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One thing is needful

[The Glory Unveiled]

“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” ( Luke 10:41–42 )

In this life as well as in the one to come, many things don’t so matter as the few that are capable of adding to our purpose for existence. Often we are faced with so many alternatives to life’s alluring lies which compete for our attention. And some of us try to possess as many things as we can, thinking that, effectiveness in life is dependent on our strength and possessions. We may chase after many things hoping they will satisfy our void but from the Master of our souls we are told that only one thing is needful. This truth strikes a cord in the old testament book of Ecclesiastes, where the preacher says, the conclusion of the whole matter is that we should fear God and obey His commands (Ecclesiastes 12:13). The book actually mentions so many things that could be done under the sun, so many things that men give their strength to. And then in the conclusion of it all, it says only one thing matters, fear God and obey Him. Isn’t it amazing to know that of all our striving and desire to leave indelible prints on the earth, only one thing matters? What could that one thing that matters in all the chaos that surrounds us be? Jesus opens our eyes to it. It is our love for God. Mary found that, she loved the Lord and her love made her disregard all else for Jesus. She put every other thing aside. It’s time we put everything aside for the Lord and to return to our first love.

Prayer_Bead: Father in heaven, thank you for the grace to choose the one thing that is needed in all of life and may it not be taken from me.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

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The mystery of motives

[The Glory Unveiled]

18 When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money19 and said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” ( Acts 8 :18-19 )

The apostles were working miracles by the power of God and then came a man by the name Simon, who thought he could buy the anointing of God with money. In verse 21, the apostle Peter made a profound statement. He said that the heart of Simon was not right so he could not partake in the miraculous ministry. Like Simon in the text above who was denied the anointing, many Believers profess “genuine” hunger for the anointing and the miraculous workings of the Holy Spirit but underneath that euphoric expression of “true passion and desire”, is a thick layer of misplaced motivation. The driving force for their desire is mostly self gratification. They want to be recognized and celebrated so that people would know that they too have the power of God upon them. Maybe our situation may not be of same grandness but no matter how small or hidden the ulterior motive is, it will be the reason for our denial into the realm of the supernatural. Admission into the supernatural workings of God demands that our motives are refined by the word of God and a sincere love for God and humanity. But until that happens, self gratification and glorification will be the ultimate end which will be our own ends as well. Let us examine our motives for desiring the things of God, is it for the expansion of God’s kingdom and influence or for our own selfish gains?

Prayer_Bead: Lord of all creation and generations, thank you for your word. Search me o Lord and know my thoughts, try me and know my motives, help my motives for desiring to do your work.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

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Be a reflection or the light

[The Glory Unveiled]

He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. ( John 1:8 )

John the Baptist was a mystery, in that, He is both a new testament preacher and an old testament prophet. He was placed right in the threshold, the very grounds where the old was ending and the new was birth. John 1:6-8 unveils a hidden truth with the life purpose or mission of John the Baptist. That truth can be shrinked into the statement, “be a light or a mirror that reflects other people’s light”. John admitted when the Pharisees came to him in the wilderness to ask if he was the Light [Messiah], he answered explicitly that he was not but rather a reflection of the light; a witness to the light. He did not seek to take the glory of another even though his audience would have believed him. Instead he accepted his purpose as a reflector of another’s glory. There are many times and situations where we are faced with the realities of our mission statement. And then sometimes we are swayed by the praise of people to deny our primary assignment. If he had not properly positioned himself to reflect the new move of God, many people in his time would have been lost. Beloved, whatever our primary assignments are, let us hold on to them, for in so doing, we help others and ourselves in the grand scheme of things.

Prayer_Bead: Light of the world, Saviour of all souls, thank you for the grace to reflect your light to the world.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

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Attitude of Gratitude

[The Glory Unveiled]

One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. ( Luke 17:15 )

Attitude is all about mentality. The right mental attitude produces the right behavioural attitude. So that anyone with a mental attitude of thanksgiving does not need to experience some extraordinary miracle before they show gratitude. They are grateful for the little seemingly insignificant things. And someone without an attitude of gratitude, even when the whole world is given to then, will not appreciate the giver. In the verse of Scripture above, ten Lepers were healed by Jesus but only one returned to thank Him. Whatever we are not grateful for, we do not deserve. In the verses following our verse of focus, Jesus said to the one who came to thank Him that His faith had made him whole, suggesting that the others were not wholly healed. It also meant that gratitude was a faith mechanism that guarantees wholesome miracles. We express our faith through thanksgiving. When we wait for the miracle we anticipate to happen before we feel appreciative of God, it means our faith is in the miracles and not in the worker of the miracle. But if we put on an attitude of thanksgiving even before the miracle arrives, then our faith is rightly placed. Let us appropriate our faith through thanksgiving. Begin to thank God for all that He’s ever done and what He is doing and what He will do later.

