Delightsome Agbabo

Faith Food Devotional June 30, 2017 "God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life" (1 John 5:11-12). Jesus said, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature … and these signs shall follow them that believe" (Mark 16:15,17). One of these signs Jesus said would follow believers - not the Early Church, not apostles, not pastors, not preachers, but believers - is, " …they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover" (Mark 16:18). Why? Because the life of God is in believers! Sometimes people are specially anointed to minister healing, but that isn't what Mark 16 is talking about! Every born-again believer has the life of God, the nature of God, the God-kind of life, in him - and by the laying on of hands, that life can be imparted into the physical bodies of others! That's why you should lay hands on the sick. When you lay hands on them, that life of God in you is c...

Health Food Devotional June 30, 2017 But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. (1 Peter 3:4) In my prayer lines, I sometimes have to say to people, "God's healing power went into you, because I'm conscious of that power being administered to you. But it came right back out of you. I can sense it. I can feel it coming right back into my hands. You didn't take hold of it."  You see, they tried to receive mentally, rather than spiritually. Faith is of the heart. Your heart is your spirit. Peter calls it the hidden man of the heart (1 Peter 3:4).  Then I say to them, "Keep your mind quiet and on Jesus. You cannot contact God with your mind. He is not a mind. He is a Spirit. Jesus said in John 4:24, 'God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.' God is not a mind. You can't come t...

OPEN HEAVENS 2017 FRIDAY 30 TH  JUNE 2017 MEMORISE:  Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;  Psalm 91:5 READ:  Psalm 91:5-7 5 Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; 6 Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. 7 A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. BIBLE in One year:  I Samuel 6 -7, Lamentation 2:14 -3:6  (Friday 30 June 2017) Message Besides being a God of wonders who does wonders, God can also turn you into a wonder. A young man gave a profound testimony during one of our monthly Holy Ghost Services some years ago. He testified that during a prior Holy Ghost Service, the Lord instructed me to inform the congregants that the clothes they wore to that programme had just been anointed and ha therefor ...

FRIDAY, JUNE 30, 2017 EZEKIEL 20:1-9 KEY VERSE: "Son of man, speak unto the elders of Israel, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Are ye come to enquire of me? As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will not be enquired of by you" (Ezekiel 20:3). Matthew Henry, a nonconformist English minister and Bible commentator, once said, "No attribute of God is more dreadful to sinners than His holiness." That is why our text reveals that when the Israelites wanted to inquire certain issues from God, He outrightly refused to listen to them. They had completely entangled themselves in sin and deserved no communication with God. Sometimes, when God keeps silent when we have prayed, there could be a reason. It is required of us, therefore, to do a thorough soul-searching examination to find out the cause. The Israelites had been in captivity. When they came to Ezekiel, they probably wanted to find out whether God would use the Egyptians to rescue them or they wo...

Luke 2:40 And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him. The verse says that the grace of God was upon Jesus. The Bible also says that where sin abounds, grace abounds much more. (Romans 5:20) And when you put the two together, you may find yourself asking, “If the grace of God was upon Jesus, does it mean that He sinned?” No, Jesus did not sin. (2 Corinthians 5:21) So there must be another explanation as to why God’s grace was upon Jesus. There must be another explanation as to why someone can abound in God’s grace even when he has not sinned. Let’s look at the word “grace” when it is first mentioned in the Bible. Genesis 6:8 says that “Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord”. Noah’s name means “rest”. So the verse is telling us that rest found grace. In other words, when you rest, you find grace! So grace was upon Jesus because His life was a lif...

And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive. —Matthew 21:22 Prayer is a two-way conversation; it is our talking to God, and His talking to us. As a Christian, you have a heavenly Father who hears and answers prayer. Jesus said, “All things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” Every man or woman whose life has counted for the church and the Kingdom of God has been a person of prayer. You cannot afford to be too busy to pray. A prayerless Christian is a powerless Christian. Jesus Christ spent many hours in prayer. Sometimes He spent the night on a mountaintop in solitary communion with God the Father. If He felt that He had to pray, how much more do we need to pray! Wondering how to pray? Or why God isn’t answering?  Read  Prayer 101 . Prayer for the day There is inexpressible joy as I come to You in prayer, my heavenly Father.

