Topic: Live Local, Think Global [Monday September 4, 2017]

Every one of us live in a local settings but in other to make global impact we must think global.

Our individual bodies are confined to certain locality per time but our minds must be free to travel globally by continuous intercourse of our mind with the global world.

You cannot succeed at using common sense to carry out special duties.

If you must go global, think global.

If you must make global impact, reach out for global knowledge. Job.36:3

Local knowledge will limit you to local impact.

Stretch forth for deeper knowledge to spread wider in effect.

Topic: Hated By The World — Monday September 4, 2017.

Text: John 15:18-27

Key Verse: “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (John 15:19).

George Atley was killed while serving with the Central African Mission. There were no witnesses, but the evidence indicates that Atley was confronted by a band of hostile tribesmen. He was carrying a fully loaded, 10-chamber Winchester rifle and had to choose between shooting his attackers which negates the work of the mission in that area, or not to defend himself and be killed.

When his body was later found in a stream, it was evident that he had chosen the latter. Nearby lay his rifle — all 10 chambers still loaded. He had made the supreme sacrifice, motivated by his burden for lost souls and his unswerving devotion to his Saviour. Christ, from the text, told His disciples that the world would hate them because it hated Him. The world, from His description here, is a system set to oppose Him because He testified against it.

The teachings of Christ and the Bible are at variance with the long held culture and traditions of the world; and since the world is under Satan’s influence and control, it acts against Christ and His followers. The world is unreasonably unjust considering the great works that has been done in it by Christ and His followers. It is paradoxical that the more good works Christ does in the world, the more it hates Him; which lends credence to the fact that the system was built to oppose Christ. As believers, we must be ready to receive our own share of hatred by the world once we pitch our tent with Christ. The Comforter’s presence in us is an enabler in an otherwise hostile world.

The Holy Spirit will give us the boldness and courage to stand for the truth anywhere we’re called upon to give reasons for our faith. Through His divine presence, the Church will always overcome in spite of dungeon, fire and sword till Christ comes.

Thought for the day: The world is a system set to oppose Christ.

Bible Reading in one Year: Leviticus 12-14

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.

Topic: Enforce Your Victory — Monday September 4, 2017.

“Having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.” (Colossians 2:14 NIV)

It is vitally important that we have an understanding of what Christ did on the cross and what the victory he wrought on our behalf means to us. This is very vital so that we do not miss out on the significance of his death and resurrection. The word of God declares: “having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness…” Now, what does that mean? The word ‘canceled’, translated from the original Greek language, also means to wipe out or wash. Metaphorically, this connotes a removal or obliteration of whatever used to be. The phrase “our legal indebtedness” agrees totally with the scripture, as stated in Romans 3:23 (KJV) “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Every single one of us, prior to receiving redemption through Christ, were legal slaves and captives of sin. We had the overbearing weight of sin and eternal condemnation hanging over our heads, which empowered the devil to table accusations against us before the Father.

But Christ through his death has utterly destroyed everything that gave the enemy a legal hold over our lives. By the reason of the price that he paid on the cross of Calvary, the enemy can no longer bring any accusation whatsoever against you before God. In fact, he has no case against you. You have been discharged, acquitted, the case is closed, and there’s no appeal! That tells you that you have total victory. So you are fighting from the point of total victory. In other words, it is not that you are going to be victorious, you are already victorious. Rise up with this understanding and enforce your victory in every area of your life.

Further Reading: Colossians 2:13-15, Ephesians 2:15-17

Daily Bible Reading: Morning- Psalms 143-145; Evening- 1 Corinthians 14:21-40

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: The Product of Knowing God [Monday September 4, 2017]

Scripture: And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits. Daniel 11:32.

Thought For The Day: To know God is to know power.

Knowing what it takes to see Divine proofs in our lives is very important. This is because even though God is Omnipresent, He does not just work everywhere for everyone. God only works when there is a synergy between the possibilities of God and the responsibilities of man.

Previously, we have identified the knowledge of God as one of the secrets of seeing Divine proofs.

Now, a major product or result of knowing God is doing exploits on earth. The knowledge of God is the fuel for exploits in life.

Exploits are attention-commanding, impact-making, and record-setting results. Those who command proofs of Divine activity can never be strangers to God. Casual knowledge of God can never produce spiritually impactful and powerful results in life.

To know God is to know power. Those who know God do not beg for power-producing proofs or exploits. To know the ways of God is to command His acts

So, the difference between men on earth is their varying degree of the knowledge of God; if you know about God what others do not know about Him, you will see what others cannot see.

The knowledge of the ways of God through His Word makes a person to end as a commander of His acts. The knowledge of God is a doorway to Divine proofs and exploits.

Remember this: To know God is to know power.

