Topic: A Rough But Sure Road! [Monday, October 16, 2017]
Basic Scriptures: Matthew 26: 38-44; Psalm 23
Welcome to today’s devotional encounter again! Below is the webbed poem that discusses the mystery journey to success. By the grace of God, you will arrive there in a great way:
“The road to success is not straight. There is a curve called failure. A loop called confusion. Speed bumbs called friends. Red light called enemies. Caution lights called family. You will have flat tyre called disappointments, but if you have a spare tyre called determination, an engine called perseverance, insurance called faith, a driver called Jesus, you will make it to a place called success. Thank God for this encouraging piece! The emphasis is that success is a journey and not just a destination. It is a process. So, no devil and indeed nobody can say it is over with you! No matter where you are in the ladder of life, remember that God have not finished with you yet. You are God’s man/woman, passing through God’s process. The best is yet to come!
Did Jesus not ask that the cup be pasted from Him! Did He not ask God why He has forsaken Him?
He had both the DIVINE and HUMAN nature! So, His HUMANITY was temporarily “confused” and down. His DIVINITY as God was intact! WOW! What a mystery! When confused, stay still and be prayerful (Psalm 23: 2). It will pass away! You meet enemies on the journey, yet the words say, “if a man’s ways please the Lord, He will make even his enemies to be at peace with him” – Proverb 16: 7. Psalm 23: 5 declare that God will prepare a table before you in the presence of your enemies. Remember: The road to success is always under construction. It may be rough, but sure!
Prayer Points: Take your best worship song to God.
1. Pray about today’s word as it has touched you.
2. As I journey through this planet, I shall never drop my spare tyre called determination (Pray it very well).
3. My family and I shall not be wasted on this earth in Jesus name (Pray it very well)
4. Boldly declare Psalm 23 and deal with discouragement and depression spirits today.
5. Pray about today as led on any other issue(s).
By Bishop (Dr) Chris E. Kwakpovwe (Cek) Publisher/Writer Of ODM And Rev (Mrs) Flora E. Kwakpovwe (Fek) Co-Publisher/Writer Of ODM.
Topic: Be Conscious Of Who You Are In Christ — Monday October 16, 2017. “Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.” (1 Corinthians 15:34 KJV)
One of the things you must understand, as far as the gospel we are preaching is concerned, is the gospel of grace upon man. If you truly receive the gospel of grace, it will make you love God so much that sin will not have dominion over you. In fact, you won’t be thinking about sin and you won’t be sin conscious. You will be righteousness conscious. That is why Paul, writing in our text says awake to righteousness and sin not. He said, be conscious of your righteousness and you will not sin. You don’t overcome sin because of self will. Your will has nothing to do with it; it is because of grace. When you are conscious that you are in right standing with God, that God has accepted you unconditionally and unreservedly, you won’t wake up with sin consciousness. I don’t know what sin is because grace has swallowed sin. I don’t even pray confessing sin because there is no sin to confess. The Lord said I’m in Christ. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. It is not what you enter and come out of. I am already there. That is where I am seated, in Christ. I have the same holiness that Jesus has, the same thing, the same experience. It is not because I’m a Bishop, but because I believe what the bible says.
Put yourself in Christ and you will have the same quality of holiness Jesus has. Holiness is not how long your dress is. It is not whether you wear jewelries or not, whether you wear a headgear as a woman or not. It is a matter of where you are located. Who are you living in? Christ has been made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption. He said be holy for I am holy. Sanctification means holiness. When he said be holy for I am holy, he’s not telling you to try to be, he means you were created in his image. So be and live who God has created you.
Written by Dr. Mike Okonkwo; Is the Presiding Bishop of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM); a versatile man of God with over 30 years of dedicated service unto the Lord.
Topic: Loneliness [Monday October 16, 2017] My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God. — Psalm 84:2
Loneliness is one of the greatest problems people face today. It is a leading cause of suicide-that is now the third greatest killer of students in the United States. People feel various kinds of loneliness. One of the most common is the loneliness of solitude. Or there is the loneliness of suffering. Many people experience loneliness in society, or there is the loneliness of sorrow, guilt, and judgment. All of us feel at times a loneliness for God. Someone has called it cosmic loneliness. We don’t know what it is. It makes us restless. You see, man was made for God; and without God, he is lonely. But Jesus is knocking at the door of our heart, saying, “I want to come in. Let me in.” He doesn’t push His way through that door. We have to open it and invite Him in; when we do, He comes in to live forever and we are never lonely again.