Ecclesiastes 9:11 …the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding, nor favor to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all. God’s Word tells us that being faster, stronger and wiser does not automatically make you a winner in life. No, it is actually being at the right place at the right time that causes you to receive blessings. And God, who holds time and chance in His hands, is the only one who can put you at the right place at the right time. He did this for Ruth. She trusted God for favor when she went looking for a field in which to glean. (Ruth 2:2) Then, the Bible tells us that “she  happened  to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech”. (Ruth 2:3) Of all the fields in Bethlehem, she happened to end up in Boaz’s field, and he was a close relative of Elimelech, her father-in-law. This meant that Boaz was her ...

 . . I was hungry, [and] you gave me food . . .  —Matthew 25:35 (NEB) During the war a church in Strasburg, Germany, was totally destroyed; but a statue of Christ which stood by the altar was almost unharmed. Only the hands of the statue were missing. When the church was rebuilt, a famous sculptor offered to make new hands; but, after considering the matter, the members decided to let it stand as it was—without hands. “For,” they said, “Christ has no hands but our hands to do His work on earth. If we don’t feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, entertain the stranger, visit the imprisoned, and clothe the naked, who will?” Christ is depending on us to do the very things which He did while upon earth. My friend, if the gospel we preach does not have a social application, if it will not work effectively in the work-a-day world, then it is not the Gospel of Christ. Prayer for the day I look at my hands, Lord Jesus, and ask Y...

Health Food Devotional June 29, 2017 And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.  (Matt. 8:13) It's a remarkable fact that when Jesus came on the scene as Healer, He demanded faith again and again. To the woman with the issue of blood, He declared, "Thy faith has made thee whole" (Mark 5:34).  To the man who came with his lunatic son, Jesus said, "...If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth" (Mark 9:23). You see, the man came to Jesus and said, "If thou canst do anything, have mercy on us and help us" (Mark 9:22).  Jesus said to him, in so many words, "It's not so much a matter of what I can do as it is of what you can believe. All things are possible to him that believeth."  To the nobleman who came on behalf of his son, Jesus said, "...Go thy way; thy son liveth..." (John 4:50). The man bel...

Faith Food Devotional June 29, 2017 "Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life [zoe] also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life [zoe] also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh" (2 Cor. 4:10-11).  Paul is talking about zoe being manifested in our mortal bodies. But he's not talking about the resurrection of the body, for "mortal" means subject to death.  When we're raised up, we'll have an immortal body. No, Paul is talking about having this zoe life of God which came into our spirits at the New Birth manifested during this life - in our death-doomed mortal flesh!  I am convinced that if we learn how to walk in the light of life, and let that life which came into us at our New Birth dominate us, there is no reason at all why we can't live to a great age, if Jesus tarries His coming. I know the outward man is...

THURSDAY, JUNE 29, 2017 PSALM 119:121-128 KEY VERSE: "Deal with thy servant according unto thy mercy, and teach me thy statutes" (Psalm 119:124). Faron Young, a famous American singer and songwriter, who was married for over 32 years, plunged himself into alcoholism. This badly affected his life and he got separated from his wife. The court ordered him to pay her a lifetime alimony of $l,000 every month. After years of loneliness, heartache and pain coupled with prostate cancer, Young shot himself. That was where he got it wrong, forgetting to surrender his challenges to Christ. The text, the prayer of the Psalmist, exposes his frailty, weakness and helplessness. It was a heartfelt prayer from someone, who was not pretentious but was in pain and suffering. He cried out his mind to God to get involved in his situation. He knew God abhorred sin and with it, no one would have access to Him. Therefore, he maintained a righteous life. He cried for God’s grace and mercy, being...

