“There is a lad who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?” And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted. John 6:9&11 REFERENCE John 6:4-13 Like Andrew, the disciple who popped the question of what five loaves and two small fish could do in a crowd of so many people, you also face times when you need a major miracle of provision to happen in your life, but what you...
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life. Proverbs 13:12 REFERENCE Proverbs 13:12 A desire is a strong feeling of wanting to have something or wishing for something to happen. It is synonymous with hoping, longing or craving to have a need fulfilled. Therefore, our desires are fueled by the things that are lacking in our lives, ranging from basic survival needs to social and self-actualization needs, etc. When a desire is unmet, it creates a hole in us which we strive to fill; the more it delays, the more we long for it,...
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life. Proverbs 13:12 REFERENCE Proverbs 13:12 Hope deferred for too long causes a lot of pain for the bearer; it keeps you going from expectation to expectation without getting the desired result. Every day, you hear and read that it is the will of God to give you the desires of your heart according to His will, yet it never seems to materialize. Gradually, the hope in your heart turns to frustration and discouragement, because your heart can’t understand why it appears that God is hesitant to intervene...
So she went away and did according to the word of Elijah; and she and he and her household ate for many days. The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke by Elijah. I Kings 17:15-16 REFERENCE I Kings 17:1-16 “She went away and did according to the word of Elijah…” In essence, she acted on the Word of God as revealed to her by Prophet Elijah. Giving Elijah this ‘precious’ meal in obedience to his words, is quite a remarkable feat for a widow who...
And the prophet came to the king of Israel and said to him, “Go, strengthen yourself; take note, and see what you should do, for in the spring of the year the king of Syria will come up against you.” I Kings 20:22 REFERENCE I Kings 20:1-22 Victory is sweet; it puts testimonies in our mouths, gives us security and confidence, and a sense of ‘having arrived’. However, at such times, people tend to lose ground because all their defenses are down. The rich fool felt he had all he wanted in life and so he decided to settle down to a...
Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. John 20:24 REFERENCE John 20:19-25 David in Psalm 84:10 said a day in God’s courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. Sometimes, all God needs in a person’s life is just a day spent in His courts (presence) for the person’s life to change. Zacharias was one day in God’s courts when the answer to his prayer came; so was Hannah. David was perplexed and envious of the prosperity of the wicked. But when he got to the court of God, he understood...
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. - Joshua 1:9 REFERENCE Joshua 1:9 Discouragement as we learnt from yesterday is one of the devil’s potent weapons against us, to dampen our spirits and make us become hopeless about life especially as we approach the end of the first half of the year. Today we will look at WAYS to deactivate discouragement. The first step to deactivating discouragement is to have a positive perception – Life is 10% what happens to you...
If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait, Till my change comes. – Job 14:14 REFERENCE Job 14:14 As we draw close to the end of the first half of the year, I want to unmask one of Satan’s most potent weapons which he would likely deploy to make you feel like an underachiever – “DISCOURAGEMENT!” Discouragement is a loss of confidence or enthusiasm. It is a feeling of hopelessness – sensing that something you expect is unlikely to happen. The purpose is to dampen your spirit. It is easy...
Because for Your sake I have borne reproach; shame has covered my face. Psalm 69:7 REFERENCE Psalm 69:7-9 Being zealous for God is not always a comfortable place to be. Friends ostracize you and family members dissociate themselves from you and deny you. Reason? You no longer do what you used to do; you don’t do what they do, you speak against some of their behaviors, and you take it personal and sometimes feel offended, when the honor of God is maligned. People often find it hard to handle such commitment to God by people close to them, as it...
Now Martha said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.’ John 11:21-22 REFERENCE John 11:17-22 Sometimes, you find yourself looking back on the past and blaming certain events for things that you might be going through. You often wish you could undo or redo certain things from your past; you may be suffering the results of poor decisions or the loss of a loved one and maybe you have held those things/people responsible for how things are going...