Category: Daily Devotionals

By Pastor Dr. Aggrey Soyekwo

Ezekiel 3:3-4 "Then he said to me, “Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it.” So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth. He then said to me: “Son of man, go now to the people of Israel and speak my words to them."- NIV

This was at the call of prophet Ezekiel while the Jews were in exile in Babylon. They were stubborn and rebellious. Prophet Ezekiel was to go and speak God’s word to a people who would or would not listen. But he had to first be filled with words from God. Symbolically, God gave him a scroll full of His word to eat and fill his stomach with it. When full of His word, Ezekiel was commissioned to “go now to the people of Israel and speak my words to them.”

Such a charge was not only to Ezekiel, but to everyone with the responsibility and call to speak God’s word to others. We must, of necessity, eat and be full of God’s word. And out of the fulness thereof, to speak forth. Whatever fills a person is what comes out in their speech. Some do not have His word or not full of it and yet speak. This partly explains rampant distortion of God’s word, bringing much disrepute. They don’t give the full counsel of God to their hearers. The content of their message is not purely God’s, but mixed with their own and even demonic teachings!

Critical to being filled with the word, is to eat it. This means deliberately and regularly spending quality time in the word, allowing it room in your heart to transform your life, and obeying it. Out of the depth of this transformation, what you deliver to others will not be hearsay, but from first hand experience. I pray every minister of the word of God takes this counsel to heart as Paul carefully did. Hear him:

Acts 20:27 "For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God."

1 Timothy 4:16 "Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers."

Shalom children of God.

By Pastor Dr. Aggrey Soyekwo

Luke 10:41-42 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” - NIV

Jesus had visited Mary and Martha. Martha was very busy with preparations and got distracted from listening to Jesus. Mary sat and listened to Him. When she got troubled that her sister wasn’t helping, Martha complained to Jesus. Martha got busy and entangled with many things, which worried and upset her. Jesus’ counsel was that she needed only one thing, to sit under Him and listen to Him.

Learning to sit and take counsel from God Who knows it all, controls all things, knows the end from the begining, and is willing to guide us, is all we need. When God threatened not to go with Israel, Moses prayed that they would rather not move if God wasn’t with them(Ex 33:15-16). His presence meant everything to them. In Him is our comfort, peace, joy, strength, victory, protection, provision and meaning and purpose to life. All the many things we do outside God leave us troubled and upset, and don’t mean much after all.

Many today are troubled and upset like Martha, with many things they do. But if only we could learn to wait on God, get His counsel and marching instructions in all we do, we would remain peaceful. Most troubles in life could be avoided by doing this one needful thing. And we would soon realise that the one thing makes all the difference in our lives for the better. We shall never want to leave His presence. It will be all we need!

Psalm 27:4 "One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple."

Shalom children of God.

By Pastor Dr. Aggrey Soyekwo

Numbers 13:1-2,33 "The Lord said to Moses, “Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. From each ancestral tribe send one of its leaders.”…We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.” - NIV

Moses, at God’s instruction, sent men to explore the land of Canaan. The men brought a good report about the land, flowing with milk and honey and fruit. But the giants, the descendants of Anak and the fortified cities, made them feel they couldn’t attack. But Caleb stood and silenced them. The other spies saw defeat, because of how they felt before the giants. Caleb saw victory because he knew the God leading them to posses the land of promise.

How we see, and from which perspective matters. From our own eyes, giants will make us feel like grasshoppers, walled cities will scare us into fear and withdrawal from the dreams we want to achieve. From God’s perspective, we shall defeat the giants, breakthrough every barrier and attain the victory He destined for us to achieve. Later, Israel defeated those giants and inherited the land because of God on their side. You too will.

When forces and situations contrary to your God given assignment in life makes you seem insignificant like grasshoppers, look at it from God’s perspective. Our human sight and abilities limit us. And surely we will not make it on our own. But God being on our side, no mountain will be too high to climb, no enemy too strong to defeat, no assignment or dream too hard to achieve – because nothing is impossible with God. The God Who miraculously brought them from Egypt, would surely deliver them to the land of promise. He will do that for us despite the mountains, valleys and battles we face along the way. Go forth in His name. Praise God!

Numbers 23:19 "God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?"

Shalom children of God.

