We are commanded in Scripture to always give glory to God for whatever possession we acquire, or position we attain.
He is the source of all good and perfect things. Therefore, this day, we join Mavin Sapp to say sincerely to The Most High, that we ‘Never would have made it’ without Him.
Enjoy!
Our God is a miracle working God. He is a God who does big and mighty things for His people.
Today, we sing of the Lord’s mighty ability to do ‘Big things’ in our lives even as we trust Him to work a miracle in our lives this season.
Sometimes it takes time and spiritual growth to learn how to put God’s love to work for you. We don’t grow up spiritually overnight.
You can’t put an adult head on a baby’s body, and sometimes it takes time to mature in love.
My brother Dub was a good example of that. It took him time to mature in love because of his upbringing. Dub was always big for his age. By the time he was six¬teen, he was 6 foot 4 inches tall.
But Dub grew up with a chip on his shoulder because he’d been orphaned and kicked from pillar to post. He wouldn’t take anything from anyone.
In fact, when he was a seventeen-year-old boy, I saw him whip four grown men.
But then Dub got saved. And, really, if you’d known where he’d come from, you would have known that something miraculous happened to him to change his nature.
But even though there was a dramatic change on the inside, sometimes he still had a hard time keeping his flesh under. He had to learn to mature in love, and really, he came a long way from his younger days.
But one time, for example, Dub was out in California, and he went into a little coffee shop. He was sitting at the counter, and he ordered something to eat.
When the waitress brought it to him, he bowed his head to pray before he ate. After he prayed, the fellow sitting next to Dub asked him where he was from. Dub said that he was from Oklahoma.
Then the man asked, “Do you know Oral Roberts?”
Dub said, “Well, I don’t know him personally, but I’ve shaken his hand.”
Well,” the fellow replied, “He’s a so-and-so,” and he called him a name.
Then the fellow asked, “Do you know Kenneth Copeland?”
“Yes,” Dub said. “I know him personally.”
“Well,” the fellow replied, “he’s another so-and-so.”
Then the fellow said, “Do you know Kenneth Hagin?”
Dub replied, “Yes, I do.”
The fellow said, “He’s another so-and-so.”
When the fellow said that, Dub knocked him off the counter stool. Then he picked him up and carried him outside.
The owner of the restaurant called the police, and when they got there, Dub was holding the fellow up against the building praying for him.
The police officer said, “What’s the matter?”
Dub said, “This man said my brother was a so-and-so. By saying that, he was calling my mother a dirty name too. No one talks that way about my family!”
The policeman said to the fellow, “Did you do that?”
The man said, “Yes.”
The policeman said, “Why, you ought to have better sense!” Then he asked Dub, “Who is your brother?”
Dub said, “Kenneth Hagin.” The police officer said, “Oh! I’ve read his books and listened to his tapes.”
Then he turned to the other fel¬low and said, “What’s the matter with you!”
The fellow said, “Well, I guess maybe I did do wrong.”
My brother Dub told the fellow, “If you want help, here’s my card. Come and see me.”
The man came to see Dub the next day and got saved!
Now I don’t advocate getting people saved that way, but I just told you that to show you that sometimes it can take time to learn to keep the flesh under and to mature in love.
But Dub came a long way from his younger years. It took him a while, but he grew in love. The Lord had worked Dub over on the inside and made him a new creature, but then Dub had to learn what to do with the outward natural man.
It took him some time to learn to put on Christ on the outward man (Rom. 13:14) and to mature in the God-kind of love.
But it’s no use laughing at Dub, because the Lord is still teaching some of us how to bring the outward man subject too!
___________________
Kenneth E. Hagin
Meditation involves studying, which is a step higher than reading. The word of God is not meant to be read alone, but to be meditated upon. It is PRIMARILY meant for us to encounter.
Meditation is the practice or act of pondering (focusing) on a written or spoken discourse. It means expressing considered thoughts on a subject.
Wikipedia defines meditation as ‘a practice where an individual uses a technique –such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity –to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state.’
If you want to meditate, the basic things to do, includes:
1. SUSTAINING THE APPROPRIATE POSTURE
It was Apostle Edu Udechukwu that said that “the feedbacks you get from the scriptures, is dependent on the posture that you sustained before approaching it.”
Psalms 19:14 “Let the words of my mouth, and the MEDITATION OF MY HEART, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.”
If your heart must receive divine revelation, the state of your heart must sustain the appropriate posture of: “entering the scriptures in the spirit, encountering the word beyond the mind, and interacting with the Spirit of the Word.”
