Ɍɦαρsσdy Dαílíҽs
RHAPSODY OF REALITIES
📅 TUES. 3RD SEPTEMBER 2024
MAKE KNOWN HIS WONDERFUL DEEDS
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📖 O give thanks unto the LORD; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people (Psalm 105:1).
1 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN:
2 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN:
Ɍɦαρsσdy Dαílíҽs
RHAPSODY OF REALITIES
SUN. 1ST SEPTEMBER 2024
APPLY THE HIGHER PRINCIPLES OF THE KINGDOM
📖 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
For we walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).
1 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN:
2 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN
RHAPSODY OF REALITIES, DAILY DEVOTIONAL,
📅 FRI. 30TH AUGUST 2024.
HIS JUSTICE ALWAYS PREVAILS
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD (Isaiah 54:17).
Pastor Chris Says
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
In Esther 3, the Bible tells us the story of Mordecai, a Jew, and Haman, one of the king's officials who had risen to a position of great honour. The Bible described Haman as "the enemy of the Jews" and an Agagite, a wicked man who harboured intense animosity towards Mordecai and the Jewish people.
Haman, being wealthy, assured the king that he would personally finance the operation of annihilating the Jews. He deceived the king into believing that the Jews were a threat to the kingdom's stability. However, by God's divine providence, Haman's evil plans ultimately backfired, andit was he, Haman, who eventually got hanged on the very gallows he had prepared for Mordecai.
The Bible says, "The wicked watches the righteous, And seeks to slay him. The Lord will not leave him in his hand, Nor condemn him when he is judged. Wait on the Lord, And keep His way, And He shall exalt you to inherit the land; When the wicked are cut off, you shall see it" (Psalm 37:32-34 NKJV). The immutable truth of Scripture assures that the “Hamans” of this world and their likes would ultimately face God's righteous judgment.
God's justice will always prevail over the schemesof the wicked such that the fate they intend for others becomes their lot. The Bible says in Psalm 125:3, “For the rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous....”
It’s also one of the reasons we pray for fellow Christians, ministers of the Gospel, and Christian leaders around the world to be protected and shielded from wicked and unreasonable men as they carry out their works of righteousness. Always pray for pastors to be shielded from all evildoers, and affirm that they’re equipped with wisdom, strength and discernment as they lead God’s flock and propagate the Gospel.
There’re Christians who are courageously spreading the Gospel in places and territories that are still hostile to the message of Jesus Christ. Always pray that such Christians be strengthened and remain resilient, guided by the Holy Spirit away from harm, and to continue to be effective instruments of His love and truth. Hallelujah!
🙏 PRAYER
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Dear Father, I pray for pastors, fellow Christians, ministers of the Gospel, and Christian activists around the world today, that your mighty hand of protection rests upon them; they’re imbued with divine wisdom, discernment, and courage as they stand for righteousness and truth in the face of any kind of opposition. I pray that you strengthen their resolve and embolden them to continue their work with unwavering faith and determination, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
📖 FURTHER STUDY:
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Psalm 91:9-1; Because thou hast made the LORD, [which is] my refuge, [even] the most High, thy habitation; 10 There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.
11 For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
12 They shall bear thee up in [their] hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
Psalm 89:13-14; Thou hast a mighty arm: strong is thy hand, [and] high is thy right hand. 14 Justice and judgment [are] the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.
2 Thessalonians 3:1-3; Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have [free] course, and be glorified, even as [it is] with you:
2 And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all [men] have not faith.
3 But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep [you] from evil.
DAILY SCRIPTURE READING
1-Year Bible Reading Plan: 1 Corinthians 14 & Proverbs 3-4
2-Year Bible Reading Plan: 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 & Jeremiah 16
RHAPSODY OF REALITIES
📅 WED. 28TH AUGUST 2024.
SPIRITUAL OVERSIGHT AND STEWARDSHIP
📖━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Pastor Chris Says
━━━━━━━━━━
And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation (Luke 19:44).
I want you to observe the word “visitation” in our theme scripture. Some have the idea that Jesus was talking about a mere “visit,” but that’s not it. That word is translated from the Greek "Episkopē," which conveys the meaning of "bishoprick" also spelt as "bishopric" or the office of an overseer. An overseer has something to watch over and take care of.
This sheds light on the Lord’s statement. The Jews weren’t watchful, hence missed the time of their visitation. It also brings to mind God's command to Adam to "dressand keep” the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:15), signifying their responsibility to watch over and care for the garden.
Similarly, the Lord Jesus urged His disciples to "watch and pray" (Matthew 26:41, Mark 13:33). As the Church of Jesus Christ, we must be vigilant and attentive to our spiritual responsibilities. Individuals and nations today may face dire consequences if we neglect our responsibility to watch over their spiritual condition by interceding for them.
Matthew 26:41 AMPC says, "...Keep awake (give strict attention, be cautious and active) and watch and pray…." 1 Timothy 2:1 says, “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men.” To not carry out this instruction from the Lord means you’re not fulfillingyour “bishopric,” your responsibility to watch over your nation and the people.
We have an understanding of God's Word and can discern the signs of the times; therefore, we must be watchful! Remember what the Bible says in Ezekiel 3:17, “Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.” We’re watchmen and women, and one of the ways we watch over and take care of God’s creation is through prayers. Paul reiterated this when he said in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, "Pray without ceasing." Also, in Colossians 4:2, he admonished, "Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving.
Through prayer and spiritual discernment, we thwart the plans of darkness and usher in God's peace where there had been turmoil. Never undermine the importance of your spiritual oversight and stewardship in these last days!
🙏 PRAYER
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Dear Father, I recognise the significance of my role as a watchman, and I thank you for the authority you’ve vested in me to keep the devil and his cohorts in check. I terminate their evil, vicious and malevolent activities in my environment and declare that only your peace and prosperity reign in and around me, in Jesus' Name. Amen.
📖 FURTHER STUDY:
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
1 Timothy 2:1-4 NIV
I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
Acts 20:28
Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
Ezekiel 3:17 NIV
"Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me.
DAILY SCRIPTURE READING
1-Year Bible Reading Plan: 1 Corinthians 12 & Psalms 146-150
2-Year Bible Reading Plan: Colossians 4:1-9 & Jeremiah 14
RHAPSODY OF REALITIES Daily Devotional
RHAPSODY OF REALITIES
📅 TUES. 27TH AUGUST 2024
HAVE NO FEAR OF DEATH
📖━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
…The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death (1 Corinthians 15:26).
Pastor Chris Says
━━━━━━━━━━
There’s a distinction that I’d like you to observe in Paul’s expression in the theme verse. It’s the fact that he didn’t say, “The last enemy that shall be defeated is death.” Rather, he used the word “destroyed”; this is because death has been defeated but not yet extirpated.
Since this is the case, why then are many still afraid of death? Hebrews 2:14-15 provides a solution: "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage."
