Grace & Peace Daily

27/03/2017

Here it is! Some time in September 2016 we heard the part 1 of the thought provoking and soul soothing poem "God Never Fails". It didn't end there, we present to you the part 2 of this edifying piece. GOD NEVER FAILS (pt.2)

Follow the link. Enjoy and share with friends!

'chi

https://www.evernote.com/shard/s346/sh/edc8b28d-c16f-4823-bf2a-2d44dbef2938/57a570388c81f7866b84619f4bb554f8

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, leaning not to thine own understanding In all thy ways acknowledge Him and thy path shall He straighten. I am told trust in the Lord with all my heart, and lean...

19/02/2017

*Peace greetings to you!*

*Your Treasure & Your Heart (pt 3)*
*Matthew 6:21*

_"For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."_
- *_Your treasure — things that are highly valued. Your heart — your desire, affection, your attention._* So basically by this expresses the Lord is saying that _"if our treasure is based on earthly things, if what matters so much to us are things of earthly value then our concerns and attention would be earthly, and our desire and affections would continue to burn for earthly things."_ And if this is the case there is a problem.

- However, if what matters most to you is God and all that concerns Him, if it is something heavenly, then your desires will be after heavenly things; your affections will be set on things above, and your lifestyle would be heavenly even while you're on earth. So you're to be asked right now; what is it that matters more to you in life now? What is that thing or person or agenda that is of highest value in your life? Take sometime today to reflect on your life. Set your priorities right and set your heart right. Where is your treasure based? Where is your heart?

*Grace and Peace with Love!*

19/02/2017

*Peace greetings to you!*

*Your Treasure & Your Heart (pt 4)*
*Matthew 6:22*

_"The light of the body is the eye:"_ - In the previous verse of this same chapter, Jesus emphasised on fixing our affections on heavenly things. Now with the an illustration He makes reference to the eye. The eye is the _"lamp"_ of the body, it is by the eye that a person has light to direct him in his bodily motions, and in the use of his bodily members. _"if therefore your eye be single,"_ - That is if your eye is focused on one thing and is in health, everything is clear and plain. If it vibrates, flies to different objects, is fixed on no one singly, or is diseased, nothing is seen clearly. Everything is dim and confused.

_"your whole body shall be full of light."_ - So if the eyes are fixed and directed steadily towards one thing, the whole members of the body would be directed to function properly. I heard someone say, Rope-dancers, for them to be balanced on a rope, they fix the eye on some object on the wall, and look steadily at that. If they should look down on the rope or the people, they might become dizzy and fall.
In our lives, there is that which we must fix our eyes on so as to be enlightened and all things function properly. Fix your eyes/heart on what is needful and receive light.

*Grace and Peace with Love!*

17/02/2017

*Peace greetings to you!*

*Your Treasure & Your Heart (pt 2)*
*Matthew 6:20*

*_"But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust does corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:"_* - Instead of focusing our energy on and wasting our days on excessive provision for life here on earth, our major concern should be preparing ourselves for eternity and providing us things that are of eternal value. The focus shouldn't be being _"rich in material wealth"_ as much as it should be being _“rich in good works” _(1Tim 6:18), “rich in faith” _(James 2:5),_ suchlike riches ought thou to seek.

- Some people have great investments in bank shares, businesses of different kinds, and they gain a lot from them and of course they would have losses too. But we're called to be investors in God's Kingdom business where is no loss at all. Let your spiritual investments be more than double of what your material investments are. One thing the enemy does is to make people so conscious and comfortable or uncomfortable with their life now and they get caught up with making it better that they lose their eternal focus. That shouldn't be you! Invest more on things with eternal value.

*Grace and Peace with Love!*

17/02/2017

*Peace greetings to you!*

*Your Treasure & Your Heart (pt 2)*
*Matthew 6:20*

*_"But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust does corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:"_* - Instead of focusing our energy on and wasting our days on excessive provision for life here on earth, our major concern should be preparing ourselves for eternity and providing us things that are of eternal value. The focus shouldn't be being _"rich in material wealth"_ as much as it should be being _“rich in good works” _(1Tim 6:18), “rich in faith” _(James 2:5),_ suchlike riches ought thou to seek.

- Some people have great investments in bank shares, businesses of different kinds, and they gain a lot from them and of course they would have losses too. But we're called to be investors in God's Kingdom business where is no loss at all. Let your spiritual investments be more than double of what your material investments are. One thing the enemy does is to make people so conscious and comfortable or uncomfortable with their life now and they get caught up with making it better that they lose their eternal focus. That shouldn't be you! Invest more on things with eternal value.

*Grace and Peace with Love!*

16/02/2017

Peace greetings to you!

*Your Treasure & Your Heart (pt 1)*
*Matthew 6:19*

_"Do not store up for yourselves [material] treasures on earth,"_
-In our world today this word 'treasure' would refer to clothes, shoes, cars, houses. Basically the abundance of _"anything"_ that is held to be conducive to the comfort of life. But let's not misunderstand this, the Lord isn't saying that we shouldn't own any of these or we shouldn't be materially prosperous, because from Scripture we know that it's God's will for us to prosper _(Ps 35:27),_ rather He's referring to being worldly minded, treasuring and loving the things of this world, that all you think of is getting more and more.

- This is still a problem with many professed Christians today, yes, it is true God wants us to prosper but He doesn't want us to be so caught up in wealth, you know why? Because... _"where moth and rust does corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:"_ -He's basically saying these things won't last forever, they're not eternal but your soul is and you cannot satisfy your eternal soul with what isn't eternal. Once again we're taught to have an eternal perspective in life. Are you the kind that loves material things so much and you just can't get enough? You mustn't live like that, there is a better way.

