HORM Devotional

Psalm 150: 4-6 ‘Praise Him with the timbrel and dance: praise Him with stringed instruments and organs. Praise Him upon the loud cymbals: praise Him upon the high sounding cymbals. Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.

DAILY READING  2 Timothy 3; Jeremiah 9-10; Psalm 123

Billy Sunday was one of the early professional baseball players in America. He grew up as a poor farm kid, but rose to become a celebrated baseball player. In 1886, when he was 24 years old, he encountered Christ and became a changed man. And a few years later, he left baseball to pursue a Christian ministry. During the early 20th century, he became well known as America’s  most famous evangelist who  preached to millions around the world. He held widely reported campaigns in America’s largest cities, and he attracted the largest crowds of any evangelist before the advent of electronic sound systems. Yet despite his success, Billy Sunday remained ever grateful to God for His many blessings. His attitude of gratitude was witnessed one day by a policeman in Chicago. The policeman was walking his beat when he observed a man standing before the Pacific Garden Mission. The man had removed his hat, and the officer thought he was acting rather strangely. Thinking the man might be drunk or ill, the policeman approached him. He noticed that his eyes were closed, so he nudged him and said, “What’s the matter? Are you sick?” The man looked up and smiled, then said “No, sir. My name is Billy Sunday I was converted right here in this mission. I never pass this way without taking the opportunity, if possible, to stand quietly for a moment and whisper a prayer of thanksgiving.”

Indeed Billy Sunday never forgot God’s mercy in saving him, and used every opportunity to praise God.

Psalm 150: 4-6 says ‘Praise Him with the timbrel and dance: praise Him with stringed instruments and organs. Praise Him upon the loud cymbals: praise Him upon the high sounding cymbals. Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.’

Indeed we need to use our every breath to praise God. We need to constantly count our blessings and deliberately thank Him for all His goodness in our lives. Like Billy Sunday, we ought to sometimes pause and thank God foremostly for our salvation. Do we ever wonder where we would be today, if God had not intervened and saved us in the nick of time. We could never thank Him enough for saving us from the fires of hell and giving us the hope of Heaven.

Indeed God is worthy of our every praise. He deserves our constant adoration. It is only because of His mercies that we are not consumed. The reason why we are still alive today is because of His grace that richly abounds towards us.

Do you know how many times death came looking for you, but God’s mercy said, ‘No.’ The sickness you survived and recovered from, is what has killed many others.  The road you passed through without any harm, is the same road some people passed through and their blood was shed. Yes, things may not be perfect right now, but happenings should not  regulate our praise. We may not yet have all we desire but let us thank God for what we have; let us thank Him for the gift of life, because a living dog is better than a dead lion. And to him that is joined to the living there is hope. No matter how today  may look, let us thank God that we have hope for a better tomorrow.  And because the path of the just shines more and more, things can only keep getting better for us.

Psalm 22 says that God inhabits the praises of His people. Therefore the more you praise God, the more His presence surrounds you and when God is around you, no evil can come near you. Indeed when you praise God, He raises you up and causes you to ride upon your high places.

PRAYER:  Lord, I truly thank You  for Your many blessings in my life. Please grant me the grace to remain ever grateful and to give You worthy praise for  all You have been doing for me in Jesus’ name.

Quote

Praise is proof that you believe God to do what He said He would do in your life. – WORDBITE 201.

Proverbs 19:21  ‘There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand.’

DAILY READING  2 Timothy 2; Jeremiah 7-8; Psalm 122

James Garfield, the 20th president of the United States, is the only Gospel minister to have served as the nation’s president. However, it is amazing how God dramatically changed the course of his life. Born into a Christian family, his mother taught him the Gospel right from his childhood. But as he grew older, James had no interest in living for God, but rather he desired to be a sailor. When he was 18 years old, he planned to take a trip with some of  his friends on a canal boat. But two days before the trip, he injured his foot while chopping wood. It was only a small cut, but when he put on a pair of his  homemade socks which had been dyed blue, the dye in the socks poisoned the wound making it to become worse. As a result of this, James was compelled to stay at home while his friends left on the journey without him. James was unhappy that he had missed the trip, but while he was home, a powerful preacher came to their town to hold revival meetings. With nothing else to do, James attended the meetings. The message he heard touched him deeply, and as a result, he surrendered his  heart to The Lord. He took his faith seriously and immediately began to serve God, sharing the Gospel with others.

