Tag: #ChooseChrist

[The Glory Unveiled]

Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.” When he said this, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” ( Luke 8:8 )

In the parable of the Sower we see three very important things being emphasised. The seed being sown, the sower and the soil (destination). There is an interplay between these three in order to warrant a good yield or otherwise. And by God’s grace we would dwell on that interplay for today’s meditation. All the three elements of emphasis are equally important and non negotiable. The soil is necessary for the seed to find expression of its attributes and inherent nature. If the soil is unavailable, the potential of the seed to produce will be truncated. The sower is also needed to sow the seed because the seed does not sow itself. There is the need for a sower who will consciously put the seed in the ground. And then finally, the seed itself. The seed has the ability to reproduce much more than was buried in the ground. Reading the full account of the parable of the sower (see Luke 8:5-15), we will notice that among the three important elements, the seed and the sower were unchanging. The seed was good and the sower, impartial. But the destination (soil, rock, thorns) was varying. And the varying nature of the destination caused the effort of the sower and the potential of the seed to go waste. The soil in the verse is a repentant heart. Let the word of Christ dwell richly in our hearts.

Prayer_Bead: Lord of the harvest, He who gives increase to the crop, thank you for the seed of your word, thank you for the soil of my heart, thank you for the Holy Spirit who sows the word in my heart. I pray for a bountiful yield, in Jesus’ name.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!” ( Luke 1:45 )

This verse of scripture is very noteworthy, for the singular reason of the pronouns “she” and “her”, buried in the heart of the verse. Many women have consciously or unconsciously custom made the scriptures of blessings in the Bible to the male. But fortunately, right at the foot of this verse, the Holy Spirit is teaching us that the word of God is to women as much as to men. Many of us go for meetings with the hope of receiving a word from the minister. Some will do anything humanly possible to be prophesied to in meetings. In reality, it is not a matter of what is said to us as it is of our belief. Many people go about boasting about what manner of prophecies they have received, what revelations they have had. They are those who believe that just because they have been told something, there will be a performance of those things automatically. But the verse above is screaming to differ. The performance of the word of God is as a result of unwavering faith (believe) in God. Then and only then is the blessing of that word experienced. There is no way around it.  Without faith, a believer is just living in a fairy tale universe. Believe in the word spoken to you.

Prayer_Bead: Ancient of Days, Omnipresent father, thank you for your specific word to me. Help me to believe in you and in what was spoken to me in your word.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. ( John 1 :14 )

The Bible says, it is the spirit that counts, the flesh profits nothing (John6:63). But before the flesh can know the profiting of the Spirit experientially, the thing of profit must be converted to the state that the flesh can relate to, otherwise it wouldn’t mean much. When the word of God is crystalized–becomes flesh in the experience of men, then we can see the glory of God. The world will be robbed of the glory of God unless we get tired of just reciting the print of God’s word and start living in the realities of those words instead. The word of God must become flesh (reconciled with us at the level that the flesh can relate to) as a result of our solid faith, accentuated by an inward understanding and dealing of that truth. The spiritual realities we enjoy as believers is staged on the strength of our experiences with the word of God. John, says that they declare the things they had seen, handled and experienced of the word of life (1John 1:1). The world will benefit from the things of God’s word that we can handle or experience in a tangible way. This is why the world waits in anticipation for sons and daughters of God. The world will see the glory of God when our knowledge of God is tested and proven by life’s circumstances. Just like a dough of flour has no meaningful use in its raw state unless it is baked into bread or other pastries, the word of God that has not been made flesh in our interaction with it does not benefit us much. Brood over the word in faith until you can mingle with it as a material thing.