*Grace and Peace with Love!*

15/02/2017

*Peace greetings to you!*

*Show Off Religion - Lessons on Fasting (Final)*
*Matthew 6:16-18*

- Fasting is the humbling of the soul _(Ps 35:13),_ so it was customary to the Jews of those times to practically humble themselves when they fast by putting on sackcloth and pour ashes on their heads, as a true expression of the trouble within them so that God may look upon them with mercy. But just like the prayer and alms-giving, some people were practicing this just so they would appear pious, it was no longer done in sincerity but for show-off and Jesus warns us not to be like that, when you fats you want the whole world to know that you are, so that you'd appear religious.

- Some people take it too far saying that we're not supposed to tell anyone when we're in fast. But I don't think that's the point the Lord is making here, he's rather saying that fasting is between you and God, so there's no need for you to physically expresses yourself to men for sake of show-off, that you're fasting. Just the same way you practice prayer and alms-giving as a personal devotion to God, so should you practice fasting. It is between you and God, we see that fasting comes with a reward and we would get the right reward as we fast the right way.

*Grace and Peace with Love!*

14/02/2017

*Peace greetings to you!*

*Show Off Religion - Lessons on Fasting (pt 2)*
*Matthew 6:16*

— As we should know, fasting is a spiritual discipline of abstaining from food and drink, and there are basically three forms of practicing this discipline. *_-The normal fast:_* this is abstaining from all forms of food, solid or liquid but not from water. It is believed that this was the kind of fast Jesus did for 40 days _(Matt 4:2)._ *_-The absolute fast:_* this is literally abstaining from both food and water. The Apostle Paul in _(Acts 9:9)_ fasted this way for three days, and also in _Esther 4:16_ the children of Israel fasted this same way for 3 days. We're advised not to practice absolute fasting for more than 3 days to avoid dehydration of the body and kidney failure, except we're otherwise led by the Spirit. In _Exodus 34:28,_ Moses for 40 days was without food or drink. *_The partial fast:_* this kind of fast is basically a restriction of diet rather than abstaining completely.

—These are different ways we can practice this discipline, howbeit this only explains the abstinence from food or/and water. But what is of more importance that you're attentive to God in time of fast. Don't just change your diet, change your daily routine.

*Grace and Peace with Love!*

13/02/2017

*Peace greetings to you!*

*Show Off Religion - Lessons on Fasting (pt 1)*
*Matthew 6:16*

— Fasting is the humbling of the soul _(Ps 35:13)_. Fasting literally means abstaining from food and drink, but not just merely abstaining from food, it is a spiritual discipline of abstaining from natural/fleshly satisfaction for spiritual purposes. Someone puts it this way _"When you fast don't just change your diet, change your daily routine also"._ The focus shouldn't just be on not eating but you should be more attentive to God in your time of fast.

- Lot's of people today go on fast without any clear or specific purpose, seriously it's not supposed to be so. Fasting is an exercise to teach one self-control. Although fasting is often linked with prayer, it is a spiritual discipline all on it's own and so is prayer. Fasting is continuous prayer without words. We must try not to be too busy with our natural duties in times of fasting, because fasting it's a time to primarily focus on the inside, that's why some people go to secluded places when they _"really"_ want to fast or they do less moving around and are shut indoors. Jesus Himself fasted and taught that His followers fast. There's always a reason to fast, therefore every believer should practice fasting from time to time.

*Grace and Peace with Love!*

11/02/2017

*Peace greetings to you!*

*Show Off Religion - Lesson Forgiveness*
*Matthew 6:14-15*

— The lesson on forgiveness can never be over emphasised, it is of great necessity that believers hear over and over again how important it is to be forgiving, it's important both for the person wronged, the wrong doer and for the body of Christ. God takes this principle seriously, and it is written in more than 3 places in the new testament. Someone puts it this way _"we're forgiven, to learn to forgive so that we may be forgiven"._

— When we talk about forgiveness we mean completely letting go, not just merely playing cool. Some say _"I forgive but I never forget"_ or _"I find it hard to forget"._ To be honest, forgetting is part of forgiving. Now I'm not necessarily talking about forgetting what was done, but I'm talking about forgetting the offence of what was done. You claim to have forgiven that person but each time you remember what he did you get upset, and you're like _"I thought I'd forgiven them but I still feel offended"_ friend that fence is still waiting to be pulled down, there's no forgiveness if the offence persist. Even God said He would remember our sin no more _(Heb 8:12)_ and Scripture tells us to forgive as we have been forgiven. So we can forgive and remember the offence no more.

*Grace and Peace with Love!*

10/02/2017

*Peace greetings to you!*

*The Lord's Prayer (pt 6)*
*Matthew 6:13*

- *_"but deliver us from evil:"_* this is also be translated _'...deliver us from the evil one'._ In the early part of this petition we prayed, _"do not permit us to be tempted to sin"_ and now, making reference to the tempter we're basically praying that God should deliver us from his power, his snares, his works. So we may pray to be spared the trial or temptation if it comes then we may pray to be delivered from his power and schemes.

- If you are a believer you're a special object of Satan's enmity and evil purpose. No need to say God forbid! That's what you get for being friends with God, even Jesus taught His disciples that they'd be hated because they follow Him. For this reason, we mustn't forget to pray for deliverance from the devil's power, not because we fear him but because it is real that he has evil plans for us. Some say there's no need praying for deliverance if already you're a believer, but who did Jesus teach this prayer to? Even Jesus Himself prayed for deliverance. So friends _"Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour."_

*Grace and Peace with Love!*