OPEN HEAVENS 2017 Thursday June 29th 2017 Memorise:  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Proverbs 3:6 Read:  Proverbs 3:5-6 (KJV) 5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Bible in one year:  1st Samuel 3-5, Lamentation 2:3-13 MESSAGE Life in the Spirit is possible, even though for most believers it still a struggle (Galatians 5:25). To grow your spirit-man, you need to earnestly seek more opportunities to be refilled with the Holy Spirit after being baptized with Him (Ephesians 5:18-19). To live in the Spirit, you need to think in the Spirit. In our thought life, many of us leave out the Holy Spirit, and this is one of the reasons why we don’t go far in our walk with God. Whenever God is left out of an equation, it never balances. This is why today’s Bible reading says we should acknowledge Him in all and not some of our ways. It...

And when he was in affliction, he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself . . .  —2 Chronicles 33:12 Why do Christians suffer? Rest assured that there is a reason for Christian people being afflicted. One reason why God’s people suffer, according to the Bible, is that it is a disciplinary, chastening, and molding process. From the Scriptures we learn that the chastening of affliction is a step in the process of our full and complete development. Affliction can also be a means of refining and of purification. Many a life has come forth from the furnace of affliction more beautiful and more useful than before. Prayer for the day Lord, whatever I have to face, through it let me learn more of Your love and compassion.

Psalm 105:37 He also brought them out with silver and gold, and there was none feeble among His tribes. When the children of Israel were slaves in Egypt, they lived in poverty and faced daily hardships from their cruel taskmasters. Scars and fresh lashes from their masters’ whips covered their bodies. The blistering heat of Egypt caused excruciating sores to fester. Many of them were bent over because of the long hours spent carrying tons of bricks and mortar. Slaving away for long hours under harsh conditions added years to them. And with no proper nourishment, many of them were feeble and emaciated. But something happened to them on the night of the Passover. (Exodus 12) With the blood of the lamb applied on their doorposts, they came under God’s protection. And inside their homes, as instructed by God, they ate the lamb roasted in fire. I believe that those who were blind ate the eyes of the lamb, believing that the perfect eyes of the lamb would give them perfe...

Health Food Devotional June 28, 2017 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.  (1 Cor. 13:9-10) Now I'm not opposed to medical healing. But doctors have just learned by experimentation what kinds of medicines will help nature do its job. God put into the human body what we call "nature."  Naturally, any body - whether the person is saved or not - will help heal itself. And most doctors will tell you that.  I've had more than one doctor say, "I don't know of any medicines that will heal anyone of anything, and no other doctor does. We help nature do its work. If nature doesn't respond, there's nothing we can do."  I'll never forget when my father-in-law lay in a hospital room dead. The surgeon performed an operation on him that had never been done before in the region where he lived. (Today, they do that kind of operation all the time.)  The ...

Faith Food Devotional June 28, 2017 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life" (John 8:12).  I began to see some truths about eternal life before our children were born. And I believed by the grace of God that I could walk in the light of eternal life. (If God tells me in His Word I can, then I can.)  I knew walking in the light of eternal life would affect my children, and so I could predict how they would turn out. I also predicted how some of the babies born in our church around the same time would turn out. I could do that because I knew what sort of light their parents were walking in and how that would affect the children. I was right one hundred percent of the time.  People can have eternal life, but if they don't walk in the light of it, developing themselves - if they don't take advantage of that life and nature - things won't turn out right in t...

OPEN HEAVENS 2017 Wednesday June 28th 2017 Memorise:  But speaking the truth is love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: Ephesians 4:15 Read:  Ephesians 4:10-16 (KJV) 10 He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) 11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: 14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; 15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ...

