Why Not Rejoice in Your Tribulation?

Text: James 1:2,
James 1:2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
Also Romans 5:3 says ”And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;

Study: The very moment a person surrenders to Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, the devil become annoyed. While the devil and his agents are unhappy, the angels in heaven continue to rejoice. Satan the devil will try all means to bring that Christian to ruin. Why because the Bible clearly states in 2 Corinthians 5:17 saying that ”Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

This declaration makes Satan to be uncomfortable because he lost the person from his dark kingdom.
One of the best moments of every child of God is the day he or she became born again. It is a day when your heart is glad and rejoices because you are saved by Jesus Christ for eternal life so that you can have fellowship with the Father and be called a child of God.

During the course of your relationship with God, you will go through tribulations. There are many of them, and they are unique to every child of God; it is a training that God gives His children so that they can be empowered to endure the difficult times in life. This is exactly what Jesus Christ went through after He was baptized by John the Baptist.

The Bible informed us that immediately Jesus was baptized, the Spirit of God descended upon Him like a dove and lighting upon Him saying this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.

Satan on hearing this pronouncements upon Jesus Christ, came to tempt Jesus Christ in other to see to Jesus down fall Jesus never fell.

Find a way to rejoice in the midst of the tribulations because of what they will produce in you. They will produce patience, experience, and hope in you. Patience, experience, and hope will then defeat all forms of shame in your life, and you will be a better person for God to use to bless the rest of the world. Praise the Lord.

Prayer: Almighty Father, you alone can give life and protection. Enable us with your divine grace to overcome this untoward tribulations pestering our lives in Jesus name Amen

Be of Good Courage

Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. Joshua 1:9 (KJV)

Devotion: Embracing the LORD’s boldness makes success inevitable. Anxiety, fear, and doubt are products of the fallen nature of mankind. These are the spirits that war against our faith in the Lord. Moses passed the leadership baton to Joshua before his death but Joshua could not immediately take up his responsibility because of discouragement. This was the strategy the enemy adopted to stop them from reaching the Promised Land. God came on the scene on two occasions to encourage and strengthen Joshua before he was able to gather courage to lead the Israelites to the Promised Land. As a Christian, God wants you to start this month well, therefore, He is asking you to be strong and courageous.
Hebrews 13:5 says ”Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee”.

God is with you and will never forsake you. Since He is with you wherever you go, your victory is guaranteed. Have faith in His Word and walk in it to make this month your month of blessings, breakthroughs, and miracles.

No matter the travails of life, Be Courageous and have the stern belief that God is always there for you.

Prayer
Almighty and every Father, I put all my trust in you. Give me the spirit of courage to overcome challenges in Jesus Mighty Name Amen.


You Need the Word

Text: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men.  And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” John 1:1-5 (KJV)

Devotion: Knowing that the Word is what you need puts an end to every form of lack. The Word of God is God; it had been with God from the beginning (Genesis 1:1).

Beloved, the Word of God knows your beginning and your end. It is the most essential thing you need to succeed in life. It has life to sustain you, light to direct you, and power to overcome all forces of darkness that seek to wage war against you. Everything in the world, including you as a human being, was created by the Word of God. It means, therefore, that as a child of God you can use the Word of God to get whatever you need.

The Word of God is Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ is the light of the world that shines in the life of every Christian. In John 8:12 ”Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life”. Also in Matthew 5:14 Jesus said to His disciples ”Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid”. This simply means that whoever that accept Jesus Christ as Lord and saviour will no longer walk in darkness but the light will shine upon him/her.

Brethren, Do you apply the word of God as necessary? To effectively and efficiently apply the word of God, you need to search the Scriptures to find the Word that has the solution to your needs and speak them continually in faith, and the Holy Spirit will bring it to pass in your life. Proverbs 25:2 says ”It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter”. It is our duty as Christians to search for the word of God continually to enhance our spiritual nourishment and growth.

Also 2 Timothy 2:15 admonished us saying ”Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth”. Do you often study the word of God?

We should therefore not lose hope in the Word; be patient in faith and you will see the mighty hand of God in your life. Praise the Lord!

Prayer Point : My dear Father, thank You for Your undiluted Word. I’m excited to hear that it has everything I need to make life meaningful. As I begin to search Your Word, please lead me to find all the scriptures that minister to my needs. And as I declare them in faith, thank You for bringing them to pass for me to testify to others that Your Word really works, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Be Lead by the Word to Overcome

Text: Matthew 4:1 -11

Devotion
Let me start by saying what was recorded in 2 Timothy 2:15 which says ” Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth”. This portion of the Bible is simply encouraging us Christians to continuously study the word of God to enable us spiritual nourishment and understanding to declare the word in our lives. Studying the word will also make us understand God better and do according to His ways.

