1Corinthians 4:18-19

KJV 18 Now some are puffed up, as though I would not come to you. 19 But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power.

Dear Believer, 

Reading the later part of 2 Corinthians shows us that Paul the Apostle could be angry and disappointed. He used some strong words while at the same time trying to be mild. He was clearly not happy with many of those people.

 One of the reasons for his disappointment was that these people whom he had led to Christ were turning away from the Gospel because they were listening to false teachers. These teachers were even speaking against Paul, and the Corinthians Believers were listening to them.

 The problem with many Believers is that they aren’t stable and loyal to God and their God-given leaders.  Some will be loyal and obedient only as long as the leaders are present. When they aren’t around, they just forget about them.

 In a bid to whittle down Paul’s authority as an apostle, many were saying he had no charisma, and his presence unimpressive. They said he was merely a good writer of letters and nothing more.

 2Corinthians 10:10 KJV

For his letters, say they, are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.

 One of the attitudes Believers must avoid is that of eye service. Many serve zealously when their leaders are around. When no one is checking on them, they fall into indolence.

Ephesians 6:6 WEB

…not in the way of service only when eyes are on you, as men pleasers, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart.

Those who serve to please men will not receive any reward for their service. They do this because they don’t see God and don’t realize that whether a man is there or not, God is there. This is an act of unbelief.

All believers must learn to be diligent in whatever we do whether there is supervision or not. We must live with the consciousness that God is present, and that His presence is real. If Believers live this way, they’ll never get into some of the bad things many are involved in.

I need to say that our children must be taught to perform their duties in the home and to God whether someone is looking on or not. Much of the attitude of laziness that many Believers exhibit began when they were children. This is why many find it very difficult to work without having someone breathe down their neck.

Dear friend, walk in the consciousness of the presence of God. Jesus is real. His presence is real. The Holy Spirit is real. A man may not be with you to oversee your attitude and actions, but you must live to please the Lord anyway.

One of the appellations of the Lord is Jehovah Shammah — The Lord Who is Present (Ezekie 48:35). He is always here.

And don’t forget, your body is the temple of God the Holy Spirit. He is with you and in you.

Be conscious of His presence always and live to please Him.

Have a beautiful day.

Your friend,

Deon.

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Lamentations 3:22-23 KJV

It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

Dear Believer,

When I think of the compassion of God, my mind goes to Mathew 9:36.

Mathew 9:36 KJV

But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.

Jesus cares. He is not unmoved by the plights of God’s people.

And we need to realize that there is a difference between compassion and sympathy, or mere pity. You may have pity on someone and pass by, but compassion does something.

Compassion identifies with the suffering. The compassion of Jesus drove Him to heal the sick, feed the hungry and even raise the dead.

There are two things God wants us to know about compassion.

One, we have a compassionate God who deeply cares. He cares so much that He renews the covenant of His compassion towards us on a daily basis.

“They are new every morning.” That is to say they don’t expire. “For his mercy endures forever.” That is the compassion of the Lord.

Our very existence and protection depends entirely on divine compassion.

Two, God wants us to show His compassion to the world.

We have known God. The world does not know Him. Divine compassion is one way to connect the lost people of this world to God.

You see, if you want to know how healthy you are spiritually, just measure your depth of compassion. If you hardly care that the sinners around you are the way they are, and that hell awaits them; if you aren’t moved within you to help the people and connect them to God in some way, you are losing your spiritual health.

The following is said of the Old Testament high priest:

Hebrews 5:2 KJV
Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity.

The passage is describing the ministry of the priest. Remember that we are priests, too. (1 Peter 2:9; Revelation 1:6). God’s love and compassion have been deposited in our hearts. We are meant to blanket the world around us with the love of God.

With more compassion, there will be less condemnation and criticism. When you are preoccupied with meeting people’s needs and alleviating their suffering, you won’t have any time left for fights and fruitless arguments. Doctors don’t fight with their patients; they help them.

I call on you today to put yourself through the compassion test. How tender are you? Do you still feel the compassion of the Spirit of God within you when you see human needs and the needs of your brethren in Christ? Are you more concerned about finding faults than providing help?

You are a Believer, and the world needs to experience the compassion of the Lord through you. It is given to you every morning, and you must spread them to the world daily.