Prayer_Bead: Thank you, Lord of Lords. You whose words became flesh and dwelt among us in order to reveal your glory. Make your word as tangible as flesh in my experience.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. ( Hebrews 11 :1 )

A man of God once said that, in the world of faith, the raw materials for achieving anything is nothing. It means we don’t necessarily need tangible materials to realise the tangible things we need. All we need is the immaterial ingredient called faith. Faith is the assurance we have of the fulfilment of God’s promises to us even when all the facts rally against that assurance. God, our father and example created this vast universe with nothing but a spiritual picture of it through words. God had the substance of what he wanted to see in existence in the eyes of his understanding, crafted by the reality of His nature. So that when He spoke, “let there be light,” He was not creating light but moving it from the unseen realm into the seen realm. Faith is a skill of translocation. It is a matter of teleporting realities from one location of realm to the other. All things existed in God and had their essence from Him. Before we could see everything we now see, they existed in God but in a realm that our physical entities cannot relate with. We can also act in faith because we have the spirit of God in us.

Prayer_Bead: Lord Jesus, thank you for the grace given to me to believe in you. Help me to transport realities from the realm that is not limited by time into time.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. ( Luke 1:36 )

Many times, great promises and wonderful prophecies fail to materialise largely due to an isolation crisis we develop. This is usually as a result of thinking that the promise or prophecy is unique to us or that we are alone in that situation. The fear of not having anyone who is experiencing our kind of situations; troubles or hardships can be very misleading. Often when we go through some rough times, we are deceived to believe that what we are experiencing is unique and peculiar to us. And on the strength of that ignorance and fear, the devil creates all sorts of thoughts which result in unhealthy attitudes that are able to sabotage the promise. Mary, the mother of Jesus found herself in a similar situation. An Angel had just appeared to her, telling her she was going to have a miracle baby. How could this be? She wondered. When we first encounter the miraculous, we are tempted to be doubtful because of fear of what if’s, how could this be’s and why me’s? But God be praised, often in times like that, God gives us a hope companion. Someone who is experiencing similar things as ourselves to urge us on. Mary had Elizabeth to urge her on and empower her. Look around, there is someone going through or has been through what you are experiencing. Contact your hope companions today and be strengthened in faith.

Prayer_Bead: Mighty God, the One who knows no impossibilities. Spirit of Wonders, wrought a wonder in me that will expose your glory to the world.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. ( Genesis 16:3 )

Many people have unintentionally interrupted the plan of God for their lives in many ways. Sarah, [Sarai] could have patiently waited for the promise of God for her family. But no, Sarai interrupted impatiently. We all, like Sarah have that dual personality in some form. There is the Sarai part of us and the Sarah part as well; there is the Jacob and Israel side. There is the old natural self that pops up ones a while. It lingers on and we see flashes of that side of us ones every now and then. That part is the Sarai or Jacob while the spiritual side is the Sarah or Israel. Before you make a decision that may have futuristic implications or just ordinary consequences, ask yourself what the spiritual man in you needs to do or say. We must allow our spirit which is in submission to God to continously guide our choices. Stop the voice of Sarai and Jacob from ruining the plan of God for your life. God will honour his promises in our lives but can we patiently wait? Can we ignore the impatient suggestions of Sarai and Jacob? Can we bear the humiliations and embarrassment of temporarily looking like a fool? It is better to wait for God’s choice than rush for our (Sarai or Jacob’s) best. Choose God’s option and stick to it.

Prayer_Bead: Father of all lives, teach me to distinguish between Sarai and Sarah [Jacob and Israel]. Help me by your spirit to choose and follow what you intend for me.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

Jesus declared, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. (John 4:21 )

Jesus made this statement to the Samaritan woman at the well. In their day, Jews and the Samaritans do not go along. But Jesus still came to her and more than that to ask her for water. Along their line of interaction, the issue of worship came in. The woman had the notion that one could only either worship on the mountain or in Jerusalem. And Jesus went right in on that, to disabuse her of that knowledge. When we reflect on this in relate to ourselves, we will realise that many of us are in a sense the typology of the Samarithan woman. We have this ideology that God is only present in a Chapel, in a place somewhere we go to meet him on Sundays. As a result, many people are just anybody or “themselves” every other day until Sundays. On Sundays, such people who believe they were going to meet God, go to these designated places of worship to feel the ecstasy of belonging to a group. But the truth is, God is not locked up in a roofed structure somewhere. God is within you and I. Let us worship Him in spirit and in truth.

