. THE CULTURE OF THE KINGDOM (PART 1)

. THE CULTURE OF THE KINGDOM (PART 1)

TEXT: 1 Thes 1:5

5,For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.

6,And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost:

To be able to touch lives beyond the intellect is not in our human abilities. Our skills, languages, theology, psychology and theories are so insufficient to bring down the glory. This is exclusively the work of the Holy Spirit. So in a sense it is not even our abilities, it is yielding ourselves to the personality of the Holy Spirit to make use of what or who we are.

What really matters is how available we are to Him as instruments and not our ability. He just fills us up with His glory and that glory spreads. Our cultures, temperaments, dispositions and traditions and ideas should not define for us the acceptable way to express Christian worship. We have a more excellent way in the leadership of the Holy Spirit, who is always in conformity with the word of God as revealed in the bible.

By following the leadership of the Holy Spirit, we are able to introduce men and women to the culture of the kingdom of God and His glory is revealed for all to see.

ACTION POINT

Understand that it’s exclusively the work of the Holy Spirit to reveal the glory of God and not our intellect or skills

.       THE WITHDRAWAL OF THE PRESENCE OF GOD (Part 1) 

Revelation 2:5 “Remember then from the heights you have fallen. Repent (change the inner man to meet God’s will) and do the works you did previously (when you first knew the Lord), or else I will visit you and remove your lamp stand from its place, unless you change your mind and repent”. AMP.

             The withdrawal of the presence of God from our midst is often as a result of our look warmness and disobedience to God’s word. In the book of Revelation 2:5 God was talking to the church in Revelation, then in Exodus 33:2­-7, a lot of issues here, one, God finds it difficult to force Himself on any one.  Often and again God has told the children of Israel this is I want you to do, and they did this, so He said to Moses let me not destroy them, I will send an angel because if I continue I’m going to kill them, so let me send an angel to help take you to the promise land. You will still get there but it won’t be me, it would be an angel. Moses later on in this passage said “Lord if your presence will not go with us then let’s just stay here”.

            Too many people have taken serious decisions without being sure God is there and then later they wonder why they failed. You ought to have gotten serious confirmation that He has gone ahead of you before you took your step, it is very important for every one of us to have this deep down inside of us. We shouldn’t do anything that will make Him pull away but rather we should do that that will attract His presence throughout our lives and it’s very possible.

PRACTICAL ISSUES

It is a very big mistake to embark on any journey in life without the assurance of God’s presence, it’s a big mistake.

THE SERVICE AND BLESSING OF OBEDEDOM (PART 1)

THE SERVICE AND BLESSING OF OBEDEDOM (PART 1) 

TEXT: 1 Chronicles 13:11-14 (AMP)
¹¹ And David was offended because the Lord had broken forth upon Uzza; that place to this day is called Perez-uzza [the breaking forth upon Uzza].
¹² And David was afraid of God that day, and he said, How can I bring the ark of God home to me?
¹³ So David did not bring the ark home to the City of David, but carried it aside into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite [a Levitical porter born in Gath-rimmon].
¹⁴ And the ark of God remained with the family of Obed-edom in his house three months. And the Lord blessed the house of Obed-edom and all that he had.

When David when to get the ark of God into Jerusalem he got carried away with the preparation and then made a big and costly omission. He failed to follow the prescribed way given by the Lord to the people of Israel and when Uzza reached out to help steady the Ark the Lord strucked him there and he died. Immediately the worship service was abandon and a great fear came upon David and the people of Israel. It was this unexpected tragerdy that help to provoke the ministry and calling of a Levite called Obed-edom. In similar manner, sometimes it is the misfortune or failure of others that leads to the lifting of another man. And if the one saddled with this sudden opportunity is careful and faithful enough to live up to expectation the blessing that would follow can be really amazing. While the ark was in the house of Obed-edom for 3 months verse 14 says “the Lord blessed the house of Obed-edom and all that he had.”  The blessing was too much for him so the Lord blessed his house and all that he had. Those who are wise to make room for the Lord cannot be without a tangible miracle. When the church or fellowship has to meet in your house it is an opportunity to have the presence of God rest upon your home and all that you have. Don’t be unwise like those who try to avoid the gathering of God’s people in their house or the use of their car or properties. If you are faithful in the service of the Lord your life will never lack grace and glory. Go after God and you will live to tell and bless others with the glory. 

OVERCOMING OBSTACLES TO WORSHIP 4

(Matthew 15:1-11)

Thank God for the ministry and personality of the Holy Spirit. He is your only guarantee for a life of divine intimacy.

Thank God for the assurance of greater glory in your walk with God.

CONTEMPLATION

“When our worship is more of a performance art than an encounter with divinity, it leaves people wondering about the relevance of a religious community. Furthermore, the lifestyles of worship leaders and other key players that are not compatible with the teachings of the Holy Book make the whole thing look like a joke.” P.38 FFPW.

People only see the need to return to worship in a place whenever their expectations are surpassed by what they have encountered. In a dry and thirsty land the only place with water does not need to cajole people to come. They will have problem is creating space all. When an individual overflows with the fountain of God he/she attract unusual favours. If we do not allow the Holy Spirit to show us what we must do something very important will be missing and all our effort and sacrifice will become futile. The only reason you look forward with great expectation to meeting with anybody is the importance you attach to that individual. Until you are able to see the awesome glory and blessing that is released upon you in your fellowship with God, worship becomes some form of drudgery.  

