His Voice Devotional

Text :  Psalms  127:3 Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. When you think about normal children, the first thing that readily comes to mind is a child that appears physically and mentally healthy. Well, this definition can suffice in an academic or medical parlance, but not in the Spirit realm.  A normal child is one that is whole spirit, soul and body. And this can only come about with the aid of Godly parenting. God expects His children to raise goodly children for Him. This is one of the reasons He said you should not be unequally yoked with an unbeliever. (2 Corinthians 6:14). When a believer joins himself/herself in marriage with an unbeliever,  he/she has joined himself with a wrong spirit.   *Essentially, everyone is controlled by a Spirit.  A child of God is controlled by the Spirit of God, if you are not His child, you are controlled by the evil Spirit.*   Romans 8:14 says *For all who ar...

Text :  2 Peter 1:10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble. It is very important that you pay close attention to Jesus' parable in our today's Bible reading (Matthew 22:2-14). Apostle Peter reiterated the import of same parable in second Peter chapter 1 verse  10.  Jesus said, many are called but few are chosen. From the parable, it is clear that not all the called would eventually make it into the kingdom of heaven.  In the parable, the reason why the called was not chosen is because he was not having the wedding garment on. Necessity is laid on everyone (believers) who has been called into the kingdom of heaven to  be diligent enough, so as to be in the right wedding garment. This would qualify him to partake in the marriage supper of the lamb. (Rev. 19:9). *No wedding gown, No wedding! It is same principle in the kingdom. Do make sure you are having on you spotless gar...

Text :  Act 9:36.  Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas: this woman was full of good works and almsdeeds which she did. As a child of God, you have been called unto good works. Ephesians  2:10 says  *For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.* You must conscientiously walk in the good works you have been created to walk in. Again, in Matthew chapter five, Jesus, while talking to His disciples listed this virtue as one of many virtues that a true disciple must possess.  He says, Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Matthew 5:16. Your good works will not only make men give glory to God, you will also benefit from it here on earth. Tabitha was described as a woman full of good works. Unfortunately,  she became sick and died in the prime of...

Text :  Proverbs  1:7.  The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. Permit me to share with you a wise Persian proverb that I grew up hearing from my Father.   The wise saying  categorised people into into four: The first set is: *he who knows nothing and knows not that he knows nothing, he's a compound foolish idiot.* A number of people fall into this category. The second group is: *he who knows nothing and knows that he knows nothing is an ignorant man, teach him.* It is wisdom to accept that you need knowledge.  The third is: *he who knows and knows not that he knows he's asleep, wake him up.* It's not enough that you know, you must know when to rightly apply what you know. And the last is:*he who knows and knows that he knows is a wise man, follow him.*  Our text says only fools despise wisdom and instruction. Knowledge begins with the fear of the Lord. To fear the Lord is to obey His instructi...

Text :  Matthew 1:20.   *After he had thought about it, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” he said, “don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what has been conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.*   *He doesn't give a vision without a commensurate provision. He is more than able to foot all the bills of everything He ordered for. Learn to lean on Him.*  As a virgin girl already betrothed to Joseph, Mary agreed with God to carry our Lord. By implication,  she agreed to be pregnant albeit by the Holy Spirit.  Because you know how the story ended,  it's possible to gloss over the mess that this decision created for Mary. She was discovered to be pregnant and Joseph her fiance knew he wasn't responsible. Her fiance, Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to disgrace her, decided to divorce her secretly. However,  God stepped in to fix the situation.  He knew Mary was innocent and He...

Text :  Psalms 51:1.   *Have mercy, God, according to your gracious love, according to your unlimited compassion, erase my transgressions.*  King David wrote Psalms 51 When  prophet Nathan came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba the wife of Uriah.  In 2 Samuel 11, the account of David's adultery with Bathsheba was recorded. It's clear from this story that David was clearly in the wrong - First, he stayed back home when as a king he should be at the battle front. Secondly,  when he supposed to be praying to God for the success of those at the battle front,  he was busy sleeping with another man's wife. This sin eventually led him to commit a brutal murder. However,  when he was confronted with his sins,  he didn't play the blame game. He immediately owned-up and went to God for mercy. A number of times, you expect God to automatically fix the mess you created without His knowledge. But before you blame it all on God, pause to consi...

