Understanding True Sacrifice
Daniel 3:17-18 (KJV) If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. The men in today’s passage, unlike the others, were distinct because of their sacrifice. They were willing to offer their lives in loyalty to their God, the result was an encounter with the Son of God (Daniel 3:25). Those who in obedience to Jesus’ command in Luke 24:49 sacrificed their time, businesses, and pleasure and waited in Jerusalem also encountered the Holy Spirit as a reward. Every child of God who desires to walk in spiritual power and authority must learn the way of sacrifice. For instance, you would sacrifice food so you can fast, sleep so you can pray at night, certain fun so you can spend that time studying, certain purchases so you can give the money to God, etc. You will not enjoy the unique possibilities that are in God If you seek, obey, and serve God only when it is convenient. Go into today knowing that the language of spirits is sacrifice and if you intend to do business with the Spirit of God, you must learn to live sacrificially (Psalms 50:5). Prayer: Lord Jesus, please give me the grace to live sacrificially so I can be more useful to you. Amen. —Dr. Emmanuel James Bible in 1 Year: Acts 13-14 (In Today’s Audio) Streamglobe is nondenominational. Kindly share this Devotional with your contacts and let’s touch lives together. Send inquiries, testimonies, and prayer requests here(WhatsApp): +2348138224547, +2348034420524 http://listen.streamglobe.org/Devotional%20Audio%202381.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download ()Subscribe: RSS
Being Born Again
1 Peter 1:23 (KJV) Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. Justin was the captain of his school’s football team. The coach preached the gospel to him and because he wanted to be in the good books of the coach, he said the sinner’s prayer and started attending church services with him, but he didn’t truly believe or care about God or religion. When it was time to be baptized, he was baptized and he started attending discipleship class. Because the fellowship he was attending was very sound in the ministry of the word, he could not but come in contact with the living Word of God during the services and discipleship classes. Even though at first, Justin told his coach he now believed because he wanted to be in the good books of the coach, he was now hearing the word of God, and through it, faith was building in his heart. Eventually, he truly accepted the Lord Jesus and became born again. From today’s Bible verse we can see that what makes us born again is the seed of God’s word that has been sown within us. Without the word of God, no one can be born again because the new birth is a product of the Word(water) and the Spirit(see John 3:5, Ephesians 5:26, John 15:3). If a believer does not continue in the word of God, he cannot be a disciple of the Lord and experience true freedom (John 8: 31-32). Today’s scripture reveals that being born again is not a one-off thing but a continuous process through the word of God. Your spirit was regenerated when you first believed, but you (your soul) are being born again. We must allow the seed of God’s word to continue to grow and bring forth fruits. The more we allow the word of God to shape our world view and choices, the more fruitful we will be. There are many things competing with the word of God in our hearts and if we are not careful, they would choke the seed and prevent fruitfulness. Go into today remembering to guard your heart with all diligence. Reject and resist any philosophy that competes with the ideals of God’s word in your heart. Prayer: thank you Lord for bringing me into new life by your word and spirit. Please help me grow and become more like you. Amen. —Abraham Damilola Arigi Bible in 1 Year: Haggai Streamglobe is nondenominational. Kindly share this Devotional with your contacts and let’s touch lives together. Send inquiries, testimonies, and prayer requests here(WhatsApp): +2348138224547, +2348034420524 http://listen.streamglobe.org/Devotional%20Audio%202380.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download ()Subscribe: RSS
The Cost of Your Salvation
1 Peter 1:18-19 (NKJV) knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. If God became a man, the best he would be called would be the ‘Son of God’ because technically, God is not a man (man is limited, God is unlimited) and a man is not God (see Num 23:19). That’s why even though Jesus is God [come in the flesh], He is rightfully called the SON OF GOD. God became a man and the name of that man is Jesus Christ. God becoming a man could happen only once, and that’s why Jesus is the ONLY begotten Son of God. Yet God was willing to sacrifice He who is His only image (see Heb 1:3) in this [three-dimensional] realm. So powerful was this sacrifice that the second person of the Godhead practically had to leave heaven to become a man and remain a man for all eternity. After His resurrection, Jesus remains a man–even today (see 1 Tim 2:5). In order for Him to regain His glory as God, God had to exalt Him and give Him a name that is above other names (Phil 2:9, Heb 2:9). The next time the devil tries to trivialize your salvation or make you feel small, weak and irrelevant, remind him that your salvation was paid for by the life of his creator and sustainer. Nothing in all of eternity is as expensive as your salvation. Knowing how much it cost God to save you; how that He gave His life for you, the most reasonable thing to do in response is to offer yourself to God and live for Him (see Rom 12:1-2). Prayer: ask the Lord to help you walk in a way that is worthy of His great call (Eph 4:1). —Abraham Damilola Arigi Bible in 1 Year: Ecclesiastes 5-6 Streamglobe is nondenominational. Kindly share this Devotional with your contacts and let’s touch lives together. Send inquiries, testimonies, and prayer requests here(WhatsApp): +2348138224547, +2348034420524 http://listen.streamglobe.org/Devotional%20Audio%202379.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download ()Subscribe: RSS
Get – Rich – Quick Schemes 4
