(Romans 1:11-12)

Your faith in Christ and His Word is helping someone.

Stay encouraged!

Your faith in Christ and His Word is comforting someone. Your faith is helping a friend.

Your faith is helping a family or colleague.

You may not know or even feel it.

Brother Paul’s comment is encouraging. Listen to it please- Romans 1:11-12

“Remember I yearn to come and be face-to-face with you and get to know you. For I long to impart to you some spiritual gift that will empower you to stand strong in your faith. Now, this means that when we come together and are side by side, something wonderful will be released. We can expect to be co-encouraged and co-comforted by each other’s faith!”

Be encouraged please.

Your faith brings strength to someone.

Stay encouraged.

(Hebrew 11:8-10; Isaiah 65:24)

Faith in Christ and His Word is an energiser for leaving the familiar for the unfamiliar and the known for the unknown

“By an act of faith, Abraham said yes to God’s call to travel to an unknown place that would become his home. When he left he had no idea where he was going. By an act of faith he lived in the country promised him, lived as a stranger camping in tents. Isaac and Jacob did the same, living under the same promise. Abraham did it by keeping his eye on an unseen city with real, eternal foundations—the City designed and built by God.”

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭11:8-10‬ ‭MSG‬‬

Believe God. Believe is Word.

Let us pray

Father I thank You for Your Word

Help me to prioritise Your Word above my feelings.

I empty myself of every doubt and I pray for fresh infilling on my soul, as I study Your Word.

Thank You Father for answering my prayers because Your says before I call, You will respond; whilst I am speaking, You will hear.

“Before they even call out, I will respond; while they are still speaking, I will hear.”

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭65:24‬ ‭NET‬‬

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen

(Matthew 9:1-4; Philippians 2:8-11)

A paralysed man, lying on a stretcher, was brought to Jesus when he got to his hometown.

Jesus saw their faith. I love the way The Passion Translation states it- “... When Jesus perceived the strong faith within their hearts, he said to the paralyzed man, “My son, be encouraged, for your sins have been forgiven.””

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭9:2‬ ‭TPT‬‬

Jesus saves

Jesus heals

Jesus delivers

Jesus has been given all power in heaven, in earth and under earth; and at the mention of His name, every knee and stronghold bows in submission.

“And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

‭‭Philippians‬ ‭2:8-11‬ ‭KJV‬‬

I pray that the Holy Spirit of God opens our spiritual eyes more and more to the power and blessings there are in Jesus’ name so that we can have full confidence and boldly call upon the name of Jesus with active faith.

In Jesus’ name. Amen

(Luke 15:11-21) It is a well-known story. A son born into wealth, who had servants and maids at his beck and call, told his father to give him his own portion of inheritance whilst the father was still alive.

He went to a far country and wasted his substance on riotous living. When famine struck the country of his sojourn, he joined himself to a “nameless citizen” of the country who sent him to feed swine.

The nameless citizen sent him to do what he would never do in his father’s house!

Let us relate this story to our relationship with God. We are God’s children and we have been given the right, authority and the power to become His sons.

God has planned to make us the partakers of His inheritance as long as we remain in the house.

Satan is implied in the story as ‘a nameless citizen’. His desire is to get God’s children to mix with swine and fill their bellies with junk; his goal is to get believers to go down to degradation.

At last, this son came to his senses and returned home in answer to the father’s prayer. The Bible records that when the father saw his son from afar, he was filled with love and compassion; he ran to his son, embraced and kissed him.

This clearly shows that the father had anticipated his lost son’s return.

How exciting to know that Jesus is interceding for us even when we disappoint Him. When we grieve Him by our thoughts and acts, He still intercedes for us. He loves us so much that He would not give up on us. God is willing to accept us the way we are.

Stay in the house so you can bask in Father’s presence.

If you have left, come back home. God is a compassionate and merciful God. He is waiting for you to enter into the repentance He made available for you in Christ. He has made a way for you to start a fresh life in and with Him.

Remember, stay in the house. If you have left, please come back home.

(Hebrew 12:1; Rom 10:8-9; Psalms 149:4)

My car was covered up in dust. It was dirty and not really good to behold. It had been left for couple of months unwashed.

I planned to take it to the Car Wash near my residential area but they were closed for maintenance. Unfortunately, the closure was extended due to the third lockdown.

Yippie! the car was finally washed. Shiny and beautiful to behold.

The Holy Spirit ministered to me using the car as an analogy.

A Christian living in sin or carrying unnecessary weights as the Bible says in Hebrew 12:1 could be likened to the car covered up in dust and dirty.

