Your Refreshing Daily Devotional

The writer of the hymn WHAT A FRIEND WE HAVE IN JESUS noted that believers forfeit their peace because they neglect to carry everything to the Lord in prayer. If there is any mistake close to that it would be refusal to take God’s word at its face value. Take for instance our text. Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit will teach us all things. Most believers have reduced the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit to the Bible alone, whereas what was promised is all-round instruction. The Holy Spirit is as divine as Jesus and the Father. So He has comprehensive knowledge of all things and can be of help if we call on Him. I remember a couple of awkward moments that I needed to cry out. First one was when everybody in our house travelled. I found myself struggling to do routine things that I wasn’t used to. I struggled to open a lock for so long until I, in my frustration, asked the Holy Spirit to help me. Second time was when I was to embark on international trip and could not locate my passport. When I called on the Holy Spirit, my eyes were opened to where it was.

It is one thing to know what ought to be done, but it is quite another to know how to go about it successfully…If we company with the Holy Spirit, there is no reason to be stranded in life.

We are often confronted with different challenges in life. However, there is not a single moment that we are left to wander alone. “I will not leave you as orphans [comfortless, desolate, bereaved, forlorn, helpless]; I will come [back] to you.” (John14:18 AMPC). It is one thing to know what ought to be done, but it is quite another to know how to go about it successfully. To win in life, we all must subscribe to the instruction of the Holy Spirit who is the Chief Coach. Apart from teaching us and reminding us all things, the duties of the Holy Spirit also include guiding believers into all truth. If we company with the Holy Spirit, there is no reason to be stranded in life.

An eight-year old boy had a dream which he relayed to his father. He saw Jesus coming down from heaven to earth. Upon landing, the earth turned into heaven! There are so many things to unpack from this boy’s dream. Firstly, it reiterates the words of the angels on the day in which Jesus went to heaven. “And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.” Acts 1:10-11 NKJV

If believers will be like Jesus upon His return, there is no reason to doubt the possibility of the earth being like heaven…The thought of Jesus returning to earth is a clarion call for sinners to repent, but it should be the greatest source of hope for the believers.

Secondly, the dream also validates the great transition that is clearly prophesied in the Bible. John wrote that when Jesus returns we shall be like Him. If believers will be like Jesus upon His return, there is no reason to doubt the possibility of the earth being like heaven. Jesus taught us to pray for the arrival of the kingdom and that the will of God be done on earth as it is in heaven. Once His will is done here, the earth invariably will become a replica of heaven as God intended from the beginning. In our text, we see New Jerusalem made from heaven descending to the earth. The sinners and all the wicked ones will have no part in God’s new earth. It shall be the heritage of the saints forever. The thought of Jesus returning to earth is a clarion call for sinners to repent, but it should be the greatest source of hope for the believers.

I stood waiting for my order at a fast food joint in Toronto, Canada late July when a gentleman walked in. He must be in his 60s. He picked the menu list, trying to figure out what they had. The attendant promptly notified him that they didn’t have pizza and went ahead to show what was available. “Let me go and ask my wife” he said, adding “I do not know what she wants.” On that note, he left to go and confer with his wife who was somewhere else in a nearby shop. Before he returned, I began to process how many times my wife had asked me for what I wanted for lunch or dinner in our 38 years of marriage. It occurred to me that marriage cannot thrive on presumption. It is one institution where the couples continue in a life-long commitment to doing what their partner wants. That’s a tough one, but there is no alternative way to a successful marriage. When you are done pleasing your spouse, you have indirectly signed out of your relationship.

…marriage cannot thrive on presumption…It is one institution where the couples continue in a life-long commitment to doing what their partner wants…Just as physical marriage cannot thrive on presumption, even so can our union with Christ never flourish if we presume on God’s will.

Now, the Bible employed the metaphor of marriage to describe our union with Christ. Just as physical marriage cannot thrive on presumption, even so can our union with Christ never flourish if we presume on God’s will. There is no alternative to asking God on a daily basis concerning what He wants in everything. A line in what is generally known as the Lord’s Prayer is, “Give us this day, our daily bread”. We should take our understanding of that phrase beyond physical bread. Jesus said that His meat was to do the will of the Father. So also must we make God’s will the bread we ask for on a daily basis.

