THE EVIDENCE

READ: ISAIAH 35:1-5

There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every mortal. The only thing that can fill this void is inner purity. No one can experience purity without inviting Jesus, or Saviour and Sanctifier, into his or her heart. Are you guilty of hidden and open sins? Repent right now and ask God to come into your heart and cleanse it so that He may dwell in it permanently. Say: “Lord, forgive me of my unclean thoughts, lying, pride, covetousness, laziness and every other way I have sinned against you. I affirm that I will never be lustful, proud, covetous, untruthful, unforgiving or lazy again. I am a child of God and so I want to behave as my father does. Come into my heart right now and cleanse it of all sins so that you may dwell in me fully and completely; fill me with your Holy Spirit that I may work the works of Him who sent me.” Finally, how can you be sure that you are pure? You can be sure that you are pure when you are longer overcome by temptation. You can reach this stage of Christian maturity if you will receive it from God in prayer. If you are already a child of God, repeat this prayer loud, humbly and sincerely: “Lord, I do not want to be impure any longer. I want to be as pure as light. Take my life and make it holy and divine by making it wholly yours. So fill me with your Spirit that I may walk always in purity and light.” If you are not yet Christian, these daily devotional thoughts may not mean much to you because until a person is born again of the Spirit of God he does not have the power to live a holy life. No child of the devil can be pure. Religion cannot make you free from sin. Holiness is impossible for those who cover themselves with the filthy rags f religious righteousness. Purity is possible only through the power of a new life. Make it a point of duty to come into a decisive encounter with the Saviour today.

MEMORIZE: MATTHEW 5:8 –Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

THE GREAT COUNSELLOR

READ: 2 KINGS 7:1-7

The kind of breakthrough you receive is directly proportional to the quality of your faith in God. Little faith produces little breakthrough while mighty faith produces mighty breakthrough. Don’t be doubter; be a believer. There was a certain lord who, as a trusted counsellor and adviser to the king, would rather have his own report listened to than that of the Lord. The man of God had said that there would be supernatural abundance and a breakthrough but the king’s counsellor replied that even if God made windows in Heaven, the things predicted by the prophet of God could not happen. The prophet of the Lord turned to the adviser to the king and said it should be unto him according to his faith. Who is your counsellor? On whom do you lean? Who is your adviser? The answer you give will determine quite a lot about your future. There is one Counsellor that I have and I am willing to make Him available to you too. His name is Jesus. Isaiah 9:6 tells us about one particular person that God, in His infinite mercies, has given us: “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Jesus Christ is the Wonderful Counsellor. Jesus is the One who has been counselling the Trinity before the world began. He is the One in the trinity who counselled the others to make Man in their own image. We are made in His own image because God the Father and God the Holy Spirit are Spirits. Today, God the Son is sitting on the right side of the Father like a man. He is the Great Adviser. He will never lead you astray. Let Him be your Counsellor.

MEMORIZE: ROMANS 11:20 –Well said. Because of unbelief they ere broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear.

THE SHOUTING SIDE

READ: 1 SAMUEL 1:9-13

There are many prayer patterns. There are times when we have to shout to verbalise our burdens in prayers. “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven: a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and the time to speak” (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 7). With the permission of the Almighty God, one may say that there is a time to keep silent and a time to shout. There is a time for silent prayers: the time when only your lips move in prayer. We have a good example in our text. It is the story of Hannah, when she poured out her heart to God. When Eli saw her, he thought she was drunk. This tells us straight away that, in the olden days, when people prayed in the temple, they prayed aloud. On this occasion, Hannah was doing the exception: praying without making a sound. This made Eli think that she was drunk. There is a time when all you need do is sigh and God will hear. God heard the sigh of the children of Israel in Egypt (Exodus3:7). They have prayed for 400 years without anything happening and all that they could do was to sigh. According to Psalm 46:10, the Bible says: “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” There is a time when you have to be still in the presence of the Lord. In Habakkuk 2:20, the Bible says: “But the LORD is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him.” On some occasions when you feel the presence of God, the best thing to do is to be silent. In Zechariah 2:13, the Bible says: “Be silent, all flesh, before the LORD, for He is aroused from His holy habitation!” Occasionally, when we feel the Almighty God rising up in our midst, it is time for silence. However, there is also the time to shout. As a matter of fact, the Almighty God prefers that His children should shout. The shouting side is the winning side. Wherever there is a shout there is life. In Psalm 100:1, it is written: “Make a joyful shout to the LORD, all you lands!”

MEMORIZE: PSALM 46:11 –Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!