DON’T LOWER GOD’S STANDARD IN YOUR RELATIONSHIP

Date: Friday, December 12th, 2025 

Title: DON’T LOWER GOD’S STANDARD IN YOUR RELATIONSHIP

2 Corinthians 6:14, 1 Thessalonians 5:22

Marriage is not a playground where anything goes. When you see believers justifying petting, fornication, or unequal yokes before marriage because “everyone is doing it,” you know standards have been lowered. But the Word of God remains firm: “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers” (2 Corinthians 6:14). This generation wants shortcuts, quota systems, and easy slots, but God does not lower His standards to accommodate human excuses. If His Word says flee fornication, you cannot negotiate it to “manage” fornication. A diluted standard will produce a diluted marriage, and that marriage will dilute your destiny.The world wants you to believe holiness is extreme, but grace is not license for error. Grace is divine empowerment to live above sin. In academics, a student admitted through lowered standards will struggle to cope; likewise, a Christian who enters marriage through compromise will soon battle with frustration. If you ignore God’s standards before marriage, don’t expect His backing inside marriage. Holiness, integrity, and obedience must be the foundation of your union. That’s why confusion at the point of choice is often a sign that the individual has long abandoned spiritual discipline. Marriage is not for confused Christians—it is for the yielded, the obedient, the discerning.Application: (1) Don’t negotiate with sin. If a brother or sister pushes you into compromise, that’s your red flag. (2) Test character, not emotions. A man or woman truly submitted to God will fear sin more than they fear losing you. (3) Live by divine standards in courtship, because what you sow there will multiply in marriage. (4) Remember that God is committed to your future, not your lust. Stand with Him now, and He will stand with you forever. (5) Choose to be uncompromising—a standard bearer, not a standard breaker. Your marriage is a destiny vehicle, not a playground for careless choices.THOUGHT TO PONDER: Am I lowering God’s standard in the name of emotions or pressure? Or am I standing firm on holiness so my marriage can preserve destiny?

Prayer: Father, deliver me from every compromise that weakens destiny. Strengthen me to uphold Your standard in love, purity, and obedience.

Every day in the God's Word

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

THURSDAY DECEMBER 11, 2025.

SUBJECT : HOW TO BRING GLORY TO GOD! 

Memory verse: "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to Your Name give glory, because of Your mercy, because of Your truth." (Psalm 115 vs 1.)

READ: First Corinthians 10 vs 31; First Peter 4 vs 11:

First Corinthians 10:31: Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

First Peter 4:11: If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone minister, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

INTIMATION:

Glory means fame, honor, praise, splendor, and beauty. We are created to bring glory to God—bestow honor, fame, praise splendor to Him (Isaiah 43 vs 7). Living for God's glory is purposeful, and in accordance with the Will of God. It is the greatest achievement anyone can accomplish with his or her life. God made you to be you, and for a purpose. When the purpose for which He created you is met by you, you give glory to Him. God, in His nature of Love and mercy, in return, glorifies those you glorified Him. Jesus said in John 17 vs 5, "And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was." 

How then can I bring glory to Him? There are many ways to bring glory to God, but they can be summarized in God's five purposes for our lives. These purposes are:-

(1) We bring God glory by worshipping Him. Worship is the appropriate response to God's self-revelation. It is our first responsibility to God. We worship God for who He is. God wants our worship to be motivated by love, thanksgiving, and delight, not duty. We worship God by enjoying Him. Worship is far more than praising, singing, and praying to God, though they are all acts of worship. Worship is a lifestyle of enjoying God, loving Him, and giving ourselves to be used for His purposes. When you use your life for God's glory, everything you do can become an act of worship. 

(2) We bring glory to God by loving other believers. When you were born again, you became a part of God's family. Following Christ is not only a matter of believing; it also includes belonging and learning to love the family of God. The apostle Paul said, "Therefore, receive one another, just as Christ also received us, to the glory of God" (Romans 15 vs 7). Accept each other just as Christ accepted you; then God will be glorified. It is your responsibility to learn how to love as God does, because God is love, and it honors Him.  