The Lord Jesus, through His vicarious death, rendered the devil (who once had the power of death) powerless, effectively abolishing his authority and ability to kill. So, Satan doesn’t have that power anymore. What does he do now? He employs his deceptive strategies and makes people afraid. Fear is why many are subject to death; it puts people in bondage; it makes them tremble and refuse to do what they should do.
But thanks be unto God; Jesus delivered humanity from death completely. You have to come to that place in your Christian life where you have no fear of death; where you lose your fears. Jesus has the keys of hell and of death; He has authority over death so there’s nothing to fear anymore. Read His reassuring words: “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death” (Revelation 1:18).
In John 5:24, He said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." You’ve passed from death to life. You’re in the arena of life. This isn’t a promise. Physical death is the result of spiritual death. If there is no spiritual death in you, there ought not to be physical death in you.
John reiterated the same words in his epistle when he said, "We know that we have passed from death unto life..." (1 John 3:14). Hallelujah! Always remember, the devil has nothing—death, sickness, weakness, feebleness—in you just like Jesus said in John 14:30: "Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.
🗣 C O N F E S S I O N
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Blessed be God for the victory over death that we have in Christ. The life I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of Jesus Christ my Lord, who loved me and gave Himself for me! I live fearlessly, knowing that I have passed from death to life. The God-life in me makes me supernatural and impregnable to sickness, disease, failure, death and the devil. Hallelujah!
📖 FURTHER STUDY:
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Romans 8:35-39; Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
[36] As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
[37] Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
[38] For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
[39] nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Hebrews 2:14-15 AMPC; Since, therefore, [these His] children share in flesh and blood [in the physical nature of human beings], He [Himself] in a similar manner partook of the same [nature], that by [going through] death He might bring to nought and make of no effect him who had the power of death–that is, the devil–
RHAPSODY OF REALITIES
📅 MON. 26TH AUGUST 2024
EXTRICATED FROM DEATH
📖━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
…who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel (2 Timothy 1:10).
Pastor Chris Says
━━━━━━━━━━
The Bible records that in ancient times, humans lived for exceptionally long periods with lifespans exceeding 900 years. However, as sin increased, lifespans diminished. Genesis 6:3 says because of sin, man's lifespan was limited to 120 years.
Moses, in his psalms, made an observation that due to sin, the typical lifespan of man was seventy years or eighty for those who were stronger. Even in old age, man’s life was filled with toil and sorrow, ultimately ending in death (Psalm 90:8-10). The Lord Jesus, however, came to address the root cause of this limitation, which is sin.
Through His sacrifice, He provided salvation from sin and made eternal life possible. Eternal life includes “deathlessness.” When you were born again, you passed from death to life (John 5:24). Recall what we read in our theme scripture; it says Jesus abolished death and brought life and immortality to light. To abolish means to do away with, to get rid of, or to cancel. The Lord Jesus cancelled death; He got rid of it and gave us a life that’s superior to death; a life that’s death-proof.
Now you can understand why the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15:55, “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” The Lord Himself proved that death has no sting or victory when, after three days in the grave, He arose triumphantly back to life. Why then do Christians die? For many, it’s a result of ignorance (Psalm 82:5-7) and also because of the consciousness and fear of death. We’ll learn a bit more about the fear of death in our next study.
You might ask, “Pastor Chris, are you saying we are not supposed to die?” Absolutely! We have the potential to live beyond the confines of earthly limitations. The Bible lets us know that many of us will be alive and physically raptured from the earth when the trumpet sounds (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). The Church needs to grasp and walk in the light of this truth.
The life you have is the God-life, the divine life; it’s not subject to Satan, sickness, disease, death and the corrupting influences of this world. 2 Peter 1:4 says we’re partakers of the divine nature and have escaped the corruption that’s in the world. Death is one of those “corruptions” from which you’ve been extricated. Hallelujah!
🗣 C O N F E S S I O N
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
I refuse to be bound by the consciousness of death or the limitations of this world. I walk in the fullness of the life and victory that Christ has obtained for me, and I live in health, strength and vitality. I live out the transcendent life, demonstrating the power and glory of God in all areas of my life, in Jesus' Name. Amen.
📖 FURTHER STUDY:
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Hebrews 2:14-15; Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
[15] and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
Mark 9:1 NIV; And he said to them, “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.”
1 Corinthians 15:51-56; Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
[52] in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
[53] For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
[54] So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
RHAPSODY OF REALITIES
📅 SAT. 24TH AUGUST 2024
KINGDOM VALUES AND PRINCIPLES
📖━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon (Exodus 20:26).
Pastor Chris Says
━━━━━━━━━━
The scriptures help us to gain insights into God's thinking and character. Take for example God's instruction to the children of Israel regarding the construction of the altar. He instructed them not to build altars requiring steps to ascend. Why? It’s simply because He didn't want anyone who may be watching from below to see their nakedness: “Don't use steps to climb to my Altar because that will expose your nakedness” (Exodus 20:26 MSG).
It illustrates God's attention to modesty and decency, even in architectural details. Such instructions reveal His character and way of thinking, and as such, a caution against cultural trends and fashion that tend to promote indecency or compromise personal dignity. Don’t adorn or condone indecent, revealing outfits. Uphold values of modesty and respect in your dressing.
Let the Word of God be your guiding light. By choosing to dress modestly, we not only honour God but also set a positive example for others. It's about making choices that align with the principles of God's Word and bring glory to His Name.
Always remember that, as Christians, we have a higher life and uphold higher standards. There’re things we don’t do, places we don’t go, and things we don’t say. The Bible says, “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate...” (2 Corinthians 6:17).
So, be different; you’re a child of the Kingdom with a different life. You were sanctified by the Spirit; He’s separated you and declared you holy and undefiled. Therefore, let everything about your life glorify Christ. Maintain the values and principles of the Kingdom.
🙏 P R A Y E R
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Dear Father, thank you for your Word, which guides me in all aspects of life. I uphold the values of our Kingdom in all that I do, expressing righteousness and reflecting the character of Christ in my daily life. I stand firm in my commitment to honouring you. I embody and practice the principles, values and teachings of the Word by your Spirit, and live according to your will, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
📖 FURTHER STUDY:
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Romans 12:1-2; 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.
[2] And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
1 Timothy 2:9-10 NIV; I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes,
[10] but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God.
Exodus 20:26 NIV; And do not go up to my altar on steps, or your private parts may be exposed.’
1 Peter 3:3-4 NIV; Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes.
[4] Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.
1 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: 1 Corinthians 9 & Psalms 128-134
2 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: Colossians 2:8-15 & Jeremiah 9
Rhapsody of Realities Daily Devotional
RHAPSODY OF REALITIES
📅 THURS. 22ND AUGUST 2024
YOU’RE GOD’S PROPERTY
📖━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price... (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
Pastor Chris Says
━━━━━━━━━━
The Bible says you were bought with a price; that means you’re God’s treasure, His property. How amazing this is. 1 Peter 1:18-19 says, “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”
Your value is the precious blood of the Lord Jesus because that’s the price God paid for your salvation; always remember that. Your spirit, soul and body belong to God; that means no trespass for Satan and his cohorts of darkness. Satan has no business in your life and in the quarters of your body because you legally belong to Christ.