With his new faith; new desires and purposes took hold of him. Soon he abandoned his dream of being a sailor and determined to seek an education, to enable him serve God better. He went to College, studied law and was admitted to the Ohio Bar Association in 1860. He became an ordained Gospel minister and later went  into politics. He was elected to the Ohio Senate and became a major player in national politics and then on November 2, 1880, he was elected the 20th president of the United States.

It is interesting to note that though Garfield’s plan was to be a sailor, his encounter with Christ, altered everything.  Indeed redemption offers us a glorious destiny in Christ. It is a destiny accompanied by grace and divine enablement to become all God has ordained for us to be.

It is God’s plan for the redeemed to be pacesetters and trail blazers. We are ordained kings and priests to reign on the earth. We are the salt of the earth, the light of the world, we are cities set on hills that cannot be hidden. And God has lined up the circumstances that will  bring us to this glorious destiny. In His plan, grace, favor, supernatural opportunities and divine connections are all lined up to help you arrive at your preordained place. Frustration in life only results if we leave God’s plan to follow our own paths.. No matter how beautiful our own devices, it is only God’s plan that can stand the test of time.

Proverbs 19:21 says ‘There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand.’

Only that which The Lord does abides forever. And only the Lord’s doing can be marvelous in our eyes. Indeed God’s plan for us surpasses whatever plans we may have for ourselves. As heavens are higher than the earth so are God’s thoughts higher than ours. But access to His  glorious destiny for us is by coming to Him because no one has the capacity to execute a divine plan except God. And it is only by His grace at work in our lives that we can become all He has ordained for us to be in this life.

PRAYER: Lord, please help me to feed constantly on Your Word, and to maintain a prayerful lifestyle, so that I can be sensitive to Your leadings. By Your grace I shall fulfill the glorious destiny You have ordained for in Jesus Name

QUOTE

It takes a heart for God to make a mark in the sands of time. – WORDBITE 201.

Psalm 46:1-2  ‘God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;’

DAILY READING – 2 Timothy 1; Jeremiah 5-6; Psalm 121

In recent times, the threat of nuclear war has been a major global concern. Last year, it seemed a nuclear conflict between the U.S and North Korea was on the horizon. There were also speculations that India and Pakistan, two nuclear-armed enemies, could restart their hostilities. In the meanwhile, the US and Russia — the world’s foremost nuclear powers — have continued to have warheads pointed at each other, ever since the days of the Cold War. In the world today,  only nine countries own the entirety of the roughly 14,500 nuclear weapons on Earth. And among these nuclear empowered nations, two countries own the majority of all the nuclear weapons: Russia and the United States. These two nations currently possess 93 percent of all nuclear weapons, with Moscow holding 6,850 and Washington another 6,450. This number has grossly reduced from the 40,000 Russia had and the 30,000 the US had during the Cold war years. In those years of hostility, each side built up its arsenal in a bid to protect itself from the other.

With all these nuclear weapons in the world, and increasing tension among some nations, the fear of a nuclear war has therefore been a major global concern.The RDS-220 hydrogen bomb, also known as the Tsar Bomba, is the most powerful nuclear bomb ever made. It detonates with the force of 3,800 of the atomic bombs used at Hiroshima, but has never been used in warfare. Just one strike could kill hundreds of thousands of people within minutes and perhaps millions more in the following days, weeks, and years. The aftermath of a nuclear war would be a widespread famine caused by a rapidly cooling climate that could potentially end civilization as we know it.

Jesus said the last days will be like the days of Noah, which were characterized by violence on the earth. According to the sequence of biblical events heralding the end time, there shall be an escalation of conflicts around the world. And already we see violence increasing. Apart from the threat of nuclear weapons there has been many incidences of terrorist attacks, assassinations, kidnappings, armed robbery attacks, etc.

Listening to the news and what is going on in the world can lead to fear. But we don’t have to be afraid. Psalm 46:1-2 says, ‘God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.’