By Pastor Dr. Aggrey Soyekwo

Luke 10:27-29 "He answered, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ ; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ” “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” - NIV

He was an expert in the religious law. He came to test Jesus by asking what he needed to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus referred him to what the law said. He stated it correctly. And Jesus told him to do that and live. He still wanted to justify himself, by asking who his neighbour was. There were many such experts of the law Jesus sharply rebuked for their full knowledge of the righteous requirements of the law, but didn’t practice it.

We live in an information era. There is too much people know although it has not transformed them. This includes relationship with God. People know so much of what God expects of them. But few actually put it into practice in their lives. They are full of head knowledge
of God’s word, could quote and recite the scriptures. But the fruit of their lives shows otherwise. That’s the difference between theory and practice, head knowledge and life transformation.

If whatever we know about God and His word has not first transformed our lives, then what we have is religion without relationship. The ultimate purpose of God’s word is to transform us into God’s nature of holiness, righteousness, truth and justice. The more the word gets in and changes us from within, the more we reflect God’s nature in all we do externally. Others should be able to see God in us. The tragedy of our time is many professing believers without corresponding fruit! How is it with you?

Matthew 5:16 "In the same way your light must shine before people, so that they will see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven."

Shalom children of God.

By Pastor Dr. Aggrey Soyekwo

1 Tim 4:1-2 "The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron." - NIV

To any sensitive, discerning and informed student of God’s word, the signs of our times are no surprise. Paul mentions some of these in his letter to Timothy. Among these are departure from the faith by some, and following demonically orchestrated teachings. They thus become hypocritical liars, with dead consciences, agents of the devil, and yet continue teaching others! Jesus had said false prophets will arise.

A conscience is the check within a person that helps discern right from wrong. When it is alive and God guided, one is enabled to do what is right. But when it is dead, one does what is wrong without any remorseful feelings. The hypocitic teachers Paul talked about were once in the faith, but abandoned it for deceptive demonic leading and teachings. They ignored the Holy Spirit, Who convicts and leads into the truth. As a result, the conscience dies because the Holy Spirit Who awakens the conscience has been grieved away. Such are truly dangerous and mislead many!

Our responsibility is to watch out for such teachers lest we get deceived (Matt 24:4), and to watch ourselves and our doctrine as we teach others. We already see such perversions of truth all around us. The bible instructs us not to blindly follow anything, but to test the spirits behind what we see or hear, whether they are from God or not. We don’t use our feelings, emotions and worldly knowledge to test, but God’s word. This requires that we are first knowledgeable and grounded in God’s word. In this way, we are safe.

1 John 4:1 "Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world."
1 Timothy 4:16 "Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers."

Shalom children of God.

By Pastor Dr. Aggrey Soyekwo

Luke 5:8-11 “When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.” NIV

Jesus borrowed Peter’s boat and used it to preach. After that, He told Peter to launch out his fishing net for a catch. This was not normal as fishing was best done at night. The experienced fisherman, Peter, informed Jesus that they tried the whole night but failed. How much more during day. But at Jesus’ word, he accepted and caught fish he never had before. The boat was sinking and His partners had to come to his help. This shocked them beyond imagination. Who is this man?

Peter knew this was no ordinary man he was encountering. He wanted Him to go away. But Jesus wanted him for His mission of fishing men through the gospel. At this miracle and call, they left their bountiful catch to follow Jesus. Paul too met Jesus in His glory and right away knew this wasn’t ordinary. He abandoned all his treasures to follow Him. While those who never had such experiences with God will take them to be foolish, to those who meet Him, it’s a treasure beyond measure.

With or without any extraordinary experience with God, let it settle in your heart that He is a great God beyond imagination. When He chooses to reveal a little bit of Who He is, His majesty and splendour, all our doubts, pride and rebellion melt away in an instant. On speaking to the storm and calming the sea, the disciples were shocked and asked, ‘what kind of man is this.'(Mark 4:41). I pray He gives you such an experience with Himself. Then all the glory and treasures of this life become nothing!

Philippians 3:7-8 “But all those things that I might count as profit I now reckon as loss for Christ’s sake. Not only those things; I reckon everything as complete loss for the sake of what is so much more valuable, the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have thrown everything away; I consider it all as mere refuse, so that I may gain Christ…”

Shalom children of God.