Jeremiah 17:11 (NLT) Like a partridge that hatches eggs she has not laid, so are those who get their wealth by unjust means. At midlife they will lose their riches; in the end, they will become poor old fools. Making money from Ponzi schemes, gambling/betting, embezzling public funds or even by certain kinds of financial speculation that exclude productivity, are common unjust ways people make money today. We dare to say this because we are Christians, and the church is the pillar and ground of truth. Selah. Any business transaction in which both parties do not gain something is an unjust transaction. For example, if I sell you a commodity, I will lose it but will have gained the money. You will lose your money but will have gained the commodity. We both gained something. But something is wrong if I alone gained. When you buy shares of a productive company, you make a profit because the company makes a profit and is becoming more valuable, not because people are losing their money. That is a just way to make gains. There is nothing as dangerous as ignorance for Christians. Unfortunately, in the spirit realm, ignorance is not an excuse. When a Christian gets involved in businesses that only generate profit from other people’s loss, he has participated in a business that thrives only on greed. Such businesses are really not different in spiritual principle from gambling. There is nothing that scares the devil like when real Christians are controlling real wealth in this world. He understands that this means greater influence for God’s kingdom on the earth. He wants Christians to be lured into Get-rich-quick schemes so that they will lose their power to make real enduring wealth. Go into today asking the Lord to empower you to walk in His spiritual wisdom and understanding in all things. Ask Him to deliver you from the Love of money and help you love righteousness and hate wickedness (see Heb 1:9). Confession: I am fruitful in every good work, and I am pleasing the Lord in all things. Amen. —Abraham Damilola ArigiBible in 1 Year: Psalms 128-130 Streamglobe is nondenominational. Kindly share this Devotional with your contacts and let’s touch lives together. Send inquiries, testimonies, and prayer requests here(WhatsApp): +2348138224547, +2348034420524 To start getting Streamglobe Devotional Text & Audio early every day, join a Streamglobe WhatsApp Group here☞ https://chat.whatsapp.com/GNEDtTiNyZoHZ9pwO7NbAy http://listen.streamglobe.org/Devotional%20Audio%202378.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download ()Subscribe: RSS
Get – Rich – Quick Schemes 3
Proverbs 13:11 (NLT) Wealth from get-rich-quick schemes quickly disappears; wealth from hard work grows over time. Kemi and Grace were best friends who both decided to be entrepreneurs. Kemi got seriously involved with a get-rich-quick scheme. She invested all her money into it and started making huge gains. She was now an evangelist for that scheme and would hold large workshops to get people to join. She was indeed very successful in it. She paid cash for a brand new car in months. Kemi was very displeased with Grace because Grace refused to join her. Grace was not led to join but insisted she would rather spend her time and effort learning to be an excellent tailor and starting her own clothing brand. For the first two years, things were not easy for Grace, and Kemi would laugh at her but never help. After the period Grace spent building her skill, she started producing and marketing very nice clothes, and things started picking up. Her business became profitable and continued to grow steadily. By this time, the Ponzi scheme Kemi joined had crashed. She was no more making the huge sums she once made. Because money initially came so easily to Kemi, she squandered everything she had saved, and every effort she put into starting a profitable business failed because she had lost the power to make wealth. In five years, Kemi was now poor and wished she could be one of Grace’s many employees. When a person becomes addicted to get-rich-quick schemes, he loses the ability to settle down and get wealth through honest gain. He must always have to find another such scheme in order to stay afloat financially. People who embezzle public funds to become rich have the same fate. Life is spiritual, and the power to get wealth is spiritually given by God, it can be squandered (see Deut 8:18). Go into today knowing that it is God who gives you the power to get wealth. Don’t squander yours on a get-rich-quick trap. —Abraham Damilola Arigi Bible in 1 Year: II Chronicles 33-36 Streamglobe is nondenominational. Kindly share this Devotional with your contacts and let’s touch lives together. Send inquiries, testimonies, and prayer requests here(WhatsApp): +2348138224547, +2348034420524 http://listen.streamglobe.org/Devotional%20Audio%202377.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download ()Subscribe: RSS
Get – Rich – Quick Schemes 2
Proverbs 13:11(NLT) Wealth from get-rich-quick schemes quickly disappears; wealth from hard work grows over time. The smartphone or device with which you are reading or listening to this devotional was purchased because it meets your needs of communication and entertainment. The manufacturer has made money because he has met a need. Christians are righteous and just people. God blesses us by giving us ideas that help us solve problems. Wealth is generated when problems are solved. Unproductive forms of making money include schemes that promise to produce gain but have no productivity. They include gambling and Ponzi schemes. As attractive as unproductive forms of making money may look, they are what the Bible calls get-rich-quick schemes. They ultimately bring every society to its knees economically. Imagine that everyone in the world was only involved in such schemes to make money; there would be no more food to eat, no new clothes to wear and no machines to use. The world will shut down because there would no more be productivity but only greed. A Ponzi scheme is one that promises to provide money and help, yet it has no form of productivity. The only thing a Ponzi scheme does is to use the money new people bring in to pay those who have already brought in money. When there are no more new people in the system, it is bound to crash and produce great loss and pain to the investors; people who invested with the expectation to make gains. Everyone who makes a profit through a Ponzi scheme or betting makes money from the potential loss of someone else. I believe one of the demonic assignments of Ponzi schemes (betting, gambling, some forms of financial speculation) is to take the power to make real wealth from the people of God. Go into today knowing that as a Christian, it is not everything the world does to make money that you can do. God empowers you to make enduring wealth according to His principles of righteousness and justice. —Abraham Damilola Arigi Bible in 1 Year: I Peter 1-3 Streamglobe is nondenominational. Kindly share this Devotional with your contacts and let’s touch lives together. Send inquiries, testimonies, and prayer requests here(WhatsApp): +2348138224547, +2348034420524 http://listen.streamglobe.org/Devotional%20Audio%202376.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download ()Subscribe: RSS
