officialpstvictor

INSTABILITY IN PURSUIT " A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways."  James  1:8 Glory to God!  One of the greatest hindrances to progress is not always the absence of ability or opportunity; most times, it is instability in pursuit. A person may have a clear desire but lack the consistency required to pursue it.  Instability occurs when our commitment keeps changing because our mind keeps shifting. We start today with enthusiasm, abandon it tomorrow because of difficulty, return to it when we feel motivated, and abandon it again when another opportunity appears. Such a pattern makes progress difficult because progress requires consistency. Our opening scripture  describes the double-minded person as one who is “unstable in all his ways". The scripture captures someone whose mind is divided between different directions. There is a desire to move forward, but there is also hesitation, distraction, or competing affection pulling in another direction.  M...

THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST " And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: but this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God."  Hebrews  10:11-12 Glory to God!  The sacrifice of Christ is at the very heart of our redemption. From the beginning, God revealed through the Scriptures that the problem of sin could not be solved by human effort or the repeated offering of the blood of animals. Sin required a perfect sacrifice, and that sacrifice was ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ.  When the children of Israel were in Egypt, God instructed each household to take a lamb without blemish and apply its blood to the doorposts of their houses. When the Lord passed through the land to execute judgement, He said concerning the houses marked with blood, "When I see the blood, I will pass over you” (Exodus 12:13). The blood of the lamb became the distingui...

BRIDLE YOUR WORDS " For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body." James  3:2 Glory to God!  One of the clearest expressions of spiritual maturity is the ability to control our words. The tongue may be small, but it carries enormous power. With our words, we can encourage and build someone up; you can also give direction and healing to someone in need. Yet, with the same tongue, we can wound, discourage, destroy relationships, and create confusion. Our opening scripture teaches  us that if we can control our words, we are also able to control the rest of our body. This is because the tongue often reveals what is happening within us.  Many times, our greatest battles are not caused by what happened to us but by how we responded to what happened. Someone may offend us, misunderstand us, or speak wrongly about us, but we must learn that we do not have to respond to every situation wit...

ASK FOR WISDOM " If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him."  James  1:5 Glory to God!  Wisdom is the ability to know what to do, how to do it, when to do it, and why it should be done. Wisdom enables us to make the right decisions and respond to the situations of life according to God's principles. W isdom is not a choice for a believer; it is a necessity. Opportunities are mishandled and misplaced in the absence of wisdom.  We live in a generation where information is everywhere, but wisdom is scarce. We can access information within seconds, yet information alone does not guarantee right decisions. There is a need for wisdom to navigate all that confronts us every day.  Wisdom is needed in building sustainable relationships, enduring careers, successful family life and ministry or business.  God wants us to live wisely in the midst of a complicated world. We must not be ...

DOING THE TRUTH " If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:" 1 John 1:6 Glory to God!  It is one thing to know the truth, and it is another thing to do the truth.  One is head knowledge, while the other is heart knowledge.  Knowledge gives us information, but practice gives expression to what we know. The evidence that truth has truly entered our hearts is that it begins to influence the way we live.  We have seen situations where a student memorises an entire subject simply for the purpose of passing an examination. Such a student may reproduce everything they have memorised on the examination paper and obtain a good result, but when confronted with a practical situation requiring that knowledge, they may not know what to do. The information was in their head, but it had not become a working reality in their life.  This is also possible in our walk with God. We can know many Scriptures, listen to countless...

GOD IS LIGHT " This then is the message which we have heard of him and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all."  1 John 1:5 Glory to God!  Light makes it possible to see. It gives clarity and helps us distinguish what is before us. Darkness, on the other hand, makes it difficult to see clearly and can cause a person to lose direction. Darkness is the absence of light. From our opening scripture we saw  that everything about God is consistent with clarity and holiness.  Therefore, our relationship with God should affect the way we live. When we choose to follow Him wholeheartedly, we must allow His nature to influence the way we live.  Imagine someone travelling on an unfamiliar road at night. Without adequate light, even a good road can become difficult to navigate. The challenge is that there is not enough light to take the next required steps when needed. When we walk with God, w e may not know everything about tomorrow, but God...