With that in place, you will not be distracted and, your mind, body and spirit will be aligned and ready to meditate on the Word.
II Timothy 2:15 (NASB): “BE DILIGENT to present yourself approved to God as a worker who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling (expounding) the word of truth.”
Diligent meditation will create pictures of the events that happened and what led to it.
By this, you will have insight and understand the contextual meaning of the passage.
If the appropriate posture is not sustained, you certainly will have problem with meditation.
You will look mechanically into the scriptures, but will not be able to BEHOLD the person of Jesus Christ.
You will be unable to apprehend divine realities in your spirit. You will be far from COMFORMING to the image of Christ. This is what leads one to explain scriptures only with the natural human intellect.
2. CONSIDER THE CONTEXT
“Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.” 2 Timothy 2:7
Your mind and heart must be exercised to gain insight that is embedded in the scriptures. This is what the above scripture entails.
You have to consider by meditation, before the Lord will give you understanding. You ca not get right understanding of scripture (by the Spirit) until you consider by medication.
Considering the context of scripture is necessary for application. It is wise to ask questions such as these:
To whom was it written? By whom?
What were the circumstances?
What are the precise meanings of the words in the original language?
What related scriptures might provide additional insights?
With the following questions, you will see yourself digging deep and understanding it through the help of the Holy Spirit.
Psalms 8:3 “When I CONSIDER thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained.”
From the aforementioned verse, David –The Psalmist, was meditating on the handiwork of God, and that led to what he said in the next verses.
“What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet” Psalms 8:4,5, 6.
Reading without meditation, is what causes misconception.
Misconception of scriptures leads to misinterpretation, and misinterpretation leads to misapplication of scriptures. This is how some heresies come into the body of Christ.
3. PERSONALIZING THE PASSAGES
Personalize it by rereading it in the first person; using I, me, and my.
For example, John 3:16 could be personalized by saying,
“For God so loved ‘ME‘, that He gave His only begotten Son, that if ‘I‘ believe in Him, ‘I‘ will not perish but have everlasting life.”
Colossians 3:16 could be personalized by saying, “Let the word of Christ dwell in ‘ME‘ richly in all wisdom.”
When you personalize the scripture, it becomes a living expression within your heart. This is also an aspect of meditation.
After that, read the personalized verse repeatedly. That will make room for better understanding of that
verse.
However, this method is not applicable for all scriptures because not every scripture is meant to be personalized.
MANTRA MEDITATION
Mantra in this context refers to a phrase REPEATED to assist concentration during meditation.
You can do mantra meditation by repeating a verse, phrase, or a word in the scripture. For example;
“Let the Word of Christ dwell in ME richly in all wisdom.”
Do some ‘figuring out‘ in your spirit to substantiate the passage. You can do this by representing some items in a coded way which only you may understand.
As you continue meditating, your understanding of the verse deepens, your illustrations will expand.
While asking yourself questions, you can give answers to them by introspection. You can be linked to other related scriptures, you will get to know a verse from other passages, it will widen your understanding and enable you to balance the context of scriptures.
When you have done your diligent meditation of a particular verse, chapter or book, then you will be able to illustrate and summarize the main concepts found within the passage(s).
Philippians 4:8: “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, THINK on these things.”
While you diligently read and meditate, the Holy Spirit will drop a message(s) in your heart.
When this happens, you will able to discover where you had ignorance and deficiency in accurate Understanding.
Apply them accurately in the areas they are required.
David Chikwado Caleb
Every civilization, kingdom or race has its Culture. There is always a distinct manner of living peculiar to its citizens.
There is always something that marks them out from other people. A sense of identity that is expressed in their general disposition to every situation.
As representatives of a Kingdom, we have a culture that sets us apart from others, a pattern of operation that is peculiar to us.
Ever since the world fell into the state that it is in today; in control of the enemy by virtue of man’s fall and relinquishing dominion to the Satan; God has been interested in setting his people apart both in behavior and disposition.
He gives them His laws and desires they walk in His ways. He sets before them a pattern to conform to. This has been from the days of the Israelites to the present.
The kingdom of God has its culture. A pattern its citizens must conform to. A way they are to walk.
It is quite disheartening to see a believer behaving in a manner strange to Christendom’s culture.
It is very sad to see that in some situations, there seems to be no difference between a believer and an unbeliever.
What has gone wrong, why is this so?
It could be due to more emphasis being placed on the manifestation of the gifts of the Spirit than the fruit of The Spirit in this generation.