(3) We bring God glory by becoming like Christ. Once we are born into the family of God, He wants us to grow to spiritual maturity. Spiritual maturity is becoming like Jesus in the way we think, feel, and act. The more you develop Christlike character, the more you will bring glory to God. In the Gospel, we see the truth about Christ, and it transforms us morally as we understand and apply it. Through learning about Christ's life, we can understand how wonderful God is and what He is really like. As our knowledge deepens, the Holy Spirit helps us to change. Becoming like Christ is a progressive experience. God gave us new life and a new nature when we accepted Christ. Now, for the rest of our lives on earth, God wants to continue the process of changing our character to eventually conform to Christ’s.

(4) We bring God glory by serving others with our gifts. Each of us was uniquely designed by God with talents, gifts, skills, and abilities. The way you're "wired" is not an accident. God didn't give you your abilities for selfish purposes. They were given to benefit others, just as others were given abilities for your benefit. Some people, well aware of their abilities, believe that they have the right to use their abilities as they please. Others feel they have no special talents at all. Everyone has some gifts; find yours and use them. All our abilities should be used in serving others; none are for our own exclusive enjoyment. 

(5) We bring God glory by telling others about Him. God doesn't want His love and purposes kept a secret. Once we know the truth, He expects us to share it with others. It is for this reason He gave us the great commission to preach the Good News (Mark 16 vs 15). This is a great privilege, introducing others to Jesus, helping them discover their purpose, and preparing them for their eternal destiny. 

God's grace brings more and more people to Christ, and as this is done, God will receive more and more glory. Second Corinthians 4 vs 15 says, "All things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God." God is glorified when people come into a right relationship with Him and begin to bear fruit in their lives.

When the combination of allowing Jesus to permeate our behavior, and subsequently allowing our behavior to affect the lives of others, then truly God is glorified on earth among men. Our actions must be motivated by God’s love so that all we do will be for His glory. Keep this as a guiding principle by asking, “Is this action glorifying God?” or “How can I honor and glorify God through this action?” As you do, He will in turn glorify you. 

Prayer: Abba Father, give me the grace to continually do things to glorify You. My utmost heart desire is for an intimate relationship with You, and that I may serve You and others acceptably to the glory of Your Name, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen. 

PRAISE THE LORD!

COURTSHIP CANNOT REPLACE CONSECRATION

Date: Thursday, December 11th, 2025 

Title: COURTSHIP CANNOT REPLACE CONSECRATION

Romans 8:14, Galatians 5:25

 

Many believers think they can skip spiritual growth and rely on courtship to make the right marriage choice. That is deception. The Bible says, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Romans 8:14). It also declares, “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25). Divine leading is not an emergency response when marriage is before you; it is the lifestyle of a child of God. If you have not trained yourself to recognise God’s voice in daily matters, you will not suddenly hear Him clearly when a proposal comes.Courtship is not consecration. You cannot replace years of walking with God with a few months of romance and call it divine will. Many have gone into relationships thinking emotions and activities will substitute for accuracy in the Spirit, only to find themselves trapped. God does not speak only at junctions; He speaks daily. If you don’t hear Him on what to say, where to go, or how to respond in ordinary life, don’t expect clarity when choosing a spouse. That is why many get carried away by pretence, only to wake up in marriage and discover they never knew the person at all. Courtship can show you behaviour, but only consecration and divine leading will reveal the spirit behind a person.What then should you do? Begin now to cultivate intimacy with God. Train your spirit to follow His promptings in simple things. When you walk in daily consecration, marriage will not be a confusing hurdle but a natural extension of divine leading. Don’t wait until emotions are entangled to start seeking God; by then, your flesh will drown His voice. Build accuracy in the Spirit now, so that when you need to decide on your marital choice, you will know your partner not just by sight or feelings but by the witness of heaven.THOUGHT TO PONDER: Am I building daily consecration that sharpens my ear for God’s voice? Or am I relying on courtship to give me what only spiritual growth can supply?

Prayer: Lord, teach me to walk daily in consecration so that I will not miss Your voice in the matter of marriage.

Every day in the God's Word

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 10, 2025.

SUBJECT : DESIRE THE WISDOM AND REVELATION OF CHRIST!