Prayer for the day: Lord Jesus, I remember the agony of my days without You. Lead me to the lonely people who need to experience the joy of Your companionship, too.
Written by Billy Graham, Founder of Billy Graham Evangelistic Association(BGEA). BGEA exists to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ by every effective means and to equip the church and others to do the same.
Topic: Allegiance To The Master — Monday October 16, 2017.
Text: Luke 12:49-59
Key Verse: “Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division”(Luke 12:51).
Fire is a destructive agent as well as a purifying one. Gold becomes what it is as a result of the fuller’s fiery furnace, which helps in burning off the unwanted dross which hitherto had rendered the jewel unattractive and worthless. A woman in labour willingly bears the pain because the birth of a child that ends it. Christ’s sufferings were the travail of his soul, which He cheerfully underwent, in hope that He would, by them, save many souls. His heart was set upon the redemption and salvation of man. He stressed that the effect of the preaching of the gospel will be “division” and discord among relations, when the one turns Christian and the other does not.
In essence, Christ was telling His disciples not to expect peace upon the earth, for they were sent forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. Having given His disciples the lesson, Christ turned to the people. In general, he would have them be as wise in spiritual matters as they are in their outward affairs.
Christianity has reason and natural conscience on its side; and, if men would allow themselves the liberty of judging what is right, they would soon find that Christ’s precepts concerning all things are right, and that there is nothing more equitable in itself, nor better for us, than to submit to the revealed will of God, regardless of its cost. God has both right and might on His side; so that it is all together futile to indulge in a controversy with Him.
Let us diligently take steps to embrace Him as a Father and Christ as Saviour by turning away from our sins. We are to live happily in His presence in righteousness and holiness all the days of our lives by grace.
Thought for the day: Live by the grace of God.
Bible Reading in one Year: 2 Kings 9-10
DCLM Daily Manna was written by Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi; is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church situated at KM 42 on the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Nigeria.
Read: Genesis 50:15–20, Bible in a Year: Isaiah 47–49; 1 Thessalonians 4
You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done.Genesis 50:20
Jay Bufton turned his hospital room into a lighthouse.
The fifty-two-year-old husband, father, high school teacher, and coach was dying of cancer, but his room—Room 5020—became a beacon of hope for friends, family, and hospital workers. Because of his joyful attitude and strong faith, nurses wanted to be assigned to Jay. Some even came to see him during off-hours. Even as his once-athletic body was wasting away, he greeted anyone and everyone with a smile and encouragement. One friend said, “Every time I visited Jay he was upbeat, positive, and filled with hope. He was, even while looking cancer and death in the face, living out his faith.”
At Jay’s funeral, one speaker noted that Room 5020 had a special meaning. He pointed to Genesis 50:20, in which Joseph says that although his brothers sold him into slavery, God turned the tables and accomplished something good: “the saving of many lives.” Cancer invaded Jay’s life, but by recognizing God’s hand at work Jay could say that “God intended it for good.” That’s why Jay could use even the ravages of cancer as an open door to tell others about Jesus.
What a legacy of unwavering trust in our Savior even as death was knocking at the door! What a testimony of confidence in our good and trustworthy God!
Prayer:Lord, difficult things come into our lives so often. Please help us to trust You enough to see that nothing is beyond Your control. Help us to tell of Your love even in the tough times.
By God’s grace, we can have our best witness in the worst of times.
Insight:
While Joseph’s story had a spectacularly happy ending, it did not come overnight. When Joseph became the primary character in the Genesis narrative, he was only seventeen years old (Gen. 37:2). After about ten years as a slave in the household of Potiphar (captain of the bodyguard, a high official in Pharaoh’s court), he had risen to a position of great trust, managing Potiphar’s household properties and affairs. However, after Potiphar’s wife falsely accused him, Joseph was imprisoned for two years (41:1). When he was set free and assigned the post of vice-chancellor of Egypt, he was thirty years old (41:46). But there were seven years of plenty followed by two years of famine (45:6) before he came face-to-face with his brothers. That means that from the time he was sold into slavery to the time of family reconciliation, twenty-two years had transpired!
How does the story of Joseph help you to realize there is no circumstance beyond God’s control?
