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[The Glory Unveiled]

“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. ( John 9:3 )

The man spoken about in the verse of Scripture was born blind. In the preceeding verse, the disciples had made a diagnosis which suggested that the man was blind from birth probably because he or his parents sinned. It is quite interesting to hear people, even Believers pass unwholesome judgement and make conclusions of issues they know nothing about. To the disciples, the cause of the man’s predicament couldn’t be far from either of the causative items aforementioned. But see how wrong they were when the matter was brought to the creator and sustainer of all things, Jesus, the word of God. And not only that, they could not trace the ailment to any glory or happy ending but Jesus in the verses that proceed did not only mention that God intended to showcase His glory through him but actually did it by giving the blind his sight. The truth is, the purposes of God overrides every predicament or challenge which should otherwise be a problem. God uses any and everything around and about our lives. Our assignment will be to discover the reasons for our circumstances. Why are we in the situations we are in? Why do we find ourselves stranded in a particular place? Everything around our lives is ultimately for the glory of God. Let us acknowledge God in all things. He knows why, He knows when and He knows how. Our lives are for His glory and praise.

Prayer_Bead: Father of all creation and giver of life, thank you for my life. I pray that you would use me and my situations for your glory.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. ( John 8:34 )

Stability and productivity are key instruments for measuring and checking growth. It’s a pointer to the height and position one has attained. As Believers, who are heirs of God, our stability in the things of God is paramount to our participation in the realities of the Kingdom. Many things may contribute to our soundness in the faith, our stability and productivity but instability is tied to a few things. One of which is trying to lay our own foundation; trying to do for ourselves what only Christ Jesus could do for us. In the verse of Scripture above, the root of instability and unfruitfulness is exposed. Implied in that scripture is the fact that, anytime someone assumes the position of irresponsibility and instability, they have been enslaved by a particular sin. Anyone caught in the loop of a sin that easily entangles them is slave to that way of life and such a person, without the freedom that Jesus gives cannot be productive in anything. They cannot be stable in the Lord. A slave in the natural sense has no personal sense of direction. They cannot decide to go in a particular direction and stick to it to the end. The reason is, when their master demands for their service, they give up every and any other thing just to please their master. It is also like that with any person enslaved by entangling sins (Hebrews 12:1). We only have freedom to be productive and stable when we are truly freed by the word of God.

Prayer_Bead: Father in Heaven, I give up my ways and my will. Free me from the sins that easily entangle me. Make me productive and stable in you.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir. ( Galatians 4:7 )

Slaves and sons are worlds apart in description and responsibilities as well as privileges. In Galatians 4:1, the heir who is not skillful is compared to a slave. So the unbeliever is a slave to the basic elements of the world but the born again child of God who is also ignorant of their rights and privileges is equally a slave because they cannot enjoy what is rightly theirs. We were not slaves by default but we became slaves by defect and then we are given the opportunity to be sons by effect (the effect of Jesus’ finished works). But then, there is an icing to the cake of this good news of the redemption of Jesus. We have been made heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. This position of heirship has given us the privilege to exercise the right of sonship. We share in the life of God and the creative ability of His word. We have the opportunity to receive from heaven by faith and to be given from heaven because of God’s love for us here on earth. Our position is one of advantage but without the appropriate knowledge, we could be disadvantaged even in the comfort of the promises of God. We are no longer slaves but hiers. Let us take our place and exercise our rights.

Prayer_Bead: Gracious Lord, Loving King, Shepherd of all souls, thank you for delivering me from the kingdom of darkness into your marvellous Light and making me Your heir.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices. ( Leviticus 18:3 )

The statement of today’s scripture verse was made by God to the nation of Israel after they were delivered from Egypt. One would wonder why God would still make such a statement after delivering the people from their worst nightmare—slavery. The past has the tendency to catch up with the present if the mind allows it. For this reason God was cautioning His people not to allow their minds to carry with them the Egyptian mentality [and ways of doing things]. And then He cautioned them against the future they were going into. Because they had just been delivered from slavery, it was easy for them to subscribe to any way of life that seem different from what they had experienced. But the future as promising as it may be, has its own giants to kill and challenges to fight. And so in order to minimise casualties, they were to obey only the LORD. The statutes of the Lord is the only anchor that can keep us afloat in an unstable world. In times like this when past experiences often pay impromptu visits to our present because our present realities feel threatened by present happenings, we need the sure word of God. We need a stabilizer, something to keep us awake and alert to ways ascribed by God. And this can only be God Himself. Let us live for God and we wouldn’t be bothered what the world around us is saying or doing.