Now that you’re born again, you’re far above Satan’s domain or jurisdiction: “giving thanks to the Father for having made you fit to share in the inheritance of his people in the light. He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son. It is through his Son that we have redemption - that is, our sins have been forgiven” (Colossians 1:12-14 CJB).
Moreover, because you’re God’s property, He’s fashioned your life for glory and excellence (read Ephesians 2:10 AMPC). Satan has no claim over your life. You’re “untouchable” because you’re protected by the great and mighty God! Colossians 3:3-4 says Christ is your life and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Now you can understand why He says, “...nothing shall by any means hurt you” (Luke 10:19); “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper...” (Isaiah 54:17). Hallelujah!
Have this consciousness and live in absolute dominion over the adversary and all adversities every day.
🙏 P R A Y E R
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Dear Father, I’m grateful for the assurance that my spirit, soul, and body belong to you and that Satan has no claim over my life. I am protected and fashioned for glory and excellence, and I walk in the paths you’ve prepared for me, living the good life you prearranged and made ready for me to live, in Jesus' Name. Amen.
📖 FURTHER STUDY:
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
1 Peter 1:18-19 AMPC; You must know (recognize) that you were redeemed (ransomed) from the useless (fruitless) way of living inherited by tradition from [your] forefathers, not with corruptible things [such as] silver and gold,
[19] But [you were purchased] with the precious blood of Christ (the Messiah), like that of a [sacrificial] lamb without blemish or spot.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NIV; Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;
[20] you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
Ephesians 2:10 AMPC; For we are God's [own] handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live].
1 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: 1 Corinthians 7 & Psalms 119:113-176
2 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: Colossians 1:19-29 & Jeremiah 7
Rhapsody of Realities Daily Devotional
RHAPSODY OF REALITIES
📅 WED. 21ST AUGUST 2024
REIGNING IN THE MIDST OF ADVERSITIES
📖━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet (1 Corinthians 15:25).
Pastor Chris Says
━━━━━━━━━━
Some read the verse above and assume it means all enemies aren’t yet under Jesus’ feet, but that’s not what it’s saying. Observe that it doesn't say that Christ will reign “when” He has put all enemies under His feet. Rather, it says, “…until He has put all enemies under His feet.” In other words, He reigns in the midst of His enemies.
The Greek word translated reign is ‘basileuo’ (a verb), and it means to rule or to king. To truly grasp this, let’s review an aspect of Romans 5:17, the part that says, "... much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ."
The Lord Jesus, who must reign or “king” as read in our opening verse, is in heaven where there are no enemies to reign over. This means the place to reign is here on earth, and how is He to reign? It’s through the Church; it’s through us.
Colossians 1:18 NIV says, "And he [Jesus] is the head of the body, the church...." Jesus is the head, the Church is His body, and the feet, as highlighted in the theme text, are a part of the body. Thus, Jesus continues to reign in the earth until all the enemies are subject to every member of the body of Christ.
That must happen before Jesus comes back. Can you see that the Lord isn’t coming for a beggarly, weakly, feeble or frail church? No! He’s coming for a triumphant Church (Ephesians 5:27). The Bible says He has “…made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth” (Revelation 5:10).
No wonder the Lord Jesus said in John 16:33, “… In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." We’re born of Him and our faith in Him is our victory over the world. Now you see why James 1:2 says to count it all joy when you go through diverse tests. That’s because we reign in the midst of adversities.
It reminds of what David said, “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies...” (Psalm 23:5). The enemies don’t count. In their midst you reign, you rule, you celebrate. Glory to God!
🙏 P R A Y E R
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Dear Father, thank you for the victory we have in Christ Jesus. I’m a member of the body of Christ, empowered to reign, rule and walk on in victory in this world. I reign in righteousness, walk in victory and manifest your Kingdom here on earth, in Jesus' Name. Amen.
📖 FURTHER STUDY:
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Romans 5:17 AMPC; For if because of one man's trespass (lapse, offense) death reigned through that one, much more surely will those who receive [God's] overflowing grace (unmerited favor) and the free gift of righteousness [putting them into right standing with Himself] reign as kings in life through the one Man Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).
Colossians 1:16-18; for by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
[17] and he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
[18] And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
Romans 8:35-39; Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
[36] As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
[37] Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
RHAPSODY OF REALITIES
📅 MON. 19TH AUGUST 2024
IT’S YOUR JOB TO LET THEM KNOW
📖━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved…and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher (Romans 10:13-14).
Pastor Chris Says
━━━━━━━━━━
Many around the world are still living under the dominion of sin, unaware that Jesus Christ came to set them free from the power of sin. They don’t know He came to give them life so they can live righteously as God wants them to. It’s however our job to let them know.
We’ve been given the Holy Spirit to help others find truth and to lead them in the way of salvation. That’s why you’re here; the Spirit of God has filled your life with the presence, power and the grace of God to make His Word known through you to your world.
Everyone has his world. There’s a world you live in, your sphere of contact. When someone comes into your world, they should learn about Jesus. Only through you will they know how kind and gracious He is and all that He’s done for them.
Your world should be a place where people come to hear and receive God’s Word to transform their lives. So, I ask you: What’s happening in your world? Are you making Christ known to your world or are you prioritizing some other things? Talk about Him and make His presence available to others.
Understand that though the Holy Spirit is here on earth, He doesn’t have His own body, so He uses our bodies. When Jesus walked the earth, the Holy Spirit lived in the body of Jesus. He was the one Jesus called, “my Father that lives in me” (John 14:10). That’s the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit needs your body to function. If you’ll yield to Him, He’ll come into your world and bless it. He’ll change their lives; He has the power to do it. The Bible says, “…for with God all things are possible” (Mark 10:27). He can do anything, but He needs you to express Himself.
🙏 P R A Y E R
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Dear Father, thank you for the privilege to share the message of salvation with those around me, and to be a conduit of your eternal blessings. Through me, many more will come into the knowledge of the truth, their lives will be transformed, and they’ll become fully aware of their inextricable oneness with you, in Jesus' Name. Amen.
📖 FURTHER STUDY:
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Mark 16:15-16; And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
[16] He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
Mark 5:18-20; And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him.
[19] Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.
[20] And he departed, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men did marvel.
John 4:28-30 NLT; The woman left her water jar beside the well and ran back to the village, telling everyone,
[29] “Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could he possibly be the Messiah?”
[30] So the people came streaming from the village to see him.
