Oluwafemi .The Word of God is a light to my Path.

  Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” John 1:22 Who Are You? Imagine someone asking you what the Jewish priests asked John the Baptist, “Who do you say you are?” What kind of answer would you have? John’s response was to quote the words of Isaiah, “I am a voice shouting in the wilderness, prepare the way for the Lord.” Rather than say what he felt or what other people were saying about him, John said what God said about him. Is that how you would respond? Why don’t you start saying what God says about you? “I’m talented. I’m successful. I’m prosperous. I’m free. I’m valuable. I’m a masterpiece.” What you say about yourself is going to become a reality. What you say gives it the right to come to pass. Now quit saying negative things about yourself. “I’m so undisciplined. I’ll never get out of this neighborhood. I’ll never break this addiction.” You’re going to become what you believe. You don’t have to fe

  A New Way of Living “ But… the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall not return that way again.’ ” (Deuteronomy 17:16) After the wise men’s encounter with the newborn King, the Lord instructed them to return to their homeland by a different route. Things change when Jesus Christ assumes control of our lives.  We become new creations and are transformed into instruments for service to God. We abandon the old ways of doing things. We no longer try to earn our way to God through works. Instead of living the law of the flesh, we live by the law of faith. We become ambassadors for Christ. As we practice the concepts of  soak ,  sow ,  and flow  ,  our attitudes, thinking, and behavioral patterns change. The love of Christ compels us to live in harmony with the will of God. Even though we are wasting away outwardly, we discover we are being renewed inwardly daily. As we consider this transformation process, the words of John the Baptist come to mind: “He must increase, and I must decrease.” It

  And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28 Relax Your Grip None of us enjoys being uncomfortable, but we can’t pray away everything uncomfortable in our lives. God is not going to remove every difficulty from us instantly. He uses those things to refine us, to get us prepared for greater things. In the tough times, God develops our character. The fact is, we don’t grow nearly as much when everything is easy; we grow when life is difficult, when we are exercising our spiritual muscles, through the dark seasons. Understand that your faith will not instantly deliver you out of every problem. Instead, your faith will carry you through the problem. If God removed some of the things that you’re praying for Him to remove right now, you wouldn’t be prepared for the promotion that He has in store for you. He’s using what you are currently going through to get you ready for the good things to come.

  Keep Moving! “ The Lord said to Moses, ‘Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. ’” (Exodus 14:15) A paper weight on my desk has the inscription, “Don’t wait for your ship to come in. Swim out to it!” In practicing Kingdom of God we aggressively look for ways to invest our talents for the advancement of the Kingdom of God. People often make the mistake of waiting for their ship to come in – hoping for something to come their way. Good intentions alone are not enough to accomplish any worthwhile objective. Perhaps the Lord is saying, “Stop waiting for your ship; start swimming!” Someone said it is a lot easier to steer a moving car than one that is standing still. As we participate in worthwhile Kingdom efforts, we can more easily see how the Lord is guiding us to the places where we can be the most productive. We need to be alert to areas in which the Spirit of God is moving and blessing the efforts being made on his behalf. Then we have to “swim” out to those p

The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes. Proverbs 21:1 Turning Hearts God knows how to turn people who are against you and cause them to be for you. When God is ready to turn it around, no person can stop Him. No sickness, no addiction, and no trouble can stop Him. What God has purposed for your life will come to pass. He will do it when you face situations that seem permanent, when you’ve done all you can and the door hasn’t opened, when the person hasn’t changed their mind. You feel that it’s too late and you’ve run out of options. No, get ready. A turnaround is coming. What God started, He’s going to finish. He can change the mind of any person who is against you. You don’t have to convince people. You do your part and leave the rest to God. When the supervisor isn’t treating you right, keep doing the right thing and let God deal with them. He can cause them to want to be good to you. They may not like you, but they will

  Where’s Your Permanent Home? “ Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. ” (Hebrews 11:16) Being heavenly minded, but earthly sensitive, is a core principle in practicing  Kingdom  of God  What does that mean? It means that we know we’re passing through this temporary world on the way to our permanent home in heaven. With that in mind, we make choices in light of investing the three Ts –  time, talent, and treasure  – for the advancement of God’s kingdom. Those who came before us did the same thing. Hebrews 11 lists people of faith who, from the beginning of time, chose to listen to God and guided their lives accordingly. The list included Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abram, and Moses. They willingly exchanged many of the temporary pleasures of this world so they could inherit the promises made to them by God. In faith, they looked forward to heaven. We have the same opportunity. Emp

  Never turn your gaze from me, for I am your faithful God. I will infuse you with my strength and help you in every situation. I will hold you firmly with my victorious right hand.” Isaiah 41:10 Held Firmly in His Hand Today, close your eyes and see God’s hand of blessing on your life. When dreams seem impossible, the obstacle too big, you’re weary, and you don’t think you can go on, just picture the Creator of the universe laying His hands on your head, releasing favor, healing, strength, breakthroughs. You are not limited or lacking. God’s hand of blessing will cause you to defeat giants. It will part a Red Sea when you’re at a dead end. It will close the mouths of hungry lions. God’s hand of blessing is a supernatural favor, opening doors that you couldn’t open and taking you where you can’t go on your own. It’s a hedge of protection, keeping you safe from what should harm you. It’s a divine empowerment that will override every negative force that tries to stop you, that will cause