Indeed God is our refuge in these perilous times. He is our ark of safety in this generation. Despite the troubles and challenges in the world, we have a victorious destiny in Christ through the Blood of Jesus.

Psalm 91 says that when we make the Lord our refuge, a thousand will fall by our side and ten thousand at our right hand yet it will not come near us.

It is the Blood of Jesus that separates us from the evil in the world. Let us therefore continually take cover under His precious Blood.  Let us daily draw  the circle of the blood around our families and all that concerns us. And because  of the mark of the Blood, every plague is mandated to pass over us. By reason of the Blood, the plague of sickness, afflictions and evil occurrences are separated from us. Indeed because we have made The Lord our refuge, He will give His angels charge over us to keep us in all our ways.  Our case is different. Because of The Blood of Jesus what afflicts others is not permitted to afflict us.

Our hope and trust therefore should be in God alone. Only Him can preserve us in this perilous times. Proverbs 21:31 says, ‘The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the Lord.’ Indeed while some trust in chariots and some in horses, we shall continue to trust in the Name of the Lord our God. He alone is able to keep us and cover our heads in the day of trouble.

PRAYER: Lord, I thank You for the privileges of grace You have made available to me though the precious Blood of Jesus. Indeed my case is different. By Your grace I shall never be visited by evil in Jesus’ name.

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When you obey God’s instruction you are delivered from destruction

Hebrews 12:2 “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

DAILY READING           1 Timothy 5:23-6:21; Jeremiah 3-4; Psalm 120

Henry John Heinz was the founder of the Heinz company. The company’s most famous product is Heinz ketchup which many people around the world are familiar with. Infact it has been said that every second refrigerator in the world contains a Heinz tomato Ketchup. However Heinz is a success story today, only because he refused to stay knocked down, despite the challenges he faced along the way.

Henry  was born on October 11, 1844 to a farming family, and gained experience in the field of horticulture at a very young age. By  the age of nine, Henry had started selling homemade vegetable products from their farm. And when he turned 12 years, he was the owner of 12,000 squares meters of land, which was used for growing vegetables. Gardening became the boy’s passion. Gradually, he expanded his business, and when he graduated from high school, his garden had grown to such an extent that he had to hire workers.

Though Henry’s mother, sincerely hoped that her son would become a priest – she even brought him to the neighborhood Lutheran school, he however, preferred to serve God through business, by becoming a Kingdom financier.

While in his twenties,  his company reached a great success and Henry became a wealthy entrepreneur and things were going well. However at this time in 1875, the U.S. financial crisis erupted, resulting in the entire banking system being paralyzed. Heinz’s company was grossly affected like many others and soon the Heinz company became bankrupt. All the property had to be sold. The Collapse of the Company made Henry to experience serious emotional stress which took him  time to recover from. Heinz  was so depressed; he did not get out of bed for several months. The Christmas of 1875 was the worst one in his life, as he could not afford to buy gifts for his children. At this difficult time, his mother, who was a strong Christian assisted him with her prayers. She also helped Henry financially by giving him all her savings, to start his  business over again.

And at 31-years, Henry Heinz had to start all over from  scratch. As he worked hard, once again his business began to flourish and this time expanded beyond his wildest imagination. Today the Heinz company is spread over many nations and is one of the most successful companies on earth, grossing billions of dollars in annual income.

Indeed when we are weak, God’s strength shows up to carry us through. Grace is God’s supernatural favor, mercy and empowerment  that carries us when strength fails us. It is God’s ability working in us to accomplish what seems impossible. To fulfill destiny we must constantly rely on God’s grace and stay focused on our race.

Hebrews 12:2 Says “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

There may be bumps and detours on life’s journey, but we must learn to despise present challenges and keep our eyes on Jesus. Everything may be rising up against you, but always know God’s grace is sufficient for you. His strength is made perfect in times of weakness and trials.

Though we may sometimes experience trials, afflictions, or setbacks, we must always remember that our destiny is greater than our disaster.  And what God has begun in  us, He is able to complete. The truth is that God didn’t bring you this far to forsake you. He has too much invested in you to give up on you now. And if you have experienced a setback, it is only positioning you for a comeback!