1 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: 1 Corinthians 4 & Psalms 113-116
2 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: Philippians 4:14-23 & Jeremiah 4
Rhapsody of Realities Daily Devotional
RHAPSODY OF REALITIES
📅 SAT. 17TH AUGUST 2024
NO CONTRADICTIONS IN THE BIBLE
📖 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16).
Pastor Chris Says
━━━━━━━━━━
The Bible is a trustworthy material that contains the inspired Word of God and provides guidance and direction for us to live by. Some people however try to discredit it by claiming some of its details don’t add up.
An example is about the resurrection of Jesus; the Bible says He resurrected on Sunday morning after being in the grave for three days and three nights. So, they ask, “How could it have been three days and three nights from Friday to Sunday morning? It doesn’t add up.”
Well, the Bible never said Jesus died on Friday. Some religious people assumed this to be so because they read in the Bible that Jesus died the day before the Sabbath and they knew that Saturday was Sabbath. What they didn’t know was that the Sabbath the Bible was referring to wasn’t the weekly Sabbath but the Passover Sabbath.
This Passover Sabbath was a special event that took place on the 14th day of the month of Nisan every year. It therefore wasn’t fixed to any particular day of the week. It’s just the same way Christmas is on the 25th of December for most of the world, but the 25th of December doesn’t fall on a Monday every year.
That year, the 14th day of Nisan fell on a Thursday. And so, Jesus was crucified on a Wednesday, the day before the Passover Sabbath. The gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke didn’t mention that this was Passover Sabbath, but John clearly stated it, “…the Jewish leaders didn’t want the bodies hanging there the next day, which was the Sabbath (and a very special Sabbath, because it was Passover week)...” (John 19:31 NLT).
The purpose of this isn’t to criticize the celebration of Good Friday; no. Rather, it’s to show that Jesus was accurate when He said, “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40).
He was crucified on Wednesday, and before dawn on Sunday, He had risen. This also shows that the Bible is trustworthy. You can trust its writings because it’s more than a religious book; it’s the testimony of God.
🙏 P R A Y E R
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Dear Father, your Word is trustworthy and true; it’s a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. I’m strengthened, firmly grounded in the accuracy and reliability of the Scriptures, for it’s profitable for every aspect of my life, in Jesus' Name. Amen.
📖 FURTHER STUDY:
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Psalm 33:4; For the word of the LORD is right; And all his works are done in truth.
Psalm 119:160; Thy word is true from the beginning: And every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.
Romans 3:3-4; For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?
[4] God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, And mightest overcome when thou art judged.
Hebrews 4:12; For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
1 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: 1 Corinthians 2 & Psalms 107-108
2 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: Philippians 4:1-7 & Jeremiah 2
Rhapsody of Realities Daily Devotional
RHAPSODY OF REALITIES
📅 THURS. 15TH AUGUST 2024
SUSTAINED BY THE SPIRIT
📖 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you (Romans 8:11).
Pastor Chris Says
━━━━━━━━━━
By the Spirit, the Apostle Paul explained something profound in Ephesians 5:30. He said, "For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones." This statement goes beyond us being the members of a local church. By referring to us as members of Christ's body, of His flesh, and of His bones, it describes our inextricable oneness with Him—our unity and intimacy with Christ Himself.
But did you notice that Paul didn’t say, "For we are members of his body, of his flesh, his bones, and of his blood?" You need to understand that Christ's body doesn't have any blood anymore. Jesus gave His blood as a sacrificial offering during His crucifixion. His blood was entirely drained out when a Roman soldier pierced His side with a spear, causing blood and water to gush out (John 19:34). By the time Jesus was buried, there was no blood left in His body.
However, on the third day, the Holy Spirit came upon Him, quickened His dead body and brought Him back to life. Therefore, Jesus' resurrected body does not contain blood but is sustained by the power of the Holy Spirit. And as He is, so are we in this world (1 John 4:17).
Before you were born again, your body lived by blood. But now that the Holy Spirit lives in you, even though there’s blood in your body, your sustenance is by the Spirit. No wonder Paul asserts in Romans 8:11, “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.”
Often, you should declare, "I don't live by blood. I live by the Holy Ghost. Therefore, cancer, blood disorders, or any form of infection can’t thrive in my body because I am sustained by the Holy Ghost.”
🙏 P R A Y E R
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Dear Father, I thank you for the Holy Spirit who lives in me and gives life to every fibre of my being, keeping me in divine health. Every part of my body is vitalized and strengthened by your Spirit, from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet, in Jesus' Name. Amen.
📖 FURTHER STUDY:
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Romans 8:11; But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20;What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
[20] For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
Galatians 5:25; If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
1 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: Romans 16:1-27 & Psalms 102-103
2 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: Philippians 3:1-12 & Isaiah 66
Rhapsody of Realities Daily Devotional
RHAPSODY OF REALITIES
📅 TUES. 13TH AUGUST 2024
THE MASTER’S CLAIM AS SON OF MAN
📖 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
The people answered him, We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth for ever: and how sayest thou, The Son of man must be lifted up? who is this Son of man (John 12:34).
Pastor Chris Says
━━━━━━━━━━
In various instances, the Lord Jesus referred to Himself as "the Son of man," and the Jewish people understood the profundity of those words. They knew that He claimed to be the Christ. For example, in Matthew 8:20, He said, “...The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head." Also, in Mark 14:62, He said, “...I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven." Luke 9:26 tells us, "For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed…."
However, it's crucial to understand that in these various instances where Jesus referred to Himself as "the Son of man," it wasn’t a generic term denoting His humanity. He wasn’t describing Himself as “a son” of man but as “the Son” of man, indicating a specific reference to Daniel's prophecy in Daniel 7:13, “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven….”
Daniel's vision of "the Son of man" coming with the clouds of heaven is closely connected to Jesus' proclamation during His trial before the high priest in Matthew 26:59-66. The high priest had asked Jesus if He was the Christ, the Son of God, and He replied: "Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied. "...But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven" (Matthew 26:64 NIV).
The high priest immediately accused Jesus of blasphemy, tore his clothes and declared that Jesus was worthy of death. The council agreed, affirming that Jesus should be condemned to death. By calling Himself "the Son of man," Jesus was actually asserting His identity as the Christ.
This distinction was clear to the Jewish congregation who recognised the weighty implications of the Lord’s claim. The ‘Son of man’ was a title of the Christ. Jesus is God in human flesh, our great God and Saviour who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works (Titus 2:13-14).
🗣 C O N F E S S I O N
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for revealing yourself to us as God in human flesh. I acknowledge and confess that you are the Christ, the embodiment of Deity, my Lord and my God, and the reason for my existence. Thank you for your everlasting love, grace and tender mercies. Hallelujah!
📖 FURTHER STUDY:
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Matthew 16:13-16; When Jesus came into the coasts of Cæsarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?
[14] And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.
[15] He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?
[16] And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Mark 8:38; Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.
Luke 5:24; But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, (he said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house.