Most Christians are taught that they should speak in tongues but not that that same lips should not slander others.
That they should heal the sick but not that they should also cater for the needs of the sick through giving.
This leads to the production of many Charismatic, yet, poor-in-character Christians. Believers who speak in tongues, yet, cannot be trusted with someone else’s finances.
Believers should be exposed to both the Power and Character perspective of Christ.
Another reason is the low concept of Christianity that is being incorporated into the modern believer.
A poor understanding of the concept of grace and liberty that has been afforded the believer in Christ, that seems to impress the idea that the Christlike character expression of the believer is of no importance. A Christianity that accommodates abortion of young ones. One that is compatible with laziness and Spiritual complacency. It is quite saddening.
What is the pattern of the New Creation’s Behavior?
What is the standard of conduct of the believer? In what way should pattern his steps?
There are several things that distinguishes us as sons. Patterns expected to be seen in us. Expressions that must be made manifest and highlighted in the different areas of our lives.
These are different areas we are expected to differ in compared to the pattern of the world.
1. Manner of Food:
Food is an expression of culture.
Food in this context refers to the things which we feed our minds with. What we constantly feed our mind is a determinant of what culture we will conform to.
If you eat the food of dogs, you will be weak like dogs.
If you eat that of Lions, you will roar.
When the world delights in feeding on sensual musics and books based on knowledge against Christ, we must delight in feeding on the Word, the Truth and the Life.
2. The Manner of Clothing
What people wear affirms what kingdom the belong to. Clothes here refer to our behavior, disposition and carriage. It refers to our mannerisms and adornments.
Ours must be Noble and not common. That a behavior is popular does not mean its virtuous.
That others “pepper dem” doesn’t matter to us because we are salts.
We must stick to the uniform of the kingdom.
Colossians 3:8-10: “But now you yourselves are to PUT OFF all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you have PUT OFF the old man with his deeds, 10 and have PUT ON the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him. “
3. Language
This refers to our manner of speech. The fruits of our lips.
Our language as believers should be one that completely highlights who we are.
In a generation full of hate and pain, our words should be soothing and like a balm, healing.
Members of the Kingdom do not speak anyhow. That vulgar words trend and are famous does not mean a believer should speak them.
Colossians 4:6: “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.”
We have a pattern that we should adher to. One that highlights our uniqueness and peculiarity as a chosen people. This pattern is found in our constitution (The Word of God).
This posits that as we live by God’s word and will, we conform to his pattern.
Romans 12:2: ‘And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…’
One of the greatest blessings we have as Christ’s Church, is Fellowship with one another. Other than the coming of The Holy Spirit, there has been no greater blessing which God has bestowed upon us than the opportunity to have fellowship with one another.
Unfortunately, due to its regularity, going to church has become a mere habit for many believers.
Note: The Church is both a group of individuals as well as an institution. Spiritually, it is the Union of the Elect. Also, physically, it is an institution or location dedicated to the worship of the Lord.
We have Christians who go to the Church gathering on Sunday, for carnal purposes. Some go to play to the gallery. Some go to search for a suitable spouse among the congregation. Some go to flaunt their wealth. But the wise go, to encounter God.
Even as we go to our respective places of worship, let us ask ourselves whether we are really going there to meet with Christ, or we are going there to meet with God.
Psalms 27:4: ‘One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.’
We may not be privileged to live in the Lord’s House all the days of our lives, yet, the weekly Sabbath day in which we converge should be held in high esteem and sacred reverence.
We must go to the Temple, not for the two primary reasons highlighted above.
1. To Behold The Lord’s Beauty.
There are beautiful bounties found in the Lord. The Lord’s Beauty is His Glory, His Holiness. The Lord’s Beauty is also the Manifestation of His power. His Beauty is seen in the miracles He works. His Beauty is seen in the great blessing of His Presence which He causes to rest in our churches. The Gospel is the Lord’s Beauty.
To behold the Lord’s Beauty, we must in joyful ardor, listen to His counsel as it proceeds from the lips of the pastors.
We must go with the expectation in our hearts, that we are going to encounter the Lord in a new dimension in His Presence.
2. To Enquire in His Temple
His Temple is also a place of enquiry. In the Church, we are away from the noise and distractions of the world.
We obtain inner tranquility, because we are with people who are in one accord with us.
It is in this solemn moment of tranquility, that we can seek and receive direction from God. But in order to make enquiry of the Lord, we must be careful not to get distracted by the outer features of the Church.
We must be careful not to allow Admiration of the people around us, to distract us from communing with the One who lives in us.