Memory verse: "For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His Will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding." (Colossians 1 vs 9.)

READ: Ephesians 1 vs 17 - 23:

1:17: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,

1:18: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the Saints,

1:19: and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power

1:20: which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,

1:21: far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.

1:22: And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church,

1:23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

INTIMATION:

In the first three chapters of the apostle Paul's epistle to the church in Ephesus, he enumerated the consummation of Christ's substitutionary work regarding Satan and his cohorts—the demons. His heart intent is that we will come to the full knowledge of what we are in Christ.

From the passage we read today, we observed that he prayed that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may grant us a spirit of wisdom and revelational insight into mysteries and secret in the deep and intimate knowledge of Him, by having the eyes of our heart flooded with light, so that we could know and understand the hope to which He has called us, and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the believers.

The apostle Paul prayed for the believers to know God better. How do you get to know someone? By reading biographical information or historical data about the person? That will help you know a lot about the person, but it won't enable you to actually know him or her. If you want to get to know someone, you have to spend time with that person; there is no shortcut. 

The same holds true with God. Reading the Bible, great works of theology, and devotional material is wonderful, but there is no substitute for knowing God personally. What about you? Do you really know God, or do you just know about Him? The difference is in spending time with Him. Study Jesus' life in the Gospels to see what He was like on earrh two thousand years ago, and get to know Him in prayer now. Personal knowledge of Christ will change your life.

Having been raised from the dead, Christ is now the head of the Church, the ultimate authority over the world. Jesus is the Messiah, God's Anointed One, the One the world longed for, the One who would set their broken world right. As Christians we can be confident that God has won the final victory and is in control of everything. We must not fear any dictator or nation or even death or Satan himself. The contract has been signed and sealed ; we are waiting just a short while for delivery. The apostle Paul says, in Romans 8 vs 37 - 39, that nothing can separate us from God and His love. 

When we understand the hope of God’s calling and the riches of His glory to the saints (the believers), the knowledge of our spiritual matters increase in order that we might fully comprehend three things: (1) We must comprehend the hope of heaven that God has revealed. (2) We must comprehend the riches of the inheritance that God has made possible through His grace. (3) We must comprehend the greatness of God’s power toward the Christian.

Jesus is at the right hand of God and now reigns at the right hand of the Father as King of kings and Lord of lords. He has authority over all things. The reign of Jesus as well as His kingdom, were never meant to be as carnal reigns and kingdoms that are confined to this physical world. The totality of the reign of Jesus in the heavenly realm far exceeds the limits of earthly kingdoms. Jesus’ realm of reign is unlimited and extends far beyond this world and the church. 

Jesus is the Creator of all that exists. And since all things in both physical and spiritual realm were created by and for Jesus. He is definitely above all that which He created. Since Jesus is God, then certainly this is not difficult to understand. 

All the powers that God has allowed angelic beings and Satan to possess are now under the kingdom reign of Jesus. In His preeminence, Jesus has absolute authority over every power. Therefore, every Christian must firmly believe that Jesus has everything under control. He is “upholding all things by the word of His power” (Hebrews 1 vs 13). The control of all things by Jesus gives confidence and boldness to the Christian who knows such. 

In this present time, all that exists has been subjugated to Jesus. This does not mean that all free-moral beings have voluntarily subjected themselves to Jesus. Satan, his angels, and the masses of the unbelieving world have refused the kingship of Jesus. The church is composed of those who have voluntarily submitted to Jesus. The members of the church are those who have allowed the Will of the Father to be done on earth in their hearts as it is done in heaven (see Matthew 6 vs 9 - 10). 

Jesus is the source of power from which all things now maintain existence. He is the center of reference and controller of all things for the sake of the church. His headship extends to all that is created. It is a comforting thought for Christians to know that their Savior is holding all things together, not only in the physical realm, but also in the spiritual. 

The proclamation of the lordship of Jesus is God’s attack against the principalities and powers of Satan. When the power of the Gospel is unleashed in the kingdom of darkness, Satan is crushed under the feet of those who obey the Gospel (Romans 1 vs 16). 