May this be a reality in your life.

Have a good day.

Your friend,
Deon.

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Luke 6:16 KJV 

…And Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor.

Dear Believer,

We all know Judas betrayed Jesus. It must have been a very painful thing for Him to see Judas walk out into the night, knowing he was going to bring his enemies. And it must have been terribly painful to see Judas give him that kiss of death while calling him master. (Matthew 26:49; Luke 22:48)

We must ask, why did Jesus permit the presence of a traitor on his team? A cursory read of parts of the gospels that made reference to Judas makes it plain that Jesus knew (at some point at least) that Judas would betray Him. Why did Jesus retain the betrayer?

Some people believe that Jesus wanted Judas to betray Him. Some believe Jesus committed an error in judgement in the matter of Judas. Some even believe Jesus didn’t know what was going on and the writers of the gospels only attributed prescience about the matter to Jesus after the fact.

Judas’ act of betrayal teaches all of us a great lesson, and here is it. God has given each of us the power to make moral and spiritual choices and then bear the consequences. Each person will ultimately determine their eternal status.

This is also true of present day betrayers. They make their own choices. If you are betrayed, don’t blame yourself for the error of a traitor.

Judas didn’t start out as a betrayer. Jesus prayerfully picked him along with eleven others to be with Him as disciples and apostles. (Read Luke 6:12-17). So, Jesus didn’t just randomly choose the disciples; He prayed and was led by the Holy Spirit.

That is to say, the holy Spirit chose Judas. 

When Jesus gave power to the disciples to go about announcing the Kingdom of God and heal the sick, Judas was among them. He had experienced the power of God just like the rest. (Read Matthew 10:1-4)

Judas  was a man with a noble name which means ‘Jehovah be thanked.’ His name was noble, but he ended ignobly.

Jesus did not make a mistake in choosing Judas. The belief that Judas was chosen so that he could betray Jesus has taken the omniscience of God too far. Every single one of the disciples of Jesus was a potential betrayal. Satan tempted every one of them, but Judas was the only one who let his greed get the better of him. Jesus prayed for them against the temptation of Satan. Still they must make their choice. (Luke 22:31-32)

Jesus persuaded Judas and appealed to him, but Judas’ love of money was stronger than his commitment to Jesus. And that is the problem with many Believers today. They love God, but they love money more than God. When the chips are down, a man goes with the strongest love of his life. In the case of Judas, it was money. What will it be in your own case?

The life of apostle Judas teaches us that the call and the choice of God do not guarantee spiritual success or the fulfilment of divine destiny. If you don’t cooperate with God, you may jeopardize your destiny.

My message to you today is simple. As you rejoice in the love of God and his grace upon your life, make sure that you live to please Him and not yourself. Judas made it all about himself and not Jesus. He later realized that when a man offers himself to Satan to use, even if it’s only on one occasion, Satan uses and then dumps him. 

Judas, not God, determined the destiny of Judas.  God called him, but he listened to the devil’s voice.

It is my prayer that you will end well.

Pray about this, and have a blessed day.

Your friend,

Deon.

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Matthew4:10-11 WMTH

And he sent and beheaded John in the prison. The head was brought on a dish and given to the young girl, and she took it to her mother.

Dear Believer,

How the earthly life of John the Baptist ended reveals the capacity of the human heart for purposeless vengefulness.

John had rebuked the king for having sexual dalliances with his brother’s wife. Whether he would have left them alone or not is a case that would make for an interesting debate. Afterall, Jesus was around at that time, and He didn’t say a word about it to the king who took his own brother’s wife. 

Well, John rebuked this man in public, and stirred up royal anger. The king didn’t like it, but he shrugged it off. He put John in prison, maybe to save face and then later let him off.  After all, he was the king. What would the word of a rough, locust-eating prophet do to him?

But the woman who was ‘snatched’ from her real husband didn’t take kindly to the prophet’s word. Herodias was going to silence John the prophet, and to do that, she was going to take off his head from his shoulder.

Then there was this party in the palace where the adulterous woman’s daughter danced seductively to entertain the guests. The king was so impressed that he told the young lady to ask him for anything.

