This poor man cried out, and the LORD heard him, And saved him out of all his troubles. – Psalm 34:6 REFERENCE Psalm 34:1-10 The title of today’s devotional looks paradoxical and you may be tempted to ask, "What blessing can be associated with pain?" Without a doubt, pain is a part of life mostly related with suffering and hardship. As humans, we would rather avoid pain. However, if properly channeled, pain can become a pathway to progress. How? Most of the Psalms were written by David during those painful years when he was running from Saul or fighting one...
Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD God: 'None of My words will be postponed anymore, but the words which I speak will be done,” says the LORD God.' - Ezekiel 12:28 REFERENCE Ezekiel 12:26-28 God does not want you to take His promises casually or lightly, they are true and sure words which will definitely come to pass. You should so believe in their certainty and the inevitability of their fulfilment that you should always adjust your life accordingly. The word of God should always provoke you into an action, whether a change in your behavior or to...
The sick man answered Him, 'Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.' - John 5:7 REFERENCE John 5:1-9 This man in our text has been left as last in the race to be healed. For 38 years, someone had always outsmarted him, outrun him, outperformed him and outwitted him. He must have felt like a failure and a good-for-nothing. He must have despaired of ever getting healed, because he was for once, confronted with his limited abilities, compared to...
All of this is the land which I, the LORD, promised to give your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to their descendants. Go and occupy it. – Deuteronomy 1:8 REFERENCE Deuteronomy 1:5-8 We conclude our discuss from where we left off yesterday about breaking free from the familiar and shifting gears to better levels. Our text has also shifted from (Verse 6) where God ‘told the children of Israel that they have stayed too long in a particular mountain’ to (Verse 8) where He tells them to ‘go and occupy the land He has given them;’ so we...
At Mount Horeb the LORD our God spoke to us. He said, 'You have stayed at this mountain long enough.' - Deuteronomy 1:6 REFERENCE Deuteronomy 1:5-8 In our scriptural reference today, we saw that God told the children of Israel that they needed to move or shift gears because they had been in the same place for too long. God realized that they were settling in the familiar and may never strive for the spectacular…so He went to stir their nest and woke them out of their complacency. They spent 38 years going about the same mountain, satisfied with...
Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, 'Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.' – Numbers 13:30 REFERENCE Numbers 13:16-33 Our devotional today is centred on the very popular story of the time when Moses sent out 12 spies to the land of Canaan – their promise land, so they could possess it. God had already given them the land but Moses wanted them to have a vision of the land before they could possess it. It is interesting that 10 out of the 12 spies came...
Again He said to me, Prophesy to these bones and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. - Ezekiel 37:4 REFERENCE Ezekiel 37:1-14 This scripture makes us understand that whatever situation confronting us can respond and line up with the Word of God. Everything on earth, whether animate or inanimate, the born and unborn, the visible and invisible, they all can respond to and hear the Word of the LORD. Today, everything we see in this physical realm and all of nature itself is held together because of the Word of God that was...
'Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet My unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor My covenant of peace be removed,' says the Lord, who has compassion on you. - Isaiah 54:10 (NIV). REFERENCE Isaiah 54:1-10 Don't let the 'uncertainties' around you cause you to lose hope, God isn't done with you yet - YOUR BEST IS YET TO COME! The verse we highlighted today says: God’s unfailing love for us will not be shaken nor His covenant of peace removed. This is a profound statement coming from Almighty God Himself; and we...
David said moreover, The Lord that DELIVERED ME out of the paw of the Lion, and out of the paw of the bear, HE WILL DELIVER ME out of the hand of this Philistine (giant)... - I Samuel 17:37 (Emphasis mine). REFERENCE 1 Samuel 17:31-37 I am sure you have a good history with God. If not, you will not be here today; that problem would have swallowed you, the sickness could have killed you, the heartbreak would have stopped you, and that bad situation could have destroyed you. For that reason, be confident that God who delivered you...
Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible. – Luke 1:36-37 REFERENCE Luke 1:13-37 One of the miracles of the Christmas season is that the IMPOSSIBLE became POSSIBLE; what has never been heard in the history of mankind happened – a virgin gave birth to a child. This is a clear reminder that there is absolutely nothing i.e. no situation is impossible as long as God is involved in the process. What impossible...