We must be jovial, yet, sensitive in the church. Jovial with everyone around us. And sensitive to the words of the One in us. Only when we do this, shall we be able to profit of the privilege of assembling together on the Sabbath.
The outstanding characteristic of natural man is Selfishness. It has given to us every one of the major sins that are destroying the human race.
Selfishness is the parent of the liquor traffic, gambling, and every other sin.
The husband who comes home h
The outstanding characteristic of natural man is Selfishness. It has given to us every one of the major sins that are destroying the human race.
Selfishness is the parent of the liquor traffic, gambling, and every other sin. The husband who comes home half drunk doesn’t love his family as much as he loves himself. The mother who has taken on the unhappy habits of modern society, and dares display these habits in the presence of her growing children, loves herself and her appetites more than she loves her children .
The natural man cannot love his children as much as he loves himself. He cannot love his wife as much as he loves himself.
The natural human heart is a partaker of the Satanic nature, Selfishness; and when that Selfishness gains the ascendancy it makes the man a despot in his home, filling it with the spirit of tyranny.
I saw a couple who had lived very unhappily and had thought much about separating, but there were little children. The father had a godly background, and so had the mother, but neither of them had ever received Eternal Life.
After the children came along, the wife began to feel the irritations of bondage and said, “These children just rob me of my liberty.” The husband began to feel the same limitations. Selfishness began to grow apace.
The home was not a home. It was just a place where they quarreled and made up, found fault, and cursed the children.
Then one day my little book, “The New Kind of Love,” fell into the hands of the husband. He brought it home and started to read it. He became so engrossed in it that his wife wanted to know what he was reading.
You see, Selfishness is always jealous. The keener and richer your Selfishness is, the more sensitive you become. She became very curious as to what that little book was. Finally she said, “What is that you are reading?”He said, “It is the most wonderful book I have ever read.”
He laid it down on the table, and she began to read it. She hadn’t read half of it before she made her decision. She had seen things.
When he came into the house she said, “How far did you read in that book?”
“Nearly all of it. One of the men at the office gave it to me.” He responded. “What do you think of it?”
“I only wish we had gotten hold of it when we were first married and life would have been different,” she said.
He picked up one of his children and held it in his arms. “Wife,” he said, “would you like to go with me on this thing? I would like to have Eternal Life. I am sick of my selfishness.”
She looked into his face, and reached out her hand and said, “My dear, I will go the whole way with you .”
The two older children were not home when it happened, and the father and mother did not tell them about it .
Three or four days later the oldest girl said, “Mother, what has happened to you and Dad? You haven’t quarreled since last week.” Then the mother told the story to her, and the girl, in her mother’s arms whispered, “Mother, I want it too .”
And so, Love came to live in that house. After a bit every member of the household sought to give the other more than he received. Love’s rivalry began to develop. The husband and wife sought to out-do each other in love.
You see, when two New Creation people, Love filled, begin to practice Agapa, the very atmosphere of heaven is in that home.
Love’s slogan is, “I am not seeking my own, but your happiness.”
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could have classes that would take up the study of Agape.
There has never been a chair of “Love” in any of our Colleges or Universities, and yet it is the most important thing in life.
You cannot adjust the labor and capital situation by law or by force. It can only be settled with Agape.
Oh, if there should arise in the labor world a great leader who could evangelize the labor world and prove to them that
Selfishness has never yet built anything that it did not destroy!
Sense Knowledge has built cities, but it always destroys them.
Few of us have recognized that there are two kinds of ambitions: one was born out of the desire to conquer and to reign, and to have and to hold, no matter what effect it had upon those who stand in the way;the other is the ambition to give, and to build, and to make happy, to educate and to train, and to make beautiful, glad homes.One is the Jesus kind, and the other is inspired by Satan.
EW Kenyon, ‘The Hidden Man’
1 Cor 4:15 KJV “For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.”
Paul says you may have ten thousand instructors, but not many fathers (1 Cor 4:15).
I would that young believers who love the word understand this.
Just as sure as your parents at home were not your teachers in school, and your teachers in school were not your parents at home; so it is in the kingdom and with the church.
Your schoolteachers and university lecturers definitely taught you things your parents didn’t know, but you did not leave home to live with them. You went to class, learnt a lot and went back home.
You will meet anointed wordsmiths and charismatic apostles and prophets; but your shepherd is your shepherd – that is, your pastor.
You do not receive upbringing in the classroom. You receive it at home.