What would a teenaged lady want from a king? A mansion? The rulership of a province? A fleet of ships to ply faraway places in quest of rare treasures? Jewelry of inestimable value? 

The girl’s mentor was her sly mother, so she asked her. Mother told daughter to ask for the head of John the Baptist. I doubt that the girl even understood the implication of this.

Herod hated John, but he respected him, too. He didn’t want him killed. Unfortunately, the wicked king had married a woman more wicked than himself. 

The king was sorry, but he must never break his oath which he pronounced in the presence of so many people.  So he sent his guards to cut off the head of John, who was already in the prison by then. It was brought on a platter.

Platters were used for serving food, but the prophet’s head wasn’t food to be eaten. It was useless to the woman who wanted it. It had absolutely no value to the lady who danced. It wasn’t of any value to the king who ordered it cut.

Bitterness will go to any extent to extract it’s bound of flesh, and after it has gotten it, will do nothing with it.

There are characters in this story that must be prayerfully  avoided if you want to fulfil your destiny.

Herod the Shameless. He would shamelessly commit sin and wouldn’t ever want to be rebuked or corrected. Avoid such a friend or a leader. Study how Jesus related with this particular Herod and you will understand what I’m talking about.

Herodias the Vengeful. This woman wouldn’t only sin shamefully, but would use whatever power she has to crush anyone who speaks against her evil ways. She is usually very pretty and highly motivated. This character could be of any gender. They are driven by lust and power.  Pray for wisdom to deal with these. 

Salome the Puppet. People like her have no mind of their own. They may be highly skilled in something, but they still have someone with selfish interest pulling their strings somewhere and influencing their every decision. Being close to someone like that sets you up to be used or seriously hurt by some bad people.

In all, ask, and believe God for wisdom, discretion and divine protection. May you not be a victim of a vindictive person or people in the name of Jesus. Start praying now.

Have a great day.

Your friend,

Deon.

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Luke 5:20 KJV
And when he saw their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee.

Dear Believer,

Forgiveness from God is a cardinal identifier of God’s nature. Satan is known by his hatred and unforgiveness. God is known by His love and forgiveness.

As abundant as God’s forgiveness is, you cannot actually experience it without faith. A man may be forgiven of some wrong, but that man can still limit himself by being tied to that negative event, refusing to go forward.

Jesus saw the faith of the paralytic and his friends and said unto the man, ‘You are forgiven of your sins.” If he had no faith, his sins would have remained and he would not have been healed.

The reason many Believers still struggle with certain sins and weaknesses is because they haven’t come to believe that they can overcome. Many haven’t truly come to believe that God has given them the power to live above sin. They live in the fear of falling.

When you came to Christ and He forgave your sin and wiped them away as though they never, ever happened, you were saved. Now, understand that God brought you into His Kingdom basically on trust. By wiping away your sin, He is showing you that He’s given you power over sin and that you can live above it, otherwise the forgiveness He effected made no sense.

So when we were saved by faith, we also received the ability walk in dominion over sin.

Although Jesus does not expect the Believer to sin, He made provision for cleansing IF he does.

1John 2:1 KJV
My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

“If you sin,” not “when you sin.”

You aren’t expected to sin, but if you happen to, you must have faith in the power of Jesus to cleanse you.

This is so important because many believers don’t even know how to forgive themselves. They groan endlessly under the yoke of guilt. How does anyone who can’t forgive himself receive forgiveness from another person, even God?

Being sorrowful after missing the mark is natural, but a Believer’s reaction to missing the mark must not end there. He must believe in the God of love who cares to forgive His children and embraces them.

God isn’t a man who holds our wrong over us and uses it to manipulate us. He forgives indeed.

However, forgiveness, like every blessing that God gives, must be received by faith.

Do this today: thank God for His forgiving power today as manifested through Jesus your Lord.

Let all the chains of lingering guilt be broken in the name of Jesus.

Have a great day.

Your friend,
Deon.

1Thessalonians 3:12 KJV And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you.

Dear Believer,

You must recognize that one of the greatest gifts the Lord has given you are the people around you: friends, family, believing brethren and people who make life easier and more colorful for you.

We look at these people and love them. The husband loves his wife, and the wife loves the husband. The children love their parents and a friend loves his friend.