If only you will keep moving forward in faith, honoring God, you will come into a strength that you didn’t have before. God will release to you a finishing grace that will propel you to your destined place. When men think it is over that’s when God likes to take over. Therefore regardless of what you may have seen so far, your greatest days are ahead. You have not reached your full potential. The work God began in you He will finish. What God started in you He will complete! His grace is indeed sufficient for you.

PRAYER: Father please enable me to always keep  my focus on You as I run this race of destiny. No matter what comes my way I know Your grace is sufficient for me. Thank You Lord, for doing exceedingly abundantly above all I could ever ask or imagine in Jesus name. .

QUOTE :

The tests you are going through in life today is not for your destruction, it is for your testimony. – WORDBITE 222.

1 Corinthians 15:10 ‘But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.’

DAILY READING   –1 Timothy 5:1-22; Jeremiah 1-2; Psalm 119:145-176

John Newton is the writer of the well beloved hymn ‘Amazing grace’. His life is a true reflection of this hymn. John’s mother died just before he turned seven years old. But in her short time with her son, she taught him God’s word and prayed that he would become a minister when he grew up. Unfortunately, after his mother’s death, John’s life took a turn for the worse,. His father, a sea captain, began to take John along on his long voyages to the sea. Being around rough sailors influenced John negatively. And he grew up living rough, seeming to have forgotten all that his mother had taught him. By his early twenties, John Newton had stopped believing in God and was known for his cursing and drinking. However one day, on March 21, 1748, a fierce storm struck and almost drowned their ship.  As John faced certain death, he began to recall Bible verses his mother had taught him, and cried out to God. When the storm ended, John realized that God had saved him from a sure death. He immediately asked Jesus to save his soul. He became a Christian and began to serve God actively. The prayer of John’s mother was answered later in his life, when he became the pastor of a church in England. He constantly told people how God saved a wretch like him. His thoughts were later captured in the hymn ‘Amazing grace’, which has become the world’s most famous hymn. Newton lived to be eighty-two years old and never ceased to be amazed by God’s grace. At a very old age, he often said, “My memory is nearly gone; but I remember two things: That I was a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Savior.”

Indeed God’s grace is amazing. John Newton’s hymn reminds us of God’s constant grace to us, even when we don’t deserve it. Despite how low  a man may sometimes sink in life, the grace of God is always able to reach down and pull him up.

There is no substitute for grace on our journey to greatness, because we can’t make it on our own.  There is no self-made man, we are all products of divine mercy. When a man runs alone, it is called ‘a race’, but when he runs with God it is called ‘grace’. Grace therefore is divine leverage. It is God taking over from where our human strength stops. It is the tangible and undeniable hand of God on a man’s life.  Grace is the covenant mother of greatness. Grace took Joseph from prison to palace. It took Moses from keeping sheep to leading men. It took David from being a shepherd boy to becoming a king.

Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:10 ‘But by the grace of God I am what I am…’

No one can be greater than the grace of God at work in his life. It simply means that without grace, we are grounded. Indeed without Christ we can do nothing. Apostle Paul usually ended  his messages to the churches by praying for the grace of God because he knew they could not achieve anything in the energy of the flesh.. Indeed by strength shall no man prevail. And it is not by power or might but by The Spirit of The Lord. We are all upheld by God’s grace and any day God withdraws His hand we may crash into disgrace. This is why we must continually acknowledge the hand of God in our affairs. We must always proclaim Him the doer of every good thing in our lives. This is why we give Him praise, knowing He is the glory and the lifter up of our head. Indeed if it had not been for The Lord on our side, where would we be? Despite all our frailties, faults and shortcomings, we have been kept by His mercy, we have been preserved by His love. And for this we are eternally grateful.

PRAYER: Lord, please grant me the  grace to know that without You I can do nothing. Thank You for Your continual faithfulness in my life and Please help me  to always  remain totally dependent upon Your  help in Jesus name.

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Whenever God places a demand on you, He is only positioning you to receive more from Him.  WORDBITE 222.