A farmer does several things during harvest. Firstly, there is threshing. This process involves beating the stalks to lose the grains from the plant. Following this is winnowing. This is the process by which the grain plus the chaff is tossed into the air. The wind blows the chaff away, being lighter, and the heavier grains fall into a receptacle. I think there is a sense in saying that “winnowing” is an essential aspect of effective leadership. In reality, everyone who wants to make the most of life must master the art of “winnowing”.

Unless we know how to separate truth from lies, fact from fiction, genuine concern from sheer sycophancy, we might end up destroying what we are building…You cannot afford to take to heart everything you hear.

Different kinds of information that come to us are seldom in their pure state. Some are unverified and unverifiable hearsay. Others are absolute lies or at best exaggeration. Unless we know how to separate truth from lies, fact from fiction, genuine concern from sheer sycophancy, we might end up destroying what we are building. In my role, I can’t fully recall how many conflicting information I get on a situation or some persons. If I were given to impulsive reactions to everything I hear, I would have caused damage to individuals and to the ministry. You cannot afford to take to heart everything you hear. The best thing to do is to tell God about everything you are told. His Spirit will help you to sieve and shift things appropriately. His wisdom will also help you to know what to dismiss and what requires further action.

The wretched plight of a leper is easily noted in scriptures. A clear distance was maintained from anyone with the plague for two reasons. Firstly, it was contagious at that time. For fear of spreading the disease, a leper was quartered far away from the rest of the society. Secondly, it was averse to the purity advocated under the law. Someone who, though free from the plague, comes in contact with a victim becomes immediately unclean for a certain period of time. So, apart from the physical discomfort that a leper suffers due to his body eating away, there was the emotional toll of loneliness by being secluded to the outskirts of the community. From these, one can understand the desperation of the leper who came and fell before Jesus and said, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” Luke 5:12 NKJV.

Love will win where power fails. Again, not everybody requires a touch of power, but a touch of love is a daily need in every life and in every place.

In response to this, Jesus reached out His hand and touched him. That was a touch of power as the man got healed immediately. Beyond this, it was a touch of love. No one knows exactly how long the man had been afflicted with leprosy. What is clear is that he had not received a touch of love and affirmation for as long as the disease lasted. Due to its dramatic effect, many people are eager to have power gifts. We want the blind to see, the deaf hear, and the dead raised. As important as this is, it will fall short unless it is accompanied by a touch of love. Love will win where power fails. Again, not everybody requires a touch of power, but a touch of love is a daily need in every life and in every place.

The choices we make do a couple of things. Firstly, they reveal our level of maturity. The son of our Resident Pastor in Lagos, Uyi, has the habit of stealing away from his mother to come to my office anytime I am around. He did just that on the third Sunday of July this year. The mother, as usual, trailed him to my office. On my both hands, I held out to him two things and asked him to choose one. The first had a thousand Naira, while the other had a wrap of sweet. He went for a wrap of sweet. His innocent, young heart could not understand that the money I offered could purchase dozens of the sweet he chose. Immature choices often fail to see the potentials and possibilities in the alternative forgone.

The choices we make… reveal our level of maturity…Immature choices often fail to see the potentials and possibilities in the alternative forgone…Choices also reveal value… making good choices is a learned behaviour.

Choices also reveal value. Esau returned from the field one day, famished. He saw his brother, Jacob, who had just prepared a meal. He did not hesitate to exchange his rights as the firstborn for a mess of food. In his words: “And Esau said, “Look, I am about to die; so what is this birthright to me?” Genesis 25:32 NKJV. Esau had value for the satisfaction of physical appetite than spiritual heritage. By the time he realised what he had lost, it was already too late. Choices never leave us the same way. It has been said that a life is the sum total of all the choices made. Being so, we must exercise great caution in this regard. One last thing to note is that making good choices is a learned behaviour. The Easy-To-Read Version (ERV) of our text says, “He will eat milk curds and honey as he learns to choose good and refuse evil.” Pray that the Spirit of God will teach you to always choose aright.