Repent ye therefore, and be
converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing
shall come from the presence of the Lord (Acts 3:19)

It’s such a
blessing when believers come together in unity to worship the Lord. The Lord’s
presence in such an environment is uplifting and transforming; you’ll never
remain the same afterwards. Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here…..” (Matthew 17:4). He enjoyed
the Lord’s presence so much that he didn’t want to leave. This experience
transformed him forever. In fact, he referred to it many years later in his
letter to the churches (2 Peter 1:16-18).

The Bible
says, “The hills melted like wax at the
presence of the Lord, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth”  (Psalm 97:5). The power of God will become
more…

Stained glass at St John the Baptist’s Anglican Church http://www.stjohnsashfield.org.au, Ashfield, New South Wales. Illustrates Jesus’ description of himself “I am the Good Shepherd” (from the Gospel of John, chapter 10, verse 11). This version of the image shows the detail of his face. The memorial window is also captioned: “To the Glory of God and in Loving Memory of William Wright. Died 6th November, 1932. Aged 70 Yrs.” (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

And whatever ye do in word or deed,
do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by
Him. (Colossians 3:17).

The Lord
Jesus was born to be man’s legal representative to God, so He could bear the
penalty for sin on his behalf. He took upon Him the form of a servant and was
made in the likeness of men (Philippians 2:7). All that He did in the…

Jesus (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and
a light unto my path (Psalm 119:105).

Life is
filled with choices that can either make or mar you. At different stages of
life, you’re presented with different choices and to make such decision without
errors, you need proper guidance which only God’s Word can provide.

In John 1:9,
the Bible says the Word of God is the true Light. It’s the Sword of the Spirit
with which you pierce your way through the darkness of life. If the true Light
dwells richly in you, fear, defeat, failure, and all other results of darkness
won’t have any place in you. You won’t fear because the true Light will show
you that God has not given you the spirit of fear. You won’t be defeated
because you’ll see that greater is He that is in you…

Let the Word of Christ dwell in you
richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns
and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord (Colossians
3:16)

My greatest
desire in life is to know God more, for that’s where the glory is. With God’s
Word, I can be anything; go anywhere; have anything, and can do anything.

So, I challenge
you today; fill your heart with God’s Word. Let the desire and love to know God
more through His Word be your greatest driving force in life. Build your spirit
with the Word. This is the beginning of the second quarter of 2011, and if you
haven’t already started making lavish investments in getting you spirit
thoroughly built up by the Word of God, you must begin immediately. That’s what
will cause you to shine, not only…

So then faith cometh by
hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17).

The faith that works and produces result is the one that’s
based on God’s Word. Someone may say, “I’m very hopeful and confident about the
future; I’m optimistic that the miracle I’m expecting will come to pass!” as
beautiful as that may sound, it’s not faith. You must have the Word of God as
the basis for your believing and confession, for faith is based on God’s Word;
it’s the response of the human spirit to the Word of God.

Faith is expressed when you act on the Word. The Apostle Paul
expounded in the Book of Romans how Abraham demonstrated strong faith on the
basis of what God told him in Genesis 17:5 “……for
a father of many nations have I made thee” . hence the Bible says…

Image via Wikipedia

When your
alarm clock goes off in the morning do you wish you could just stay in bed? Do
your struggles and responsibilities weigh you down with frustration, boredom or
hopeless? If these sentiments describe the way you feel about life, then you
are not enjoying the fullness of life that Christ offers. He is not only our
saviour but also our burden-bearer. God wants you to have a much better life –
one that you enjoy! God will give you the ability to enjoy life, no matter what.

Here’s how you can enjoy your life

Notice God’s
gifts and thank Him for them. Make it a daily practice to thank God for each
new day when you wake up from bed.

Throughout
the day, keep your mind on the good things in your life for which you’re
grateful. Don’t forget to acknowledge basic blessings such as…

Stained glass at St John the Baptist’s Anglican Church http://www.stjohnsashfield.org.au, Ashfield, New South Wales. Illustrates Jesus’ description of himself “I am the Good Shepherd” (from the Gospel of John, chapter 10, verse 11). This version of the image shows the detail of his face. The memorial window is also captioned: “To the Glory of God and in Loving Memory of William Wright. Died 6th November, 1932. Aged 70 Yrs.” (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Then He called His twelve disciples
together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure
disease. And He sent them to preach the Kingdom of God, and to heal the sick
(Luke 9:1-2)

God wants us
to pray with faith, boldness and the expectation that what we decree in prayer
will come to pass. He has given us the authority in the Name of Jesus to issue
decrees with daring audacity and have…

Behold, I have indelibly imprinted
(tattooed a picture) you on the palms of each of my hands……(Isaiah 49:16 AMP).