Assignment(s):

1. Endeavour to increase your knowledge of God.

2. Make demands on divine proofs and exploits.

Prayer: O LORD, I ask for a deep hunger to know You more intimately. I make demands on Your power to produce attention-commanding exploits in my life, LORD, in Jesus’ Name.

FOR FURTHER UNDERSTANDING, GET THIS MESSAGE: DIVINE PROOFS – THE SECRETS.

Amazing Fact: During your lifetime, you’ll eat about 60,000 pounds of food, that’s the weight of about 6 elephants!

Today In History: 04/09/1609 – English navigator Henry Hudson began exploring the island of Manhattan.

Daily Reading: Ecclesiastes 7:1 to 9: 18, 2 Corinthians 7:8 to 16, Psalm 48:1 to 14, Proverbs 22:17 to 19.

Quote: The more of God you know, the more like Him you become. Culled for 365 WISDOM CAPSULES by Dr Paul Enenche

Dunamis International Gospel Centre (DIGC), is a powerfully anointed church, headquartered at Abuja, Nigeria, with Dr Paul and Becky Enenche, as the Senior Pastors. It is a power-packed arena where God’s Presence, Principles and Power are at work for the salvation, healing and restoration of human destinies and dignities.

Topic: Stepping into Strength — Monday September 4, 2017.

Read: 1 Chronicles 16:11–18, 28–36, Bible in a Year: Psalms 143–145; 1 Corinthians 14:21–40

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. Colossians 4:2

“Will we see any snakes?”

Allan, a young boy in our neighborhood, asked that question as we started on a hike by the river near our home.

Prayer imparts the power to walk and not faint. Oswald Chambers

“We never have before,” I answered, “but we might! So let’s ask God to keep us safe.” We paused, prayed together, and kept walking.

Several minutes later my wife, Cari, suddenly took a quick step backward, narrowly avoiding a poisonous copperhead partially coiled on the path ahead. We waited as the snake left the trail, giving it a wide berth. Then we paused and thanked God nothing had happened. I believe that through Allan’s question, God had prepared us for the encounter, and our prayer was part of His providential care.

Our brush with danger that evening brings to mind the importance of David’s words: “Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always” (1 Chron. 16:11). This advice was part of a psalm celebrating the return of the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem. It recounts God’s faithfulness to His people in their struggles throughout history, reminding them to always praise Him and “cry out” to Him (v. 35).

What does it mean to “seek [God’s] face”? It means we turn our hearts toward Him in even the most mundane moments. Sometimes our prayers are answered differently than our asking, but God is faithful come what may. Our Good Shepherd will direct our paths and keeps us in His mercy, strength, and love. May we declare our dependence on Him.

Prayer imparts the power to walk and not faint. Oswald Chambers

Insight:

Recall an occasion when you sought “God’s face,” when you “look[ed] to the Lord and his strength” (1 Chron. 16:11). What caused you to call and depend on God? How did the Lord respond to you?

This message was written By James Banks [Our Daily Bread Ministries.]

Topic: Let God Be Glorified [Monday September 4 2017]

And Jesus went forth…moved with compassion…and he healed their sick…. And great multitudes came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus’ feet; and he healed them: Insomuch that the multitude wondered, when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see: and they glorified the God of Israel. – Matthew 14:14; 15:30-31

Religious tradition says that God gets glory when we bear up nobly under the agony of sickness and disease. But that’s not what the Bible says. It says God gets glory when the blind see and the lame walk and the maimed are made whole!

In India or Africa where people haven’t been taught those kinds of religious traditions, when someone stands up and announces, “I come to you as a messenger from the Most High God,” people believe what he has to say. When they hear that Jesus, the King of kings, shed His blood for them; when they hear that He’s sent His messenger to tell them that He’ll deliver them from sin and sickness and death today, they get excited. They don’t argue with the Word of God. So you know what happens?

People begin to get healed. People start throwing away their crutches and flinging off their bandages! When we learn to hear the Word of God like that, the same thing will happen to us. God is no respecter of persons. His Word works for everyone. It’s how we receive it that makes the difference!

Scripture Reading: Acts 17:1-11

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.

Topic: God’s Grace Fills Us With Great Joy and Hope — Monday September 4, 2017.

Text: Romans 5:1-2 (Living Bible)
So now, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith in his promises, we can have real peace with him because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. For because of our faith, he has brought us into this place of highest privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to actually becoming all that God has had in mind for us to be.

In the King James Version, verse 2 of our text above says, “ by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” Because of what Christ has done for you, you are standing in the grace of God. Our text describes the grace of God as a place of “highest privilege.” You are blessed among men and women and you are highly favoured by God.

By all Christ did for you, He brought you into a standing of blessing and great favour before God. As a result, God’s expectation from you is that you confidently look forward to the manifestations of His love and grace. You are God’s beloved and because of Christ, God is going to do great and unimaginable things in your life that will cause people to praise Him for how powerful His grace is, Eph.1:6. People are going to thank God for His grace flowing through you into their lives, 2 Cor.4:15.