This message was written By Dave Branon [Our Daily Bread Ministries.]
Topic: Put Patience to Work [Monday October 16, 2017]
Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. –Hebrews 10:35-36
Most of us have a distorted idea about patience. We think of it as something designed to help us suffer failure gracefully, but according to these scriptures, it will actually put us on the path to success! Patience (or being consistently constant) is the power twin of faith. They work together to see to it that the promises of God are fulfilled in your life.
Say, for example, you need a job. You can go to the Word and see clearly that God promises to provide your needs. You can see He takes pleasure in the prosperity of His servants. Once you see that, faith takes hold and you shout, “Hallelujah, I’ve got the job I need.”
But what happens to that faith tomorrow morning when you go to three interviews and get turned down all three times? Then what? That’s when patience has to take over! That’s when you have to make a decision to stay constant, to act as if nothing’s changed.
The truth is, if you based your confidence on the Word of God, nothing has changed. It says exactly the same thing it said yesterday.
So, if you’ll put patience to work, you know what you’re going to say after those three unsuccessful job interviews? You’re going to say, “Hallelujah, I’ve got the job I need!” just like you did before.
You see, faith opens the door to God’s promise for you; and patience keeps it open until that promise is fulfilled.
Do you have your faith sights set on a promise of God today, a promise you’ve been waiting on for some time? Don’t let the delay discourage you. Put patience to work. The Word guarantees you will receive your reward.
Scripture Reading: Hebrews 6:10-15
This message was written by Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, the leader of the Kenneth Copeland Ministries (www.KCM.org) that specializes in teaching principles of bible faith – prayer, healing, salvation and other biblical topics.
Both the KJV and the NKJV translations use the word “mansions” in prophetically describing our ultimate destination, but are large, luxurious homes what Jesus had in mind when He gave this pledge? (Pexels/Ingo Joseph)
In the latter part of His earthly ministry, Jesus encouraged His followers with a promise that is much-loved and often quoted:
“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:1-2, NKJV).
Soon after making this pledge, Jesus was crucified, resurrected and He ascended into heaven. Evidently, before He left, He wanted to assure His disciples that He was planning for their eventual transition into a heavenly realm as well. Both the KJV and the NKJV translations use the word “mansions” in prophetically describing our ultimate destination, but are large, luxurious homes what Jesus had in mind when He gave this pledge?
There are four main reasons we live in homes in this physical world: so families can dwell together, to protect us from the elements; to provide a safe place for eating and sleeping; and to store our possessions. Quite likely, none of these things will be necessary when we become glorified saints, shining like “the sun” in the kingdom of our Father (Matthew 13:43).
Where Is ‘God’s House’?
Notice Jesus said these “mansions” are located in the “Father’s house.” Ponder that wording for a moment. Dare to ask yourself a question, such as “Where is God’s house?” or, “How big is God’s house?” In Isaiah 66:1, the Creator stretches our minds with the answer:
“Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest?”
A throne and a footstool are just two small pieces of furniture in a house that is far bigger. So, the “Father’s house” must be bigger than the heaven and the earth, bigger than the entire cosmos, higher than the highest heaven, larger than both natural and spiritual universes—infinitely large—just as incalculable in size as the Creator Himself.
The Greek Word for ‘Mansions’
So, if the “Father’s house” is that huge, what did the Jesus mean by “mansions”? To understand, we need to visit the original Greek. The word translated “mansions” is mone (pronounced mo-nay’) only found twice in the New Testament, both in John 14 (verses 2 and 23). Here is the Amplified Bible, classic edition version of the second occurrence:
Jesus answered, “If a person [really] loves Me, he will keep My word [obey My teaching]; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home (abode, special dwelling place)with him.”
So mone is translated home, abode and special dwelling place.
If we apply this to John 14:2, we have the Son of God saying, “In My Father’s house are many special dwelling places, many abodes or spheres of existence.” If you stretch that out to encompass both the physical and the spiritual universes, the possibilities are incomprehensible, eternal and full of wonder.
The King of creation sums it up powerfully in Revelation 21:7 (MEV) by giving the related promise:
“He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.”
God has bequeathed to all His sons, as a corporate inheritance, “all things”—both in earth and in heaven. The infinitude of the new heaven will be our special dwelling place, our sphere of existence, forever and ever.