Prayer_Bead: Father in Jesus name, thank you for all that you have done for me. Thank you for what you are doing here and now and what you would do here after.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

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The language of Believers

[The Glory Unveiled]

It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, ( 2Corinthians 4:13 )

As Believers, redeemed unto God by Christ, we have become new creations. The old is passed and the new is here. As a people restored to the family of God, our language must be synchronous to the speakings of heaven. Our speakings must reveal that we are of God. The language we speak must be consistent with the language of God. So that the language that we speak is the language that God Himself speaks. He is God, is there anything too hard for Him? Let the weak say I am strong, let the poor confess riches. That is the language of our spiritual tribe. In our language, there is no word for impossibilities because there is no room for impossibilities. All creation was forged from the speakings of God. This means that if we appropriate ourselves in using the language of our Father, we can create any reality we believe to create. We have in our mouth the power to have all things that pertain to life and godliness. It is said that a closed mouth is a closed destiny and that isn’t far from the truth. Whatever we believe of the word of God, we declare by speaking it. With the Spirit of faith, recreate your life’s realities by declaring what you believe is truth.

Prayer_Bead: Omnipotent God, Author and finisher of my faith and destiny, thank you for teaching me to align my words with yours. Guide me into the full revelation of Christ.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

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Sufficient Grace

[The Glory Unveiled]

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ( 2 Corinthians12:9 )

In the verses before our [stem] verse of focus, we come across apostle Paul disturbed about a thorn in his flesh. For three times, he records that he pleaded with God—that’s a serious degree of prayer—but to no avail, instead, this verse was God’s response to Him. The verse begins with a “BUT” to mean that what is said seem to contradict the expectation of the previous statement. Yet that is God’s solution. Unlike the apostle Paul, most of us probably would complain, nag, whine, and do any other things but turn to God for help. In times of crisis, whether personal or corporate, we need the grace of God. The best solution to any problem is God’s solution, it doesn’t matter what manner of problem because all things proceed from God. And sometimes even though God’s answer may not look like the answer that brings the real solution we envision, it is only His solution that can give the peace that we need. The power of God is revealed, according to this verse, in our places of great weakness. God shows up for us when we can’t stand up for ourselves. His power is made perfect in our weaknesses so that His glory will rise up tall to the visualisation of all and sundry. Are you at your wits end? Are you burdened beyond your ability? Now is the time to invoke the power of God wrapped in the grace of God.

Prayer_Bead: Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for your sufficient grace, I pray that your power will be made perfect in my crisis and may your strength empower me to carry on.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

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His manifold wisdom

[The Glory Unveiled]

His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. ( Ephesians 3:10–11 )

God had always—even before the enforcement of the new Covenant through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ—displayed His wisdom [eternal attributes and divine nature] to the world. The Bible says that even creation displays His invisible attributes so that we have no excuse or whatsoever (see Romans 1:19-20). But now, in the new covenant, God decided [purposed] to show the world what His many facetted wisdom is, through His body, the church. God in His eternal wisdom and by His divine attributes decided to do this by showcasing Himself through us. So that He has hidden in every child of His—but evidently manifested in the born again child—gifts and callings. So that every man who has been called into the family of Light may display the light of God’s glory which is an aspect of His nature. God was able to display His nature through us by giving us His nature in Christ. So that we died with Christ in baptism and so we now live a life of faith [wisdom] in Christ Jesus. Furthermore, God makes a public exhibition of this many sided wisdom to rulers and authorities in heavenly realms, so that even they will be in awe of the might of God. Having been called by the grace of God to demonstrate His wisdom, let us be diligent in doing so.