In Hebrews 9 vs 12 the Scriptures tells us that this is an Eternal Redemption. Not just a redemption for the hour in which it was done, but that Satan is as much defeated now as he was when Christ arose from the dead; that he is as much a subject to the Name of Jesus as he was when Jesus conquered him.

Prayer: Abba Father, I thank You for what You wrought for me in redemption in Christ Jesus. Thank You for the triumph You have given me in Christ over Satan. Help me to comprehend what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height of Christ's love for me, in Jesus' Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh

 Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh

When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. (Matthew 2:10–11)

God is not served by human hands as though he needed anything (Acts 17:25). The gifts of the magi are not given by way of assistance or need-meeting. It would dishonor a monarch if foreign visitors came with royal care-packages.

Nor are these gifts meant to be bribes. Deuteronomy 10:17 says that God takes no bribe. Well, what then do they mean? How are they worship?

Gifts given to wealthy, self-sufficient people are echoes and intensifiers of the giver’s desire to show how wonderful the person is. In a sense, giving gifts to Christ are like fasting — going without something to show that Christ is more valuable than what you are going without. 

When you give a gift to Christ like this, it’s a way of saying, “The joy that I pursue (notice Matthew 2:10! “When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy”) — the joy that I pursue is not the hope of getting rich by bartering with you or negotiating some payment. I have not come to you for your things, but for yourself. And this desire I now intensify and demonstrate by giving up things, in the hope of enjoying you more, not things. By giving to you what you do not need, and what I might enjoy, I am saying more earnestly and more authentically, ‘You are my treasure, not these things.’”

I think that’s what it means to worship God with gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh. Or whatever else we may think of giving to God.

May God awaken in us a desire for Christ himself. May we say from the heart, “Lord Jesus, you are the Messiah, the King of Israel. All nations will come and bow down before you. God wields the world to see that you are worshiped. Therefore, whatever opposition I may find, I joyfully ascribe authority and dignity to you, and bring my gifts to say that you alone can satisfy my heart, not holding on to these gifts.”

Every day in the God's Word

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

TUESDAY DECEMBER 09, 2025.

SUBJECT: ENGAGING THE SPIRIT OF FAITH!

Memory verse: “We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak;” (Second Corinthians 4 vs 13.)

READ: Romans 4 vs 17 - 24:

4:17: (As it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead, and calls those things which do not exist as though they did;

4:18: who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, “So shall your descendants seed be.”

4:19: And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead, (since he was about an hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah's womb.

4:20: He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God,

4:21: and being fully convinced that, what he had promised, He was also able to perform.

4:22: And therefore, “it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

4:23: Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him,

4:24: but also for us, it shall be imputed to us who believe on Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead,

INTIMATION:

The Bible based faith is reliance, loyalty, or complete trust in God and His Word. The Word of God is spirit and life (John 6 vs 63); It is God in the Spirit available to the believer that gives life in the affairs of the believer. The Bible based faith is the spirit of faith (Special faith), and It is the principal weapon of war for a child of God; the victory that overcomes the world: "For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world - our faith" (First John 5 vs 14). The spirit of faith sees the invisible God in any challenges of life. 

Special faith is something other than general faith or saving faith. It is a supernatural manifestation of the Holy Spirit whereby a believer is empowered with faith beyond simple saving faith. This is the kind of faith you need to be able to move the obstructions or obstacles in your way. Sickness, financial strife, abuse, pride, unemployment, bondages, and strongholds of all kinds will not be able to stay in your life when you pray with this kind of (wonder-working) faith. They must go! All you have to do is believe, and nothing will be impossible for you (Mark 9 vs 23). 

The spirit of faith (Special faith—the gift of the Holy Spirit) is the predominant faith for exploits. This spirit is encountered through the work of the Holy Spirit in the believer. It is a spiritual force; a living force, drawn from the living Word of God, to produce living proves. It is the miracle-working faith that Jesus had during His ministry on the earth, and He said that we would walk in even greater power and perform greater things than He did. Prayer with such faith is real, and dismantles pride and vengeance, filling the holes with love. 