1 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: Romans 15:5-13 & Psalms 94-98
2 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: Philippians 2:12-18 & Isaiah 64
Rhapsody of Realities Daily Devotional
RHAPSODY OF REALITIES
📅 SUN. 11TH AUGUST 2024
IMMUNE TO POISON
📖━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
And these signs shall follow them that believe...if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover (Mark 16:17-18).
Pastor Chris Says
━━━━━━━━━━
Are you aware that now that you’re born again, it’s not possible for you to be poisoned? No infection can thrive in your body. The life of God in you will nullify and neutralize the effects of any venom in your body. Paul proved it. While on the island of Melita, he was bitten by a venomous viper. The people expected him to swell, fall down suddenly and die as a result of the venom from the snake, but the Bible says, Paul shook off the viper into the fire and felt no harm (Acts 28:5).
It doesn’t matter how venom is injected or ingested into your body; it’ll have no effect on you. That’s what the Lord Jesus meant when He said, “...if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them…” (Mark 16:18).
The word "drink" in the Greek is "pino," which means to imbibe, suck in, absorb or assimilate. That means the deadly thing doesn't have to have gone in through your mouth; if your body absorbs, ingests, assimilates or receives any deadly thing, in whatever form, such substances will have no effect on you.
Someone says, “I got malaria because I was exposed to mosquito bites.” No! The life in you destroys parasites and disease-causing pathogens; it’s poison-resistant. Have this consciousness; live every day with the understanding of who you are in Christ. You’re of the “uninfectable” breed, immune to any venom or poison. Glory to God! Amen.
🗣 C O N F E S S I O N
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
I'm immune to every form of toxins, poison or venom. I walk in the reality of who I am in Christ, a new creation with the indestructible and “uninfectable” life of God in me. I walk in health, strength and victory, in Jesus' Name. Amen.
📖 FURTHER STUDY:
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Acts 28:1-6; And when they were escaped, then they knew that the island was called Melita.
[2] And the barbarous people shewed us no little kindness: for they kindled a fire, and received us every one, because of the present rain, and because of the cold.
[3] And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand.
[4] And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live.
[5] And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm.
[6] Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen, or fallen down dead suddenly: but after they had looked a great while, and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god.
Isaiah 54:17; No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.
Luke 10:19; Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
1 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: Romans 12:17-13:1-14 & Psalms 89
2 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: Philippians 1:23-30 & Isaiah 62
Rhapsody of Realities Daily Devotional
RHAPSODY OF REALITIES
📅 FRI. 9TH AUGUST 2024
THINGS HAVE CHANGED
📖━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15).
Pastor Chris Says
━━━━━━━━━━
The Lord Jesus sent us to preach the Gospel; the Gospel is good news. It’s not exactly good news when all you know or hear is “God is going to change things for you”; that’s hope. But the good news is that “things have changed.” So, stop hoping for things to change because they’ve already changed! Hallelujah!
This should further help you understand what the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” You’re not the weak seeking strength. The Lord Himself has become your strength (Psalm 27:1).
Perhaps you were sickly before you were born again; now, that has changed! Old things are passed away. You’re a new creature in Christ with an incorruptible life that’s sickness-proof.
The same change occurred in your finances. Your state and estate changed when you came into Christ. 2 Corinthians 8:9 says, “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.” You’ve been made rich. Glory to God!
Furthermore, you don’t have a problem with sin now that you’re in Christ. You’ve been justified to walk in newness of life: “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4).
The sin-nature was supplanted by God’s nature of righteousness when you were born again. You’re now, not just righteous, but also the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. See yourself in this light. You weren’t merely set free from sin; you have a life, a nature that’s sin-free.
These are some of the realities for the one who’s born again. You didn’t do anything to achieve any of these; it’s simply the result of what Christ has done; and that’s good news. Hallelujah!
🗣 C O N F E S S I O N
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
I continually walk in the reality of my heritage and identity in Christ. I’m righteous, healthy, prosperous and victorious. I walk in the newness of life, enjoying the fullness of the blessings of Christ.
📖 FURTHER STUDY:
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
2 Corinthians 5:17-21; Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
[18] And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
[19] to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
[20] Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.
[21] For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Ephesians 2:4-9; But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
[5] even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) [6] and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
[7] that in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
[8] For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
[9] not of works, lest any man should boast.
1 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: Romans 11:25-36 & Psalms 82-84
2 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: Philippians 1:9-14 & Isaiah 60
Rhapsody of Realities Daily Devotional
Ɍɦαρsσdy Dαílíҽs
RHAPSODY OF REALITIES
📅 MON. 2ND SEPTEMBER 2024
DON’T SAY IT’S NOT WORKING
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📖 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh (Luke 6:45).
📖 FURTHER STUDY
Ɍɦαρsσdy Dαílíҽs
RHAPSODY OF REALITIES
📅 SAT. 31ST AUGUST 2024
SPEAKING IN TONGUES HELPS FORFEND DANGER
📖━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries (1 Corinthians 14:2).
1 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN:
2 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN:
Ɍɦαρsσdy Dαílíҽs
RHAPSODY OF REALITIES
📅 THURS. 29TH AUGUST 2024
PRAYING FOR ALL PEOPLE
📖━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men (1 Timothy 2:1).
Dear Father, thank you for the privilege of prayer and intercession. Even now, I pray for every citizen of my country who’s yet to receive salvation, irrespective of their geographical location, that their hearts be open to hear and understand the Gospel to receive salvation today. Thank you for the massive harvest of souls into the Kingdom around the world today, in Jesus' Name. Amen.
[15] And also that He might deliver and completely set free all those who through the [haunting] fear of death were held in bondage throughout the whole course of their lives.
John 5:24 AMPC; I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, the person whose ears are open to My words [who listens to My message] and believes and trusts in and clings to and relies on Him Who sent Me has (possesses now) eternal life. And he does not come into judgment [does not incur sentence of judgment, will not come under condemnation], but he has already passed over out of death into life.
1 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: 1 Corinthians 11:2-34 & Psalms 142-145
2 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: Colossians 3:12-25 & Jeremiah 13
Rhapsody of Realities Daily Devotional
[55] O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
[56] The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
1 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: 1 Corinthians 10:14-11:1 & Psalms 139-141
2 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: Colossians 3:1-11 & Jeremiah 12
Rhapsody of Realities Daily Devotional
RHAPSODY OF REALITIES
📅 SUN. 25TH AUGUST 2024
FOLLOW HIM
📖━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men (Matthew 4:19).
Pastor Chris Says
━━━━━━━━━━
Notice what the Lord said in the verse above: "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Your responsibility is to follow Him, and He’ll make all your dreams come true. Follow Him, and He’ll see to it that you fulfil God’s calling and destiny for your life. But how do you follow Him?
If you had lived in Jesus' day in Israel, you might have thought that following Him meant physically accompanying Him from street to street, village to village, or town to town. It’s however beyond that. Judas, who followed Jesus physically, ultimately betrayed Him and lost out with God, proving that following Him physically wasn’t enough.
