“And the king of Israel said to his servants, “Do you know that Ramoth in Gilead is ours, but we hesitate to take it out of the hand of the king of Syria?” ~ I Kings 22:3   REFERENCE I Kings 22:1-3 There are certain noteworthy keywords/phrases in today’s focal verse – “Do you know?”, “Is ours” “We hesitate” and “Take it.” These are all important if we must walk in the fullness of God’s blessings and plans for us. God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ. However, we often live short of this ideal. How...

Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.  And he said to Him, 'All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.'  Matthew 4:8-9 REFERENCE Matthew 4:1-11 We saw yesterday that Satan is a relentless tempter and eclectic in stratagem. He tried to tempt the Lord relentlessly and with various approaches. His first was to challenge (or call to question) His Sonship, and here, he tries to distract and misdirect His worship. The Lord knew better, “One must worship God...

Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.  Matthew 4:3 REFERENCE Matthew 3:16 – 4:1-10 At Jesus’ baptism, God affirmed Him as His Son. However, Satan immediately came to tempt Him by attacking His identity in God. His identity was rooted in His Sonship with God. Satan hinted Jesus that whatever God told Him wasn’t true; he wanted Him to think that God couldn’t possibly love Him so much, and that He needed to ‘do’ something to ‘earn’ His sonship, hence the appeal to turn a...

Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” - John 4:10 REFERENCE John 4:6-15 Thirst according to Webster’s dictionary is a sensation of dryness in the mouth and in the throat associated with the desire for liquid. It also means a passionate desire and longing for something. In this account, Jesus pointed to the Samaritan woman that though thirsty, the satisfaction she got drinking  from the physical well was only momentary...

Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church. - Acts 12:5   REFERENCE Acts 12:1-12 Prayer is powerful; we all have personal testimonies of the power and the efficacy of prayers in our lives. Despite the fact that we know the power of prayers, it is shocking that many people often go days unending, carrying burdens that they do not pray about. The hymn writer wrote, “Oh what peace we often forfeit and what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.” We forget...

Then Jonathan said to the young man who bore his armor, “Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; it may be that the Lord will work for us. For nothing restrains the Lord from saving by many or by few. I Samuel 14:6 REFERENCE I Samuel 14:1-14 Have you ever witnessed a duel between a champion and an underdog in the boxing ring? The champion has a lot of accolades and a lot of victories under his belt; people bet their money on him, expecting him to mercilessly ‘thrash’ the underdog. But by a twist of fate...

For prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. - II Peter 1:21   REFERENCE II Peter 1:19-21   What Word has God spoken concerning you? What prophecies, promises or pronouncements are you holding onto? The plan of God is that His Word in your life will not return to Him void, but that it will accomplish the purpose for which it was sent. Hence, every prophetic Word you receive should produce results in your life. The secret to seeing manifestations of the prophetic Word spoken...

But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.  Mark 4:29 REFERENCE Mark 4:26-29 A seed is a flowering plant’s unit of reproduction, capable of developing into another such plant. It is anything that can multiply and become more if sown in the proper soil. When an orange seed is planted in the right soil, it be-comes an orange tree with time. This is a natural law – an established principle and so it must be fulfilled. In like manner, when a seed (money, time, service,) is planted in the kingdom of God,...

Then Daniel said to the king, “O king, live forever! My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths, so that they have not hurt me, because I was found innocent before Him; and also, O king, I have done no wrong before you.”  - Daniel 6:21-22   REFERENCE Daniel 6:6-23   The circus often presents its vast spectators with a wonder – Lions, the king of the jungle, made to jump through hoops, step dance, do balancing acts and even play with rubber balls. Although strong, ferocious, wild and a predator by instinct, the Lion can be and...