Tag: #ChooseChrist

[The Glory Unveiled]

Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. ( Psalms 37:4 )

God grants people their hearts desires. Yes, you know He does, but we see here, a condition that cannot be skipped. To receive our heart desires, we need to delight in the Lord. The next verse of scripture (see verse 5) explains what it means to delight in the Lord. It says we should commit our ways to the Lord; we should trust in the Lord, and He will make our righteous reward shine like the dawn and our vindication like the noonday sun. God is able to do whatever He says and He will do it. But sometimes, as in this case, where God puts the fulfillment of His word at the mercy of a condition, it will only take compliance to that condition to have the experience of that word. Whatever we truly delight in, we will without hesitation make some commitment. Commitment is the voice of desire, satisfaction and pleasure. The size of our desires does not matter once we commit to God. What is important is our willingness to commit to God—and then it wouldn’t matter how many or how small the desires are, the only condition that will allow fulfillment or performance is our delight in the Lord.

Prayer_Bead: Thank you Omnipotent Father for your graciousness and love. I commit my ways to you Lord, direct my path and teach me your ways.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

The field commander said to them, “Tell Hezekiah:
“‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: On what are you basing this confidence of yours? ( Isaiah 36:4 )

Hope is the voice of faith in the distance. So that before we could meet with the realities that are not immediately within our reach, we need to hear the whispers of hope. The King of Assyria had captured so many kingdoms and even all the fortified cities of Judah. This time, he had turned his face towards Jerusalem, threatening to destroy them unless they surrender voluntarily. But the leader at the time, Hezekiah, instead of shivering and shrinking into the hollow pit of fear, he turned to hope. And hope directed him to God. In that space of time, the enemy brought a lot of enticing offers to the people dwelling in Jerusalem. You see, the enemy will always present a counterfeit offer when your genuine package is closest. This is why we need patience and absolute trust in what God promises no matter what else comes our way. Later, King Hezekiah will turn to God with a broken heart and absolute dependence on Him. And then God intervened. Your testimony is in the same neighborhood as your step of faith. Take a step of faith, even if it will make no real sense to you. The king of the Assyrians noticed one thing about Hezekiah even though he was at the “weak” end. And that was his confidence. Let us amplify the voice of our confidence in God.

Prayer_Bead: Father of all spirits, King of all Kings, thank you for your immutable and infallible words. Order my life in the trajectory of your glory and your purpose for your Kingdom.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. ( 2 Corinthians 3:15-16 )

The acts and deeds of God in the Old Testament was veiled because the minds of the people were blinded in their stiff-necked rebellion and unbelief. And for that to be communicated to them in pictures, Moses, when he descended from the mountain in the glory of God, veiled his face so that the people could not see the glory in their unbelief. Indeed whenever one turns to look upon Moses—without faith in Christ—they miss it. The only one who is capable of taking away the veil is the Lord Jesus. So that we come into that openness to see and display God’s glory when we accept Jesus as Lord. We have been called to display the glory of God to a lost world. And how best could we do this except in Christ. Because in the strength of our flesh and earthly standpoint, instead of showcasing God’s glory, we hide it from the eyes of the people. And then we begin to magnify the creation rather than the creator. The lens of Moses (unbelief of the people, not Moses) cannot interpret the New Testament truth, neither can it reveal the Christ. Christ is only revealed to the world by the Spirit of faith.

Prayer_Bead: Father in heaven, thank you for the special grace of your word. Keep my gaze on You, and order my steps in your word. Make me a true reflection of your glory.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

Then God remembered Rachel; he listened to her and enabled her to conceive. ( Genesis 30:22 )

Jacob loved Rachel so much and wanted to marry her, but his uncle Laban, tricked him into marrying Leah, Rachel’s elder sister. But that didn’t stop Jacob, he had to work for seven more year for Rachel. After his wives came to stay with him, Rachel could not conceive. And even though Jacob loved her more, because she could not conceive, it seem to her that her sister was getting all of their husband’s attention. In order to correct that, she turned to God. Challenges have a way of showing us the gate of priesthood; challenges drag us to the feet of God. But for sometime it seem that God had forgotten about her or couldn’t hear her. Along the way, Rachel, like Sarah tried to help the situation by allowing her servant to sleep with her husband to raise children for her. But this temporary solution didn’t take away her misery and so she continue to look to God in prayer until the scripture above; God remembered Rachel and opened her womb. No prayer is ever wasted because heaven has zero tolerance for waste. The prayers of the past are not wasted. Prayers can be stored up until their appointed time or when enough demand is made on heaven for the release of their answers. God remembered Rachel! Her secret and silent prayers were not in vain. Likewise, your prayers never fell to the ground, they will be remembered and you will conceive the blessings you have been carrying all along.