“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,”

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭12:1‬ ‭KJV‬‬

However, if he allows himself to be washed and cleaned by the Word of God, he will radiate the beauty of God. “For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭149:4‬ ‭KJV‬‬

The good news is that the Wash (the Word of God) is not far away and it can never be closed for maintenance.

The Word of God is near us. “But the Bible says: ‘God's message is near you. You can talk about it, and you can think about it.’ That is the same message that we are teaching to people. We tell people to believe in Jesus Christ. The message is this: You must say clearly that Jesus is the Lord. Also, you must believe deep inside yourself that God raised him to life again after his death. Then God will save you.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭10:8-9‬ ‭EASY‬‬

Release yourself to Father’s Word and His will so that you can experience, enjoy and bask in the beauty of God.

Let us pray

Father I thank You for Your Word that cleans and changes life.

I release myself to be clean and changed by Your Word, in Jesus’ name. Amen

( I John 3:1; John 3:16; Eph 2:4-7)

Today is about gratitude to God

Thank you Lord for Your mercy;

You did not give us what we deserve.

Thank you Lord for Your grace;

You gave us what we did not deserve.

You came and gave us Your life;

You graciously forgave us when we deserved death.

We deserved sickness;

but You were made sickness for us.

We deserved poverty;

but You gave us your riches.

Thank You Lord for Your riches of goodness and mercy in our lives.

I cannot thank You enough;

with a grateful heart I say thank You Lord

for loving us so much.

“Behold what manner of love the father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God...” (I John 3:1, NKJV)

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16, NIV)

“But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, 5 that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) 6 For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. 7 So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:4-7)

Cultivate Your Faith

(Ephesians 2:8; Matthew 8:12MSG; Isaiah 64:4)

Jesus was taken aback when a Roman captain whose servant was ill told Jesus to rather give an healing order instead of going to his house to heal his servant.

His faith in Jesus and His Word brings about his servant’s healing.

It is your faith that brings about your salvation and deliverance.

The more you use your faith, the more the grace of God on your life increases.

For by grace have we been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,”

Remember cultivate your faith in order to access the blessing God planned for you “...” since the beginning of the world men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen any God besides God, Who acts for the one who waits for Him.” Isaiah‬ ‭64:4‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

(Luke 4:1-13)

Jesus was famished. He was thirsty and tired. He had just concluded His forty-day fast.

Satan saw an opportunity to tempt Jesus because he could see how Jesus was feeling, I guess.

However, Jesus knows the wiles of Satan. Jesus stood on the Word of God to come against Satan’s evil plan.

Huge success it was! Jesus beat Satan to it!

Satan left Jesus disappointedly!

But wait! The Bible states that “When the devil had finished every temptation, he [temporarily] left Him until a more opportune time.”

‭‭Luke‬ ‭4:13‬ ‭AMP‬‬

Satan is always looking for opportune time to strike!

Stay alert!

Stay conscious of whose and who you are.

Take your position of communion.

Take your position of fellowship with the Lord, in studying.

Take your position of intimacy.

Take your position of authority in Christ.

(Romans 10:17; Phil 4:6-7)

A farmer grows seeds of corn with expectation to harvest abundant corn cobs. When he harvests he plans on expanding his field to have capacity for more. The farmer grows the corn seeds by exercising faith.

Spiritual growth only happens when faith is exercised. Keep nourishing your faith. Act on your faith. There is more to in Christ. There is more abundance God deposited in you. Exercise your faith for your spiritual growth.

Rom 10:17 states that “...faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” When you read the Word of God, remind yourself that you will put it into practice by exercising your faith.

For instance, if you are anxious about something, remember the Word of God in Philippians 4:6-7 that encourages you not to be “...be pulled in different directions or worried about a thing. But to “...be saturated in prayer throughout each day, offering your faith-filled requests before God with overflowing gratitude. Tell him every detail of your life, then God’s wonderful peace that transcends human understanding, will make the answers known to you through Jesus Christ.”

‭‭Philippians‬ ‭4:6-7‬ ‭TPT‬‬

Remember- your faith can only grow when exercised.

(John 7:5-8; John 8:21)

Jesus was encouraged by his brothers who didn't even believe in him to go to the annual feast of tabernacle in Judea. Jesus was discerning enough and sensitive to God's timing about his purpose on earth. He did not listen to them and remained in Galilee.

There will be open doors,

connections, opportunities for relationship or business, career or any desired choice.

May we be sensitive and not sentimental, not to give in to people's advise when we rather ought to wait and exercise patience.

Let’s pray

Lord I thank You for Your Word.

I confess and I know that You are my Help

Therefore, I thank You for gift of discerning so I can know when to receive or turn down opportunities that come my way.

In Jesus’ name. Amen