DON'T LOSE YOURSELF

Spirit & Life Devotional
Sunday, September 7
Chinaemerem Joshua Ibezim

Nahum 2:10 ERV "Now Nineveh is empty. Everything is stolen. The city is ruined. People have lost their courage, their hearts melt with fear, their knees knock together, their bodies shake, and their faces turn pale."

DON’T LOSE YOURSELF

This message is specifically for someone who has lost a lot lately; yes, you have lost something precious and valuable, but you can recover them all if you do not lose yourself! Don't lose your courage, don't lose your faith and don't lose your integrity.

When Job lost everything including his health, his wife advised him to curse God and die; but he refused. When David too lost his wives, children and his belongings, and his men talked about stoning him, instead of breaking down and feeling betrayed by both God and his men, the Scripture says that he encouraged himself in God. And he recovered all! Hallelujah!

You too can recover all, and even double! Don’t let the pain that you feel in your heart cause you to err. God is very able to restore all that the locusts ate. Worrying, alcohol, drugs, hatred and suicide are not the ways out, they will only worsen the situation. God cares and He is a very present Help in time of need.

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RECEIVING GOD'S PROMISES

Spirit & Life Devotional
Saturday, September 6
Chinaemerem Joshua Ibezim

Deuteronomy 9:1 ERV “Listen, you Israelites! You will go across the Jordan River today. You will go into that land to force out nations greater and stronger than you. Their cities are big and have walls as high as the sky!"

RECEIVING GOD'S PROMISES

God's promises are yea and amen. If God said it, His word will not return to Him void. But that God has made a promise to you doesn't mean it will happen automatically, you've got to take it by the force of faith! Why take it by force? Because there are forces that don't want you to have them, because the just shall live by faith and because without faith it is impossible to please God.

But if God has said it, and you agree with Him enough to take possession of it, He will give you sufficient grace and aid you to get it. Moses said to the Israelites, "The people there are tall and strong. They are the Anakites. You know about them. You heard our spies say, ‘No one can win against the Anakites.’ But you can be sure that it is the Lord your God who goes across the river before you—and God is like a fire that destroys! He will destroy those nations and make them fall before you. You will force those nations out and quickly destroy them. The Lord has promised you that this will happen." Hallelujah!

Here's a secret to receiving the promises of God. Isaiah 62:6-7 says, "Jerusalem, I put guards on your walls. They will not be silent. They will keep praying day and night. Guards, keep praying to the Lord. Remind him of his promise. Don’t ever stop praying. Don’t give him any rest until he rebuilds Jerusalem and makes it a place that everyone on earth will praise." Don’t ever stop asking for it, don't ever stop seeking, and don't stop knocking! Bang on the door! Scream if you can! Pray as if it's only your prayer that has to be heard! Take it by force! If a blind man named Bartimaeus could receive the promise you too can. Yes!

Twitter: @PastorChinae
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UNAFFECTED BY THE STORMS

Spirit & Life Devotional
Friday, September 5
Chinaemerem Joshua Ibezim

Jonah 1:5 ERV "The men wanted to make the boat lighter to stop it from sinking, so they began throwing the cargo into the sea. The sailors were very afraid. Each man began praying to his god. Jonah had gone down into the boat to lie down, and he went to sleep."

UNAFFECTED BY THE STORMS

Imagine sleeping in the storm, I mean one that made them throw the cargo into the sea and pray to their gods for safety; how was Jonah able to remain asleep in such an environment? Jesus too didn't wake up in a similar situation. Matthew 8:23-24 says that "Jesus got into a boat, and his followers went with him. After the boat left the shore, a very bad storm began on the lake. The waves covered the boat. But Jesus was sleeping." He was still sleeping even when the waves had covered the boat! Wow!

There are, and will always be storms in life that come in different ways; they could arise in our families, offices, communities, countries, etc; as a child of God, that's not a time to panic as other men: you can remain asleep while others are running helter skelter! In other words, remain calm. God said, "Be still, and know that I am God." Hallelujah!

Psalms 119:165 KJV "Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them." It's possible to have great peace both within and around you. They that dwell in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty! Psalms 46:1-3 says, "God is our protection and source of strength. He is always ready to help us in times of trouble. So we are not afraid when the earth quakes and the mountains fall into the sea. We are not afraid when the seas become rough and dark and the mountains tremble." That should be your testimony! Glory to God!

Twitter: @PastorChinae
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HOPING AGAINST HOPE

Spirit & Life Devotional
Thursday, September 4
Chinaemerem Joshua Ibezim

Romans 4:18 ERV "There was no hope that Abraham would have children, but Abraham believed God and continued to hope. And that is why he became the father of many nations. As God told him, 'You will have many descendants.'"