PRACTICAL ISSUES

The degree of passion, anticipation and excitement expressed as we look forward to a meeting is proportional to the degree of our expectation.

The amount spent on publicity does not amount to the number of souls attracted or the success of the event. The anticipated impart and the degree of the manifestation of God from the onset makes a lot of difference.

Those who depend on the Holy Spirit for help never get disappointed.

-          REV. IGHO Y. 

Glory Realm Devotional

www.gloriousfountain.org

THE PLACE OF SURRENDER (PT 4.)

4^TH APRIL

MEMORY VERSE: Rom 12: 1

(I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.)

TEXT: John 12:24-25

24, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

    25, He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

The Lord desires to manifest His presence in all our meetings, but the degree of this manifestation is connected to the degree of our surrender. This is where those who have yielded themselves to the master are invaluable in the manifestation of heaven’s glory and it’s easy for people to encounter God because such lives are hungry and desperate for God. They are not just hungry for fame or trying to outdo somebody, they are hungry and desperate for God to consecrate them and then to use them.

When we learn to yield all to the Lord, we will see His glory like never before. This suggests that the weight of the glory that can be revealed in a meeting is also dependent on the level of our hunger and surrender.

ACTION POINT

The level of God’s glory we will see is connected to our level of hunger and surrender.

Glory Realm Devotional

www.gloriousfountain.org

THE MANIFEST PRESENCE OF GOD (PART 8)

3^RD APRIL

TEXT: John 1:5-7 (KJV)
⁵  And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
⁶  There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
⁷  The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.

   

  The bible says “Light shineth in the darkness and the darkness comprehended it not”. How long would we be running from them? When you are not sure of your work with God you run from them. When you are sure of your work with God you confront them, I explain this, and if you are not sure you are in trouble.  There was this brother that went out two by two witnessing with another sister, and they went to somewhere to preach. As they were speaking the woman said please you people leave, if my husband came’s it won’t be nice. So they continued talking, and they were talking. Finally the man came, he was a juju priest, and said did they not tell you to leave? And they continued, so he took his staff and hit the young man on the leg and said leave. Finally somehow they left but he didn't walk to a pole before he began to limp, and half of his body was going paralyzed. They went for two by two witnessing, but I wonder how they went. It is dangerous to just be doing church without the presence of God. And so we didn't know. After many days we heard of his predicament and they told us they've tried took to the hospital. There are things x-ray can see, there are things x-ray can’t see. They took him to hospital he was getting worse.  So message came from home for him to come home and you know what is going to happen when they say come over home, you know where they are going to. And we heard of that and the Lord laid it in our hearts to send for him. They brought him to the church and I still remember vividly, that day was a Thursday, the women were having their meeting right at the church, the opposite was the pastorium, and we had one small structure erected for the children and some other stuff. So we took him there and once he came we saw him in his terrible state, the weather was cold, he shivering. I can still see him on his blue t-shirt (thick blue t-shirt) shivering, confused. And then we saw it holy anger rose up from within and we wanted to start binding, you know that’s the normal thing. As we wanted to do that the Lord said he is not fighting the kingdom of darkness. Our God and the devil are not mates, sometimes we make the devil look so powerful, and he’s not. So the Lord said just praise me, not in the sense of singing any song, just praise me. So we put him in the middle, held our hands together and started calling the name of God, you are glorious, you are mighty, you are the ancient of days, you are the mighty man in battle, you are Jehovah, we just kept doing that and the place became charged with the presence of God. When the King of kings steps in you can tell He’s here. The place became charged, this young man that was shivering was sweating profusely. The clothes began to get soaked; whatsoever went in was coming out now. And as we were doing that he at a point sprang up on his feet, broke out of the circle, dashed into the road shouting “I am free, I am free, I am free”. Now we had to so that he will not make a scene because there were women meeting in church, and so we called him back, checked him, perfectly restored.

      No matter what you going through, you may have been praying about that thing for years it may look like you’re not getting answers, just wait, just wait. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up wings like eagles, and they shall run and not be weary and walk and not faint. The presence of the Lord will make the difference in your life in Jesus name.

Glory Realm Devotional

www.gloriousfountain.org

JUSTIFYING YOUR CALLING AND ELECTION- (PART 5)

2NDAPRIL

TEXT: 2 Peter 1:10-11 (AMP)
¹⁰ Because of this, brethren, be all the more solicitous and eager to make sure (to ratify, to strengthen, to make steadfast) your calling and election; for if you do this, you will never stumble or fall.
¹¹ Thus there will be richly and abundantly provided for you entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

• It is true that the gift and the calling of God is without repentance yet it is your duty to identify the best way to position yourself to be equipped to fulfil your calling. When the Lord picked you up He did not make any mistake. But the truth is that until you identify and submit to those who carry the grace that is meant to help you succeed you will struggle unnecessarily.  

If a man is careful enough to understand and identify with and submit to the one who carries the grace that will provoke the gift and calling of God in him, he will be able to manifest a gift or skill beyond the ordinary. It was the calling and assignment of Moses that necessitated the awesome gifting and calling of Bezalel. 

When a man fails to occupy his place and function fully in his calling he frustrates the grace and anointing of God upon his life. It is lack of understanding that makes a man think that he is anointed because he had spent time in fasting and prayer and in developing himself by studying. Your gift and calling may be wonderful but pride can be a great hindrance. 

Let God lead and you will be amazed the glory that will follow. 

Glory Realm Devotional

BY: Rev. Igho Yebgeburu

www.gloriousfountain.org