Prayer_Bead: Merciful Father, Gracious Lord, thank you for not forgetting my silent and secret prayers. Satisfy my heart desires by your loving kindness.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’ ( Matthew 25:25 )

The words in this verse of scripture sound familiar to us all. It is a New Testament version of those words of Adam after he and his wife had disobeyed God (see Genesis 3:10). A core characteristic of fear is that it hides ones glory. Some good things which were supposed to head for our direction were diverted to different addresses because we were afraid and doubtful. But the real source of most fears is ignorance or disobedience to what we know how to do. In the scripture above, three servants were given gold (resources) with the intention to generate more dividends and accrue more profits. The first two servants on their day of accountability gave accounts and they did well according to their strength. But the third who was only given one resource to manage, instead of investing it into something profitable went to hide it in the ground. In his words, he hid the gold (resource) because he was afraid. And because of his fear, he was rejected by his master. Nothing was given him in his honour, even the one gold he had was taken from him. Sounds familiar again right? Adam and Eve had lost the garden atmosphere because they couldn’t keep it in order; because they hid away in fear of their disobedience. We have not been given the spirit of fear. We have the Spirit of power and sound mind from God. On the day of accountability, may we not be found hiding.

Prayer_Bead: Lord Jesus, thank you for committing your gifts and grace to me. I pray that I may be found a faithful steward on the day of accountability. Holy Spirit, the Spirit of power, please erase fear from my life.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ( John 3:16 )

The most recited verse of scripture is probably the one above. We hear it almost everyday, usually in sermons propagating salvation. Sometimes in sermons of giving and making sacrifices. Today we are going to look at the purpose of love through the lens of this scripture. The purpose or reason for a thing decides where that thing goes and how it gets there. There are many suffering relationships, most of which are on the verge of destruction because there was no purpose for initiating them. God is love Himself, He does not just love but is the love itself. We read here that God had a purpose for the expression of his love. His love was aimed at the salvation of all mankind. He directed His love to man with the intention that we will be saved and not perish. For us to have eternal life, God had to give away His son to be offered as a sin offering without blemish. So the love had a purpose, a goal to accomplish, a target to reach. God’s love was not and is not haphazard. Even though Hillsong sang about the “reckless” Love of God, the “recklessness” was aimed at our salvation. Likewise we must learn to have a purpose for the love we share with those we claim to love. God loves us and so He gave; but His giving was to a certain definite end. What is the true motive of your love, is it so that you could drain someone or to take from them? Or is it to give to them?

Prayer_Bead: Gracious Lord, loving Father and King, thank you for your love and your grace. I pray that you will strengthen my love as I hinge it unto a purpose for which you have called me to advance your kingdom.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

“Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. ( Isaiah 60:1 )

When Adam and Eve sinned, humanity lost the light of life that was domiciled in us. At salvation, we received back that light. But unfortunately there are many of us who, though, have the light still live as if we don’t have it. Such fellows have decided not to arise and shine. The Bible says a lamp is supposed to be upon a lamp stand so that all may see. God asks us, why won’t we let the world see His glory. He has made us vessels of glory just to display it to the world. We must endeavor not to be like Moses who covered his light (God’s glory). We are only carriers of the glory and so in reality a responsibility is laid upon us to be in the right position where we can tilt towards the Holy Spirt to reveal Christ to the world. So instead of sitting in the valley of depressions and bitterness, let us arise unto the mountain of gladness, displaying the honour of He who called us. The coming (entrance) of our lights through salvation comes with the already packaged items of the glory of God. It means that the day we received Christ as Lord, we received the hope of Glory. That is why after accepting Christ, there is no Jew nor Greek, male nor female but we all become one in Him. Arise in prayer and the study of the word and shine for your light has come!

