the word of God as the basis and reference point of her existence and livelihood. The Israelites in the wilderness did same. They didn’t return to the manual, the reference point, which was God’s word for them. Instead, they acted impulsively on what they felt and desired. Our generation and the generations before us, were trapped and are still being trapped into this old algorithm of the flesh. But we can break the algorithm with the word of God. Whenever we see what God’s word says is not there, it’s a warning and a sign that our veil is broken; our spiritual lens is destroyed and we must return quickly to the word of Life. Desires and feelings are not bad in themselves as they were put in us by God. But when they draw us away from the word of God then they are being manipulated by the devil to mislead us, and we must quickly go for the word.

Prayer_Bead: Our eternal true Love, thank you for showing us that we should not allow our feelings to have authority over us when God’s word should rather be Lord. Help us to submit to your word everyday.

Wisdom_Quote: Sin begins where feelings and emotions become authority.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.