Thursday, 18th April 2024
Bible Reading: James 1: 3-4
Memory Verse: These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. 1 Peter 1:7 (NLT)
Did you notice the name of the woman in yesterday’s devotional who got entangled in marriage to the evil priest while her parents were desperately in search of the solution to her incurable madness? Her name was Christiana. Does that ring a bell? It seems to me that Christiana was from a Christian family. Question: What is someone from a Christian family doing in the house of an evil priest? The Scripture is forever true: “Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad” Ecclesiastes 7:7a (KJV). Please don’t be too quick to point an accusing finger to the parents of Christiana if you haven’t found yourself in similar shoes. However, when the devil came, it found their spiritual strength, energy and conviction shallow and unsustainable. The devil came like a flood into their family but their spiritual strength was no match for the onslaught of the evil one. The flood swept away their convictions until they sought a short cut outside the counsel of God. Their convictions about their faith suffered a great landslide when the devil came into the family. Perhaps they thought the Word of God in their heart was founded on a Rock, only to regrettably discover that it was founded on a sand having gained no root.
Now to you: What shall separate you from the love of Christ? How deep is your staying power? What happens if Jesus who is a King Spirit decides to prolong the day of your divine visitation? Will you revert to the devil for a quick fix? Will you revert to the devil for a short cut that leads to the damnation of your soul? On what is your faith founded? Take a few seconds to ask, “What shall separate me from the love of God?” ‘What will make me a customer to herbalists and so-called prophets in various prayer homes and prayer mountains?” Don’t rely on your strength. Ask God for mercy to hold on to Him no matter what happens on the evil day.
Quote: If you fail under pressure, your strength is too small – Proverbs 24:10 (NLT)
Prophetic Decree: You will no longer experience faith-failure, in Jesus name.
Prayer Focus
1. O Lord please forgive me of all my subtle compromises.
2. I receive grace and mercy to hold in desperately to the one and living God in the day of trouble.
3. Holy Spirit, please deepen my convictions in the One and true God, in Jesus name.
4. The storms of life shall not sweep my convictions, in Jesus name.
5. Mercy of God, uphold my faith till the end. My story shall not be a deterrent to my generation, in Jesus name.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Psalms 17, 35, 54, 63