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28, 2017 JEREMIAH 28:10-17 KEY VERSE: "Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will cast thee from off the face of the earth: this year thou shalt die, because thou hast taught rebellion against the LORD" (Jeremiah 28:16). Even though afflictions come from the devil, God, sometimes, allows them as a form of chastisement against His people for their wrongdoing. This was exactly the situation of the Israelites, as the text depicted, when they involved themselves in sin. Jeremiah, by the Spirit of the Lord, wore a yoke, which symbolised the Jews and other neighbouring nations’ subjection to the king of Babylon. It was not that Nebuchadnezzar was righteous, but submission to him was a form of punishment, which could prevent the extreme evil that would otherwise befall them. Hananiah, a false prophet, who stood against Jeremiah’s prophecy and made the people believe a lie, took the yoke from off Jeremiah’s neck and broke it. Jeremiah, as against contending wit...

OPEN HEAVENS 2017 Tuesday June 27th 2017 Memorise:  Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Romans 13:1 Read:  Acts 8:12-17 (KJV) 12 But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 13 Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done. 8:14 Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John: 15 Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: 16 (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) 17 Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost. Bible in one year:  Ruth 2-4, Lamentation 1:1-12,...

What a glorious Lord! He who daily bears our burdens also gives us our salvation. —Psalm 68:19 (TLB) Edward Dahlberg, the writer, observed, “At 19, I was a stranger to myself. At 40, I asked, ‘Who am I?’ At 50, I concluded I would never know.” This unexplored personal wilderness is the home of millions of people. Ninety-two percent of all Canadian university students, according to June Callwood, the Toronto sociologist, don’t really know who they are. The Bible says that man is an immortal soul. When God made man in the first place, He created him and “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7). One’s soul is the essence, the core, the eternal and real person. And he will be restless until he opens his life to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Prayer for the day Almighty God, knowing I am Your child is all the assurance I need.

Health Food Devotional June 27, 2017 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.  (John 4:24) Divine healing, though it is manifested in the physical, is spiritual. It is not mental, as Christian Science and other metaphysical teachers claim. Now don't misunderstand me. People get some results through mental science. The mind does, to a great extent, control the body, and a person could get some results that way.  I know people who seemed to be miraculously healed through metaphysical cults. And I've heard people say, "If they're healed, God must have done it."  But, no, not necessarily. If it's mental healing, their minds produced it. I would rather stay sick and not be healed than to be healed through some unbelieving cult.  Metaphysical religions such as Christian Science are not biblical. They believe that God is mind, and, in effect, that their mind is God. They believe that Jesus Christ is an idea in the ...

Faith Food Devotional June 27, 2017 "For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light" (Eph. 5:8).  The greatest miracle I've seen of eternal life affecting mentality was in a girl I'll call Mary. Mary had spent seven years in the first grade without even learning to write her name. The authorities asked her parents to take her out of school when she was fourteen years old.  As an eighteen-year-old, she behaved like a two-year-old. If she happened not to be sitting with her mother in the service, she would crawl or slide under the pews, or else she would lift up her skirt and step over them, to get where her mother was.  Then one night, during an evangelistic revival meeting, Mary came to the altar. There she received eternal life - the nature of God. A drastic change occurred instantly. The very next night she sat in the service and behaved like any eighteen-year-old young lady. She had fixed her hair and dressed up. He...

Hebrews 4:3 For we who have believed do enter that rest… Naturally speaking, when we rest, we don’t work. So what does working out of rest mean? Well, let me explain by sharing with you what the Lord had taught me. Many years ago, when I first started preaching, I would prepare diligently for all my sermons. I fine-tuned my points and made sure that everything was in place. I would think to myself, “Man, I am going to share this...and that…” But when I preached, I would forget to mention certain points. Because of that, I would get angry with myself. I would tell myself, “That was such a good point. Why didn’t I remember to share it?” Then, God began to speak to me. He said, “Son, your preaching is not out of rest. It is out of your memory.” What He said next changed my life, not just in the area of preaching, but also in every other area, and I pray that it will bless you too. He said, “Prepare everything you ...