Psalm 114:7 ‘What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest?  thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back? Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams; and ye little hills, like lambs? Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob.’

DAILY READING     – 1 Timothy 4; Isaiah 38-39; Psalm 119:121-144

Scientists are seriously involved in ongoing research  to produce an energy  field that will protect the earth from radiation. The European Space Radiation Superconducting Shield (SR2S) project hopes to create such a force field. Their initial focus is to protect astronauts from radiation during  space missions because risk of radiation has currently become a major obstacle to deep-space exploration.

The SR2S force field will be modeled after the earth’s magnetosphere that protects the earth from solar radiations. Though the Sun is an essential element of life on Earth, however, not all the rays of the Sun are useful. The Sun releases enormous amounts of energy and material which sends radioactive particles into space. These are blasted out from the Sun in a steady wind that travels at 450 km per second. These radiations could kill any living being in a very short period of time. But the earth’s magnetosphere, as an invisible force field surrounding the earth, protects us from these radiations. This it does by channeling away the solar wind, so that it doesn’t impact the earth.

Scientist are therefore exploring the possibility of duplicating  this process, as they use a similar approach in the SR2S technology aimed at creating a magnetic field 3000 times stronger than the one that protects the earth. It will be a 10 meter (30 foot) cosmic ray deflecting force field, around astronauts and their spacecraft, that protects them from radiations.

This concept already has been a staple of many science-fiction works. In many sci-fi books and movies we often see portrayed such a force field, or defense shield of energy, that protects a person.

Imagine having such an invisible energy shield protecting you wherever you go. This means you don’t ever have to worry about  being attacked. All you need to do is to simply raise a hand and your energy shield comes up to protect you from any attack. Sounds really wonderful. It is interesting to note that God  has also provided for His children a spiritual force field to shield and protect us from harm. God has made possible for us, an environment where we can dwell and never  have to worry about attacks. God’s Presence is this environment.  Psalm 31:20 says ‘Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.’

When we dwell in God’s presence we are divinely protected from every evil.

Psalms 91:1-4 says ‘He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.’

All these scriptures assure us that God’s Presence is a shield of protection for us. When God’s Presence surrounds us, evil loses every access to us. And we engage God’s Presence through praise.

Psalm.32:7 says ‘Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance.’ Surrounding ourselves with songs of deliverance keeps us hidden in God’s Presence. Heaven is a place where praise goes on nonstop, therefore God’s Presence is maintained continually there. Similarly when we surround ourselves with nonstop praise on earth we also reproduce a Heavenly atmosphere where God abides continually. And we are told in the book of revelation that in heaven no place was found for the devil.  Therefore you can keep the devil permanently out of your environment through  engaging praise. God  inhabits the praises of His people. When we dwell in praise, we dwell in God, and it is an environment of total protection.

PRAYER: Lord, please grant me the grace to praise You continually, so that I can always be surrounded by Your Presence as a shield against every force of darkness. Let the flow of your praise never cease from my lips in Jesus Name. .

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Praise always guarantees you power for a raise, learning to praise God in season and out of season is key to fulfilling destiny. – WORDBITE 222

Luke 22:46   ‘And said unto them, Why sleep ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.’

DAILY READING      1 Timothy 3; Isaiah 36-37; Psalm 119:97-120

Pearl Harbor is located in Hawaii which is in the Pacific Ocean between California and Japan. During the time of World War II, Hawaii was not a state, but a US territory. And though World War II had been raging in Europe and Asia for two years, the United States had not entered the war. The Empire of Japan was trying to take over much of Asia and was worried about the US Navy in Hawaii. They decided to strike first in order to prevent the United States from attacking them. The attack on Pearl Harbor came as a complete surprise. Hundreds of Japanese fighter planes and bombers flew to Pearl Harbor and attacked. The bombers dropped bombs and torpedoes on the war ships, while the fighter planes attacked the US fighter planes on the ground so they could not take off and fight back. There were two waves of attacks and by the end of the second wave a number of US ships were destroyed. Although the Japanese inflicted considerable damage to the US Navy, they did not cripple it. The Japanese thought that if they took out the war ships in Pearl Harbor, then the United States Navy would be crippled and would never attack. However, they were mistaken and the attack on Pearl Harbor had just the opposite result. The US declared war the next day. This would be America’s entrance into world war 2, where eventually along with its other allies, they would win the war.  However, the attack on Pearl Harbor remains one of the most famous surprise attack in history.

