A SEASON OF JOY (Part 3)

THE ENCOUNTER DAY 1

A SEASON OF JOY (Part 3) 

TEXT: Luke 1:8-14

8 Now while on duty, serving as priest before God in the order of his division,

9 As was the custom of the priesthood, it fell on him by lot to enter [the sanctuary of] the temple of the Lord and burn incense.

10 And all the throng of people were praying outside [in the court] at the hour of incense [burning].

11 And appeared to him an angel of the Lord, standing at the right side of the altar of incense.

12 And when Zachariah saw him, he was troubled, and fear took possession of him.

13 But the angel said to him, Do not be afraid, Zachariah, because your petition was heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear a son, and you must call his name John [God is favourable].

14 And you shall have joy and exultant delight, and many shall rejoice over his birth,

You are welcome to your season of joy. Refuse to settle for anything short of joy and gladness and your testimony shall be full. God has something special for his people today, don’t let your own portion pass you by.

Realize that your place of service is a great opportunity given to you by the Lord. Not everybody who desire to be where you are now has the access and opportunity you have. Our text for today tells us in verse 10 that while Zachariah went in to burn the incense, there was a great crowd outside that could not have the access into the Holy place where he was offering incense to God. In the same way, there are many people who are waiting outside the place of worship hoping that your role in the service of God will help their own encounter with God.

As you have access to the presence of God please do not take the opportunity for granted. Do all you can to position yourself for a divine encounter with the LORD.  If you are able to position yourself like Zachariah did, for a divine encounter, as you go about your duty, the people will be able to tell that you have had an encountered with the Lord. 

When Zachariah went in prepared the angel of the Lord showed up and his life was never the same again. Refuse to settle for anything less, go for the glory and it shall be yours in Jesus name. Amen. 

A SEASON OF JOY (Part 2)

A SEASON OF JOY (Part 2)

TEXT: Luke 1:8-14

8 Now while on duty, serving as priest before God in the order of his division,

9 As was the custom of the priesthood, it fell on him by lot to enter [the sanctuary of] the temple of the Lord and burn incense.

10 And all the throng of people were praying outside [in the court] at the hour of incense [burning].

11 And appeared to him an angel of the Lord, standing at the right side of the altar of incense.

12 And when Zachariah saw him, he was troubled, and fear took possession of him.

13 But the angel said to him, Do not be afraid, Zachariah, because your petition was heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear a son, and you must call his name John [God is favourable].

14 And you shall have joy and exultant delight, and many shall rejoice over his birth,

Some times in life when you are engaged in the service of the Lord you may not be sensitive to the divine opportunities that is present in the place of your service. Like many of us, on the faithful day of Zachariah’s visitation, it was just like any other day as he took the incense to carry out his duty. Verse 9 tells us that he was doing the customary thing in the place of worship but what he did not know was that this particular opportunity to serve has been orchestrated by the Lord to draft him into the place where he will be positioned for a divine encounter.

Many of us today have become oblivious of the divine opportunity that is available in our place of service. Beloved, you have not been positioned to serve where you are by mistake. God has a hand in the placement of your life this season. Refuse to complain for any reason. Thank the Lord for even the unpleasant experience you are facing and as you faithfully carry out your duty, you will encounter the grace and favour of God in the most unusual way.   It may be hard to see just how this will happen but just as the Lord met Zachariah in the place of service He will visit you and usher you into your season of joy. Serve the Lord with this in your mind and your testimony will follow. 

A SEASON OF JOY (Part 1)

.   A SEASON OF JOY (Part 1) 

TEXT: Luke 1:8-14

8 Now while on duty, serving as priest before God in the order of his division,

9 As was the custom of the priesthood, it fell on him by lot to enter [the sanctuary of] the temple of the Lord and burn incense.

10 And all the throng of people were praying outside [in the court] at the hour of incense [burning].

11 And appeared to him an angel of the Lord, standing at the right side of the altar of incense.

12 And when Zachariah saw him, he was troubled, and fear took possession of him.

13 But the angel said to him, Do not be afraid, Zachariah, because your petition was heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear a son, and you must call his name John [God is favourable].

14 And you shall have joy and exultant delight, and many shall rejoice over his birth,

The word of the Lord in Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, “TO EVERYTHING there is a season, and a time for every matter or purpose under heaven. ”

To a user of this devotional I declare to you that this is your season of joy. That which you have been trusting God for will become a reality in Jesus name.

Your season of disappointment and frustration is over in Jesus name.

You shall fulfil your destiny by the power and grace of God in Jesus name.