Beware of Covetousness
Matthew 6:24 (NET) “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. It wasn’t long after Gerald rededicated his life to Christ that he was faced with the temptation to make some quick money [in an unrighteous way] . Because he was now born again and his conscience now alive, he felt a check in his spirit concerning that “opportunity” to make quick money. He wanted to be sure that he was not doing anything that didn’t please the Lord. Unfortunately, when he discussed his concerns with one of his Christian brothers in the church, he could see that the brother was not truly interested in knowing whether it was the will of God for one to make money that way, the brother was only interested in making more money. Gerald almost got led astray by that brother, but his discipler came along and showed him why making money that way was unrighteous. When it comes to matters of money, more believers stumble there than matters of demonic attacks or most other kinds of temptation. The biggest contender with God for your love is mammon. If a believer is not intentional and deliberate about overcoming the love of mammon, he would be cut in it without knowing how much his heart has been consumed by it. Remember, you cannot love God and mammon. When a believer is not willing to know [and submit to] God’s opinion and will when it comes to matters of getting money, it is a sign that he is now enslaved by mammon. On the resurrection morning, many will realize how much ground they lost because their hearts were enslaved by the love of money. May we not be found weeping and gnashing our teeth on that day. Go into today remembering that one of the biggest threats to your spiritual life is the love of money. There is more warning about this in the Bible by the Lord and His apostles than there is warning about most other tricks of the devil. (see Luke 12:15, Luke 8:14, Hebrews 13:5, 1 Timothy 6:6-10, Ephesians 5:3-5). Pray: Lord, deliver me from the love of money and help me love you in truth. Help me know that it pays much more to love you than to love mammon. —Abraham Damilola Arigi Bible in 1 Year: I Peter 1-3 Streamglobe is nondenominational. Kindly share this Devotional with your contacts and let’s touch lives together. Send inquiries, testimonies, and prayer requests here(WhatsApp): +2348138224547, +2348034420524 http://listen.streamglobe.org/Devotional%20Audio%202375.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download ()Subscribe: RSS
Get – Rich – Quick Schemes 1
Luke 16:11 (KJV)If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? I believe there is something about money that made Jesus call it mammon of unrighteousness (also see Luke 16:9). Let’s take a look at the history of money. Before money was invented (around 1500 BC), humankind did business by barter. People exchanged goods for goods, goods for services, or services for services. But since money was invented, people now exchange goods for money and services for money, etc. The problem with this is that as long as a person has money, he can have its value in goods or services, regardless of how he got the money or whether he truly has the requisite service or good whose value he posses in form of cash. Money, therefore, provided accommodation for unrighteousness in the world more than ever before. Unproductive ways of getting money like Get-rich-quick schemes: Ponzi schemes, gambling, etc. became possible or easier because money now existed. Money now gave proper expression to the spirit called mammon. This spirit seeks to be worshiped rather than God. Any system that generates money without any form of productivity is an unrighteous system. Such a system will have to generate money by robbing some people to pay other people. Satan loves such thieving systems, he is the thief (see John 10:10). It is no hidden truth that financial speculation has been considered by many nations around the world as an economic canker because it has the capacity of making people who are not really productive in the economy very rich just because they know how to move money around. The future ripple effect of this is economic loopholes that would have to be plugged by wanton government spending in bailouts and debts. I believe the climax of such unchecked economic activities is what would pave way for the coming of the antichrist, who would come to ‘save’ the world from economic woe. A person who gambles hopes to generate money not by being productive, but by taking advantage of other people’s loss. Ponzi schemes and pyramid schemes also fall into this category. Online betting is a form of gambling. These are unrighteous ways of making money because they are thieving methods sanctioned by the prince of this world. They are fueled by greed and nothing else. We know that greed (lust of the eyes) is of the world and not from God (see 1 John 2:16). Nothing of the world should be found in a Christian because they give the prince of this world sway (see John 14:30, 1 John 2:15-16). Go into today remembering what God says in Proverbs 13:11 (NLT): Wealth from get-rich-quick schemes quickly disappears; wealth from hard work grows over time. —Abraham Damilola Arigi Bible in 1 Year: Acts 11-12 Streamglobe is nondenominational. Kindly share this Devotional with your contacts and let’s touch lives together. Send inquiries, testimonies, and prayer requests here(WhatsApp): +234813822454, +2348034420524 http://listen.streamglobe.org/Devotional%20Audio%202374.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download ()Subscribe: RSS
How Powerful Is Your Enemy?