MADE BY THE WORD " All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made."  John  1:3 Glory to God! The Word is the building agent of God. As a child of God, the first thing you must be introduced to is the importance of the Word.  The Christian life cannot be successfully built on emotions, human opinions, experiences, or the philosophies of men.  The Word of God is how everything was made, and if we will build anything in our lives, we must do it by the Word. The Word is God in print. The more we give ourselves to studying the Word, we give ourselves to studying God.  Everything we see in creation came into existence by the Word. God spoke, and creation responded. Light came because God spoke. Order came because God spoke. Life came because God spoke. W hatever God wants to build, He builds by His Word.  Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” Just as our ...

LEVERAGE ON MERCY " So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy."  Romans  9:16 Glory to God!  Mercy is one of the greatest advantages we have as believers. There are things we could never accomplish by human strength, qualification, effort, or connections, but God’s mercy can make the difference.  The word mercy speaks of God’s compassion, kindness, and undeserved favour towards us. Mercy is God choosing to show kindness where judgment could have been deserved. It is God intervening in our situation, not because we have earned it, but because of His loving-kindness.  Every day we wake up, we are beneficiaries of God’s mercy.  What then does it mean to leverage?  To leverage means to use an available advantage or resource to produce a greater result. For example, a person may use a ladder to gain access to a higher place that he could not reach by simply jumping. The ladder becomes a means through which...

HOW DILIGENT ARE YOU? " The hand of the diligent will rule,  while the slothful will be put to forced labour."  Proverbs  12:24 (ESV) Glory to God!  Diligence is one of the principles that God uses to distinguish people in life. Many desire great results, but not everyone is willing to give the consistent effort required to produce them.  What does it mean to be diligent? To be diligent means to be persistent, careful, committed, hard-working, and consistent in pursuing a task or responsibility. Diligence is refusing to treat important things casually. It is giving our best to what has been committed into our hands, even when there is no immediate reward or applause.  Diligence is not merely being busy. A person can be very busy and yet unproductive. Diligence involves purposeful and consistent effort. It means that when we know what God has committed to us, we give ourselves to it faithfully.  Our opening Scripture says, “The hand of the diligent will...

A QUICKENING 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 Glory to God!  One of the reasons why the Lord Jesus sent us the Holy Spirit is for continual quickening. The Holy Spirit in the believer is a river of living water that springs forth eternal life. The eternal life we received at salvation is the life of God imparted to our spirits through the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we have within us the very Spirit of life.  We cannot have the Holy Spirit and remain spiritually dead, inactive, or powerless. A quickened life is a life empowered, energised, refreshed, and strengthened by the Spirit to live and fulfil God's purpose on the earth. The Holy Spirit brings divine vitality into our spirits and enables us to function beyond our natural abilities. Our Lord  Jesus lived a quickened life. He was anointed with...

SOMETHING IN THE HAND " And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee. And the LORD said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod." Exodus  4:1-2 Glory to God!  When God calls a man, it is because He has put within that man the ability to do that which he has been called to do. There is always something in us, whether material or immaterial, that God can work with to establish His purpose in our lives and on the earth. The challenge of many people, like Moses, is fear and the excuse of not having what it takes. Moses was looking at what he did not have, while God was drawing his attention to what he already had. Moses thought he needed something extraordinary before he could fulfil an extraordinary assignment, but God simply asked him, “What is that in thine hand?”  God was not asking because He did not know what Moses had. He was helping Moses recognis...

THINGS FREELY GIVEN TO US " Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God." 1 Corinthians 2:12 Glory to God! As humans, we love gifts. We love to receive gifts from our loved ones, friends, and even from people we may not know very well. A gift communicates love, favour, thoughtfulness, and generosity. However, while we are often conscious of the gifts we receive from people, we can be ignorant of the many things that God has freely given to us. The Bible tells us that we have received the Spirit which is of God so that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. This means that the Holy Ghost does not merely come into our lives to give us an experience; He comes to reveal and make known to us the realities of our inheritance in Christ. There are things God has freely given to us that we could never purchase with money, earn by human strength, or achieve thr...

SPEAK IN TONGUES III " For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God." 1 Corinthians  2:11 Glory to God!  We have been discussing the importance of speaking in tongues. We have established that speaking in tongues is a medium through which we communicate directly with God, and yesterday, we saw how speaking in tongues brings edification to the believer. Today, we will look at another powerful benefit of praying in tongues: it helps us become more conscious of and sensitive to the mind of the Spirit.  The natural mind cannot comprehend the things of God by human reasoning alone. There are things that only the Spirit of God can reveal to us. The Bible says, “For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him?” In the same way that the human spirit knows the things within a person, the Spirit of God knows the things of God and makes them known to ...