Likewise, the battle of pearl harbor in many ways resembles the battles of life. Often times life’s battles come suddenly without warning. And how well a man is prepared beforehand will determine how well he survives.

Ephesians 6:13  says  ‘Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.’

‘The evil day’ is talking about the day of battle.  There is no one on earth who does not face battles. It is part of life. To survive  and thrive in that day, you must live ready.  At the alarm of war , there may be no time for preparation.  It is the reserve power you  already have that will pull you through.  You must therefore  be ready long before the fight. That is the way to be victorious.  And this reserve power is built through maintaining a fervent altar of prayer. Jesus  asked us to rise and pray lest we enter into temptation.  A lifestyle of daily fellowship with God, will ensure you don’t fall in the day of temptation. Daily fellowship with God, is daily building up your spiritual muscles. When you Study the bible, fast and pray, what you are doing is building up your reserve strength.  A day will come when you will need it. You may not know the day of the fight, but when you live ready  you can be sure of victory.

Spiritually, one of the strong signs of an impending attack  is if our fire and fervency seems to be going down. Low fire is indication that we are low on oil and so should refill. The enemy strikes most when you are spiritually weak. It is while men slept or were spiritually weak, that the enemy sowed tares. But when we watch and pray the thief is unable to break in to steal. We must keep our loins girded and our lights burning. The ability to stand strong  in faith, declaring  God’s Word without shifting , is our  guarantee of victory. Faith is the victory that overcomes the world. We must therefore,  Spend enough time in The Word digging a deep foundation so that no matter the storm or wind that comes,  our house will never fall.

PRAYER: Lord, please help me to always maintain a lifestyle of spiritual fervency, may my fire never go down or go  out. By Your grace, I shall live prepared and have the victory in every area of temptation in Jesus Name.  . .

Quote :

The battle you are faced with today is a good warfare because God has already foreordained a  victorious end for you.- WORDBITE 222.

Psalm 68:1-2 ‘Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him. As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God’

DAILY READING          1 Timothy 2; Isaiah 34-35; Psalm 119:65-96

Christians were severely persecuted and martyred through three centuries of the Roman Empire. But in the fourth century God suddenly arose and turned the tables around! At that time there was a power tussle over the leadership of the Roman Empire. Constantine became Emperor of the West and ruled in Gaul and Britain, but another contender Maxentius ruled in Rome. Soon the battle line was drawn between these two men. In the summer of AD 312, Constantine gathered his army to go into battle with Maxentius. However, when he was a few miles from Rome, Constantine, realized he had made a huge mistake because Maxentius’ army was ten times greater than his. Constantine knew he was in trouble and would lose the battle. But suddenly, something happened that changed the course of history. The day before the battle, Constantine had a vision of Christ on a cross of light. The Greek letters for Christ “Chi-Ro” appeared along with the inscription “by this sign, you will conquer.”  Constantine, who was a pagan, was quite baffled, but chose to believe the vision. He asked his men to all paint the symbol of Christ on their shields. The next day, the two armies clashed, and miraculously Constantine emerged victorious. Maxentius and his mighty army drowned as the Milvian bridge over which they were crossing collapsed. And so Constantine entered Rome and was crowned as the sole Roman emperor. He however, credited his victory to the God of the Christians and so converted to Christianity. Constantine stopped the persecution against Christians and did much to protect and support Christianity. He built the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at the site of the crucifixion of Christ in Jerusalem. He also built the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and the Church of St. Peter in Rome. Under Constantine’s rule, Christianity which was in the minority, turned around to become the major religion of the Roman empire.

Truly God knows how to bring deliverance to His people. God can use options we never even considered. In Acts 8, the church was under heavy persecution and was being scattered. Then suddenly God did something totally unexpected. The chief persecutor, Saul, had a divine encounter that turned him around to become the chief promoter of the church.

