WHAT ELSE?
Psalm 91

What else can we say that He has not given us? God has come among us and He brought life. He came for us that we may have life and that we may have it more abundantly. He is not saying that He will come. He has already come and He is still here with us in Spirit. He has come that we may have life and it is left for us to make up our mind and take what He brought for us. John 10:10, “… I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” Do you know that you are a special one before the eyes of God? You might have known about that fact. However, to know about it will not do you any good like knowing it. It is a knowing that will cause you to be riding on a consciousness that provokes expectation, which brings forth an uncommon manifestation. When He came, He brought love to us freely that we might have all that is good. The love of God is uncoditional, but the blessings that came along with His love are with conditions. When His conditions are being met, then we become a dweller in the secret place of the Most High. His secret is for those that know Him in His words that are in the pages of the Bible. When we dwell in the secret place of God, obedience has to be in operation. Obeying His word is what will qualify a believer to be dwelling in His secret place. Among the blessings of dwelling in His secret place is to be under His shadow. There is no other place that can be desired by a believer than under the shadow of the great and merciful God. Under His shadow, it will be difficult for any evil to locate the dweller. Under His shadow, no weapon form will prosper because everything passes through Him and whatever is not of Him will not be allowed in getting down to the shadow. Among the blessings of dwelling under the secret place of God is the promise in Psalm 91:4, “He shall cover you with His feather, and under His wings you shall take refuge.” Could it be a kind of feather that is often seen in the pictures of angels? Feather is known to be carrying in flight and also to deliver a protective covering. If birds and other animals that are covered by feathers can live without any demonstration of pain during winter seasons, raining seasons or summertime and also they can fly and not be weary then feathers of God will deliver unto us a greater measure of deliverance, protection and preservation. “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” (Psalm 91:1) What else can we say but to trust in our faithful God?

AMONG DEVICES
Acts 12:1-6

 
Harassment, embarrassment, mockery, ridicule, lying, manipulation, deception are all representatives of the devil. Any agent that represents the devil only has the goal and agenda to steal, kill and destroy. Any of these representatives will always show up because they are in the business of looking for some one; moving like a roaring lion to seek whom to devour. Any of the agents have no limitation of whom they can approach; but they are limited in operation if God disallows them. Once, harassment was accessible to James, the brother of John and Peter, the disciples of Jesus. This is an indication that we all need to be on guard by the grace of God. Acts 12:1-2, “Now about that time Herod the king stretched out his hand to harass some from the church. 2 Then he killed James the brother of John with the sword.” The hand of the devil struck in the church, not outside of the church, and it was against one of the disciples of Jesus. Inside or outside of the church, there will always be harassment and if you will embrace yourself in prayer and the Word of God continually and constantly, you will with no doubt become an over-comer. The mission of the enemy is indirect opposition to the ministry of the kingdom of God. The enemy job is to kill, steal, and destroy and he was successful in carrying out this plan by killing James, the brother of John. Whenever the enemy gains a step over anyone, he will take further steps, without permission, by taking seven more steps to do more damage. Are you aware of his devices? Having been successful in killing James, he next moved forward in the direction of Peter. Acts 12:3, “And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also. Now it was during the Days of Unleavened Bread. 4 So when he had arrested him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four squads of soldiers to keep him, intending to bring him before the people after Passover.” It could be that the news of James being killed got to the brethren and it provoked a prayer action that never should have been stopped. Acts 12:5, “Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church.” Prayer was rendered on behalf of Peter and the hand of the enemy that was in direction to kill Peter, just like James, was permanently terminated. In the race of life, there are some battles that you will have to fight by yourself and there are some that will need the fellowship of brethren. Do you have any group or fellowship like that of Peter that can always and be willing to take a stand on your behalf? Peter is the reason why it is important to take the Word very serious as stated in Hebrews 10:25, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” Embrace prayer and giving yourself to the Word of God.