However, we don’t always like each other. Sometimes the ones you love hurt you the most. Love makes us vulnerable, and when we get offended, love cools down.

Thus, a wife may start to lose the feelings of affection she has for her husband. A husband may start to disconnect emotionally from his wife. Children may be merely tolerating their parents. Love generally stops growing in us and we become rather mechanical in our relationships.

Friend, the Lord made me see that love is a living thing. If you don’t feed it and take care of it, it weakens and dies.

We may have love by nature, but we must grow it by nurture. Our love for God, for our family, friends and others must be strengthened, lest it dies.

One way to do this is to examine what we used to do that sustained our love, and start doing them again.

In some families, eating together bonded them. During meal time they discussed and laughed and shared. That has stopped, and they have started drifting apart.

For others, the relationship became frosty when they stopped praying together. Some beautiful relationships weakened because the showing of affection became one sided. Someone stopped investing time or emotion, and things cooled off.

Those little kisses, touches of affection and expressions of appreciation reduced, and love became starved and weakened. Or there’s more focus on the challenges of life than the love of your people. Then relationships become strained and forced.

One of the signs of the end times is spelled out by Jesus thus:

Matthew 24:12 NET
And because lawlessness will increase so much, the love of many will grow cold.

Paul says in 2Timothy that in the end times, people would become “without natural affection,”or “unloving,” as another version puts it.

The devil is succeeding at damaging relationships now. People are getting offended easily. It is even surprising that many Christians claim they don’t have friends and are proud of it.

A pandemic has worsened this situation, and people are even getting afraid of coming together.

One of the ways God strengthens his people emotionally is through great friendships. Reach out to love. Let the Spirit of God lead you into relationships that will benefit you and other people. Forgive those who offended you. If someone took your affection for granted in the past, it is their loss. Many people are out there who will appreciate you.

In relationships, we are taught by the Lord:

Rome 12:9-10 NET
Love must be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil, cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another with mutual love, showing eagerness in honoring one another.

May you experience true love all around, and may the love of God touch others through you in the name of Jesus.

Have a lovely day.

Amen.

Your friend,
Deon.

Proverbs 15:28 VW
The heart of the righteous studies how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours forth evil.

Dear Believer,

Let me tell you about Mufu, a boy whose parents never really cared for, who lived in our neighborhood when I was a boy. He once came along to help my mother with a chore, and after that our pressing iron disappeared.

Everyone was convinced that Mufu stole it. Who else would? He was the only stranger who came close to where it was normally kept.

He was a hungry looking boy who sometimes begged for handouts from neighbors. His needs were obvious, and it was clear that he would steal whatever he could get to make things better for himself.

I stood with my sister outside our house and saw Mufu looking in our direction. Something about the way he looked at us convinced me that he was guilty. He couldn’t look us in the face. That was when I made up my mind about the matter. We must get back what Mufu stole!

But we couldn’t take action until my father knew about it. When Daddy was told, he categorically refused to let us confront Mufu.

“You’d better look for the missing pressing iron very well so that you don’t accuse the innocent,” said my Father.

We didn’t like his response but we had to suck it up. Father must be right even when he was wrong!

And I continued to hate Mufu.

Everything he did looked suspicious and he kept giving us more reasons to suspect him the more. His guarded words, his body language, his uncomfortable smiles — all showed his guilt. We were convinced he was the thief.

Until my little brother dragged the missing pressing iron out from under my bed. I had mistakenly pushed it, in boy-like fashion, under the bed along with some clothes I was hiding away so that I wouldn’t have to wash them.

Suddenly everything Mufu did didn’t look suspicious anymore. When I came out, he saw me and looked at me just the way he had done earlier, and smiled the way he had done before, but this time everything had a different meaning. It was a look and a smile of innocence.

Mufu was poor, but he wasn’t a thief. I was the clumsy accuser with an overly imaginative mind.

Thank God for my father’s restraint.

Today’s scripture focus shows that the righteous takes his time before coming to conclusions. His heart “studies to respond.”

The wicked, on the other hand, speaks loud and clear about what he isn’t even sure of — a matter he hasn’t studied.