The first aspect of following Jesus is to follow Him in the Word, for He is the living Word. John 1:14 tells us, "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." When you follow Him in the Word, you’re following Jesus Himself. The written Word is all about Jesus.
Secondly, you must follow Him through the Word. As you study the Word, you'll find Jesus and understand His mindset, His beliefs, and observe His actions. You’ll see how He responded to everything. You’ll read, for example, how He reacted to a billowing tempest; He demonstrated authority over nature and His ability to bring peace even in the midst of chaos (Mark 4:38-39).
Everything about Jesus is revealed in the Word. Learning how He responded in various situations provides valuable insights for our own lives. When He got hungry, what did He do? When He felt tired, what did He do? He did all He did to show us how to live. Therefore, we must follow Him in, through, and by the Word. Following Him by the Word means to act on His Word, to do what He says. James 1:22 NIV says, "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says."
🙏 P R A Y E R
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Dear Father, thank you for the privilege to follow Jesus in, through, and by the Word. I immerse myself in your Word daily, and I’m granted deep insights to understand its mysteries, deep secrets, and apply the principles and teachings in my life. I’m a doer of the Word, and I experience victory and triumphs in every aspect of my life, in Jesus' Name. Amen.
📖 FURTHER STUDY:
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
John 8:31-32; Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
[32] and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Luke 9:23; And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
James 1:22-25 NIV; Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
[23] Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror
[24] and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.
[25] But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.
1 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 & Psalms 135-138
2 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: Colossians 2:16-23 & Jeremiah 10-11
Rhapsody of Realities Daily Devotional
RHAPSODY OF REALITIES
📅 FRI. 23RD AUGUST 2024
DOMINION OVER SERPENTS AND SCORPIONS
📖━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover (Mark 16:18).
Pastor Chris Says
━━━━━━━━━━
Observe that the Lord Jesus, in the opening text, listed the attesting signs that’ll accompany those who believe. He said they "shall take up serpents." What does it mean to take up “serpents”? Was Jesus talking in literal terms or metaphorically?
The truth is, the phrase can be interpreted both ways. In its literal interpretation, it refers to the ability to handle physical serpents without harm, as demonstrated by Paul in Acts 28. Then, in Matthew 12:34, Jesus confronted certain people, whom He called “a generation of vipers," indicating their deceitful and malicious nature: “O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.”
In another instance, He condemned the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees and likened them to "serpents." He said, “Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell” (Matthew 23:33). So, metaphorically, "serpents" can symbolise spiritual adversaries. However, irrespective of their form, whether physical or spiritual, "you can take up serpents" signifies your control and dominion over them.
Therefore, be it physical threats from venomous snakes, spiritual adversaries who oppose truth and righteousness, or the ones who concoct deceits, manipulations, lies, tricks and schemes, you have authority and dominion over them all.
The Lord made a beautiful statement in Luke 10:19 (AMPC), saying, “Behold! I have given you authority and power to trample upon serpents and scorpions, and [physical and mental strength and ability] over all the power that the enemy [possesses]; and nothing shall in any way harm you.” He thus reiterates your blessed authority and dominion over “serpents and scorpions”, literal and metaphorical. Hallelujah!
🗣 C O N F E S S I O N
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Dear Father, thank you for the authority and power you’ve given me over all the works, tricks, schemes, manipulations and deceits of the enemy. I walk in confidence and boldness, knowing that nothing shall by any means hurt me as I stand firm in the truth of your Word. I’ve been vested with power and authority in heaven and in earth to subdue, dominate and take charge of my world. Hallelujah!
📖 FURTHER STUDY:
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Luke 10:19 NIV; I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.
Matthew 12:34 AMPC; You offspring of vipers! How can you speak good things when you are evil (wicked)? For out of the fullness (the overflow, the superabundance) of the heart the mouth speaks.
Mark 16:17-18 AMPC; And these attesting signs will accompany those who believe: in My name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new languages;
[18] They will pick up serpents; and [even] if they drink anything deadly, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will get well.
1 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: 1 Corinthians 8 & Psalms 120-127
2 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: Colossians 2:1-7 & Jeremiah 8
Rhapsody of Realities Daily Devotional
[38] For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
[39] nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: 1 Corinthians 6 & Psalms 119:1-112
2 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: Colossians 1:9-18 & Jeremiah 6
Rhapsody of Realities Daily Devotional
RHAPSODY OF REALITIES
📅 TUES. 20TH AUGUST 2024
WE’RE THE LIMBS OF CHRIST
📖━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones (Ephesians 5:30).
Pastor Chris Says
━━━━━━━━━━
This is amazing! The Bible says, “For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.” That means we’re the limbs of Christ; that’s what the word “members” means. Therefore, your legs are Christ's legs; your hands are His hands. You’re inseparably fused as one with Him.
This is the meaning of 1 Corinthians 6:15 where it says, “Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ?...” That's the same thing we read in Ephesians 5:30; it addresses individual members of the Church. In you, Christ is fully represented, expressed and manifested. He walks in you, talks in and through you, works in and through you.
Wherever you are, you’re the “body” of Christ—the limbs of Christ. This should be your daily consciousness. Being born again, you’ve come into union with Christ: that's the biggest thing about our salvation. Not only has your spirit been recreated, you’ve been immersed into Christ; you became literally joined together with Him as one divine creation.
1 Corinthians 12:13 says, “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body…." Now you can understand when the Bible says your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19; 1 Corinthians 3:16). This isn’t a religious talk; it’s the reality of your life. You’re a Godcarrying vessel. Divinity is at work in you and revealed in and through you. Give attention to these truths; meditate on them and live accordingly every day
🗣 C O N F E S S I O N
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
I acknowledge my divine union with Christ; every part of my body functions perfectly, reflecting the life and power of Christ within me. I walk in this consciousness, knowing that Christ is fully represented, expressed and manifested in and through me, in Jesus' Name. Amen.
📖 FURTHER STUDY:
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
John 15:5; I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
Ephesians 1:22-23; and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
[23] which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.
Galatians 2:20; I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
1 Corinthians 6:19; What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
1 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: 1 Corinthians 5 & Psalms 117-118
2 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: Colossians 1:1-8 & Jeremiah 5
Rhapsody of Realities Daily Devotional
RHAPSODY OF REALITIES
📅 SUN. 18TH AUGUST 2024
HE’S “THE WAY,” NOT “A WAY”
📖━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved (Acts 4:12).
Pastor Chris Says
━━━━━━━━━━
The Bible says there’s no salvation in any other, for there’s no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. This statement gives us no chance to think that there might be some other means for salvation. Salvation is only in the Name of Jesus; the Lord Himself was definite about this.
Some people think otherwise and believe there’s more than one way to get to God. In fact, they claim that Jesus is one of the many ways to God. Before taking their claim seriously, one first has to ask them how they came about what they’re saying and on what authority it is based.