TUESDAY, JUNE 27, 2017 LEVITICUS 23:9-22 KEY VERSE: "Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest" (Leviticus 23:10). "One of the main reasons that we lose our enthusiasm in life," Joel Osteen wrote, "is because we become ungrateful to God. We let what was once a miracle to become common to us. We get so accustomed to God’s goodness that it has become a routine." This is why the text today is very instructive, as it stresses the need to appreciate God’s goodness and provision. God commanded the Israelites to offer the bunch of their firstfruits of harvest. The Israelites could not have boasted that their agricultural produce was due to their efforts, as drought and other adverse circumstance could have affected the growth of their crops. So, to have a bountiful harvest must be a...

Faith Food Devotional Ten Times Better June 26, 2017 Now at the end of the days that the king had said he should bring them in [three years later]…the king communed with them; and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: therefore stood they before the king. And in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king inquired of them, he found them TEN TIMES BETTER than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm. (Dan. 1:18-20) Each day I said, "God, give me favor with every teacher. Thank You for it. It is mine. Now impart to me, because I have the life and nature of God in me, knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom that I may be ten times better."  Now, I'm not bragging on me; I'm bragging on what God gave me. Because although I had been a "D" student before my sickness, after being born again and healed, I was the only student in my classes who made a straight "A" report ...

Health Food Devotional Get Lined Up With God June 26, 2017 Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.  (John 5:14) When Gary was fifteen or sixteen years old, he left home. He got away from God and became involved in the hippie movement. He actually denounced God. And that same kidney trouble that he was healed of as a nine-year-old boy came back on him.  I went to Dallas to preach, and Gary came to my meeting. He wasn't right with God. I knew he wasn't. He tried to fake it, but he didn't fool me a bit. He was seventeen or eighteen years old at the time.  I said to him, "No, I'm not going to pray for you. You're not going to get healed under the present conditions, because you're just faking it. You haven't made things right with God."  He admitted I was right. He said, "You've told the truth about it. I haven't. There are a ...

You are controlled by your new nature if you have the Spirit of God living in you . . .  —Romans 8:9 (TLB) A harnessed horse contributes much more to life than a wild donkey. Energy out of control is dangerous; energy under control is powerful. God does not discipline us to subdue us, but to condition us for a life of usefulness and blessedness. In His wisdom He knows that an uncontrolled life is an unhappy life, so He puts reins on our wayward souls that they may be directed into the “paths of righteousness.” That is what God seeks to do with us; to tame us, to bring us under proper control, to redirect our energies. He does in the spiritual realm what science does in the physical realm. Science takes a Niagara River with its violent turbulence and transforms it into electrical energy to illuminate a million homes and to turn the productive wheels of industry. Prayer for the day Direct all my energy, Father, so that I may be a blessing to others.

Hebrews 12:2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith… What does it mean to look unto Jesus? Well, we can think of it like this: If you are drowning and somebody walks past you, you do not look  at  him. You look  unto  him. When you look unto him, you are turning to him and expecting him to rescue you. In the same manner, you look unto Jesus expecting Him to save, heal and protect you because you know His mighty power and sacrificial love for you. God’s Word says that we are to keep “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith”. That is how God wants us to live. So if you have a recurring migraine, keep looking unto Jesus. See Him taking that migraine upon His body on the cross and say, “Lord, I thank You that by Your stripes I am healed.” (Isaiah 53:5) As you keep looking unto Jesus, your healer, that migraine will have to bow to His finished work! If you have a financial lack in your life,...

MONDAY, JUNE 26, 2017 LUKE 18:18-30 KEY VERSE: "And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God" (Luke 18:24). In this world, it is not what we take up, but what we give up, that makes us rich. Therefore, material riches without Christ can be hurtful to them that possess them. This was the plight of the young rich ruler, according to our text, who craved for an intimate relationship with Christ, which, obviously, was not out of place. At first, the young ruler called Jesus the good Master, an unusual appellation for any man. For those who are not regenerated, they would appreciate it because they liked to be flattered and their ego to be massaged. But that was not for Christ. The ruler asked Jesus what he would do to have eternal life, which was a genuine desire. But when Jesus told him to sell all his possessions and give the money to the poor, the young ruler felt sad. This, obviously, would ha...