Sunday Mornings

“those who come to me cannot be my disciples unless they love me more than they love father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and themselves as well.” Luke 14:26 ( GNB ). It will be shocking to know the group of people that Jesus was talking to in the verse of scripture that God is challenging our hearts with today. This on its own makes it a very sensitive matter that I feel everybody that is running this race of faith should be careful of. Luke 14:25 tells us that a large crowd was walking with Jesus, so he definitely was talking to the members of that crowd. The first issue that God will be bringing to us this week is the crowd syndrome. Most men that became heroes of faith that we refer to today in scriptures were never men of the crowd. They were not following Jesus in the crowd manner . It is very simple to be satisfied with the collective anointing in a crowd experience , and just because you are there, you benefit from heavenly out pouring, yet ...

“you are that man,” Nathan said to David. II Samuel 12:7a ( GNB ) Many times when we read the scriptures, it has no effect because we are not reading it as a medium through which God speaks to us as a man speaks with another man. We read the Bible like a regular novel. One of the potent ways that God speaks to us is via His written Word in scriptures. God’s Word is His comprehensive equipment for changing lives; meaning that God’s Word is for changing lives, but only at the point that you comprehend it. The Word of God was coming to David, and David was feeling that it was about a ‘certain man’, but through the help of God’s prophet, he was able to be corrected in his perception of the message. He got to know that he was that man. And God is pointing to us today, that it is us He is referring to on a daily basis when we study scriptures. The days of Abraham and Moses, and Paul are over. Reading about them, and just ending at knowing how thei...

“…In the same way your light must shine before people, so that they will see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:16 ( GNB ) What a responsibility on the head of every believer- to be a light. Light is only needed in darkness. Light makes a difference. The preceding verses, as illustrated in The Message Bible shows the depth of the responsibility more clearly. It is as though God is speaking emphatically to us, saying : “the place that you are is your “mountain”, the very mountain that I [the LORD] placed you on, what you are to do is just shine.” This mountain may include our intellect, our charisma, our beauty, our substance, our skills and talents, our place of work, our department, school, and so many to name; just anywhere you find yourself. It means that every place, and position that we find ourselves in (by God’s grace) is a strategic stand point that God has placed us, so that we can affect lives....

And He went on to say to them all, “watch out and guard yourselves from every kind of greed; because a person’s true life is not made up of the things he owns, no matter how rich he may be”. Luke 12:15 (GNB) Here goes a warning that our LORD was giving out to anyone who would care to listen. The same warning is coming to us today in our weekly devotion. This matter must have been so pressing on the LORD’s mind, as we can see from the stern warning that He was giving. So what was it about greed (or covetousness, as other bible versions put it)? To covet means to have a strong desire to possess something that belongs to somebody else; or to want to have something very much [Microsoft® Encarta® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation]. The more you think over this definition, the more you wonder why our LORD is giving a stern warning against it. Actually, the world defines a man by what he has. If a man is handsome, is a lady is beautiful, if a ma...