Indeed God knows how to fight our battles. When you face adversity, you need to remind yourself that whatever is trying to defeat you could very well be what God will use to promote you. No matter what the situation may be, do not limit what God can do. Be assured that whatever it takes, God is committed to your victory. And He can use anything to accomplish it. Therefore let us quit worrying about how everything is going to turn out because God is in perfect control. Rather let us resort to prayer and praise and watch as God arises to scatter every enemy.

Psalm 68:1-2 says ‘Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered: let them also that hate Him flee before him. As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the Presence of God’

It takes Praise to engage God’s Presence for our deliverance. Therefore instead of worrying, let us turn every problem into an opportunity to praise God. And as we praise God, He will surely turn things around in our favor. And remember, no matter what your battle is, it is not yours; the battle belongs to the Lord, and He has a plan to give you the victory.

PRAYER: Lord, I thank You for Your awesome deliverance in my life, Please  grant me the grace to praise You at all times, because I know that You are able to  turn even impossible situations around to my favor in Jesus Name. .

QUOTE :

God is preparing you for the season He prepared your breakthrough. – WORDBITE 222.

Hebrew 4:16 ‘Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.’

• DAILY READING – – 1 Timothy 1; Isaiah 31-33; Psalm 119:33-64

During the holocaust, when Adolf Hitler sought to annihilate all Jews, the Jews in Denmark experienced unexpected help from strange quarters. Inexplicably, one of the high ranking German officers, instead of joining his nation to fight against the Jews, rather turned around to help them. George Ferdinand Duckwitz was a German diplomat who worked for Hitler. However, as Hitler’s violent intentions came to light, Duckwitz became disillusioned. And when he heard of the deportation of Jews to the death camps, Duckwitz quickly moved into action. On September 22, 1943, he flew to Sweden where he met with the Swedish President and asked for his help to accommodate the fleeing Jews from Denmark . The president gave him assurance of his help.

And so Duckwitz planned the deportation of Jews from Denmark. Arrangements were made with fishermen to transport the Jews across the river to Sweden. Duckwitz then instructed the leaders of the Jews to inform the Jewish people to go into hiding and prepare to leave the country.  As a result, in the following days, when Hitler’s army arrived in Denmark, they hardly found any Jews during their raids.  The local people had hidden the Jews and afterwards, they helped them to get to the seashore from where the Danish fishermen transported them into Sweden. The quickly organized rescue operation, which lasted for three weeks,  moved thousands of Jews to Sweden aboard hundreds of small boats in one of the most heroic rescues of the Holocaust. As a result, none of the Jews from Denmark were sent to the concentration camps, where most inmates perished of hard labor, disease, starvation, or death in its notorious gas chambers. Duckwitz was the highest-ranking German officer to be involved directly in the rescue of Jews on this scale. After the war, his heroic actions were made known and on 21^st March 1971 the Israeli government gave him one of their highest awards of ‘Righteous Among the Nations’ and included him in the Yad Vashem memorial.

It is indeed quite inexplicable that such a highly placed German officer would risk everything in order to save the Jews who at the time were considered enemies of Germany. The answer could only be God’s grace. Indeed when grace is at work, there is no limit or hindrance to the ways and means through which God will help us. He can save by few or many. He can raise help for you from strange quarters. He can use the unexpected, the unimagined. God can use even your enemies to favor you.  Indeed it is by God’s grace that men are made great.

However, grace can be frustrated, paralyzed and crippled: Paul said: ‘I do not frustrate the grace of God:’(Galatians 2:21]. We must be careful therefore not to take the grace of God for granted. Grace is our guaranteed flight into greatness, but  we must be careful to avoid the habits that can cripple and strangulate grace, some of such anti-grace habits include sin and pride.

To see the greater flow of grace in our lives, we must be willing to maintain a fervent prayer life, because the prayer altar is the fountain of grace.. We must also engage in in-depth study of God’s Word because according to 2 Peter 1:2, grace multiplies by knowledge. Indeed everything great is rooted in grace. And by the grace of God at work in our lies,  we shall surely see glory this year.  Though you went through fire and through water, God is about to bring you into a wealthy place. There is a shift taking place in your circumstances. Everything that has been a set-back and a hindrance is about to turn around for your good. Help will arise for you from the least expected quarters. and people you don’t even know will be used by God to bless you. God will appoint for you midwives to help you birth your dream and through God’s grace, your expectations shall not be cut short.

