Everyday in the Word

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SUNDAY AUGUST 10, 2025.

SUBJECT: GOD’S GRACE AND OUR FAITH!

Memory verse: “Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17 vs 20.)

READ: Mark 9 vs 17 - 18; 23 - 27:

9:17: Then one of the crowd answered and said, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit.

9:18: And whenever it seizes Him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not.”

9:23: Jesus said to Him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”

9:24: Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

INTIMATION:

There is a very thin line between “grace” and “faith” that is often missed by us. Because these two work together, the line between them is difficult for many to discern. And if we do miss it, our lives become confused. Many trust their faith to meet their needs. When their needs are not met, then they tried to have more faith because they are unable to discern the very thin line between faith and grace. They are not seeing beyond their faith to seek the grace of God (the power of God) to meet their needs.

Most people seemed to base all achievements on their faith, when, in reality, every victory or achievement is based on God's faithfulness bestowed on us by His grace—the power of God. If we frustrate the grace of God, we are going to feel frustrated. This explains why, by the grace of God, we receive our petition even when our faith is near zero.

In our memory verse, Jesus told His disciples who were worried that they couldn’t heel the epileptic child, ‘if you have faith as small as the mustard seed (tiniest known seed on earth), you can move the mountain.’ The disciples were surprised because they had done such things in the past (see Mark 6 vs 13). The disciples were followers of Christ and believed in Him. Jesus, at some point, sent them out in pairs as His coworkers. The Scripture says, “And He called the twelve to Himself, and began to send them out two by two, and gave them power over unclean spirits” (Mark 6 vs 7). 

Now note this, Jesus sent them out two by two as His coworkers, and gave them power over unclean spirits; “And they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick, and healed them” (Mark 6 vs 13). Though, they believed and followed Jesus, but it wasn’t their faith or believe that enabled them to accomplish those exploits of healing the sick and casting out demons. It was the power of God—the power over unclean spirits given to them by Jesus when they departed—that enabled them to accomplish all that they did. 

When they came back, they were very happy with their accomplishments, and obviously should have built up greater faith. With their increased faith, they expected to accomplish much more exploits, such that heeling the epileptic child wouldn’t have been a problem to them. But surprisingly they couldn’t. This was because in the company, and presence of Jesus, the power of God (the grace of God) for such accomplishments was no more with them, but with the Master Himself, their greater faith not withstanding.

Jesus was teaching them that it is the power of God (the grace of God) bestowed upon them that enabled them to do exploits, and no matter the size of their faith, they should seek the power of God (the grace of God) to come through for them in any situation they face in life. And in some cases, they will not only pray for grace, but will also back it up with fasting to able to bring the power of God to bear on life’s circumstances they face: “However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting (Matthew 17 vs 21). This same kingdom’s principle remains, and is unchanging, and is applicable to us believers even in this time.

In order to get our needs met, in order to receive anything from the Lord, we must have both faith and grace. It is by grace through faith that we are saved. And it is by grace through faith that all our prayers are answered, and all of our needs are met. Keep your eyes on God to deliver you, not on your faith.

In Second Timothy 2 vs 13, the Bible says, "If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself." The Bible is teaching us here to get our eyes off our ability to believe (as the ultimate), but rather on God's willingness to meet our needs even though we do not have perfect faith, or no faith at all. 

Remember the father of the epileptic child had virtually little faith, which was even eroded when His disciples failed him. Jesus knew his state of mind and said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” The man immediately tried to build up his faith and replied, "Lord, I believe! Help my unbelief" or "Help my weakness of faith!" The man knew his faith was lacking, but he was honest about it, and Jesus healed his son. (See Mark 9 vs 17 - 24.) God's grace (power) came on the scene and gave the man what he did not deserve due to his unbelief.

Prayer: Abba Father, let Your grace rest upon me at all times, that I may be able to face all my life’s challenges and meet all my needs, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

20 Minutes Early Morning Violet Prayers by Apostle Joshua Salman

 

Have Mercy on Me, O God

 Have Mercy on Me, O God

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. (Psalm 51:1)

Three times: “Have mercy,” “according to your steadfast love,” and “according to your abundant mercy.” 

This is what God had promised in Exodus 34:6–7:

“The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty.”

David knew that there were guilty who would not be forgiven. And there were guilty who by some mysterious work of redemption would not be counted as guilty, but would be forgiven. Psalm 51 is his way of laying hold on that mystery of mercy.

“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.” We know more of the mystery of this redemption than David did. We know Christ. But we lay hold of the mercy in the same way he did. 

The decisive thing he does is turn, helpless, to the mercy and love of God. Today that means turning, helpless, to Christ, whose blood secures all the mercy we need.

Open Heaven

 OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL 

DATE: SATURDAY, AUGUST 9, 2025.

TOPIC: AVOID LEAKAGES

MEMORISE

“Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.” - (Song of Solomon 2:15)

READ: Judges 16:1-21 (KJV)

1 Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there an harlot, and went in unto her.