If when you were God’s enemy, God freely gave you Jesus (His best gift), what would He possibly withhold from you now that you are His beloved child standing in His grace? In the same way God did not withhold Jesus from you, right now there is nothing He will not freely grant you, Rom.8:32. Eyes have not seen, ears have not heard and minds have not imagined the things that God has in store for you, 1Cor.2:9. So rejoice and be exceedingly glad, child of God. Let your heart be filled with hope. Expect God’s glory and favour today. You will become and receive everything that God has in mind for you.

Faith Declaration: I am standing in God’s grace and I am joyfully expecting God to manifest His power and glory in my life today.

Bible In A Year Reading Plan: Psalm 143-145; 1 Corinthians 14:21-40

Empowered to do exploits…

CGMI Above Only Daily Devotional, was written by Most Rev. M.E. Benson-Idahosa, Archbishop of Church of God Mission International, CGMI.

Topic: The Greatest Work of Christ — Monday September 4, 2017

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. — Ephesians 6:12

Jesus worked all His life. But the greatest work that Jesus did was not in the carpenter’s shop, nor even at the marriage feast of Cana where He turned the water into wine. The greatest work that Jesus did was not when He made the blind to see, the deaf to hear, the dumb to speak, nor even the dead to rise.

The greatest work that Jesus did was not when He taught as One having authority, or when He scathingly denounced the Pharisees for their hypocrisy. The greatest work that Jesus did was not in the great ethical program He presented to mankind—that program which has become the foundation for Western culture. What, then, was His greatest work? His greatest work was achieved in those three dark hours on Calvary. Christ’s greatest work was His dying for us.

Prayer for the day: The battles of life must be faced, but I know they will not be faced without You, my heavenly Father.

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: God’s New Creation – Monday September 4, 2017.

John 12:23 “And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.”

Text: John 12:20-23

Philip and Andrew had just brought word to Jesus that certain Greeks or Gentiles were seeking Him at the feast. He had ministered to other Gentiles, but this is the first time that the Gentiles came specifically to seek Him instead of what He could do. Apparently, this was an added signal to Jesus that His time had come and that He could no longer confine His ministry to only the Jews. Therefore, He made statements about His death and glorification, that would break down the middle wall of partition between the Jew and the Gentile.

There was a physical wall of partition that symbolized this division in the Jerusalem temple. The Gentiles could come into a designated area of the temple known as the court of the Gentiles, but a stone wall, about five feet high, stopped them from going further. A sign standing before the wall stated, “No man of another nation is to enter, and whosoever is caught will have himself to blame for his death!”

Many regulations and rules separated Jews and Gentiles for centuries. Christ’s work on the cross abolished that separation by removing the law and thus removing the barrier between these two groups. Instead of changing the Gentiles into Jews or the Jews into Gentiles, God made a brand new creation.

It’s like crossing a horse and a donkey. The result is not a horse or a donkey, but a brand new animal called a mule.

In the New Testament church there is no such thing as Jew or Gentile, bond or free, for God has created something absolutely new. It’s the “one new man,” the new creation in Christ Jesus, the church, Christ’s body, the fullness of Him, that filleth all in all (Eph. 1:23). Remember who you are “in Him.”

This message was written by The Association of Related Ministries International (ARMI) is an extension of Andrew Wommack Ministries (AWM). ARMI is a unique partnership committed to providing resources to help like-minded ministers succeed in a spirit of excellence and to draw from the experience and expertise of both the AWM and Charis Bible College staff. (www.awmi.net).

Topic: Diversity Of Gifts But The Same Spirit [Monday 4, September 2017]

Memorise: “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:” – Ephesians 4:12

Read: 1 Corinthians 12:1-7

1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.

2 Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led.

3 Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.

4 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.

5 And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.

6 And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.

7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.

Bible In One Year: Ezekiel 31-32. Hymn: Sing Hymn 12

MESSAGE:

God in His infinite wisdom has deliberately endowed men and women, young and old, with special gifts and abilities for the work of the ministry. Therefore these gifts, in the service of God should not viewed as secular only, but as a spiritual assignment that requires spiritual backing to ensure success. Children of God should also view their gifts and special abilities as deliberate endowments from God for the primary purpose of promoting the work of the ministry. 1 Corinthians 12:7 says:

“But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.”

I pray that your service in the House of God will be a blessing to the Body of Christ and will be profitable to God in Jesus’ Name. I am thankful to God for how far he has used my skills, education and talents; I also pray that my service will bring maximum profit to the Kingdom of God in Jesus’ Name. What about you?

Prayer Point: Father, please pour Your Spiritual gifts upon me and use me for Your glory in Jesus’ Name.

Open Heavens Daily Devotional for Teen’s guide was written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, one of the largest evangelical church in the world and also the President of Christ the Redeemer’s Ministries.