Sunday Mornings

One thing that we must be careful of in our walk with God is a déjà vu experience. Moses encountered one in his wilderness journey with the Israelites and the way he handled it cost him entrance into the promise land. Then all the congregation of the children of Israel set out on their journey from the Wilderness of Sin , according to the commandment of the LORD, and camped in Rephidim; but there was no water for the people to drink. Exodus 17:1 This was the first time Moses was encountering this challenge, so he took it to God and God answered: And the LORD said to Moses, "Go on before the people and take with you some of the elders of Israel. Also take in your hand your rod with which you struck the river, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall STRIKE THE ROCK, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink." And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. Exodus 17: 5&6 Moses did as the LORD had com...

And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13 There are many passages that tell us that seeking God is not a futile venture. It is not a journey that is aimless. Jeremiah 29:14a say: I will be found by you, says the LORD. God has actually brought Himself to divine proximity with us and urged us in Isaiah 55:6 Seek the LORD while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. Some Christians however spend their whole life looking for God and never find Him. Could they have been looking for Him in the wrong place? Could they have been looking for Him the wrong way? Or was God hiding Himself from them? Isaiah 55:6 tells us that there is a time to seek God, and there is a season that He will not be near us. Sin is a great determinant of this. That is why the next verse clearly tells us to repent of our sins and come to God . It paints a picture that God has come to us today to be found by us-if we repent today. As II Corinthians 6:2 sa...

Today, we'll be looking at Romans 13:11‭-‬14 where we are charged to be on alert. This entails that we get out of the sleep of carnal security, sloth, and negligence; out of the sleep of spiritual death, and out of the sleep of spiritual deadness. Romans 13:11‭-‬14 MSG But make sure that you don’t get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. The night is about over, dawn is about to break. Be up and awake to what God is doing! God is putting the finishing touches on the salvation work he began when we first believed. We can’t afford to waste a minute, must not squander these precious daylight hours in frivolity and indulgence, in sleeping around and dissipation, in bickering and grabbing everything in sight. Get out of bed and get dressed! Don’t loiter and linger, waiting until the very last minute. Dress yourselves in Christ, and be up and abo...

"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly." Matt 11: 28-30 (MSG) In the midst of our busy schedule for the day and week, can we just take out quality time to assess our lives and achievements. In terms of our prospects in life and the efforts we are putting in place to achieve them; there is a question that should be answered today - are you tired? Even in the spiritual aspect of it, are you tired, worn out, or burned out? Does it seem that every concerted effort you make to be on par with God and His mandates always lead you back to the same spot (back to square one)? There is good news! Are you Tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Jesus is identif...

The boy Samuel was serving God under Eli's direction. This was at a time when the revelation of God was rarely heard or seen. (I Samuel 3:1, MSG) One thing that God must save His church from is [empty] routine. We must be deliberate to ensure that all functions and activities in church are under the supervision or direction of God. In the scripture for today we see a scenario where a lot of activities were going on in the temple of God. Every Sabbath day, there would be fellowship and a sermon would be given. It was always service as usual. But in the strict sense, God was not revealing Himself so often in those days. Which makes me wonder what they were doing in fellowship. On the part of Eli, he was always on the altar to give the sermon for the day but He was not hearing from God. For Samuel, Eli did not teach him how to hear from God, so he was serving God under Eli's direction-the only way he knew how. This is where we have to be careful when we are in a position of ch...

Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn. Matthew 13:24-30 We are all familiar with the parable of tares that Jesus told to illustrate the kingdom of God. A very intriguing parable and...

After these things the LORD appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go (Luke 10:1). Scriptures say that the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord (psalms 37:23). Have you found this to be true in your day to day life activities? Could this not mean that God is aware of everything that is happening to you and every step or progress you have made? And is indeed the one engineering them. For in Him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). God has always been a tactical master planner. The marvel of it is how he puts the son of men in the centre of His plan (some times in our ignorance). As a master planner that He is, guiding our steps must be to a definite end and not altogether arbitrary. And that is what it has pleased Him to shed light to in this week's devotional. He has set us as His forerunners! It is something that the likes of Daniel and Joseph understood that made them ...

Then He said, "Go and stand on the mountain before the LORD." And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice. So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. Suddenly a voice cane to him, and said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" (I Kings 19: 11-13). From a psychological point of view it is possible for a group of people to experience the same thing and give different reports . That is why a matter is established from the (cocurrent) testimonies of two or three witnesses. Suppose we all go for a church conference and on our return we were asked about the meeting, not everyone would give the sam...

For when we were still helpless , Christ died for the wicked at the time that God chose. It is a difficult thing for someone to die for a righteous person. It may even be that someone might dare to die for a good person. But God has shown us how much He loves us-It was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us. Romans 5: 6-8 It was arguably the greatest day in history. A day no one would forget in a hurry. The King's son was about to be executed. He was going to die for a good cause; not that he deserved to die or was guilty of a crime that warranted death, but he was going to die in the stead of several billions of people who deserved death. He would be their hero. Many years later, the people would sing "I'm alive today because the King's son died in my place. It should have been me, but there was a beautiful exchange." The stage was set. The King's son walked up to the execution chamber. But just before he entered, the biggest twist of the dram...