Text : Proverbs 4:23  *Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. (NLT)*  We established yesterday from Hebrews 4:12 that  your heart is the custodian of your thoughts and intents. Our Lord Jesus Christ also affirmed that thoughts and other sins proceed from the heart.  _For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies._ (Matthew 15:19).  Today, we shall be looking at how you can experience heart transformation through the Word. Having repented and confessed the Lord Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, you must continue to allow God's Spirit and Word work upon your heart. These will transform your thoughts and intents.  *Effective meditation in God's word is key to heart transformation.* For you to experience new life, you must constantly meditate in the word. *You can't simply decide to change the direction of your life by wishful thinkin, it has to be done...

Text : Proverbs 4:23  *Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. (NLT) Your heart is the control room of your life. It is the engine that powers your whole life. Your heart is where your 'things' are kept(1Cor 2:11). Your real personality is hidden in your heart. So, when God wants to change you,  He simply changes your heart and makes it a new heart. (Psalms 51:10). God's focus is not on the externalities but the heart. The Lord reads your heart before He considers your actions. This is because your actions are products of your heart. So, the Lord goes to the very source of your actions. Proverbs 21:2 says _People may be right in their own eyes, but the Lord examines their heart._   *Your heart is your life's production room, that's why you must guard it with all diligence.* No man can discern or know his heart without the help of God's Spirit upon his own spirit. Hence, except a man's spirit is quickened, his heart cannot ...

Text : 2 Peter 2:19  *"...For you are a slave to whatever controls YOU"* (NLT) The word "freedom" is a relative term. When you are free from one thing, you are held by another. If you are free from God's control, then you are under the control of the devil.* And to be free from devil's control, is to be under the control of God. The challenge with many believers today is that, they want to eat their cake and still have it. They want to be free from the devil's control and still be free from the Lordship of Christ.  Having given your life to Christ, you must see to it that every grip of the devil, sin and the world are off your life. You can only achieve this through continuance submission to the Lordship of Christ. When you see a person who likes to do whatever that is pleasing to him or her, and such person is fond of saying; I am a free thinker. Just know that such a person is fully under the control of the devil. No single man on earth today is free; ...

Text : Matthew 13:23. But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the person who hears the word, understands it, and produces a crop that yields 100, 60, or 30 times what was sown.” A heart is only considered to be good when it can receive the word of God, understands it and brings forth fruit.  *To a farmer, a good farmland is not one which can receive seed but one which produces good harvest.*  What the Father takes glory in is your fruitfulness. He wants your life to yield bountiful harvest. And this can only be possible when you abide in Jesus.  *This is how my Father is glorified, when you produce a lot of fruit and so prove to be my disciples.* John 15:8. Note that your heart can portray any of the four hearts texture Matthew chapter 13 on different occasions depending on your disposition towards God's word at any given time. So for you to maintain a good heart that is capable of producing fruit, you must learn to always abide in Jesus. I am the vine, you are the...

Text: Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Today, we shall be looking at honesty as one of the things we are commended to give our thoughts to. The truth is who you truly are is contained in your thoughts. That's why proverbs 23:7 says as a man thinks in his heart so is he. Matthew 12:34 says from the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.  That is, what you say is also precipitated on what you have stored in your heart. What you have stored however, is based on what you have ruminated on over a period of time. Infact, all of these are  responsible for what you have in your subconscious.  Your subconscious is the realm where you are not really in control, but the stored information takes over and you speak or act accor...

Text :  Psalms 73:26.  My body and mind may fail, but God is my strength and my portion forever. There are times when you get so unmotivated. Nothing just seems to make sense.  As a young fellow,  naturally,  your glory is your strength, so says  Proverbs 20:29. But Isaiah 40:30 says even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. That is, you will not be a youth forever,  and even as a youth your strength will not always carry you through. This is why David said even if his body and mind fails, he is sure that God will never fail. This unfailing God will always be his strength and portion.  It is wisdom to lean on the rock that can never fail. If God is your portion,  it does not matter what happens around you, because He cannot fail, you will not fail.  *Bible  Reading :*  Psalms 73:.1-28.  *PRAYER FOCUS*  1.) Father God, I thank you for being my portion, my shield and my exceeding gr...