There’re
some Christians who upon hearing other people testimonies of God’s faithfulness
wonder if God has forgotten them, and ask “O
God, what about me?” The Lord has not and will never forget you, for He
says, “See, I have tattooed your name
upon my palm……”(Isaiah 49:16 TLB). So, don’t give up, help is on the way!

God isn’t
partial; He’s not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which you
have showed towards His name (Hebrews 6:10). He’s a rewarder of those that
diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6). Therefore all you need do is trust Him;
keep acting your faith and remain faithful and diligent in your service to Him.

He may not
respond when you want Him to but…

And I will pray the Father, and He
shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever (John
14:16).

Some Christians
think the Holy Spirit sometimes goes on a break, or takes a recess just because
at such times they didn’t “feel” His presence. You don’t have to “feel” God to
know that He’s with you. Rather, you ought to know that He’s with you always,
because the Word says so. Jesus said, “…….and,
lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen” (Matthew
28:20). He didn’t say, “I’m with you only
when you can “feel” that I am.” Many have reduced their experience of Christianity
to the carnal realm of feeling, and that’s so wrong, for we walk by faith and
not by sensory perceptions (2 Corinthians 5:7).

But you
might want to ask, “What if someone…

God is a
giver; therefore everyone that must function at His level must inculcate the
giving mentality. One reason some folks in the Body of Christ experience
challenges in their lives is that they haven’t imbibed a giving attitude. Make
up your mind and purpose in your heart to imbibe a giving culture. That’s when
you’ll discover the essence, beauty and glory of Christianity. God’s manifold
blessings belong to givers; not takers!

There’s
nothing wrong with receiving, but God says it’s more blessed to give than to
receive. The person who gives is higher than the one that receive. The person
who gives is higher than the one that takes. Don’t be “taking” conscious;
rather, become “giving” conscious!

When you
understand what true Christianity is, you’d realize that life is about giving.
You’d discover that the reason God blesses you is so you can be a…

2 kings
4:8-37 narrates the inspiring story of a Shuna-mmite wowan. Whenever the
Prophet Elisha went to shunem, he stayed in her house. However, this woman and
her husband didn’t have any child. When Elisha discovered this, he told her to
expect a son, and in due course, she had a son.

Trouble
struck few years later when the child died, but the woman knew what to do. She
quickly dashed off to the Prophet Elisha with only one declaration on her lips,
“It is well”. Though there was a problem, she kept affirming that all was well.
She had an expectation, and she held on to that expectation even when it seemed
impossible; she kept on declaring it until she got it.

Just as this
woman did, you have to look at your situation through the eyes of your spirit.
1 Corinthians 15:57-58 says, “…..thanks

If you want a harvest of crops from your seed, you must sow
in a fertile ground. A good farmer wouldn’t sow his seed just anywhere. He’s
trained to cultivate the soil so his seed can produce much harvest. The Lord
Jesus likened the heart of man to the soil in the parable of the sower in Mark
4:2-8. In the same vein, if you want the Word of God to produce results in your
life, you must prepare your heart to receive the Word.

The first thing you must do is, cultivate the ground of your
heart in readiness for the seed of the Word of God. The Bible says, “…….Break
up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns” (Jeremiah 4:3). This is done
by praying in other tongues.

When you pray in other tongues, you’re actually charging up
yourself (1…

Many of us, even though we’re believers, have seen grief and
sorrow as such a natural part of life that, we haven’t even questioned them. In
fact, if we’re honest, we’d have to admit there are times when we actually want
to feel sad and sorry for ourselves.

Why would we choose to feel sorrow? Because sorrow has an
emotional kick to it. It offers a surge of felling that, in the beginning
stages, is almost intoxicating.

But grief and sorrow are dangerous things. Several years ago
God showed me that they’re not the innocent emotions we’ve thought they were.
The force behind these emotions are actually spirit beings sent by the devil
himself to kill, steal and destroy.