HOPING AGAINST HOPE

Faith is truly tested when we have to believe God for the impossible, the illogical, and the incomprehensible. It's easy to say you have faith that God will provide when you have a job and you know that you'd soon be paid, but when there's no known source of income for you, and you have to trust God for supply, that's when your faith is really tested. When like Mary and Martha, your brother has been dead for four days and you still believe that God can still raise him up from the dead, that's faith!

Sometimes the facts aren't good; nothing at all suggests that what you want, desire or have been told by God will come to pass; but you say with confidence and unshakeable assurance, "I know in Whom I have believed!" Strong faith is a product of knowledge of Who God is and what He is capable of doing. Abraham believed God because He knew that God could give life to the dead and bring to existence what never existed before! Hallelujah!

Listen to me, I'm talking about the God who put money in the mouth of a fish in order to pay taxes! I'm talking about the God who caused iron to float on water! I'm talking about the God who made a donkey to speak! The God who healed the sick and cast out demons with the shadow of a man! The God who made the sun and the moon to stand still! Surely He can do the impossible and the unthinkable! He is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all you can ask or think if you believe!

Twitter: @PastorChinae
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BE NOT UNEQUALLY YOKED

Spirit & Life Devotional
Wednesday, September 3
Chinaemerem Joshua Ibezim

1 Samuel 25:3 ERV "This man’s name was Nabal. He was from Caleb’s family. Nabal’s wife was named Abigail. She was a wise and beautiful woman, but Nabal was a mean and cruel man."

BE NOT UNEQUALLY YOKED

What was a wise and beautiful woman doing with a mean, cruel and foolish man? Nabal means foolish. Maybe she was forced to marry him. Her association with him would have cost her her life, when David was determined to destroy Nabal and his entire family for being rude to him and his men. Thank God that Abigail knew what to do and acted fast. She later became David’s wife.

A lot of people are suffering today because they've been unequally yoked with people completely different from them; they have married unbelievers, they are partners with people who do not reason like them, they are in associations with people with bad characters who care less about integrity and are capable of cheating and defrauding others to get whatever they want. I have heard people say that it's better to do things with unbelievers. That's foolish talking. Maybe they dealt with wolves in sheep clothing; how can darkness be better than light? How can a hopeless man be better than one with the nature and mind of Christ?

2 Corinthians 6:14-15 says, "You are not the same as those who don’t believe. So don’t join yourselves to them. Good and evil don’t belong together. Light and darkness cannot share the same room. How can there be any unity between Christ and the devil? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?" Nothing. That's the answer. You've got to be careful, if you value your life and your relationship with God.

Twitter: @PastorChinae
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UNDESERVED MERCIES

Spirit & Life Devotional
Tuesday, September 2
Chinaemerem Joshua Ibezim

Romans 5:6, 8 ASV "For while we were yet weak, in due season Christ died for the ungodly. But God commendeth his own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

UNDESERVED MERCIES

We know by the Scriptures that we receive new mercies every day and that God loads us with benefits too, every day. Now, it would be a mistake for anyone to think that he or she deserves anything that they receive from God. The same way that God saved us while we were yet sinners, same way He gives us blessings we do not qualify for. I think that's good news! Hallelujah!

As a matter of fact, long before you thought of doing anything to "earn" the goodness of God, He had already blessed you and provided for all that you would ever need in life! The only "works" a man needs to do is to become aware of what God has already done, and to have the faith to receive them. Period! 1 Corinthians 2:12 says that we received the Spirit of God that we might know the things that are FREELY given to us! Yes!

I repeat, there's nothing else you need to do to receive anything from God! Romans 8:32 says again that "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him FREELY give us all things?" Hallelujah! When you know this, every thing you do for God or towards Him will be done because you love Him and are grateful to Him and not because you want to get something from Him! Some people have just been set free! Hallelujah!

Twitter: @PastorChinae
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REMEMBER GOD'S WORDS TO YOU

Spirit & Life Devotional
Monday, September 1
Chinaemerem Joshua Ibezim

Joshua 14:6 ERV "One day some people from the tribe of Judah went to Joshua at Gilgal. One of them was Caleb, the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite. Caleb said to Joshua, “You remember what the Lord said at Kadesh Barnea. The Lord was speaking to Moses, his servant. The Lord was talking about you and me."

REMEMBER GOD'S WORDS TO YOU

Joshua and Caleb grew to become old men. I love Caleb, he did not let old age make him forget God's promise to him, and he was not going to let it go. He went and reminded Joshua the word of God, and he eventually got what was promised him.

God has spoken again and again to us, but do we remember His words? Are we reminding Him of what He said? We always seek new words when we've done little or nothing with what He has already said.

If God said it, it was because He intended for it to come to pass! He didn't say it to excite you or to give you false hopes, He said it so that you would believe it, desire it, confess it and eventually possess it. Have you forgotten that God said you are the head and not tail? Have you forgotten that He said He will supply all your needs? Have you forgotten that He said all things are yours? And much more? Remember His promises today, remind Him of His promises, desire them, declare them... until you possess them.

Twitter: @PastorChinae
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