It is interesting to note that the solution to overcoming temptation is the word of God in you. Our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ overcame the devil with the written word which He declared. This is an indication that there is power in the spoken word of God. Jesus Christ, our Lord. knows the word and quoted it to overcome the devil: that’s why He told the devil “It is written”.
      
It is not enough to know the Word of God in our heart but to use it as a weapon of warfare. Ephesians 6:17 says ”And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. The Bible is admonishing us here that it is not enough to have the sword in the sheath; it must be drawn and wielded to fight the enemy. So it is imperative to quote the word in every situation. No wonder John 6:63 says “The word that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.”

This means that when the word of God is quoted, it moves to accomplish the purpose for which it was spoken. According to Isaiah 55:11, the Bible says, “So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish that I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

Dear beloved, how much of the word do you know? Do you make use of it to overcome the devil?The word must be heard, read, studied, meditated upon, memorised, spoken or quoted at all times. The word of God has given us a leeway in  John 5:39 saying, “Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life and they are they which testify of me.” So it is our duty as Christians to search, declare and testify His goodness in our lives with the word to surmount challenges seen and unseen that comes our ways.

As children of God who have vowed to carry out His will in our lives, how much do you apply the Word? It is a call for revival of our mind and soul in the things of God. Remember, the Bible told us in Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

In conclusion, our minds must be transformed towards the word of God. As this will enable us to stand firm to declare the word at all times. All we need do is to request the Holy Spirit to teach us accordingly.

PRAYER: Oh Lord, let your Holy Spirit teach me your Word so that I can boldly use it to defeat the enemy in Jesus Mighty Name Amen.

Be Vigilant as a Christian

Text: 1 Peter 5:8 (KVJ)
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour’

Devotion : We are indeed living in an untoward generation backed up with iniquities manifested through agents if satan. From the text, we understand that the adversary is referred to as the devil.

An adversary is someone who always takes the opposing position, in other words, an opponent or an enemy. The devil is described as an opposition, opponent, and an enemy. He has nothing good in him and will never do good. He seeks people who are vulnerable to destroy them through hypocrisy and deception.

As Christians, we must understand that the devil is a spirit and can only manifest in his enslaved agents. A lot of people have yielded to become agents of Satan knowing and unknowingly. A person become an agent of satan if he or she exhibit the works of flesh as recorded in Galatians 5:19-21. Anyone that exhibit any of these have no place in the kingdom of God.

The only way a believer in Christ Jesus can outwit satan is to be sober and vigilant. Soberness and vigilance must go together to identify the operations of the devil and his cohorts of darkness.

According to the advanced learners dictionary, vigilant simply means wakeful, watchful, carefully observant or attentive; on the lookout for possible danger.

A Christian should understand that the world is full of evil. No wonder Apostle Paul warned in Ephesians 6:12 saying ‘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’.

Also Ephesians 5:15-16 admonished ‘Walk in Wisdom
See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil’. The days are indeed evil based on daily happenings we see and hear from both the print and electronic media. We hear of killings all over the place by those who are anointed by principalities, powers, rulers of darkness and spiritual wickedness in high places.
It is also glaring that the youths have derailed from the path of righteousness towards the kingdom of darkness. People are pursuing wealth without wanting to do genuine work for a living.

Salvation preaching is fast fading from the churches and the devil has taking the mind of genuine Christians. Oh what an untoward generation. Parents are now borrowing money to buy android phones for their children to enter yahoo schools. The youth are now going extra miles in getting involved in money rituals by killing their fellow humans. Oh what a perverse generation.

Churches are now turned to business centres with continuous measures of seeking for money instead of fulfilling the evangelistic mandate given by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. In Mark 16:15 Jesus said to them, “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He never said go ye and preach the nonsense we are seeing these days.

Christians need to be vigilant because our saviour forewarned in St. Matthew 24:24 saying ‘For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect’.

Christians must therefore shun sleepiness, dull-mindedness, drunkenness, ignorance, and prayerlessness to overcome the adversary.

Let us therefore Put on the whole armour of God, that we may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

Prayer
Almighty and everlasting Father, we thank you because you are omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent God. We request you cloth us with your whole armour and endow us with the spirit of discernment to identify the activities of the agents of satan. In Jesus Mighty Name Amen.