Prayer_Bead: Everlasting King, Shepherd of all souls, thank you for the grace to display your wisdom and showcase your divine nature. I pray that the world will hear your wisdom through me today.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

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Expression of the Kingdom

[The Glory Unveiled]

But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. ( Matthew 12 :28 )

The Holy Spirit substantiates the influence and tangibility of the kingdom of God. Without the Holy Spirit, the kingdom of God cannot be experienced here in the earth sphere and now. So that when we see or perceive the Holy spirit at work, then the Kingdom of God is here. If we express any gift of the Holy Spirit, we are actually manifesting the Kingdom of God. The Holy Spirit gives expression to the intents of God. He works the desires of God in ways that can be felt, heard and or seen. He paints the pleasures of God on the canvas of time so that the glory of God can rise from every dust. But the Holy Spirit is not a free lunch. He is not a free ticket either nor a free ride to the land of our sensual indulgence. He is a principled Being of God-class gentleness and attributes. Without the presence and workings of the Holy Spirit, God cannot be known as He is. So that without the Holy Spirit no man knows anything about the Kingdom of God. No wonder the Israelites of old couldn’t appropriate divine realities. They kept stumbling on the man Jesus because they didn’t know the Holy Spirit who would unveil Christ to them. Thanks to God, our case is different. We have the Spirit of Truth in us and with us, manifesting the Kingdom of God in our everyday experiences.

Prayer_Bead: Thank you Holy Spirit for expressing and demonstrating Christ Jesus in my everyday experience. Teach me to let the world see your Kingdom.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

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The workings of God’s grace

[The Glory Unveiled]

So he [the owner] said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’ ( Luke 13 :7 )

Today’s Scripture for meditation emphasizes the need for fruitfulness. The metaphoric fig tree in the verse above refers to us. God planted us when we accepted Christ as Lord and Saviour. He also graced us with His word which is able to help us grow to maturity. The word of God is supposed to give us nourishment. So that we become like trees planted by rivers of water, whose leaves do not wither (Psalms1:6). God does not entertain wastage. The Bible tells of the feeding of the 5,000. After they had been fed, Jesus asked that the disciples should collect the fragments [so that nothing would be wasted], see John 6:12. God would always ensure that we have all our needs for life and godliness met.  But after God has done all there is for our sustenance and stability, we need to produce the results that merit God’s input. After many opportunities of God’s grace and patience, God demand significant output from us. But sometimes, the grace of God makes it seem like God does not demand any accountability from us whereas in reality, He does. Let us not receive God’s grace in vain (2 Corinthians 6:1). As we endure the watering and prunning of God, our lives must produce corresponding evidence of that working of God’s Holy Spirit in us. The workings of God’s grace produce in us the ability to reproduce His nature and attributes. Let the grace of God speak.

Prayer_Bead: God who does not speak in vain, whose words do not return void unless they accomplish that for which they were sent. Lord, let your word produce results in me.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

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Self Booster

[The Glory Unveiled]

But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. ( Jude 1:20 )

Most automobiles these days have turbo boosters, planes use turbofan engines to boost their thrust. We humans, use drugs to boost our immune systems. When something boosts another thing, it does not create a new thing but helps that other thing to function at its maximum capacity. Spiritually, there is a mechanism in place for us to boost our spirit. We are then able to build up–boost–our most holy faith; function at the peak of our faith. But the fact that the possibility of building up our faith exists does not mean that it is automatic. Like the Vitamin C drug that we take for boosting our immune system, one may have the vitamin C but its medicinal components are only explored when we take them. Likewise, we need to do something concise in order to build up our most holy faith and that, we are told it is praying in the Holy Spirit. Now, praying in the Holy Spirit means praying by the Spirit of God. The Apostle Paul says when we pray in tongues, we edify ourselves (see 1 Corinthians14:4). So also we boost our spiritual faculties intentionally by the speakings in the Holy Spirit. We unravel mysteries when we mingle our spirit with the Spirit of God through the language of the Spirit in genuine fellowship. No man builds anything by mistake. Let us intentionally build up our faith. Begin to build even right now by praying in the containment of the Holy Spirit.

Prayer_Bead: Precious Holy Spirit, the expression of God’s divine attributes. The revealer of the thoughts and purposes of God. Baptize me afresh with your holy fire and awaken a fresh desire in me even as you quicken me by giving me utterances.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.