Proverbs 24:10 (ESV) “If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small” Junior often came home with his face swollen because he was bullied and beaten up by his school mates. After several failed attempts at stopping this continued assault, his parents finally enrolled him in a kickboxing class, he attended the classes after school often with a swollen face. After two months of continuous training, his parents noticed that he no longer returned home traumatized, “what has changed?” They asked. “I beat them up!” Junior responded. Many Christians today are under the continuous assault of demons, witches, wizards, curses, etc, and are running from one prayer house to another without freedom in sight. Some have even turned to witch doctors, sorcerers, magicians, and the likes for help – – all of which also ends in futility. How powerful is your enemy? He is powerful to the degree to which you are weak. According to today’s passage, you are not failing because your adversaries are too powerful for you, no, you fail because your strength is little. If you truly desire freedom, you must pay attention to the things that make you spiritually strong and run away from those things that make you weak. Every form of sin you commit weakens you. Apart from outright sins, there are little disobediences and weights that slow down and prevent believers from ascending the heights of God. We should beware of them. If you must be stronger than your enemies, if you desire continuous victory, you must pay attention to obeying every instruction God gives. See Isaiah 1:19 and Joshua 7:11-13. Go into today knowing that sanctification (continuous and complete obedience to God) is what makes for strength to overcome your enemy. Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for saving me. I ask for the grace to live in complete obedience to you. Amen! —Dr. Emmanuel James Bible in 1 Year: Zephaniah Streamglobe is nondenominational. Kindly share this Devotional with your contacts and let’s touch lives together. Send inquiries, testimonies, and prayer requests here(WhatsApp): +234813822454, +2348034420524 http://listen.streamglobe.org/Devotional%20Audio%202373.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download ()Subscribe: RSS
Praying For Peace
1 Timothy 2:1-4 (KJV) I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. In many countries today, because their leaders are politically elected, many people who did not vote for them do not really wish them success. They forget that if their leaders fail, their country would suffer for it. Indeed, throughout history, many needless wars have been fought and countless lives lost because of the personal failings of those in authority. It is therefore wise to pray for those who occupy seats of power because the gospel of peace prospers when there is peace. People running to and fro to secure their lives because of wars and rumors of wars do not have the ability to settle down to hear the gospel and be discipled. We pray for our leaders because we want peace in our nations. We want peace in our nations because we want to be able to share the gospel. The gospel prospers and more people are saved when there is peace. There are [demonic] faith systems that require the lack of peace as a [spiritual] prerequisite for their propagation, but our gospel prospers when there is peace, and we should use our authority as the Church of Christ to bring peace into our territories. Remember, the king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord (see Proverbs 21:1). Go into today remembering that the propagation of the gospel is the most important thing going on in the world today. If this can truly be our basis for our prayers, then our answers would come. When our motive for praying is right, we can be sure God would answer. Prayer: Father, make me a true agent for the propagation of your gospel. Deliver me from self-centeredness, in Jesus name. Amen. —Abraham Damilola Arigi Bible in 1 Year: Ecclesiastes 3-4 Streamglobe is nondenominational. Kindly share this Devotional with your contacts and let’s touch lives together. Send inquiries, testimonies, and prayer requests here(WhatsApp): +234813822454, +2348034420524 Join the Livestream of Streamglobe Word Encounter Today by 11:30AM WAT Link: http://mixlr.com/streamglobeworld http://listen.streamglobe.org/Devotional%20Audio%202372.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download ()Subscribe: RSS