Those who think you are stupid serving God with all your heart shall be amazed what the Lord will do in your life in Jesus name.

Just as Zachariah was chosen to burn the incense by the divine ordering of God everything will favour you this season in Jesus name.

Wherever you turn favour will be waiting for you in Jesus name.

Beginning from this season, people will begin to acknowledge that it is good to serve the Lord because of your testimony in Jesus name.

You shall become a wonder in the eyes of God and the name of our God shall be exalted in and through your life in Jesus name.

Take time to meditate over these prophetic decrees and thank God for making it a reality in your life. Welcome to your season of joy.

       

RELEASING THE RIVER OF GOD’S GLORY 2

RELEASING THE RIVER OF GOD’S GLORY 2

TEXT: Psalm 46:1-5(AMP)

To the Chief Musician. [A Psalm] of the sons of Korah, set to treble voices. A song.

¹ God is our Refuge and Strength [mighty and impenetrable to temptation], a very present and well-proved help in trouble.

² Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change and though the mountains be shaken into the midst of the seas,

³ Though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling andtumult. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

⁴ There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High.

⁵ God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God will help her right early [at the dawn of the morning].

The great revivals and move of God are not limited to the pages of the scriptures as we are the living epistles of God in our own generation. Some people may never open the pages of the scriptures or come to church to meditate on the word of God but they will cannot help but relate with us one way or the other and that is where the Lord depends on us to let the world see His glory.

CONTEMPLATION

 “Heaven knows we need a wave of God’s revival to restore

the church back to the place of passionate worship, and the

time is now.

If the glory of the latter will be greater than that of the

former, then there must be something more than what we

have ever seen or heard.” FFPW p.164.

the glory of the former house was upon the temple of Solomon but the glory of the latter house is upon the individual that has now become the temple of God indwelling us by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16). When the people of God come to acknowledge this then there will come an unusual move of God of great proportion. Gradually the understanding is spreading and there is this shift in the church of God that is giving birth to strange ministries that need no formal registration before they begin to affect a great multitude. The river of glory is flowing and the days of glory are here.

PRACTICAL ISSUES

That which only motivates men to seek their own materialistic gain is not qualified to be called revival.  If the world can produce the same result it is not the revival we speak of. There is much more to it.

The prophet Elijah stood alone against the 450 prophets of Baal (1 kings 18:22) and at the end of the day the nation was restored back to God because when the people saw fire fall from heaven the fell down and worshipped saying “the Lord, He is God; the Lord He is God ” (1 Kings 18:39). When the people encounter the glory they will worship.

-                      REV. IGHO Y.

MEET RON KENOLY

The third of six sons, Ron Kenoly was born in Coffeyville, Kansas, in 1944, into a family where he knew both joy and heartache. 

"My mother put happiness and love into our household," he says. "We were poor, but she made us so happy that we didn't realize we were poor." 

Ron's paternal influence was not as strong. "My father was in the military and gone all of the time," he says. "I didn't realize just how much I missed him until I became a father myself and found that there were things that I had no idea how to do because he'd never been there to show me how, or to model them for me." 

"I've been singing as long as I can remember, and I think I turned to that for comfort from some of the pain of not having a father," says Ron. "My mother has told me that I used to sing myself to sleep when I was a toddler. I'd sing my own lullabies." 

Raised in church, Ron began singing in children's choir and eventually accepted the Lord in late childhood. "I accepted Jesus as Savior at an early age," says Ron, "but it wasn't until years later that I made Him Lord of my life, and there's a big difference between the two. 

But, I never was a wild kid because my seriousness about music always kept me focused on something constructive, avoiding stupid, self-destructive things. Later, when I got into the music business and saw a lot of people destroying their lives with drugs, alcohol and promiscuity, I said, 'I don't want any part of that.'" 

After high school, Ron did a three-year stretch in the Air Force from 1965 to '68. It was while in the service that Ron met and married his wife, Tavita, and where he joined his first real band, called the Mellow Fellows. The group toured military installations, performing the Top 40 hits of the day, though his career decision had been set years before. 

"I had decided music was going to be my career when I was kid back in Kansas," Ron says. "I can remember in our neighborhood there was one family that owned a TV. On Saturday nights they would turn it around and put it in the front window, facing the street, so everybody else could watch. I remember seeing Sammy Davis, Jr., and Nat King Cole for the first time, and I was profoundly impressed that here were two black men on a national stage -- highly respected and highly talented. I knew right then that was what I wanted." 

In only a short time after leaving the Air Force, Ron relocated his young family to Los Angeles where he planned to seek his fortune in the music business. He soon became a sought-after nightclub performer, and with nine singles released on four major labels, he was on his way up the music business ladder and closing in on the "big break" that eludes so many aspiring artists.