  Be Sure to Pray! “ Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord. ” (Isaiah 37:14-15) I heard someone say that it takes three things to accomplish the purposes of God in this world: prayer, leadership, and money. Often, in our haste to do things or to “do” ministry, we forget to pray for God’s blessing and direction. This is a big mistake. Hezekiah , after receiving a threat to his kingdom from the King of Assyria, took the letter defining the threat, went to the temple, spread it out before the Lord, and prayed about the problem. In response, God moved in a miraculous way and destroyed the enemy. The power to change, the power to overcome obstacles, the power to overcome sin, and the power to defeat the evil one is sourced in Almighty God. We are told to boldly come to the throne of Grace to receive mercy, and to find help in the time of need. Prayer is a key

  Holy God, thank you for the gift of your Holy Scriptures and for the spiritual nourishment they provide me each day. Help me to read your teachings carefully and to interpret them wisely, so that I may find the timeless truths in your ancient words, be obedient to your will, and grow in knowledge of you. Amen

Feel Insignificant? “’ Pardon me, my lord,’ Gideon replied, ‘but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.’”  (Judges 6:15) It’s easy to feel insignificant or lost in this large, dynamic world. But sometimes, that very insignificance plays a key role in building God’s kingdom. Gideon  was the least in his family, and his clan was the weakest. God had a purpose for this. He wanted the people to realize that  God  was going to be the deliverer, and not the power and strength of the people themselves. Paul  said that he would boast of his weaknesses so the power of Christ could rest on him. Paul also said that God chose the weak things of the world to shame the wise. Jesus  used the two fish and five loaves of a young boy to feed 5,000 people. These examples could indicate that being “weak” makes us the kind of vessel God can use to facilitate the marvelous works he is doing in our world. When we realize our weakness, we can begin to look

Dear God, as a soldier in faith, embolden me to work for justice; as an athlete in faith, give me the endurance to stay strong and obedient to your will; as a farmer in faith, equip me to plant seeds of love and truth. In your holy name, I pray. Amen.

Remember! “ Put Me in remembrance…. ” (Isaiah 43:26 ) We live in a world of challenges and turmoil. But, as believers, we are rooted and grounded in the person of Jesus Christ, the anchor of our soul. To keep things in perspective, we need to remember what God’s Word says: Remember:  The whole world is under the sway of the evil one. Remember:  Great and marvelous are the works of the Lord. Remember:  Greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world. Remember:  He must increase, and I must decrease. Remember:  All the promises of God find their fulfilment in the person of Jesus Christ. Remember:  Come boldly to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find help in the time of need. Remember:  Prayer and the supply of the Spirit will deliver us, empower us, heal us, and reveal God’s will for us. The  Kingdom  of God practitioner puts God and his promises in remembrance throughout the day. Today, ask yourself: In what ways will I put God and his promises in remembrance today?

I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. Ephesians 1:19, NLT Power of Believing One of the greatest abilities God has given each of us is our ability to believe. The apostle Paul prayed that we would understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe. Notice the power is activated only when we believe. That means right now the Creator of the universe is just waiting to release healing, restoration, favor, promotion, and abundance. The only catch is that we have to believe. It’s not complicated. God didn’t say, “If you will pray three hours a day, I’ll do it for you.” No, He said, “If you believe.” If you believe, you can be successful. If you believe, you can overcome mistakes of the past. If you believe, you can fulfill your God-given destiny. When you believe, you have the Almighty God fighting your battles, arranging things in your favor, going before you, moving the wrong people out of the way. You could

  How Wise! Scripture: Matthew 2:11 “ On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. ” (Matthew 2:11) The wise men were students of their age. They followed the star, found Jesus, bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts. Perhaps these were the first strategic kingdom investors in the church age. What an example for us to follow! As students of our age, our purpose or mission is to be  heavenly minded , but also  earthly sensitive . We know there is a world to come, the real world. Preparation must be made to enter that world if our life is to echo into eternity. The wise men first gave their hearts to the Lord by bowing down and worshiping him. The “star” in our life is Jesus Christ.  Once the Lord has our heart, he has everything else related to us. We seek to conduct ourselves in a m

Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Philippians 2:3 Esteem We don’t hear the word “esteem” very much today, but the Scripture tells us to esteem one another. To esteem means “to hold in high regard, to honor and value,” even if you don’t always agree with them. Sometimes people think, “That person doesn’t act honorably, so why should I honor them?” But the truth is, we are to honor and esteem people because they are valuable in the eyes of God. If you had a very valuable piece of jewelry, you wouldn’t wear it to the gym or leave it at the office. No, you would treat it carefully. You would put it in a safe place and protect it. It’s the same way with people. When we see others as valuable the way God sees them, we treat them carefully. We speak respectfully. We look for the good in others and honor them for who God made them to be. Choose to esteem and delight in one another. Sow good seeds into y