Foundation, fundamentals, Character; even the edge that makes you excel in school, comes from your parents at home. Mine taught me a lot of schoolwork that put me ahead.
Even in the boarding school, teachers are only partly interested in you. It is your parents who think of your 24/7 every aspect of your life.
So, do not go to and fro following this teacher and that apostle because they “have the word”. No. That is how spiritual vagabonds are bred.
Spiritual vagabonds are people going forward very fast to nowhere in particular. They have many so fathers, they do not know who they are.
Be planted somewhere under someone in a church family, whether of 10 or of 10,000.
It takes more than teaching to become a well rounded Christian or minister of Christ. Christ is a Person. And Christianity is a Life. It is found not only in what is written or said, but in men who have believed and who walk with the Lord.
You are living epistles, said an apostle, read of all men (2 Cor 3:2). Disciples aren’t just those who have been taught the teachin, but those who have walked the walk (Mark 3:14 – that they might BE WITH HIM).
Even the general idea that you are a member of a church because you listen to the message every Sunday, is a mistaken one.
Those that be PLANTED in the house of the Lord, the word says, shall flourish in the courts of our God (Psalm 92:13).
Discover your place in the Body. Understand your spiritual identity.
Belong and be connected and fed and mentored somewhere specific whether it is Deeper Life, House of the Rock or Celestial Church.
From there you can follow anyone. Be a planted specific that drinks from one source and sips from several others; rather than a wandering generality who has no distinct identity, a pipe or harp that has no distinct sound.
Have many instructors, if you must; but make sure someone specific is bringing you up in the Lord.
Amen.
Ebele UzoPeters
Jesus told the story of a father who had 2 sons. He said to one, go work in my vineyard. That one said “I will not”, but later he went and did the work.
The man had said the same to the other “Go work in my vineyard”; and that one had replied “Yes Sir, I will”, but he did not go.
Jesus then asked those whom He was talking to “Which do you think was the better son?”, and they answered rightly – forget what each son said, the one who did the father’s will – was the better one.
Jesus then told those to whom he was talking; those who ruled and who had the people’s ear – congress and the media, or the pharisees and the sadducees, that the prophets of the Lord, or John; came and showed the way of righteousness and those regarded as sinners – prostitutes and tax collectors believed him and stood with the church, but they after they had heard, still refused to believe and carried on with their ways.
He then told another parable and ended it by referring to a stone which the builders rejected, which had become the chief of the corner.
This is a parable to a nation where those don’t say what you want to hear but do what is right are rejected over those who say what you want to hear but do what is left.
We hope someone is listening. It is well.
Ebele UzoPeters
Benson Idahosa was one of the most renowned men of God of his age. His ministry featured mighty Manifestations of God’s Power.
In this video clip, Idahosa narrates his ordeal with God in the U.S.
Planning gives value to purpose. Purpose is dead without planning. Every business needs a business plan. Every purpose needs a destiny plan.
Therefore, planning empowers us to deliver better results. You don’t grow big to manage well, you manage well to grow big. Most businesses today are victim of lack of plan or poor planning.
You need planning to maximize all your endeavors. It is good management that brings good results. Everything that grows must be well manage.
Praying without planning is praying without knowing. Praying alone will make you a burden to God, but praying and planning makes co-labourer with God. Planning is the master key to accomplishment. Planning is the cheapest way to avoid wastage.
Shallow men think of luck, but great men think of cause and effect.
Planning is outlining actions one has to take in a quest to fulfill a dream. Planning is a step by step method of accomplishing a set goal.
It is your intellectual capacity that determines the quality of your plan. You need insight to your purpose in order to prevent poor planning.
Dreams are bound to be aborted if there is no planning. Wishing to great and not planning to be great will lead you to the woods.
Lack of planning is the result of many failure in the lives of so many people. Planning is understanding the steps you can take delibrately in order to achieve a target.
Plans are in phases, greatness is in sizes; the way you plan will determine the size of your greatness. Planning makes all your dealings in life to be detailed.
Tips for Proper Planning
Here are some tips one must take note of, in proper planning;
1. Thinking and reasoning are the raw materials for sound planning.
2. Every planner must be a great thinker.
3. Life is practical not mystical. Life needs a practical approach to in order to make most of it on earth.
4. You need to engage your own model to create your own future.
5. If you are not committed to mental work, you will end up doing menial work. Thinking affect the quality of your planning and output.
6. Spirituality is not against reasoning, it enhances the quality of your reasoning capacity.
7. Anything you are planning must require strategic planning as the base line.
KOINONIA ART 