"I had met every goal I had set in a very short time," Ron recalls. "Every step was a step forward, but it never brought the fulfillment that I thought it would. So I reached for a couple of higher rings, and when I had them, I was still empty. I realized I had a void that the world was never going to fill." 

As his career took off, Ron's family life began to suffer. Separated several times and on the edge of divorce, Ron admits that he had made his career his god, and left his wife and three children on the periphery of his life. 

"My wife rededicated her life to the Lord in 1975 and began praying for the healing of our family," says Ron. "I began to realize the goodness of God because I could see the changes He was making in her life, and I could see that while I never lost respect for God, I had never had a strong spiritual life. That's when the lights began to come on for me, because I was beginning to see all the things about Jesus that before I had only heard. I wanted the joy that she had found." 

Ron recommitted his life to Christ that same year, remaining in Los Angeles and secular music for another year-and-a-half to fulfill lingering contractual commitments. When he left LA, he relocated with his family to Oakland, California, and completed a degree in music at Alameda College. 

"From 1976 to '78, while I was in school, I just surrendered my life to the Lord, allowing Him to do some character building in me," says Ron. "I had to learn to be a husband and a father, and I had to learn how to relate to God as a Father. I still sang, but only every Sunday in the bass section of Bethel Missionary Baptist Church." 

Ron taught music and physical education at Alameda from 1978 through 1982, and though he found a sense of peace in turning his life over to the Lord and His will, the fire to sing still burned within him. 

In 1978, Ron decided his next logical move would be to land a Christian record deal, but after four years of almost total unresponsiveness from the Christian industry, Ron became disheartened. 

Ron's despondency was heightened by the fact that throughout that time, secular labels continued to call him, expressing interest in rekindling old relationships. By 1982, it seemed to Ron as if the world wanted him, but Christianity was somehow not interested. 

One evening in the summer of '82, Ron sat alone in his church for hours, playing, singing, praying, worshipping, and laying his burdens before the Lord. 

"From that night on, the record companies ceased to matter," says Ron. "The Lord had met me and shown me so much, that I felt I had gone beyond what any company could offer me. Acceptance and rejection didn't matter anymore because all I knew was that I had been with God." 

Ron left the church that night with nothing but a desire to worship and praise God, and to lead others in doing the same. Soon, word of Ron's musical talents began to spread around the Oakland area, and he found himself invited to lead praise and worship at numerous churches. 

"I didn't even think of myself as a praise and worship leader," Ron says. "All I knew was I would go and sing my songs, and something special would happen." 

Leading worship for high profile pastors like Lester Sumrall and Jack Hayford brought Ron to the attention of evangelist Mario Marillo who commissioned Ron to lead worship at his crusades. Through Marillo, Ron met pastor Dick Bernal, who had recently founded the Jubilee Christian Center, a growing congregation in San Jose, Calif. 

Ron joined the church's staff as music minister in 1987, completely content with the place in life to which God had led him and without a thought of ever recording again. But, in 1990, Don Moen, creative director for Integrity Music, heard about Ron's ministry and approached him about the possibility of recording one of his praise services. 

The result was a series of albums that became best-sellers in both the church and contemporary Christian markets. Among that series was Jesus Is Alive, the gold-selling Lift Him Up, God Is Able, Sing Out With One Voice, 1997's Dove Award-winning Welcome Home, Majesty, We Offer Praises, and his most current project Dwell in the House. 

"I'm still trying to figure out what all of this means," Ron says seriously, but with a chuckle of amazement. "I want to be a good steward of what God has given me, not just in terms of music, but in life experience and valuable lessons I can pass on to other people. He's holding me responsible for the visibility and the influence that He's allowed me to have. And, make no mistake, it has been Him who has allowed it. My main concern is just to always do with it what He wants me to do." 

Ron Kenoly will be ministering Live at #TheEncounter2014

UNCOMMON ENCOUNTERS Part 5

UNCOMMON ENCOUNTERS Part 5. 

TEXT: TEXT: 2 Corinthians 12:1-6 (AMP) 
¹ TRUE, THERE is nothing to be gained by it, but [as I am obliged] to boast, I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord.
² I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows—was caught up to the third heaven.
³ And I know that this man—whether in the body or away from the body I do not know, God knows—
⁴ Was caught up into paradise, and he heard utterances beyond the power of man to put into words, which man is not permitted to utter.
⁵ Of this same [man's experiences] I will boast, but of myself (personally) I will not boast, except as regards my infirmities (my weaknesses).
⁶ Should I desire to boast, I shall not be a witless braggart, for I shall be speaking the truth. But I abstain [from it] so that no one may form a higher estimate of me than [is justified by] what he sees in me or hears from me.