Prayer_Bead: Father in Heaven, thank you for your love and your grace and for lighting my path with your words. Keep me from being distracted by my past experiences and from being destroyed by the promises of my future.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” ( John 5:6 )

Sometimes, after we have been in a particular situation for long, we tend to make that situation our new normal, whether it be a bad or good situation. The mind has the tendency to compromise; to be content with challenges that seem to have no expiry. The man Jesus spoke to in today’s verse of Scripture was a lame man who had been bedridden for thirty eight years. This man was definitely in need of healing but Jesus still asked him whether he wanted healing or he was comfortable with his circumstances. No matter what happens to us, we need to have a dream, a purpose, a desire that will forbid us from being content with problems and unfavourable circumstances. The persistence of some problems could actually prevent us from seeing the possibility of change. But the truth is this, with Christ, there is always victory at the end of every battle. The question to us who have been befuddled with a persistent predicament is this, do we want to be well? This question is necessary because our desire and mental perceptions contribute to the strength or otherwise of our faith which is necessary for the fulfillment of our heart desires and dreams. Let us continually confess what we believe and what we want.

Prayer_Bead: Jehovah Rapha, the Lord my healer, thank you for your healing and restoration. I declare the blessings of God that adds no sorrow upon my life.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. ( 1 Corinthians 2:2 )

Usually, we are influenced by our environment; the people and things around us. We learn what we are surrounded by and continuously imbibe. The statement in the verse above was made by apostle Paul, after his conversion. He was who he was before his encounter with Christ on the way to Damascus because of the influence he had before that time. He was schooled to think against the Cross. He was always in the company of people who hated the people of Christ (Acts 7:57-59; Acts 8:1 & Acts 9:7). The apostle had a rich experience from his past about the power of association and influence. And so in his new found world, he has resolved to know nothing outside the boarders of Christ because in his old world, that resolve made him very powerful for the wrong course. In that regard, he has purposed to know nothing but Jesus Christ. As Believers still living in this secular world, we need to make the kind of resolution the apostle made and stick to it. There are certain things we must resolve never to permit into the confines of our heart and mind. We need a rigid system against all forms of ungodliness. The things we permit to influence us are the things that make us. As such we must be intentional about our environment and the people we surround ourselves with. Let us resolve to open ourselves up to the influence of the Holy Spirit above all else.

Prayer_Bead: My Father and my God, the Influence of the Cosmos and the Order of nature, thank you for the grace to know you alone in a crooked and perverse world.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. ( 1 John 4:20 )

Love in our day and time seem to have lost it’s true meaning and purpose. We profess and confess the love of God often than we can actually keep count. From the scripture, we see that saying we love God is not as important as loving our neighbours. This is because our love for God is measured against our love for our neighbours, the people we see all around us. We are created in the image and likeness of God, so to say that we love God but not the people who look like God is a contradiction. “I love God” has now become a religious cliché. One that has taken over our everyday religious discourses. But if we profess the love of God so frivolously but then meet the image of God [our neighbours] and we can’t extend love to them, then the things we say about our love for God are just like sounding cymbals–empty noise. Love is to be practiced. It is a practical venture. We do not love because we say we love. Instead we love because we do love. Love is what we do for others that we would want them to do for us mostly because we cannot do it ourselves or sometimes just to give them that assurance of care and affection. Let us not love in words but in deed (1John 3:18).

Prayer_Bead: Father of all creation, the expression and revelation of love, thank you for the understanding from your word, help me to love my neighbours.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[Unveiling His Glory]

When Pharaoh’s horses, chariots and horsemen went into the sea, the LORD brought the waters of the sea back over them, but the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground. ( Exodus 15:19 )

The Egyptian army had been chasing the Israelites down to the bank of the red sea. Before the red sea, the Egyptians seem advantaged as they were pursuing a nation made predominantly of weak men with slaves mentality. Suddenly the two groups, the Egyptians and the Israelites came to the bank of the red sea. At this point they were facing the same crisis. And even though they came before the same crisis, the Israelites were still more scared because of their servitude mentality. There are times, when even the seemingly mighty faces the same crisis as the weak [Covid-19 tells it well]. But then, it was right there at the mouth of the red sea that the Israelites would see their unknown advantage which was God. There is no general formula for getting out of a crisis. The way out of a crisis was always individualized. But the surest way out of a crisis is by revelation. So then the time came to walk by revelation (faith) rather than by sight. The Israelites walked right through the sea as if they were walking on dry ground. The Egyptians, thinking the way out of a crisis was a universal formula walked after the order of the Israelites but they were swallowed up by the sea. Here is our lesson, in a crisis, don’t imitate your neighbour, whether they are friends or enemies. Stick to revelation, inspiration and the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Prayer_Bead: God of all creation, whose oceans roar out His glory and whose rivers cry out His praise, thank you for giving me the secret to getting out of every crisis.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.