They are a part of the devastating, satanic barrage Jesus
took on Himself when He died on the Cross (Isaiah 53). He bore grief and
sorrow…

A rich man ran to Jesus one day, knelt down before Him and
asked, “….Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?”(Mark
10:17). The Lord told him to sell everything he had, give to the poor and be
His disciple. The Bible says, “…he (the rich man) was sad at the saying, and
went away grieved; for he had great possessions” (Mark 10:22). The problem
wasn’t that he had great possessions nor was it that Jesus didn’t want him; for
the Bible did tell us that Jesus loved him (Mark 10:21). He was bound by his
wealth and possessions. He couldn’t be the thirteenth disciple because he
couldn’t release what he had.

To be a disciple takes one very essential quality: you must
be a giver. The disciples of Jesus were givers. The disciples were also wealthy
men, for they were…

Man is hopelessly lost until he receives God’s Word (2
Corinthians 4:3-4). The Word of God is the true light (John 1:9). This is the
light that you need to find your way through life. You see, the world is
pervaded by darkness and until you recognize the Word as the true Light, you’ll
continue to grope in life.

Fear, confusion, poverty, disease and death are all forms of
darkness. They all originated from the same source, the devil, who is himself
darkness. The reason many people fall by the way side in life is that they
didn’t have the light to go through the darkness of life and there was no light
for them to navigate, so they fell and plunged themselves deeper into darkness.

When you get a hold of the Word of God, your path becomes
illuminated and you’re able to find your…

Image via Wikipedia

How many times do we have to miss God’s blessings because they are not packaged as we expected.

A married lady was
expecting a birthday gift from her husband. For many months she had admired a
beautiful diamond ring in a showroom, and knowing her husband could afford it,
she told him that was all she wanted. As her birthday approached, this lady awaited
signs that her husband had purchased the diamond ring.

Finally, on the morning of her birthday, her husband called
her into his study room. Her husband told her how proud he was to have such a
good wife, and told her how much he loved her. He handed her a beautifully –
wrapped gift box.  Curious, the wife
opened the box and found a lovely, leather – bound Bible, with her name
embossed in gold. Angrily, she raised her voice…

To glow means to radiate light or heat or both. The Bible
tells us that there’s a spiritual glow about the children of God. That radiance
of divine energy is sparked off by the presence of the Holy Spirit and can be
seen on the believer. This means, you’re not empty for there’s power inside
you; you actually radiate some divine energy from within you into your world.

When your spirit is aglow with the power of God you’ll be
able to influence people around you for Jesus. However, one of the devil’s
strategies is to neutralize that radiance of the Spirit. He’ll stop at nothing
until he has dowsed your fire and stopped your influence in your environment. Since
he couldn’t stop you from coming to Christ, he’ll work to ensure you join the
“Silent Majority”. The “silent majority” are those…

Prosperity is spiritual, progress in life is spiritual as
well and these two don’t happen by chance or by coincidence. You prosper and
make progress when you’re connected with God; that divine contact is all you
need. One of the ways to make this contact or connection is through
partnership.

God loves partnership. In fact, He designed partnership. He
initiated the first partnership ever recorded, in the Garden of Eden, when He
created man to have dominion over the rest of His creation. We’re still in
partnership with Him today. Romans 8:17 says that He has made us joint heirs
together with Christ and He further called us “…..partakers of the divine
nature….” 2 Peter 1:4.

“God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ Our
Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:9).in other words, God has called us…

There is therefore now no
condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit (Romans 8:1)

According to
Pastor Chris Oyakhilome “I encountered a Christian woman recently who, on
account of certain misfortune she suffered over a period of time, came to the
conclusion that her predicament was the result of a curse. She wanted to know
from me if it was possible for a Christian to be under a curse. I explained to
her from the Word that a Christian can’t be under a curse because the Bible
says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, that if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation,
superior to satan; and so cannot be under a curse”.

A Christian
is called to inherit a blessing and not a curse (1Peter 3:9). This was the
promise of God

Howbeit when He, the Spirit of Truth,
is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself,
but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will shew you things
to come (John 16:13)

One of the
things you must do throughout this year is to yield to the Holy Spirit and
follow His guidance and counsel in all your dealings. No other personality in
this life is worth following but the Holy Spirit. He’s the greatest friend and
teacher you could ever know; he’s the One called alongside to go with you, and
to be with you and in you! He’s the One who guides you into all truth and
brings His Word to your remembrance.

Following
the Holy Spirit means yielding yourself to Him through the Word of God. You
cannot follow the Holy Spirit…