They also need to tell if they’ve ever successfully gotten to God. If they can’t answer these questions, then their claims are false, and they have no idea what they’re saying. In John 14:6, Jesus unambiguously declared: “...I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).
He didn’t say, “I am one of the ways,” neither did He say, “I am a way.” He said, “I am THE way.” So, to answer the question, “How many ways are there to God? The simple answer is: There’s only one way, and that’s Jesus Christ. There’s no other way besides Him.
How do I know this? It’s because Jesus said so, and the same Jesus went to heaven alive. The people who founded the various religions of the world don’t have a similar testimony. When they died, their adherents could only hope they went to heaven. But Jesus went up into heaven alive in the presence of 120 witnesses; they saw Him go. They saw Him levitate and ascend into the clouds before their eyes. Hallelujah!
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. He’s alive and His Name still has power today; that’s why we see so many mighty miracles happening around the world. These miracles are a testimony that He’s alive. Salvation is only in His Name, and you can receive it today if you’re yet to do so by praying the “Prayer of Salvation,” which you’ll find on page 76 of this devotional.
🙏 P R A Y E R
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Dear Father, thank you for the blessing of salvation and for the gift of eternal life, which is available to all in Christ. I boldly proclaim the message of salvation to those around me, with conviction and demonstration of the Spirit, such that many may come to know Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. Amen.
📖 FURTHER STUDY:
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Romans 10:8-13; But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
[9] that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
[10] For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
[11] For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
[12] For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.
[13] For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
John 3:16; For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
1 John 5:11-12; And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
[12] He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
1 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: 1 Corinthians 3 & Psalms 109-112
2 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: Philippians 4:8-13 & Jeremiah 3
Rhapsody of Realities Daily Devotional
RHAPSODY OF REALITIES
📅 FRI. 16TH AUGUST 2024
AN EXTRAORDINARY LIFE
📖━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him (Mark 4:41).
Pastor Chris Says
━━━━━━━━━━
Not only did Jesus live an extraordinary life of the miraculous while He was on earth, even His death, burial, and resurrection were extraordinary. It normally takes at least thirteen hours for a crucified man to die. But when Jesus was crucified, He commanded His own death after six hours.
On the Cross, the Bible says He cried with a loud voice to the Father and said, “…into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost” (Luke 23:46). When He said those words, He released His spirit to die.
To confirm if He was really dead, a soldier took a spear and thrust it into His side. To the amazement of the soldiers and the Jews who were watching, blood, mingled with water, gushed out, showing that His heart had ruptured. They were shocked that He had died within that space of time.
His resurrection was also extraordinary. Upon the request of the Jewish leaders, the Romans had sealed the grave where Jesus was buried with a great stone and assigned armed soldiers to watch it. On the third day, an angel, glittering like the sun, came down from heaven. The angel moved the great stone away and sat on it, and Jesus gloriously came out of the grave. Hallelujah! He was later with His disciples for forty days and forty nights.
On the day He was to leave, He didn’t suddenly disappear. While talking with His disciples and giving them instructions, He levitated from the ground, defying the law of gravity. His disciples watched in utter amazement as He kept ascending, until He went all the way into the clouds. This was a most extraordinary moment.
The Bible says one day, and it’s no longer far away, this same Jesus will return again in an extraordinary fashion, and the whole world will see Him. It’s going to be glorious; and we’re all getting ready for the Master’s soon return. He’s called us to an extraordinary life of glory and wants us to make this life of excellence and grace known to others and prepare them for His glorious return.
🙏 P R A Y E R
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Lord Jesus, thank you for the extraordinary life of miracles, power and glory that we have in you. Thank you for making me a vessel to spread the message of salvation and prepare the hearts of men for your soon return. Amen.
📖 FURTHER STUDY :
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Matthew 27:50-54;Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
[51] And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;
[52] and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,
[53] and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.
[54] Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.
Acts 1:10-11; And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;
[11] which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
1 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: 1 Corinthians 1 & Psalms 104-106
2 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: Philippians 3:13-21 & Jeremiah 1
Rhapsody of Realities Daily Devotional
RHAPSODY OF REALITIES
📅 WED. 14TH AUGUST 2024
POVERTY ISN’T GOD'S DESIGN
📖 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name. Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily (Psalm 74:21-22).
Pastor Chris Says
━━━━━━━━━━
Psalm 74 contains a beautiful, emotive prayer from the psalmist Asaph. He prayed, "Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty. O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name" (Psalm 74:20-21).
Asaph’s prayer reflected a shared concern for the oppressed. The oppressed could only hope in God for deliverance from those more powerful than themselves. Thus, Asaph's plea for their protection from shame underscored their reliance on God's intervention.
Some time ago, we heard of wildfires that ravaged homes and endangered many families, giving them very little chance of escape. The victims, facing powerful perpetrators who sought to silence them, epitomised the poor and needy for whom we should pray. Through our fervent prayer and actions, we can repel the evil and bring hope to the oppressed. Financial aid alone is insufficient; education and training are essential.
Most importantly, we must intercede for the poor, invoking God's favour and grace to open their eyes to opportunities and empower them to rise above poverty. Psalm 33:5 says, “He loveth righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the goodness of the LORD.” Poverty is not God's design.
In Luke 4:18-19, Jesus said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” Wherever the Gospel has free course and is preached, the people are transformed and the poor cease to be poor. So, be committed to taking the Gospel everywhere, and more and more lives will be changed. Amen.
🙏 P R A Y E R
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
I’m empowered as an agent of change in this world and an instrument of God’s love and compassion to bring hope and relief to those in need. I pray for those who’re oppressed to experience divine protection, provision, and empowerment as they receive the light of the Gospel and walk in God’s will for their lives, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
📖 FURTHER STUDY:
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Isaiah 58:6-7; Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
[7] Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?
2 Corinthians 8:9; For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.
3 John 1:2 NKJV; Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.
1 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: Romans 15:14-33 & Psalms 99-101
2 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: Philippians 2:19-30 & Isaiah 65
Rhapsody of Realities Daily Devotional
RHAPSODY OF REALITIES
📅 MON. 12TH AUGUST 2024
HE’S ALREADY “LIFTED”
📖━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die (John 12:32-33).
Pastor Chris Says
━━━━━━━━━━
Sometimes, Christians sing certain hymns or songs that don’t make spiritual sense. For example, some think they’re praising the Lord when they sing, "We lift Jesus higher” or “We lift Him up!" You might say, “But Pastor Chris, what’s wrong with that? Why can’t we lift Him up?”
First, He’s already in the highest and most exalted place in the heavenly realms; so, where else do you want to lift Him to? Secondly, if your inspiration to “lift Him up” or “lift Him higher” is coming from what He said in John 12:28- 33, then you’ve completely misunderstood the context.
