Daily Devotional for Thursday 22nd October

[Edoman]

RHAPSODY OF REALITIES 


THURSDAY 22ND OCTOBER.



JESUS IS HIMSELF GOD


For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Colossians 2:9).


After Jesus rose from the dead, He appeared to His disciples. But one of them, Thomas, wasn’t there; so he doubted the resurrection of Jesus. 


Then, Jesus appeared to the disciples on another occasion; this time, Thomas was present, and Jesus engaged him in a dialogue. He said to Thomas, “... Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing” (John 20:27).


Thomas reached out his hand, and felt the holes in the Master’s hands and the hole in His side. Awed at this, Thomas exclaimed, “...My Lord and my God” (John 20:28)! When Thomas addressed Jesus as God, Jesus didn’t say, “No, Thomas, don’t call me God; you’re going too far.” He accepted it because Thomas spoke reality. Jesus is Himself God.



He is the God that spoke to Moses in the burning bush. He is the One that called Abraham out of Haran and said, “Walk before me, and be thou perfect; I am El Shaddai” (Genesis 17:1). He was the One that stood before Joshua and said, “Take your shoes off your feet for where you’re standing is holy” (Exodus 3:5).


Jesus is God in a human body, but the people didn’t know. He is Adonai, the Lord, God! He was the One that said to Moses, “Your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob knew me as El Shaddai, but I’m Jehovah” (Exodus 6:3). Jehovah is Yahweh. 


This is why the Jewish people had difficulty accepting Jesus Christ ordinarily, because they’ll have to confess that He’s Adonai, which He is. They understood the implication.


Think about it: that seemingly ordinary man of Galilee was actually God Almighty, walking the streets of Israel! They couldn’t accept it. 


They condemned Him to death, but He laid down His life as a lamb for their salvation. The Bible says, “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own and his own received him not” (John 1:10-11).


The Apostle Paul tells us that in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead, bodily. When you see Jesus, you wouldn’t need to look out for the Holy Spirit or the Father; He is the complete embodiment of Deity.



PRAYER
Precious Lord Jesus, you’re my Lord and my God! You’re my life, the One I live for and live unto; you’re my everything, and the reason for my existence. I worship you for who you are, and thank you for revealing yourself to me today. Amen.


FURTHER STUDY

John 1:1-3

1 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: 1 Timothy 4:1-16 & Jeremiah 11-12

2 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: Hebrews 11:1-16 & Ezekiel 21













#AFFIRMATIONTRAIN 



I affirm that the Lord is the light of my life! My whole being is full of light, therefore, I navigate my way excellently through life in victory, dominion, and success.


 I am filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding because the Holy Spirit lives in me.


 I am rightly positioned in the centre of God’s perfect will, being yielded to the control, sway, influence, and guidance of the Holy Spirit, every day of my life. I am a special kind of being; 


I have an excellent spirit that is full of the eternal deposits of God’s goodness, graces, perfections, and beauty. 


My understanding is enlightened to have precise knowledge of the great riches of the Father’s glorious inheritance in me. Christ lives in me;


His life and immortality have been unveiled in my spirit! I am a partaker of the God-life— a life that is superior to sickness, disease, satan, and death! 


I walk in dominion today over death and everything associated with darkness, for I dwell in the realm of life. The wisdom of God is at work in me today! It’s heard in my voice and seen in my actions!


 It propels me to function with divine insight into God’s plan and destiny for me, whilst dealing excellently in all my affairs. 


I function with the light of God’s Word today by the power of the Holy Spirit, who lives in me and pilots me from glory to glory. Blessed be God!




God bless you

[Edoman]

OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL.


DATE: THURSDAY 22ND OCTOBER, 2020.

LET US TAKE A MINUTE AND PRAY FOR #NIGERIA:??

O Lord, Please Have Mercy On Us, Let The Siege Be Over Quickly And Let  Your Peace Reign Across Nooks and Crannies of our Dear Nation In Jesus Name. Amen! ??PEACE

THEME: LEGALISTIC OR CHRIST-LIKE?

MEMORISE:
Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God. Ephesians 2:19

READ: Luke 18:9-14 (KJV)

9 And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:

10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.

11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.

12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.

13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.

14. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

MESSAGE:
A Christian is not necessarily someone who follows a set of religious rules, but rather, someone who has a cordial relationship with Christ. A Christian behaves like Christ.

Christianity is about Christ who lives in you and not all about do’s and don’ts. Most people who see Christianity only from the viewpoint of rules and regulations are hypocrites.

The Pharisees and Sadducees condemned Jesus for healing on a Sabbath. Jesus pointed out their hypocrisy when He asked if they would not go searching for any of their sheep their went missing on a Sabbath (Mark 3:1-6).

Rules and regulations are good, but they must never take the place of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Ghost in you that helps you live completely holy and not the rules.

Adhering to rules does not make a sinner acceptable to Christ, it is only the willingness to surrender all that guarantees salvation. Your Christianity should be cantered on Christ’s love for you, His death, resurrection and promise of eternal life, not some rules to be followed.

For some people, they give pre-eminence to rules so they can earn the right to boast and arrogantly declare their ‘holiness’ forgetting that “ … we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags…” (Isaiah 64:6)

The best thing rules can give you is self-righteousness. Which can make one to be like the Pharisee who went to the temple to pray in Luke 18:10-12. However, justification By God can only come through God’s Spirit in you.

Legalistic people care more about how people see them than how God sees them. they are always looking out for who is breaking the rules so they can attack and even gossip about them (Luke 18:11). 

God does not want you to boast about your holiness because only through His Spirit can you live holy.

“Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
Ephesians 2:9  

KEY POINT:
The Christian life epitomizes dying to self and being Christ-like in all we do. Are you really Christ-like? 

AUTHOR: Pastor E. A. Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, one of the largest evangelical Churches in the world and also the President of Christ the Redeemer's Ministries.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: John 7-8,

HYMN 12: I AM THINE O LORD

1. I am Thine O Lord
I have heard Thy voice
And it told Thy love to me
But I long to rise in the arms of faith
And be closer drawn to Thee.

CHORUS:
Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord,
To the cross where Thou hast died;
Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed Lord
To Thy precious, bleeding side.

2. Consecrate me now to Thy service, Lord
By the pow’r of grace divine
Let my soul look up with a steadfast hope
And my will be lost in Thine.

3. Oh, the pure delight of a single hour
That before Thy throne I spend
When I kneel in prayer, and with Thee, my God
I commune as friend with friend.

4. There are depths of love that I cannot know
Till I cross the narrow sea
There are heights of joy that I may not reach
Till I rest in peace with Thee.

[Edoman]

*Seeds?????? Of Destiny* 



 _22 October 2020_ 


 _Daily Devotional by Dr_ _Pastor Paul Enenche_ 


 *TOPIC: LOSS OF FOCUS – A DISTRACTION OF DESTINY* 

?️Whenever you agree to strive with someone, your focus is taken off where you are going in life.

 *SCRIPTURE* ?: And they digged another well, and strove for that also: and he called the name of it Sitnah. Genesis 26:21

 *THOUGHT FOR THE DAY* ?: Whenever you agree to strive with someone, your focus is taken off where you are going in life.

It has been established that focus is distracted where strife is established. Whenever you agree to strive with someone, your focus is taken away from where you are going in life. 

You know, where there is no focus, disaster is inevitable. Can you imagine a driver driving on high speed looking at another driver who is also driving on high speed? An accident is inevitable! 

I give you one illustration: In October 1988, while I was travelling to Benue state, Nigeria, with other passengers on board, we had a terrible accident. The driver of the vehicle I boarded overtook another driver who was also on top speed. Both drivers were overtaking each other until the two vehicles came to a bend and could not overtake each other again and an accident happened. That was a practical manifestation of “mumulity” (foolishness). When the overtaking became dangerous and the accident occurred, I felt my head touch the ground. Finally, I saw myself sitting on the ground and my bag was beside me. The way God delivered me from death in that accident was unbelievable. Many deaths occurred as a result of the accident. What a disaster! 

This is what happens when people take their focus off where they are going in life. Disaster is inevitable when people lose their focus and engage in competition with others. 

Today, I counsel you not to lose your focus. Face God and He will take you to your destiny. 

 *Remember this* ?: Whenever you agree to strive with someone, your focus is taken off where you are going in life.

 *ASSIGNMENTS* :

 *1. Refuse to fall into the temptation of competition, strife and rivalry* .

 *2. Do not let another person and his/her work be your focus for life* .

 *3. Look straight; be focused on God and His purpose for Your life.* 

 *PRAYER* ??: O Lord, I refuse to make another person my focus in life. Help me never to look away from You, Lord, in Jesus’ Name. 

 *FOR FURTHER UNDERSTANDING, GET THIS MESSAGE: ??DEADLY ENEMIES OF DESTINY (PART 2).* 

 *QUOTE* : You cannot kill a man today who sees tomorrow. You cannot bury him in the immediate, if he is focused on the ultimate. Culled from, “15 KINGDOM STRATEGIES FOR SURVIVAL” by Dr Paul Enenche. 

 *DAILY READING: Luke 4-6* 

 *AMAZING FACT* ?: Giraffes are the tallest land animal in the world, reaching heights of 19ft (5.8m). The ostrich is the world’s tallest bird. It can grow up to 9 feet (2.7m) tall. Over 2 metres (7ft) of a giraffes total size is its famously long neck, which helps it reach leaves in tall trees.

 *PROPHETIC DECLARATION/WORD* ??️: Grace to maintain focus be released upon you in Jesus’ Name. 

 Good Morning ??

[Edoman]

*RESTORATION TODAY* 


THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2020

*TOPIC: JESUS, THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD*

“But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 1:30-31

*MESSAGE*
Righteousness simply means the state of being right with God and we can vividly understand what righteousness is by looking into the lifestyle of Jesus Christ. He is the only one that fulfilled the will of the Father as a human being. Righteousness is not limited to the positional righteousness we received when we got saved, it should translate into how we think and live. Joseph said “how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” (Genesis 39:9). The righteousness of God possessed his mind and he denied himself not to lie with Potiphar’s wife. Another example is David who said “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” (Psalm 119:11).

God was well pleased with Jesus for perfectly accomplishing His mission on earth. He was tempted at all points but did not sin. As such, He has become the perfect example of how we should walk with God in accordance with His will. As such, we are called to present our bodies, thoughts and attitudes holy and acceptable unto Him.

Our responsibility is to keep the righteousness of God in our mind as we continue our race. The luxuries of this world will soon fade away; we must continue to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. As God has promised, He will add the other things we need for a good life to us.

*ACTION POINT*
 ?️  You can only receive the righteousness of God by having faith in Him. Without faith, it is impossible to please Him.

*SCRIPTURES*
Proverbs 11:8, Proverbs 27:6

*PRAYER POINTS*
1. God, envelope me with Your righteousness;

2. Build my faith in You, O Lord, that I may be strong in You;

3. O Lord, never let me fail You in the name of Jesus.

*THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR* 
2 Kings 25, Ezek. 1, 2 Timothy 2