In worshipful awe, we conclude that the answers to our questions are beyond language, for “eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Cor. 2:9). That is the “place” Jesus went to prepare for His followers.
It might be a house on a hillside—but by now, I think you agree, it is going to be something far greater.
Mike Shrevehas traveled globally since 1971 as an evangelist with an emphasis on the deeper revelation of God’s Word, confirmed by a manifestation of God’s healing power and the prophetic. Presently, he and his wife, Elizabeth, reside in Cleveland, Tennessee. He is an author of 14 books, including the best-selling Charisma House title, 65 Promises from God for Your Child. His newest book is a study of 52 names and titles God has given His offspring, titled WHO AM I?
Readers are Leaders! Subscribe now and get 3 magazines for the price of 1. Get Charisma, Ministry Today and SpiritLed Woman all for $24. YES – Sign me up!
3 Reasons Why you should read Life in the Spirit. 1) Get to know the Holy Spirit. 2) Learn to enter God’s presence 3) Hear God’s voice clearly! Click here to draw closer to God!
The devil forces his way into your circumstances. Radical warriors force him out, in the name of Jesus! (U.S. Navy photo/Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Gabrielle Joyner/Released)
“I am raising up radical spiritual warriors who will operate in radical obedience and press past radical enemy assignments against radical breakthrough.” That’s one line from prophetic word the Lord recently shared with my heart.
Your enemy is radical. He goes to extreme measures to fulfill his part of John 10:10, to steal, kill and destroy. As Matthew 11:12 (NKJV) says, “The kingdom of God suffers violence and the violent take it by force.” The devil has forces his way into your circumstances. Radical warriors force him out, in the name of Jesus!
It’s time to get radical. Over the next few weeks, I’ll share 7 earmarks of radical spiritual warriors. The first earmark is a radical faith mindset.
Do You See Through the Eyes of Faith or Fear?
When Moses was leading Israel, he sent spies into the Promised Land to scope it out. Numbers 13:26-29 recounts the scene:
And they returned and came to Moses and to Aaron and to all the assembly of the children of Israel, to the Wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh, and brought back word to them and to the entire assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. They reported to him and said, “We came to the land where you sent us, and surely it flows with milk and honey, and this is the fruit of it. However, the people are strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are fortified and very great, and also we saw the children of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negev, and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains, and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and by the edge of the Jordan.
Now, that’s a radical fear mindset! Joshua and Caleb, by contrast, demonstrated a radical faith mindset in Verse 30: “Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, ‘Let us go up at once and possess it, for we are able to overcome it.'”
In Verse 31-33, we see a wrestling match between faith and fear.
But the men that went up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people because they are stronger than we.” They gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come from the giants, and in our eyes we were like grasshoppers, and so we were in their eyes.”
Fear Wants You to Abort God’s Promises
The 10 spies testified that the promised land was just as God had said. It was a land flowing with milk and honey—with provision. All they had to do was dispossess the former occupants and take up residence. But fear caused them to see themselves as unable. The Bible says they refused to enter the promised land. They were well able, but they refused.
Joshua and Caleb tried to reason with their brothers in Numbers 14:9: “Do not rebel against the Lord, nor fear the people of the land becausethey are bread for us. Their defense is gone from them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them.”
Joshua and Caleb were radical. God said of Caleb he had a different spirit. He had a spirit of radical faith—and so do you. God has given you a measure of faith. Technically, you have all the faith you need right now to blast fear out of your way and obtain your promise. Many times, though, weariness from walking in the wilderness sets in and our faith grows weak.
Developing a Radical Faith Mindset
We need to intentionally develop radical faith by radical consumption of the Word of God. The Bible clearly says “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17).
Too many believers are on a Word diet or a Word fast when they need to feast on the Word and fast a few meals, fast some TV, fast some gossip. When I walk through battles against God’s promises in my life, I feed my spirit with the Word of God in any form I can find. I find specific verses, specific teachings and specific worship music that inspires faith in my heart.
Pray this prayer: Lord, I repent of seeing through the eyes of fear when you’ve given me the measure of faith. Forgive me for allowing the enemy to force is way into my life with his fear, unbelief and doubt. Father, help me to rise up with the measure of faith you’ve given me—that faith that moves mountains—and take the land you have allotted for me, in Jesus’ name!