We are living in a time where only few persons are willing to pay the price for the supernatural manifestation of God to become a regular occurrence. Many of us are satisfied with the story of the past move of God that we were once part of. Others are satisfied with talking about the move of God they read from a book or they heard about and we celebrate our knowledge of such. The God we all serve is the same yesterday, today and forever. If he did it yesterday, He can do it today and tomorrow. Only those who see Him as a present and always powerful and available God are able to acknowledge the awesome presence of the Lord until they record some supernatural manifestations.

The life of the supernatural is not meant to be limited to certain special events and when some individuals are in town. It is the will of the Lord that we all should continually walk in the spirit and encounter His glory on a regular basis. Don’t let any man make you believe otherwise. The God you serve is not a seasonal God that should be expected during certain festivals. He is God who was and who is and is to come. Therefore, He is always ready and available and if you believe you shall have it. He is God and not man that grows weak and in need of empowerment. See Him in his glory always and you shall live in the realm of glory always. Don’t wait for the next big meeting in town. Begin to create the atmosphere and you will see the glory of God.

Shalom

MEET NATHANIEL BASSEY

Nathaniel Bassey was born in Lagos, Nigeria. He is from Ikot Ofon Ikono, Uyo local government area in Akwa-Ibom state, South-South Nigeria.
His father, Mr E Joshua Bassey, was a minister in The Apostolic Church Bashua Assembly and from an early age he developed a love for both music and the gospel.
He was inspired when He saw Dr Panam Percy Paul, a prominent Nigerian gospel music icon in concert over twenty years ago and since then,.His passion for music has grown and translated.into various musical experiences. Today He is married to His wife Sarah Bassey and they are blessed with A child

• In his early years, he developed a rather uncommon interest for jazz music and began listening, imitating and playing to the music of.Louis Armstrong, Miles Davies, Clifford Brown, Charlie Parker, Stan Getz and Kirk Whalum, Phil Driscoll, Hugh Masakela and other Jazz luminaries. His zeal for the Jazz form would later stir him to seek out bands and groups along the Jazz lines. He then joined a top jazz quartet in Lagos, Spectrum 4, where he played alongside his childhood friends.
• About that time Nat, as he is fondly called, was approached by one of the most respectable figures in the Nigerian jazz and music circle, Elder Steve Rhodes to lead, arguably, the first
  Jazz Orchestra in the country – THE STEVE RHODES ORCHESTRA. He served as band leader and lead trumpet player for a period of two years and later moved on with his music career.
  His peculiar and particularly soulful trumpet playing style caught the ears of top Artistes and composers within and outside the country. 
  Teemac, Ayo Bankole Jr, Cobhams Asuquo, Wole Oni, Yinka Davies, Adlan Cruise, Funsho Ogundipe, Peter King, Sotiris Papadopoulus, Paul Petersen, The French Cultural centre,American International School, are but a few individuals and organisations that have sought his musical ingenuity.
• As time passed, Nathaniel began sensing a deep yearning within. There was more to his music than he thought. He later took time off his numerous mainstream commitments to seek the Lord under the Mentorship and guidance of Late Pastor Eskor Mfon, the former Pastor of The Redeemed Christian Church Of God, City Of David Parish. This decision attracted fierce criticisms from friends, Artistes and colleagues who thought it unthinkable abandoning what was becoming a thriving mainstream music career to serve exclusively at a local church.
  As he developed an intimate fellowship with the Holy Spirit, He then realised that music was more than an item to fill a space in time but was a fundamental tool in the praise and worship of the Lord. Soon after, a music ministry was born and for Nathaniel, the main thrust was WORSHIP – Music of heaven – one that ministered exclusively to the Lord and an avenue through which HE related with His people. His trumpet playing coupled with a calm.singing style has since ushered many in concerts,crusades and churches into the presence of the LORD.
• Nathaniel, a graduate of Politics and International Relations at the University of London, also serves as the director of music at the RCCG; The King’s Court. He has attended music courses in and out of the country including the Middlesex University Summer School UK, where he studied popular music and music business. He writes, sings and produces his own music and records with diverse groups of musicians.

Nathaniel’s debut album Elohim was recorded and mixed in Cape Town, South Africa in the year 2008. It has been described as a spiritual and Artistic masterpiece with the hit track“Someone’s knocking at the door” a soft-rock tune currently generating so much interest locally and internationally.