2 And it was told the Gazites, saying, Samson is come hither. And they compassed him in, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, In the morning, when it is day, we shall kill him.

3 And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of an hill that is before Hebron.

4 And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.

5 And the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and said unto her, Entice him, and see wherein his great strength lieth, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him; and we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver.

6 And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee.

7 And Samson said unto her, If they bind me with seven green withs that were never dried, then shall I be weak, and be as another man.

8 Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven green withs which had not been dried, and she bound him with them.

9 Now there were men lying in wait, abiding with her in the chamber. And she said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he brake the withs, as a thread of tow is broken when it toucheth the fire. So his strength was not known.

10 And Delilah said unto Samson, Behold, thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: now tell me, I pray thee, wherewith thou mightest be bound.

11 And he said unto her, If they bind me fast with new ropes that never were occupied, then shall I be weak, and be as another man.

12 Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And there were liers in wait abiding in the chamber. And he brake them from off his arms like a thread.

13 And Delilah said unto Samson, Hitherto thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: tell me wherewith thou mightest be bound. And he said unto her, If thou weavest the seven locks of my head with the web.

14 And she fastened it with the pin, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awaked out of his sleep, and went away with the pin of the beam, and with the web.

15 And she said unto him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lieth.

16 And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death;

17 That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.

18 And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up this once, for he hath shewed me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought money in their hand.

19 And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him.

20 And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the Lord was departed from him.

21 But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house.

MESSAGE

Over the past few days, I have been discussing being filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit. If a person can be filled, it then means there is a possibility of being empty. Talking about the possibility of emptiness brings me to the possibility of leakages. There are various ways to empty a container; one is to pour all its content out at once, and another could be to puncture the container so that the content begins to leak until it is totally drained.

Most times, when satan wants to attack a believer who is full of the Holy Spirit, he doesn't launch an all-out attack. The devil is wary of the impact of the anointing; therefore, when he wants to attack such believers, he looks for subtle ways to empty them of the anointing. He looks for little cracks in their lives that he can exploit to cause them to lose the anointing gradually until they become empty - then, he strikes.

Believers who toy with sin will first experience a leakage of the anointing, and if they do not repent, it will ultimately lead to death (Romans 6:23). A believer might still be functioning in the gifts of the Spirit, but if he or she is involved in secret sins, the anointing will begin to leak. The problem with leakage from a container is that the time it is discovered is usually when the remaining content has become too little to be useful or when the container is totally empty; by then, it is already late. When Samson said, "I will arise and go out as before" (Judges 16:20), he didn't know that the anointing had departed from him. The discovery that the anointing is gone often happens when the devil has achieved his goal, and it can only take the special grace of God for the believer to be restored.

...it is high time to awake out of sleep...let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. (Romans 13:11-12)

Beloved, if you have been toying with sin, this is the time to wake up. Those toying with sin are courting destruction. Nobody may know what you are doing in secret, but God knows, and you can be sure that the devil knows too. Solomon spoke about little foxes that spoil vines in today's memory verse. If you have been committing secret sins, please deal with them now before they destroy you. 

KEY POINT

Secret sins will cause a leakage of the anointing and eventually destroy a believer. 

AUTHOR: Pastor E. A. Adeboye 

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR

Jeremiah 18 - 21

HYMN 31 - YIELD NOT TO TEMPTATION

1. Yield not to temptation, 

For yielding is sin; Each victory will help you Some other to win; Fight manfully onward, Dark passions subdue; Look ever to Jesus, He'll carry you through. 

CHORUS 

Ask the Saviour to help you 

Comfort, strengthen, and keep 

you; He is willing to aid you, 

He will carry you through. 

2. Shun evil companions, 

Bad language disdain; God's name hold in reverence, Nor take it in vain; Be thoughtful and earnest, Kindhearted and true; Look ever to Jesus, He'll carry you through. 

3. To him that overcometh God giveth a crown; through faith we will conquer, though often cast down; he who is our saviour our strength will renew; look ever to Jesus, he'll carry you through.

The End of the Gospel

The End of the Gospel

Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (Romans 5:9–11)

What do we need to be saved from? Verse 9 states it clearly: the wrath of God. “Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.” But is that the highest, best, fullest, most satisfying prize of the gospel?

No. Verse 10 says “much more . . . shall we be saved by his life.” Then verse 11 takes it all the way up to the ultimate end and goal of the gospel: “more than that, we also rejoice in God.” 

That is the final and highest good of the good news. There is not another “more than that” after that. There is only Paul’s saying how we got there, “through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”

The end of the gospel is “we rejoice in God.” The highest, fullest, deepest, sweetest good of the gospel is God himself, enjoyed by his redeemed people. 

God in Christ became the price (Romans 5:6–8), and God in Christ became the prize (Romans 5:11).

The gospel is the good news that God bought for us the everlasting enjoyment of God.

EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SATURDAY AUGUST 09, 2025.

SUBJECT : WHY WE FAST AND PRAY!