Prayer_Bead: Father of glory, Light of the world, Lord of all spirits, thank you for your glory upon my life. Help me to mirror it to the world.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe. ( Proverbs 18:10 )

The righteous is one who is saved through the finished works of Jesus and has come into the environment of the Godlife where spiritual death is eradicated. As a result, the righteous is now able to relate with the things of God without being held back by the legal setups of Heaven. With all the opportunities that avail themselves to the righteous in Christ, there are certain realities that will not be experienced by the righteous until they come into the name of the Lord. Like a faculty in a university or a higher learning institution that though exists on the campus, a student who does not belong to that faculty will not participate and may not know the things that go on in that faculty, so is the righteous who has not yet come into the strong tower. The amazing thing is that the righteous is not born-again into this tower but has to run into it. This calls for a conscious effort and determination on the part of the believer if that believer will taste and walk in the reality. At the mention of the name of Jesus, every knee bows and tongues confess that He is Lord, of things in heaven and on earth. But the name does not work for everyone even though it carries power because only a few people have truly come into the name of Jesus. The sons of Sceva were one of those who did not come into the name of Jesus (though they were sons of a Jewish chief priest and exorcists) but wanted to participate in its packages as the apostle Paul did, we all know what happened to them as a result of that error (see Acts 19:11-16). Principalities in heaven obey and work with principles. The name works, but for those who are in it. Let us run into the name of Jesus through the sincere dealings of the Holy Spirit with us.

Prayer_Bead: Father in heaven, thank you for the power in the name of Jesus. Usher me into the tower of recognized sons through your dealings. And give voice to your power in my life. In Jesus name.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

[The Glory Unveiled]

See that you make them according to the pattern shown you on the mountain ( Exodus 25:40 )

The man of God, Moses had been taken up to the arena of the supernatural, in the mountain of God to see the pattern of things (the tabernacle) that should be reproduced on earth. The Lord’s prayer captures a very important line, “thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. God desires that the earth will be colonized by heaven so that earth will look like heaven in its culture, language and appearance. As a result, God seeks to institute the government structure of heaven on earth. So that earth will look exactly like heaven. It would not have been necessary for God to take Moses up into mount Sinai if what God wanted to see replicated on earth was not so important. God did not only tell Moses but showed him what He expected. In the beginning of our journey with God, He does the same thing to us. He shows us the pattern He desires to model us after, which is Christ. So that when Nathaniel came into the faith, the first thing that God did was to show him Jesus (John 1:46-49), the standard and pattern to which he will be made. If by any means along the way we lose sight of the pattern, God will reveal Him again to us, but we would have to ascend the mountain of God. And particularly in this times when the world desires to blindfold us from seeing and looking unto Jesus as the author and Finisher, we need to consistently visit the mountain of God in prayer and the study of His word.

Prayer_Bead: Mountain mover, life changer, thank you for the pattern you have shown me in you, as Christ Jesus. Reconstruct me according to your own pattern in every area of life and godliness.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.

So she said to Abram, “The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.”
Abram agreed to what Sarai said. ( Genesis 16:2 )

God had promised Abraham that he will have a child, who will be his own flesh and blood. Though one would argue that this statement made to Abram (Abraham) was open and almost “vague” as the woman who would bear that child wasn’t mentioned, we will be silenced by the fact that God who put Abram and Sarai together knew that was the only wife he had and so it was Sarai who was captured in the plan of God to have a son with Abraham. And if God could promise Abraham, who had gone past the child bearing age that he would bear a child, then God could quicken the womb of Sarai too. And so now, in the light of this background understanding, we would agree that Sarai didn’t wait long enough for the promise, Isaac before she decided to help her situation. Sarai quickly, thinking God kept her from having children decided to improvise to help the promise of God. But we know what, nothing can help the revealed word of God except God himself. So that in an attempt to help that word, Sarai almost broke her home. If we don’t wait patiently for the word that had gone out of God’s mouth, we may wake up only to realize that we have destroyed the original plan of God by having a support plan. Beloved, instead of helping God, let us allow His word, time enough to come to fruition and then we would see and experience true success and peace. Wait for Isaac—the prophesy you received will be fulfilled—rather than graft in Ishmael.

Prayer_Bead: All Luminous Most High, the God whose words will not return void unless there was a performance of those things He had spoken, guard my heart in waiting patiently and faithfully for your promises fulfilled.

#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.