Yet I have reserved 7,000 in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him. I Kings 19:18 A couple of weeks ago, over 2.2 billion Christians celebrated the death and resurrection of Jesus in what is called Easter. That is a staggering 1/3 of the world population. Today we have the most number of people identifying with the body of Christ than any other generation. But the world is still in a mess. Corruption everywhere. Immorality is the order of the day. What could be the problem? I enjoin you to follow me through scriptures to see what God has to say about it. Elijah lived in a day as corrupt as ours. The temple of God was deserted and turned to a temple for idol worship. Everything was upside down. The evil of the day was beginning right from the palace to the populace. This made Elijah seemingly uncomfortable and he confronted the evil in his generation. He had just finished showing how powerful YHWH is by bringing fire down from heaven...

They even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on stretchers and bedrolls, hoping they would be touched by Peter’s shadow when he walked by. They came from the villages surrounding Jerusalem, throngs of them, bringing the sick and bedeviled. And they all were healed.  Acts 5: 15-16 (MSG) Surprisingly, the people were not instructed by the Apostles to lay the sick people by the road side. They just had a conviction that there was something in Peter that even his shadow could heal the sick. They had so much trust because they had seen the manifestation of the power of God through peter in the past. Going back, in Chapter 3, God’s power was demonstrated through Peter and John when a lame man was healed.  This singular act got attracted people to Solomon’s Porch where Peter made it clear that it wasn’t by their own power. Acts 3:12 (NIV) When Peter saw this, he said to them: “Fellow Israelites, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by ...

Text: Colossians 3  Dear Zach , How are you doing ? I myself ain't doing so well. The doctors say my condition will get better soon but either ways, I know I'll be fine, coz I guess it's not too early to go back home and rest. I hope this letter gets to you in good health. Am grateful for your support towards my treatment. God bless you richly in Jesus name. I am writing these as my words of encouragement to you on this Christian race. Sometimes it could get tiring, sometimes it could look dry. Yeah. But don't forget that God has raised you from death, so that you are alive with Christ. So, you should continue to look up. You should want more and more of the things that are in heaven, with Christ. Christ is sitting next to God, at his right side. Continue to think about things that are above. Do not think about things that are on the earth.   Think like that, because you have died. And now you are alive with Christ, who is united to God. God is keeping your life ...

...Then He said to another, "Follow Me." But he said, "LORD, let me first go and bury my father." Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God." And another also said, "LORD I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house." But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand on the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." Luke 9: 59-62 As believers, the one thing we share in common is a call. My call may be different from yours in the manner it came and in the details of the assignment, but there is not a believer out there that was saved to just roam the streets and eat and drink. In the appointed time God reveals to His children their purpose and that is the demand of heaven from your hand. In the grand scheme of God to execute His kingdom on earth (The Kings Business), that is the part you have to play. Today's passage teaches us a ...

... And he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. So he looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. Exodus 2:11‭-‬12 NKJV I remember a story of a man who was so poor he had nothing to eat. He took his son out with him to steal from a nearby farm so they could have something to eat. When they reached the farm, he told his son to stay on guard and to alert him if anyone was coming. As he was about to start plucking out the grains his son alerted him that someone was watching them. To his surprise when he asked where the person was in an attempt to plan a subtle escape, his son pointed up. Quite often we hide in our rooms, behind our desks, under our blankets perpetrating evil. Who exactly are we hiding from? Definitely not God (Heb. 4:13). At times we struggle with diverse challenges and seek help from places that just offer its mirage. He is not oblivious of your challenges, He doesn't see just to c...

When they had finished the days, as they returned, the Boy Jesus lingered behind in Jerusalem. And Joseph and His mother did not know it. Luke 2:43 The moment you give your life to Christ and accept Him as your LORD, you become a carrier of Jesus. Every believer must have this reminder in their subconscious-that a lot of things have changed and the sole reason is that there is a new Personality in them that they represent and carry everywhere they go, and so they cannot go everywhere especially where Jesus (whom they carried) would not go. They cannot do things they used to do before the way they did it because Jesus is now in the scene. Today’s passage shows us a practical example of what it means to be a carrier of Jesus. The text reads that (as far as Joseph and Mary were concerned), they had finished the days and it was time to return home; on the other hand we see that Jesus, who knows the thoughts of the Father and whose hobby is going about His Father’s business (vs 49...

Text: Heb . 11:34 "Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens." Today's topic is one I love sharing. It's my story. It about me and also something we all can relate to. Weakness! In my journey in life in Christ Jesus, I have come to discover times of ups and downs. Times when I feel like I can conquer the world and times I am not so much better than a baby needing care. Moments when the New creation in Christ Jesus has full expression in me and moments when it doesn't. Times when I can't imagine the taught of sin and times when I just can't do without looking the other way. Found out that in those low moments (times of weakness), there's normally a fight between my spirit and body for my soul. This doesn't mean I've lost my salvation. No!! Most times, I find my body winning this war; making me do things that go against my ...

Stay alert, be in prayer, so you don't enter the danger zone without even knowing it. Don't be naive. Part of you is eager, ready for anything in God; but another part is as lazy as an old dog sleeping by the fire. Mark 14:38 Beloved, it is a wonderful thing for us to be in 2018 AD; and to this, i say a Happy New Year to all the readers. It is a usual custom this season to be found at silent corners trying to recap how 2017 had been and looking forward to strict measures to practice now to make 2018 better. But b arely two weeks into the year and i could beat my chest that some of those strict measures have already been compromised as it has always been the case. It is because you are relying on the part of you that is lazy (the flesh) and not on the part of you that is ready for anything in God (the spirit). By flesh shall no man prevail! Zeal and determination will not help matters. The key is to be at alert and fervent in prayer. These are exercises of the Spirit and n...