ONE DAY AT A TIME Today’s Scripture: Psalm 84:7 They go from strength to strength; Each one appears before God in Zion. A lady who desired to lead a Christian life felt she had a challenge with her attitude that was difficult to give up, and so decided to go seek counsel from her pastor. When she consulted the pastor, he said: “Have you noticed that there are always a few dead leaves clinging to the old oak trees after all the other leaves have fallen? The strong blasts of winter fail to tear them off. Spring comes, and still they cling persistently. The days are calm, bright, and balmy. Then one by one they drop off. What unseen power so quietly, but so surely severs them? The new life rising in the tree gradually causes them to drop off. And so with us, – as the new life in Christ permeates our being, we find that we can give up for Him what before was so hard to renounce.” Our attitude is built one day at a time. Nothing enduring happens suddenly. You do not suddenly b...

The Right Attitude, the Right Opportunities PUBLISHED IN DAILY DEVOTION Today’s Scripture: Matthew 25:24-25 Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’ Two shoe salesmen arrived on an island. The first one looked around and saw that the natives wore no shoes. He thought, “Why would they send me here? There’s no market for shoes here!” The second one looked around and saw that the natives wore no shoes, and thought, “Wow! Everybody needs shoes – and the whole market is mine.” Two salesmen. Same circumstances. Different attitudes. Different results. The world as we know it is strewn with opportunities. Even in the worst of conditions, there are opportunities to make a difference in our lives and for others. But it takes the right attitude to see an...

THE PRAYER OF FAITH BY / / PUBLISHED IN DAILY DEVOTION Today’s scripture: James 5:15 “And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven” As a teenager, Kenneth E. Hagin laid paralyzed on a hospital bed for months. The doctors had consigned him to death. Then he stumbled on the Word of God and made an interesting discovery in the course of his study in Mark 11:24: “Whatsoever you desire when you pray, believe that you have received them and you will have them.” He believed the Word of God, placed his faith on the line and prayed. And on the 8th of August, 1934, God raised him up from his sick bed, healed and made whole. Hagin’s account is not peculiar. Since the days Jesus walked the earth and Peter’s shadow healed the sick, miraculous healings have remained with us. Testimonies abound of people who had been given no chance to live, bodies ravaged by terminal disease, but raised to health again b...

THE RESPONSIBILITY OF FREEDOM BY / / PUBLISHED IN DAILY DEVOTION Today’s Scripture: Romans 8:20-21 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Booker T. Washington, in his book, Up from Slavery, describes the scenes among the blacks on the night of the Proclamation of their freedom. “There was no sleep that night,” he says. “All was excitement and expectancy. Early in the morning we were all sent for. The Proclamation was read and we were told that we were free and could go when and where we pleased… there was great rejoicing, followed by wild scenes of ecstasy. “But,” he goes on to say, “The wild rejoicing did not last long. By the time the coloured people had returned to their cabins, there was a marked change in their feelings. The great responsibility of being free seemed to ta...

THE RESPONSIBILITY OF FREEDOM Today’s Scripture: Romans 8:20-21 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Booker T. Washington, in his book, Up from Slavery, describes the scenes among the blacks on the night of the Proclamation of their freedom. “There was no sleep that night,” he says. “All was excitement and expectancy. Early in the morning we were all sent for. The Proclamation was read and we were told that we were free and could go when and where we pleased… there was great rejoicing, followed by wild scenes of ecstasy. “But,” he goes on to say, “The wild rejoicing did not last long.  By the time the coloured people had returned to their cabins, there was a marked change in their feelings. The great responsibility of being free seemed to take possession of them. It was ve...

ONLY THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE  DAILY DEVOTION Today’s Scripture: John 8:32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Few thinkers influenced the modern concept of law, order and freedom like the Roman Senator and philosopher, Marcus Cicero. His ideas on justice, law and freedom still merit consideration over two millennia after his passing. And here is one of his most profound notions on freedom: “We are in bondage to the law in order that we may be free.” Cicero strikes a chord that rings particularly true for people seeking total freedom, which only Christ can give. To walk in the freedom Christ has bought us, we must subject ourselves to His Law, to His Word. For it is the truth, and the only truth, that has the capacity to set and keep us free. What is the truth? Jesus said: “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth” (John 17:17). The Word of God is truth. And it is in binding it to our hearts through study and meditation that we f...

Walking in Freedom PUBLISHED IN DAILY DEVOTION Today’s Scripture: Galatians 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. James H. McConkey relates an interesting incident which occurred after the American Civil War: Shortly after the Civil War, a northern woman came to the South to visit some friends. She stopped at a little wayside hotel for entertainment. There she was waited on by a coloured woman who had been a slave. The service was careless, listless, and inattentive. As this went on, the northern woman became nettled. Finally she burst out: ‘Auntie is this the way you treat people who have set you free?’ The woman made no reply but left the room. By and by she returned. Her whole demeanour was changed. Her figure was erect, her eyes were flashing and her voice was full of tears as she cried out with great emotion, “Oh, Missus, is we free? Is we really free?” The Emancipation Proclama...