In those verses, the Lord spoke about the judgment of the world and the casting out of the prince of this world. Then in verse 32, He said, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” The very next verse 33 captures exactly what He meant by that statement. It says, “This he said, signifying what death he should die.”
When Jesus spoke of being "lifted up," He was referring to His crucifixion, not exaltation. Therefore, singing such hymns may inadvertently imply a call for Jesus to be crucified again, which goes against the very essence of the Faith.
Even if the lyrics suggest exalting Jesus to draw people to Him, such an interpretation overlooks the context of Jesus' statement. It's essential for you to study and know the Scriptures for yourself to gain a deeper understanding of God's Word. You can read the same verses in the Amplified Classic version, which says, “And I, if and when I am lifted up from the earth [on the cross], will draw and attract all men [Gentiles as well as Jews] to Myself. He said this to signify in what manner He would die” (John 12:32-33 AMPC).
2 Timothy 2:15 says, "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." Studying the Word will help you know the right songs to sing in worship so you can praise the Lord in Spirit and in truth as He demands. Without proper knowledge, many walk on in ignorance and misunderstand the true message of the Bible. Therefore, diligently seek and pursue the knowledge of God by studying the Scriptures.
🙏 P R A Y E R
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Dear Father, thank you for the insight and understanding that I receive from your Word. Thank you for flooding my spirit with light to know and walk in the truth of your Word, rightly applying the Word to my life and circumstances, in Jesus' Name. Amen.
📖 FURTHER STUDY:
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
John 12:28-33; Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.
[29] The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel spake to him.
[30] Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes.
[31] Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.
[32] And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.
[33] This he said, signifying what death he should die.
2 Timothy 2:15 AMPC; Study and be eager and do your utmost to present yourself to God approved (tested by trial), a workman who has no cause to be ashamed, correctly analyzing and accurately dividing [rightly handling and skillfully teaching] the Word of Truth.
John 5:39; Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
1 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: Romans 14-15:1-4 & Psalms 90-93
2 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: Philippians 2:1-11 & Isaiah 63
Rhapsody of Realities Daily Devotional.
RHAPSODY OF REALITIES
📅 SAT. 10TH AUGUST 2024
THE “MIGHTY” AND THE “GODS”
📖━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? (John 10:34).
Pastor Chris Says
━━━━━━━━━━
When you read the first six verses of Psalm 82 from where the Lord Jesus quoted the verse above, you’d observe something remarkable. It says, “God standeth in the congregation of the mighty…. Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked. They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course. I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High” (Psalm 82:1-6).
Notice that God calls His people, “the mighty”; and also He says, “Ye are gods.” But then the passage goes further to outline our responsibilities: we’re to “Defend the poor and fatherless…” (Psalm 82:3). We’re to “… do justice to the afflicted and needy.” Don’t turn away from the plight of the needy; you’re the one to deliver them out of the hand of the wicked. You can understand why He calls us saviours in Obadiah 1:21.
The fifth verse of that Psalm is painful; it says, “They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness….” In other words, because these “mighty,” these “gods,” are ignorant of who they are, the earth is in a chaotic condition: “…all the foundations of the earth are out of course” (Psalm 82:5).
It reminds me of a certain young man I met who said He didn’t believe in God. When I asked him why, he said because there were too many poor and suffering people around us. “If there’s a God,” he asked, “why would He allow so many to be wallowing in poverty, pain and misery? It’s not right.”
Then I said to him, “You’re correct; it’s not right. But it’s not God’s fault. Those whom He has sent to save and help the needy aren’t doing it and that includes you.” Thereafter, I preached the Gospel to him, and he was gloriously saved.
You’re the one to rid the poor out of the hands of the wicked. You’re the saviour of the needy. Get to know who you are, and take your place as the helper and the deliverer, the one who’s been endued with power from on high to impact and change your world. Hallelujah!
🗣 C O N F E S S I O N
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
I’m empowered by the Holy Spirit to make a positive impact in the lives of others and make a difference in the world around me. I walk in the wisdom and courage to defend the poor and needy, to do justice to the afflicted, and to rid them out of the hand of the wicked, in Jesus' Name. Amen.
📖 FURTHER STUDY :
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
1 Peter 2:9; But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
Matthew 5:14-16; Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
[15] Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
[16] Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Psalm 82:1-6 NKJV; God stands in the congregation of the mighty; He judges among the gods.
[2] How long will you judge unjustly, And show partiality to the wicked? Selah
[3] Defend the poor and fatherless; Do justice to the afflicted and needy.
[4] Deliver the poor and needy; Free them from the hand of the wicked.
[5] They do not know, nor do they understand; They walk about in darkness; All the foundations of the earth are unstable.
[6] I said, “You are gods, And all of you are children of the Most High.
1 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: Romans 12:1-16 & Psalms 85-88
2 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: Philippians 1:15-22 & Isaiah 61
Rhapsody of Realities Daily Devotional
RHAPSODY OF REALITIES
📅 THURS. 8TH AUGUST 2024
APPLY THE WORD AND PUT THE SITUATION RIGHT
📖━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves (James 1:22).
Pastor Chris Says
━━━━━━━━━━
Did you know that today, in the New Testament, it’s no longer a question of what God can do but what YOU can do? He made the change in Christ and gave us the dominion, the authority and the power to change anything. So it’s up to you today to make your life as glorious as you want it to be; the key is acting on the Word—applying the Word of God.
Many have remained in distressing conditions because they’re “waiting” for God to come into their situation and change things. Even if you shout or sing from sun up to sun down that God will make a way where there is no way, this won’t change your situation. That’s because He already made a way almost two thousand years ago and made you “the way” when you were born again.
You’re “the saved”; you need to get the real picture. He calls us “saviours” (Obadiah 1:21); He saved you and made you a saviour. Many of God’s children need to become more acquainted with this truth. They’re inspired and excited to know what God can do, but they need to be more acquainted with what God says they can do.
The ball is in your court. You’re the one to do something about your situation. How? By learning the Word of God and applying it to the situation you’re facing. When you study the life of the Master, His words, His prayer life, and the instructions He gave, He never suggested for one moment that we should whine, beg and cry to God for anything.
Rather, He put the keys in our hands. He told us to speak to the mountain; in other words, solve the problem; use your mouth; speak faith-filled words. Mark 11:23, “For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.”
🙏 P R A Y E R
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Dear Father, thank you for the authority and power you've given me to change any situation through your Word. I’m a doer of your Word, and with my faith-filled words I alter circumstances and cause them to align with your perfect will for my life. I apply your Word effectively in every circumstance, and I walk in victory always, in Jesus' Name. Amen.
📖 FURTHER STUDY:
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
James 1:22-25; But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
[23] For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
[24] for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
[25] But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
Mark 9:23; Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
Joshua 1:8 AMPC; This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success.
1 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: Romans 11:1-24 & Psalms 79-81
2 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: Philippians 1:1-8 & Isaiah 59
Rhapsody of Realities Daily Devotional