PRAYER: Lord, I thank You for Your grace at work in my life. Indeed I know that even right now You are at work to perfect all that concerns me. Thank You Lord for causing all things to work together for my good in Jesus Name.

QUOTE

When God places His hand upon a man in life nothing can come against him, this is because the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.

Colossians 2:15 ‘And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.’

DAILY READING –      2 Thessalonians 2; Isaiah 27-28; Psalm 118

The Roman triumph was a civil ceremony of ancient Rome, held to publicly celebrate the success of a military commander in battle. The Roman Senate would officially grant ‘triumphs’ for outstanding military merit especially to officers who had successfully completed a foreign war. Those who qualified to be granted the ‘triumph’ were often victorious generals who had slain at least 5,000 of the enemy in a single battle. The essence of the ceremony was to celebrate this victorious general and treat him as ‘king for a day.’

On the day of the ceremony, the general wore a crown of laurel and gold-embroidered regalia and went in a procession through the city. He was drawn in a four-horse chariot, under the gaze of his peers and an applauding crowd. The procession entered the city at a specific point, called ‘the Porta Triumphalis’ which was a gate used only for that purpose. The procession then went through the streets and squares of Rome parading the general. The spoils of his war, and captives of his victory led the way while his armies followed behind. His prisoners from the war were paraded naked and chained through the streets. If an enemy king had been captured in the battle, he would be theatrically chained and made fun of as he is paraded before the people, to show how powerless he had become. All the ornaments, crown and jewels of the captured king would be stripped from him. All his treasures would be taken away and he would be left with nothing, being paraded naked and barefoot in the streets of Rome. This ceremony made it very clear that the enemy king had been totally defeated and fully put to shame.

This ceremony was what Apostle Paul used in describing how Christ defeated the devil and put him to public shame.

Colossians 2:15 (KJV) says ‘And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it’

The old Roman tradition, conducted to show complete dominance over their enemies is exactly what Christ did to the devil; He totally shamed and disgraced the enemy! The Messenger version of Col. 2: 15 (MSG) puts it this way “He stripped all the spiritual tyrants in the universe of their sham authority at the Cross, and marched them naked through the streets.”

Indeed Christ has totally defeated and disgraced the devil and his cohorts. They  are “spiritual tyrants”, having “sham authority’.  And at the cross, Jesus triumphed over them. This is our joy, this is our confidence, and this is our triumph.

On the cross Christ utterly destroyed every thing that gave the enemy a legal hold over you.  And by the reason of the blood, any case the enemy brings against you has been declared null and void. It has no more legal standing. When Christ said ‘it is finished’, it means every case against you has been closed and victory has been awarded to you. You have been discharged and acquitted. And there is nothing the enemy can do about it. And in God’s case there is no appeal.

Indeed God has done everything to give us the victory. And now the ball is in our court. If we want success, prosperity and sound health we  are going to have to enforce the prize Christ won at Calvary. We must boldly declare words of faith and victory over our lives.  Christ stripped the enemy  and triumphed totally. And  we must take the stand and enforce Christ’s triumph . In all areas of our lives; in our health, career, marriage, family, spiritual life, we must constantly declare the victory at the cross. The cross of Christ is the eternal basis for our victory.

Therefore today, hold on to the benefits Christ has won for you and start expecting things to change in your favor. Dare to boldly declare that you are more than a conqueror in the face of any challenge. Stand your ground against the enemy in whatever shape or form he comes against you, and declare that victory belongs to you by The Blood of Jesus. Truly by the power in the blood, what may have seemed impossible to men, becomes your testimony today in Jesus Name!

PRAYER: Lord, I thank You today, that I have victory by the blood of Jesus. Indeed by the power in the Blood I declare my freedom from every force of darkness. Indeed I am more than a conqueror in every battle of life in  Jesus Name. .

QUOTE

The battle you are faced with today is a good warfare because God has already foreordained a victorious end for you. WORDBITE 222.