Check out Jennifer’s brand-new Charisma House book, The Spiritual Warfare Battle Plan: Unmasking 15 Harassing Demons That Want to Destroy Your Life.
Readers are Leaders! Subscribe now and get 3 magazines for the price of 1. Get Charisma, Ministry Today and SpiritLed Woman all for $24. YES – Sign me up!
3 Reasons Why you should read Life in the Spirit. 1) Get to know the Holy Spirit. 2) Learn to enter God’s presence 3) Hear God’s voice clearly! Click here to draw closer to God!
(Photo: Reuters/Agencja Gazeta/Jacek Smoter)An image of Pope John Paul II is projected during a multimedia show a night before his canonization, in Krakow, Poland, April 26, 2014.
Christianity has an extensive and detailed history, with numerous events of lasting significance occurring throughout the ages.
Each week brings the anniversaries of notable milestones, tragedies, triumphs, and other events that have helped shape the world of today.
Here are just a few things that happened this week, Oct. 15-21, in Church history. They include the election of a famous pope, the completion of a prominent cathedral, and the destruction of a holy site.
Once you know the truth, you’ll be shocked you believed anything different. (Pixabay)
Have you ever noticed that most Christians think they are pretty decent people? You know, we have all those “good” things to our credit: going to church, tithing, giving offerings, teaching Sunday school. How could anyone think we are anything but wonderful?
I used to have this perspective about myself—until God gave me a revelation of my true nature. A few years ago, I could have enumerated several adjectives that I thought described me: loving, hardworking, honest, trustworthy. Now I know without a doubt that “in my flesh dwell[s] no good thing” (Rom. 7:18, KJV).
Like many believers, I was deceived. I thought my own efforts to live the Scriptures were keeping me straight. I didn’t realize that without God’s grace, I would be numbered among the worst of sinners.
One day at a birthday celebration I requested prayer, asking my friends to agree with me for a deeper revelation of God’s love. Much to my surprise, one of my friends prayed, “God, give her revelation of her sinfulness.”
That was not what I had been hoping for. I was asking God for a supernatural embrace—you know, one of those, “Jesus appeared in my room last night” types of experiences. I couldn’t see how acknowledging my own sinfulness fit in with that picture. Besides, I didn’t think I was that sinful!
A week later, I went to a friend’s house to use some of her reference books for research. While there, I did something—more out of idle curiosity than for any other reason—that constituted a serious invasion of her privacy. At first I wasn’t conscious of the magnitude of my trespass, but within moments the Holy Spirit overpowered me with conviction.
Never before or since have I had such an experience! My entire body from head to foot was consumed with holy fire, an intense inner heat almost impossible to bear. I was literally burning with shame.
Needless to say, I repented immediately. In the grip of that holy fire, I had no choice! But the lesson I learned went beyond promising “not to do it again.”
I saw that in myself, I had no personal integrity at all. I was not honest or trustworthy. Instead I was a product of my own sin nature, and without God’s grace, I would be lost. It was this grace alone that had given me the appearance of being “good.”
Suddenly, my friend’s birthday prayer made sense. There was no better way for God to increase my understanding of His great love for me than for Him to reveal my fallen nature—and remind me that in spite of it, Christ had given His life for me.
What extravagant love! The Bible tells us, “Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:7-8, NIV).
I am not a “good” person; neither are you. But God loves us, anyway. And as we continue to acknowledge our true condition, He will ensure that by His grace—not by our own efforts –we are transformed into the image of His Son.
Prayer Power for the Week of Oct. 8, 2017
In the wake of last week’s mass murders in Las Vegas, pray for those who suffered loss of loved ones, survivors, and those working around the clock to save lives and re-establish security. Continue to pray for our president as he faces the multiple challenges of the office. Ask God to give him wisdom and surround him with godly counsel. Remember those recovering from Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria and Nate as well as those in the gulf states bracing themselves for another storm. Continue to pray that revival fire would ignite in our nation, and bring salvation, restoration, love and unity. 2 Chron. 7:14
Readers are Leaders! Subscribe now and get 3 magazines for the price of 1. Get Charisma, Ministry Today and SpiritLed Woman all for $24. YES – Sign me up!
3 Reasons Why you should read Life in the Spirit. 1) Get to know the Holy Spirit. 2) Learn to enter God’s presence 3) Hear God’s voice clearly! Click here to draw closer to God!
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.