Contentious issues are just an opportunity for the wicked to show the rot in his mind. He is not ‘slow to speak, slow to wrath.’ (James 1:19).

Believers are called to walk in discretion. There are many things in this world that aren’t the way they seem. A man whose favorite sport is jumping to conclusions shall soon jump into confusion. Trouble awaits the man who is eager to voice the doubts in other people’s minds.

Proverbs 18:13 VW
He who answers a matter before he hears it, it is folly and shame to him.

Believer, learn silence. Learn discretion.

Proverbs 10:19 VW
In the abundance of words there is no end of transgression, but he who restrains his lips is prudent.

Before you respond with the mouth, or with the hand, respond with the heart first. Thoughts can be changed, but words cannot be taken back.

And get your ‘heart’ washed in the Word, for that is where thoughts are formed. Dirty thoughts stream from a dirty heart.

Pray about this.

And have a great day!

Your friend,
Deon.

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Ephesians 5:11 KJV
And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

Dear Believer,

Speaking about fellowship, we have our own company, and it is exclusive and regal.

First, we’ve been given the great privilege of fellowshipping with the Father and the Son:

1John 1:3 KJV
That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

We have fellowship also with the Holy Spirit:

2Corinthians 13:14 KJV
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.

Lastly, we are to have fellowship with one another as Believers.

1John 1:7 KJV
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

Now, these are our divine company. Then we are warned in Ephesians 5:11 not to have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness.

Why should believers be given a warning like this? It is because it is possible that a Believer, for one reason or the other, finds himself mingling with and doing the works that the dark kingdom does.

Judas, for instance, teamed up with those who would kill his Master to get the job done. If a Believer doesn’t stand in loyalty towards his brethren and the Lord, he may find himself doing things that could endanger the unity and the health of the body of Believers.

Paul’s says these unfruitful works of darkness must not only be avoided, they must be reproved. You have to speak against them.

When you see another Believer slipping away and getting involved in any work of darkness, don’t ignore such and say you don’t want to judge him. Stand up for your brother’s soul and reprove evil.

Refuse to have fellowship with any work of darkness anywhere. Refuse to tolerate their presence around you, whether they are blatant or subtle.

May you stand in the strength of the Lord to resist evil always.

Have a great day.

Your friend,
Deon.

Romans 15:1 KJV 

We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.

Dear Believer,

One simple truth that many children of God miss is that we operate at different levels of spiritual maturity. In fact,one of the marks of spiritual maturity in Believers is to recognize and discern the levels of spiritual maturity of other Believers and then relate to them accordingly 

The focus scripture today speaks of ‘infirmities of the weak.’ Although this can be applied to physical situations, the context is actually spiritual. Spiritually weak people will always have spiritual ‘infirmities.’ If we consider the context based on the preceding chapter, we will see that the infirmity being referred to here is due to spiritual immaturity. 

Consider a mature human being. When he meets a toddler, he treats the toddler as a toddler. When he meets a teenager, he knows how to treat them as a teenager. When he meets an old person, he treats them as an old person.

A mature person doesn’t treat an old person as a toddler or a toddler as a teenager. He doesn’t make unreasonable demands from those who cannot meet them.

Weakness shows in little children. They can’t do many of the things they want to do. A child may want to move a heavy log of wood. An adult comes in to help. 

A child may want to work on her homework given at school. A parent or another adult comes in to help.

We don’t mock a child for not knowing basic things. He’s a child, and he’s learning. We help his weakness.

Do not be the Believer who shames those who are experiencing a difficult time, saying they lack faith; be the one who helps them to get through it.

Strong Believers experience challenges, How much more those who are still growing?

Do not be the Believer who kicks someone who has fallen into sin; be the one who helps to restore them.

Galatians 6:1 NET 

Brothers and sisters, if a person is discovered in some sin, you who are spiritual restore such a person in a spirit of gentleness. Pay close attention to yourselves, so that you are not tempted too.

Spiritual maturity isn’t only manifested in performing great signs and wonders; it is most times manifested in caring in little things and helping in little ways. 

Showing off what you know is not spiritual maturity; it is arrogance. “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up” (1Corinthians 8:1).

Grow up and show love.

Have a blessed day.

Your friend,

Deon.

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