Memory verse: "However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” (Matthew 17 vs 21.)

READ: Luke 2 vs 37; Acts 14 vs 23:

Luke 2:37: And this woman was a widow of about eighty-four years, who did not depart from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.

Acts 14:23: So when they had appointed them elders in every church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they had believed.

INTIMATION:

A fast is a voluntary abstinence from food or drink or both for the purpose of calling on God to respond to one’s request. It is a period of time when no food or drink was eaten and people approached God in humility, sorrow for sin, and urgent prayer. Fasting, though not a command, is noble and difficult. It gives us time to pray, teaches us self-discipline, reminds us that we can live with a lot less, and helps us appreciate God’s gift. Fasting is both an outward sign of humility and regret for sin, it is a sign of mourning for sin, and an inner discipline that clears the mind and keeps the spirit alert. 

Fasting indicates our seriousness with God. By separating ourselves from the daily routine of food preparation and eating, we could devote that extra time to considering our sin and praying to God for help. Hunger pangs would reinforce our penitence and remind us of our weaknesses and our dependence upon God. Fasting is always helpful as we seek God’s Will in special situations. People often fast during the time of calamity in order to focus their attention on God and to demonstrate their change of heart and their true devotion. 

Fasting is an understood practice of the disciples of Jesus. Jesus said to His disciples, “When you fast,” it is not if the disciples would fast. Fasting is the natural response of those who respond with discipleship to the lordship of Jesus. It is the response of those who depend on God’s work in their lives, for in fasting one is calling on God to respond to his pleas for help. Fasting is done in order to to take one’s mind off the physical needs of the body in order to concentrate on the spiritual needs of the inner man. 

Fasting not only strengthens our self-discipline, it also helps us to focus our attention on the work of God in our lives. The purpose of fasting is to inwardly humble oneself before God in order to proclaim one’s dependence on the work of God in his or her life. In humbling ourselves before God, we manifest our dependence on God in order to plead for His work in our lives. 

Prayer is an expression of one’s most inner feelings of thanksgiving to God and request for His help. In the Bible, prayer is often combine with fasting on the part of the one who prepares his or her mind in prayer. Praying is to speak reverently to God in order to express thanks or make a request. It is earnestly entreating God in sincerity of your intention, always rendered "supplication." Prayer is one of the greatest opportunities given to man by God. It is one of the greatest privileges and ministries available to all Christians. Indeed, everyone who seeks to take his or her place in the Kingdom of God should seek or learn how to pray effectively. 

Fasting and praying are spiritual preparations necessary for seeking the face, and help of God in our journeys of life, especially in situations beyond our control. It also shows our dependence on God for protection and leading, indicative of our faith that God is in control, and our affirmation that by our strength we cannot prevail. When we take time to put God first in any endeavor, we are preparing well for whatever lies ahead. It’s also an indication that we are not taking God’s promises to us for granted. 

God’s blessings are appropriated through prayer, and fasting humbles one because going without food is a reminder of our complete dependence on God. It gives one more time to pray and meditate on God. Prayer and fasting increase the faith of the believers. Therefore, Christians who wants to grow in faith must give themselves to prayer and fasting. 

Prayer: Abba Father, give me the grace and the spirit of supplication, total dependence, loyalty, and complete trust, in You. For I know the thought You think toward me, thought of good and not of evil, to bring me to the expected end. You created me for Your purpose here on earth, and let that purpose, expressed in Your Will for my life, be accomplished in me, in Jesus' Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

APPROPRIATION PRAYER FOR OUR SPOUSES !

 APPROPRIATION PRAYER FOR OUR SPOUSES !

-IF SPOUSES WHO ARE JOINED TOGETHER DID NOT BREAK THEIR SPIRITUAL HEDGE NOTHING WILL PUT THEM ASUNDER!

SHALL WE APPROPRIATE ON OUR SPOUSES?

Let’s go oo!

-Thank you Almighty for my spouse, please forgive & have mercy, may my spouse be blessed on daily basis🙏.

-No matter what happens,let our love be stronger & thicker than blood, & we’ll be helping hand to each other🙏.

-May our weaknesses not become stronghold of pulling each other down, we shall not become open door for attacks to each other & our children🙏. -We shall dwell in unity,be an encourager to each other & together we shall bring up our children in Godly way🙏.

-May the Lord protect & provide all your heart’s desires acc to His will for your life 🙏.

-Father God pls expose & disgrace those blocking my spouse’s divine purpose in life.

-May the Lord silence & humiliate your haters,& deliver you from darkness/dangers, & above all,give you joy, peace,& unlimited blessing of all kinds 🙏.

-May God fight your life’s battles & every one who is offering sacrifices of untimely death upon evil altar/ shrine🙏.

-Finally, with all my strength, I shout EPHPHATHA TO every closed door at the edge of breakthrough & decree close door to affliction,weeping,pain,suffering,sickness,& on any sort of problem sent to your life in Jesus name Amen 🙏.

Grace and MARANATHA!!!