Text : Matthew 5:13 You are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. While God expects your light to shine for all to see just like a city that is set on an hill which cannot be hid; you also must ensure that you intentionally allow (let) your light shine for all to see. Though, God's light, (Jesus Christ) has given light to every man in the world today, but every man is responsible for the acceptance or rejection of this light. (John 1:9). Having accepted the light, you now have the responsibility of shinning forth the light for the world to see your good works. You cannot shine your light through good works, rather you only shine your light so that men could see your good works. It is in shinning your light (Christ) that men would see your good works. So many folks are often confused about Mathew 5:16. They thought that it is by doing certain good deeds or charitable works that they shine their light. This is a wrong concept. The right idea of the scri...

Text : Matthew 5:13 You are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. While teaching on the mountain, Jesus described His disciples as Salt of the earth and light of the world.  We considered what He meant by describing His disciples as the salt of the earth yesterday. Today, we shall be considering the second part which described you as the light of the world. Light finds expression mostly in darkness. So, when Jesus described you as the light of the world, He's simply describing you as the  source of illumination  for our world.  He said same thing about Himself in the book of John 9:5. He said, *"As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world"* This same statement holds true about every true disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ. *No matter how civilised the world may appear, the people in it will still be groping in darkness. Darkness will only dissapear when  sons and daughters of the most High shine their light.*  Jes...

Text: 1 Corinthians  15:33. Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners. Some years back, while living off campus as an undergraduate,  my next door neighbour had a particular secular music he plays every morning. The lyrics of the song was nothing to write home about but he always put it on  loud speaker nonetheless.  I had gone to him more than once so he could reduce the volume. (because I  had no right to tell him the kind of song he can listen to). I went to him not just because it was obscenely loud, but because I don't want to  have anything to do with such music. Lo and behold, I  caught myself singing that song one day. I had learnt the song unconsciously, albeit unsolicitedly. We live in a world where everything around us is competing for the space of God in our lives. Here, you are either being influenced or you are influencing others. At times,  we get influenced passively just as I was in the story I recounted above. But...

Text : Isaiah  49: 15   Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Sometimes it feels like God is not hearing your cries and prayers, but one thing you must know for certain is that, His promises never fail- He will never leave you nor forsake you. Hebrew 13:5. While very few mothers have shown great wickedness by forsaking and forgetting their sucking babies, though, on a norm, mothers don't forget their sucking babies. Whichever way, God will never forget His own. His word made us know that even a mother may forget her sucking child, but He will never forget His own children. Are you God's child? Then, He will never forget you.  *God is a Spirit, hence you can not ascertain His presence by your feelings or circumstances, but only by your SPIRIT and by FAITH.*  Though, God is always working in the lives of His children, they need the eyes of Faith and openne...

Text : 1 Corinthians 15:58.  Therefore, my dear brothers, be steadfast, unmovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that the work that you do for the Lord isn’t wasted. In our world today, we have a commitment problem. Everywhere you look, you seem to find a lack of commitment or follow-through.  Leaders shirk responsibilities. Politicians blame the “other party.” And many drift from one job to the next, never fully committing to any of them. Unfortunately, even Christians are not excluded from this lack of commitment syndrome.  This is why we are admonished in our text today to be steadfast ( unswervingly constant) and unmovable. To excel in any given field or career, you need commitment. To win in this Christian race, you need commitment.  It's good to start well, but better than your starting is your finishing. Ecclesiastes  7:8 says *Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than th...

Text : 1 Corinthians 6:9&10. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,  *Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. *   *Domestic violence is not just a crime against humanity, it is a sin before God. Say 'NO' to it.*  Domestic violence is any violence or abuse committed in a domestic setting such as in marriage.  Domestic abuse comes in different forms;  physical abuse,  emotional abuse, sexual abuse and so on. Whichever form it takes, abuse is wrong and should be frowned at at any quarter. No one should be subjected to any kind of abuse whatsoever.  (If you are been abused in anyway, please, speak up, look for a right person to report to and don't forget to report such to God, He will fight for you.) However, one very silent a...

Text: 1 Samuel  2:2. There is none holy as the LORD: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God. There is none holy as the Lord, there is none besides Him and there is no rock like our God. Hence, after God what you have is still God. No man on earth, angel in heaven or devil in hell is comparable to our God. God is the only personality that is incomparable.  All of His creatures and creations have mates and equals except for Him alone. He is God all by Himself.  Even the satan that is disturbing and disrupting the whole earth now has many of his equals in heaven. That is the reason the book of Revelation 20:1& 2 says, _I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years._   *If It will take only one angel to arrest and detain the devil for a thousand years, don't you ...