Prayer_Bead: Heavenly Father, thank you for teaching me that I am your temple and your presence is my Bethel.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God

[The Glory Unveiled]

Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: “The one I kiss is the man; arrest him and lead him away under guard.” ( Mark 14:44 )

In a world where romantic love is just a “thing”, one would agree that a lot of emotional chaos go on in many relationships. You just cannot trust emotions too often. A kiss is supposed to symbolise love, affection, care, concern and gratitude or greetings in other cultures and situations. But who would think that a kiss could also be a signal for betrayal? We do not want to concentrate on the betrayal as much as the kiss, in this devotion. A kiss connotes a warm acceptance and reception of a person, so to use that as a hocus-pocus tool couldn’t have been anticipated. Imagine the shock and bitterness to have discovered later that what you received as a warm greeting or expression of love or care was actually betrayal. There are many people around the world with the Judas Iscariot spirit who go about in a cloak of a friend, lover, partner, brother or sister, who are actually hypocritical liars. They come with a kiss on their lips and a lie on their tongue. They smile to you with their face but frown with their hearts. Fortunately, with discernment and revelation, like Jesus, we can smoke such pretenders out. Beware, some kisses are meant to betray you.

Prayer_Bead: Lord Jesus, thank you for opening my eyes to the possibility of man’s deceptions. I pray for the spirit of discernment and revelation.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. [ Hebrews 12:1 ]

The scripture above didn’t say “since we ‘may’ be surrounded…” The statement made is more emphatic, “…we are…” This goes to reason that, unarguably, we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses who are watching us at all times like in the case of Gehazi when he was with his master Elisha (2 Kings 6:17). And like him, we are surrounded by a cloud of saints who are witnesses of the things we do daily even if we don’t see them like Gehazi. If we are conscious of the fact that a group of people were watching us, we would not undress before them. And if a thief were watched by someone else he/she would not steal. So let us throw off the sins that easily entangle us. We need the consciousness of this reality to guard ourselves against our flesh and carnal desires. An athlete like any other person aiming to receive a prize is very intentional in all their dealings in the racetrack. They become very conscious of both the spectators and the inspectors (referees and coaches). These people are the figurative cloud of witnesses to the athlete because they actually influence the overall performance of the athlete. Let us bear this in mind that our own cloud of witnesses continue to look down from heaven upon us, even in the darkest places. Be intentional.

Prayer_Bead: Thank you Jesus for opening my eyes to the existence and ministry of the cloud of witness. Help me to lay aside anything that easily ensnare me.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

One day the evil spirit answered them [the sons of Sceva], “Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” ( Acts 19:15 )

[In the above chapter, Seven sons of Sceva were trying to exorcise a demon possessed girl in the name of Jesus, thinking it was just a matter of speaking the words.] Power is not a work of art or an experience of a dramatic display. Spiritual power is the evidence of interaction and relationship with the Spirit of God. It is an expression of dimensions of God by fellowship with Him. Anyone who operates in the domains of power is one who actually has his/her identification authenticated in the power hub of heaven. They are recognised citizens of the realms of principalities. Power in the intangible world is exercised on the grounds of understanding and encounters with such supernatural entities. Such encounters register us in the archives of heaven’s corridor of power, so that even demonic entities can recognise us each time we speak. So, for the unfortunate unbeliever or the believer who has no dealings with the Spirit of God, an attempt to demonstrate the power of God is a venture into catastrophe. We must earn the right to the power of God by consciously trading in the realities of God in faith.

Prayer_Bead: Father of Glory, the mystery of mysteries, the sustainer of all things who Himself is sustained by none, demonstrate your Kingdom through me, with power.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.