Author: Oluboye Emmanuel

“1. Give unto the LORD, O ye mighty, give unto the LORD glory and strength.

2. Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.”

Welcome to this week devotional, with the Topic, Teachings On Giving. We shall be studying Who to give, What to give, When to give and the rewards attached to Giving. Today, we are starting with “Giving To God (Part 1)”. God is the first and only immortal being that deserves to receive from us without complaining. Before we had, He gave us the life in us. Without life nothing is achievable through us. He gave us His only Son as our Saviour, He was killed that we may live and be free from sin. What can we give to reciprocate His sacrifices for us;

1. Our Life: 

He owns it from the onset. We are living for Him, so we should give Him our lives according to John 3:5-7.

“5. Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

6. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

7. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 

Our lives belongs to Him to do as He wishes.

2. Our Resources. 

John Speaking In John 3:27, saying,

“John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.” 

Apostle Paul said, 1 Corinth. 4:7

“7. For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?”

Those things you think you have all belongs to Him. Give it to Him, for He never withhold them from you.

To be continued tomorrow…

Good Day and God bless you.

Happy Birthday to all celebrants and Happy Wedding Anniversary to those celebrating today. May you experience God’s fruitfulness in Jesus Mighty name, Amen.

“6. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.”

These last part of Psalms 23 has been the chorus of all believers worldwide, declaring the summary of those whose Shepherd is Jesus Christ. Goodness and Mercy is of the Lord not of any Man. God alone is able to give this to whosoever He desire to release it to. The shepherd made all these possible for the sheep who listens to His voice, abides by his instructions and relies on him. Any sheep that forsakes the shepherd is prone to the opposite of these until he gets back to the fold. 

“All the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

The shepherd determines the safety of the flock. May I let you know today that Jesus is the only Good Shepherd who can guarantee you complete safety. Goodness, Mercy and Safety for the rest of someone’s life can only be found in Jesus Christ. When you accept Him as your Lord and Saviour, He becomes your shepherd for the rest of your life. In Him alone is our completeness found. Do you have the Good Shepherd Jesus in your life? It’s time to decide and make things right with your maker.

Good Day and God bless you.

Happy Birthday to all celebrants and Happy Wedding Anniversary to those celebrating today. May you experience God’s fruitfulness in Jesus Mighty name, Amen.

“5. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.”

Today, another benefit we shall be looking at from the Psalms of David is Divine Establishment. When we depend on Him fully, we enjoy being Establish, firmness in His protection. What do I mean by Establishment? It is being able to stand without the fear of opposition when we trust in God. The sheep are not bothered in the presence of their enemies. They live as King and Queen because the shepherd makes all needs and protection available.

What David meant is, being establish regardless of who is after you. Enjoying the available grace and mercy of God in the mist of one’s enemies. Satisfaction, Abundance and fresh Auction accompanies us as long as we remain with the shepherd. All these benefits are products of having Jesus as our shepherd. That’s why flock are not easily attacked when the shepherd goes ahead of them. It get to stages where nobody attacks them even without the shepherd. The coverage has been establish visibly to the enemy as touch not. This establishment can only be found in Jesus Christ our Lord, when you’re with Him, you are secured.

Good Day and God bless you.

Happy Birthday to all celebrants and Happy Wedding Anniversary to those celebrating today. May you experience God’s fruitfulness in Jesus Mighty name, Amen.

4. …. Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”

A wonderful day to you all. Today, we move further to see more benefits of having the shepherd ahead of us. Shepherds are known with a staff, it’s a symbol of a Shepherd. The staff serve two purposes which David named. If can be used as a staff and at the same time a rod. A staff for Direction, control, to clear the way ahead of the sheep. It can also serve as a Rod for correction, rebuke and protection of the sheep from predators. The same staff that brought plague on the Egyptians as a Rod is the same staff that made a way on the Red Sea for the Israelite. 

David said, thy Staff and thy Rod brings comfort. When Jesus leads as a good shepherd He will direct us, show us love, care for us and likewise He will rebuke, correct, scorn us and use it against our enemies in order to protect us. Whatever we may be going through, He does this to comfort us, bring us to Himself and for our predestined place. That the shepherd uses the rod against us or our enemies doesn’t signifies hatred or wickedness towards us but a show of Love for the sheep. I don’t know what the staff is doing in your life right now but I know it’s for His purpose to be fulfil in your life. It’s for us to enjoy His comfort either way, not that He dislike us. He is a good shepherd who leads us to His purpose for our lives. His Rod and Staff is in our favour.

Good Day and God bless you.