Therefore, if you want to receive the promises of God in His Word you must have faith in God Himself, and the Spirit of God—the spirit of faith—must be operational in you. The Scripture says, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him; for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” (Hebrews 11 vs 6.) God promises that all who honestly seek Him—who act in faith on the knowledge of God that they possess, will be rewarded. Faith makes us share responsibility of our lives with God through His Spirit indwelling us, and in the light of His Word. With our faith in God, His Word, and our obedience, we commit God's integrity to perform His Word—His promises (Jeremiah 1 vs 12).

The Spirit of faith is one of the mysteries of the kingdom of God. It is a potent force, with power to quench the fiery darts of the devil; "Above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one." (Ephesians 6 vs 16.) Those fiery darts include; fear, doubt, unbelief, anger etc. When he throws such darts on you, and you are weak in faith to resist it, you succumb to his lies, and miss the provision in God's promise. Therefore, be fully persuaded of the truth in the Word of God, give yourself to raw and strict obedience to it, and you will behold the manifestation of the fulfillment of the promises of God in your life.

The main elements of faith in its relation to the invisible God, are: (1) A firm conviction, producing a full acknowledgement of God’s revelation or truth. (2) A personal surrender to Him, and (3) A conduct inspired by such surrender. For instance, the Scripture, in Isaiah 53 vs 5, says, “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.” 

How then do you obtain by faith the healing virtue enshrined in the verse above? Now, the three elements of faith must be at work; (1) a firm conviction, of truth that by Christ’s stripes we are healed of any illness or disease, (2) a personal surrender to Christ, accepting His works for you in redemption, and (3) to conduct yourself in a manner inspired by such surrender—the Scripture says you are healed, and you exercise your faith in the healing so obtained. 

In the passage we read today, the object of Abraham’s faith was not God’s promise of a child to an aged and weak man—a hundred years old, with a wife with dead womb—90years of age, which is remotely impossible in reality. Instead, his faith rested on God Himself, knowing that He who promised is faithful, and will do it. Many of us would have acted otherwise if we were in Abraham’s position, thinking it is impossible for a man of 100years and a wife of 90years to give birth. But Abraham held tightly to his faith in God—the spirit of faith was alive in Him—he never wavered on the promise, and fully persuaded that He had promised, He was also able to perform.

Many will pray for healing, using relevant Scriptures of God’s promise of healing, but will still not be persuaded they have received their healing according to the Word of God. The devil will throw the dart of doubt their way, they are hit, and their spirit of faith is dampened. With such wavering in faith, it is obvious they will not receive anything (James 1 vs 6 - 7).

Prayer: Abba Father, my trust is in You, Endue me with the spirit of faith in You, and Your Word, that I may have strong conviction of the truth in Your Word, surrendering completely to Christ, and conducting myself in accordance to my convictions and surrender, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Two Kinds of Opposition to Jesus

 Two Kinds of Opposition to Jesus

When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. (Matthew 2:3)

Jesus is troubling to people who do not want to worship him, and he arouses opposition against those who do. This is probably not a main point in the mind of Matthew, but it is an inescapable implication as the story goes on.

In this story, there are two kinds of people who do not want to worship Jesus.

The first kind is the people who simply do nothing about Jesus. He is a nonentity in their lives. This group is represented at the beginning of Jesus’s life by the chief priests and scribes. Matthew 2:4 says, “Assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, [Herod] inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.” So they told him, and that was that: back to business as usual. The sheer silence and inactivity of the leaders is overwhelming in view of the magnitude of what was happening.

And notice, Matthew 2:3 says, “When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.” In other words, the rumor was going around that someone thought the Messiah was born. The inactivity on the part of the chief priests is staggering: why not go with the magi? They are not interested. They are not passionate about finding the Son of God and worshiping him. 

The second kind of people who do not want to worship Jesus is the kind who are deeply threatened by him. That’s Herod in this story. He is really afraid. So much so that he schemes and lies and then commits mass murder just to get rid of Jesus.

So today, these two kinds of opposition will come against Christ and his worshipers: indifference and hostility. I surely hope that you are not in one of those groups.

And if you are a Christian, let this Christmas be the time when you ponder what it means — what it costs — to worship and follow this Messiah.