STANDING POSITION
1 Kings 17:1-10

What position are you taking as a soldier of the Lord? Are you standing, crawling, sitting or sleeping? There is no way to operate in the Lord when you are sleeping in the place you are to be awake, crawling where you are to be walking or walking where you suppose to be running? A failure to stand is a fall from standing, in addition, a failure to stand is to be out of God’s position for your calling. The Bible describes Elijah as a man with a nature like ours and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain. It did not rain on the land for three years and six months (James 5:17). This testimony about Elijah is to be a pointer to the body of Christ to know that what Elijah did is not beyond us to do today. God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. Godhasnever stopped in honoring His Word. Allthat is needed is the grace of God by taking our stand in the Word of God and God will not fail. Will you be willing to take your stand in His Word? In I kings 17:1, Elijah, the Tishbite of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the LORD God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew or rain these years, except at my word.” The stand of Elijah before God is what provoked the hand of God to honor Elijah’s request. As a believer, you claim to be on God’s side. Can you step out and tell rain not to fall? Can your mountains respond at the sound of your voice? We cannot deceive ourselves because if there is no standing in Him, for Him, or by Him, no mountain will move at the sound of your voice. Mark 16:17-18 “And these signs shall follow those who believe: In my name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” Despite God’s promises, the sick are being taken from the church to the hospital instead of from the hospital to the church. Nothing is wrong with the Word of God, but the ones who claim to know the Word have things wrong in them. When there is the inability to stand in the Word of God, there will be a disability to operate the Word of God. Anyone who stands in the Word will be a commander like Elijah. Determination will fail just as it failed Peter when he promised not to deny Christ. Peter did once end up denying Christ. Do not count on determination, but rather desire for His hand to help you. Pray and commit all to Him. Do you desire to be a standing army for the Lord? Make your desire a prayer point and He will deposit it in you. God is faithful!

FLASH OR FLOOD LIGHT
John 1:1-18

 Without any doubt, word manipulation, argument or baseless debate, it is certain that the amount of light that you carry is what will determine your advancement during any encounter of darkness in your journey of life. The same advancement cannot be expected from one with a flashlight and one with a floodlight in the wilderness of darkness. The advancement with a flashlight will suffer every confrontation that appears from behind or from the side. With a floodlight, however, every devilish confrontation that shows up from the side or from the back will suffer an irreparable failure. What kind of light are you carrying in these days of darkness invasion? For you to continue in the journey of life in a world that darkness rules in every corner, your light must be a fully charged floodlight. You do not want to be avoiding darkness in every step of your journey because the darkness that you avoid is the one that will remain and later hunt you in your journey. Darkness must be approached, confronted and exposed because it is not suppose to be reigning over light. John 1:5, “And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” What kind of light are you carrying or how much of light is in you that you carry? What He said to them is still being spoken to us. “Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.’” (John 8:12) Jesus is the Light that we need in order to take our journey to the next level without any debate, delay or fear of any confrontation in this dark and wicked world. The Word of God that was in the beginning with God (John 1:2) is the same Word that is the Light of God. The Book of John 1:3-5 describes Him like this, “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehendit.” Does this shed any light in you about the reason why you have to be carrying a very reasonable light in you? This journey of life is very confrontational and violent; the only effective way to walk through it and be able to win souls that will go along with you in the journey of life is to have light in and outside of you as you journey. Jesus is the true Light that will carry you on a long and successful ride against the operations of this dark world. John 1:9, “That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.” Jesus is the Word of God and He is also the Light. For you to have enough light for the journey, let the Word of God occupy, overwhelm, overtake, reign, rule, and direct your life and you shall have a good success in the journey of life.

WAIT NOT WASTE
Acts 1:1-14

Jesus, after His persecution, about the time He ascended to heaven, “And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, ‘which’, He said, ‘you have heard from Me; 5 For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.’” (Acts 1:4-5) The disciples needed to wait for the promise that was to promote and present them as agents of power, but they could not get through with the message. They had been trained and they were about to be stretched by transforming their training and impacting souls. Jesus clearly pointed out to them in Acts 1:8, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Having received the power through the Holy Spirit, they were to go beyond Jerusalem; they were not to waste by operating only in Jerusalem. Indeed the power came and they all received the power just as Jesus had promised them. When power came upon them, they were to go beyond Jerusalem, and Judea and Samaria to the end of the earth, but they continued waiting when waiting was supposed to have been over. When we receive direction the way we want it to be and when we fail not to get direction the way it is delivered unto us, it could lead to a devastating or painful experience. Jesus did not mean for them to remain in Jerusalem for as long as they wanted or as long as they could wait. They were supposed to journey to the end of the earth after receiving power. Have you been operating or responding only halfway in His command? Disciples have been operating disability in hearing ever since Jesus was walking with them in the face of earth. Once Jesus responded to their disability in listening, “Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word.” (John 8:43) Are you suffering from listening disability? The disciples boxed themselves up in Jerusalem until devastation happened when Stephen suffered persecution by being stoned to death. As a result of Stephen’s persecution, the disciples scattered. Acts 11:19, “Now those who were scattered after the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to no one but the Jews only.” Did they have to suffer waste within before scattering to different parts of the world? Ask Jesus to deliver you from every listening disability that could cause waste in place of waiting. Until they were scattered abroad, the word Christians did not have a place. Acts 11:26, “…And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.”