Happy Birthday to all celebrants and Happy Wedding Anniversary to those celebrating today. May you experience God’s fruitfulness in Jesus Mighty name, Amen.

“4. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil:”

No fear but Confidence. When David was recounting his testimony to King Saul, he said,

“34. And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father’s sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock:

35. And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him. 1 Samuel 17:34-35.

That is what a shepherd does, so the sheep have no fear of evil. Even in the face of glaring oppositions, they are confident.

If David can rescue a sheep from a bear, how much more our Savour, Jesus Christ, whom God gave on our behalf? Since Jesus is our Shepherd, the shadow of death shouldn’t be a threat. What is shadow of death? Terrible Sickness, fierce oppositions, threat of the enemy, situations that looks scary, they may look like the valley of shadow of death but they are not, because Jesus is with us. Apostle Paul said in 2 Timothy 1:7, 

“7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” 

If you are sure of being Jesus’ sheep, you have power over fear of the unknown, because our Shepherd is with us to rescue us always.

Good Day and God bless you.

Happy Birthday to all celebrants and Happy Wedding Anniversary to those celebrating today. May you experience God’s fruitfulness in Jesus Mighty name, Amen.

“2. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.”

We’ve established who a shepherd is and how it’s important to our lives. King David continued the role and duty of a Shepherd. He said, “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:”

What is green pasture? This is a freshly green grass for flock which serves as food, what they consume in order to enjoy healthiness. In other words, the duty of the shepherd is to make available food in surplus for the sheep he’s leading. When you have Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, and submit to His leadership, He will care for all your needs. Let me quickly say this, the sheep doesn’t know where the green pastures are, only the shepherd knows this. When the sheep surrender totally to the leadership of the shepherd, then green pasture is made available. Until we give Him the full atmosphere to lead us we might keep running from pillar to post looking for what’s very close to us.

Secondly, “He leadeth me beside the still waters”. The shepherd knows where the quiet and gentle waters is. He knows where thirst can be quenched and that’s where he leads the sheep. So when Jesus said, in Matthew 6:31,  

“Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?” He is simply saying surrender to your Shepherd and you will be rightly placed where your needs will be met. He is ready to lead you if you will surrender to Him totally.

Good Day and God bless you.

Happy Birthday to all celebrants and Happy Wedding Anniversary to those celebrating today. May you experience God’s fruitfulness in Jesus Mighty name, Amen.

“4. Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

5. Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.”

Finally this week, You and I, reading this devotional, are tools in God’s hand. God have a purpose to fulfil with you and I. We are not a waste because things aren’t working as planned. We might not be fulfiling those purposes now, that doesn’t neglect that we are tools in His hand to perform wonders, affect life positively and lift others out of difficult situations. We may feel we’re not capable as Jeremiah felt but we are created for that from the beginning of the world.

God doesn’t called those who seems qualified by man’s standard but He qualified those He called. Being qualified is not the issue like accepting the call and carrying out the assignment. God might be showing you needs to meet, hands to lift, others to intercede for and lives to bless, it’s your calling, get going and do the needful. Never think you don’t have the ability to do it because He won’t sent you on an errand He never prepare or equipped you for. God is speaking to you today, take that responsibility and get going with it. You are a tool in God’s hand.

Good Day and God bless you.

Happy Birthday to all celebrants and Happy Wedding Anniversary to those celebrating today. May you experience God’s fruitfulness in Jesus Mighty name, Amen.

“10 But David pursued, he and four hundred men: for two hundred abode behind, which were so faint that they could not go over the brook Besor.

11. And they found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David, and gave him bread, and he did eat; and they made him drink water;”

As we’ve been studying, we could decode that God works with different tools which are not expected. When Abraham’s promises was to be fulfilled, God came as a stranger, in the persons of three men. Thank God Abraham was sensitive. He welcomed Him with Good delicacy and through that, the prophecy was declared. What if Abraham had neglected them? 

David just lost all his family and the his men’s family to the raiders who raided Ziglak. He was supposed to be in sadness and anger to recover his family, but with that, he was Sensitive to show mercy to a stranger, the Egyptian who later led them to the raiders. You might say the world is dangerous, yes, that doesn’t stop God from using strangers to perform wonders. The story of Jesus about the Samaritan is another stranger used by God. God has never showed up in a way we expected him, He always come in disguise. Tending to strangers can be the needed tools for our breakthroughs. We need to have a rethink with our decisions to avoid strangers. Be more sensitive with strangers.

Good Day and God bless you.

Happy Birthday to all celebrants and Happy Wedding Anniversary to those celebrating today. May you experience God’s fruitfulness in Jesus Mighty name, Amen.