Arise and Shine

Daily devotional – Sharing God’s Word..

recent posts

about

  • Testify..

    Saint Francis of Assisi said “Preach the Gospel to everyone and use words if necessary.” Being a living example of God’s grace, is a powerful testimony of who God is. And yes, a lot of times it is also necessary to use words and testify to the faithfulness of God in your fears, trials and temptations.

    When you experience moments where God has miraculously provided or healed or helped you through a challenging situation, it is powerful to share this testimony. God is able to use your victory.. (your answered prayers and the breakthrough He provided) to bless those around you! When people can relate to what you’ve been through and see how God was able to bring restoration and healing into your life, they can start to see how it is also possible for them! They start to realise how included they are in Christ and it will encourage them to trust God even in their own situation and circumstances!

    O give thanks to the Lord, call on His name; make known His doings among the peoples! (1 Chronicles 16:8 AMP)

    But we [ourselves] cannot help telling what we have seen and heard. (Acts 4:20 AMP)

    When you speak His truth, when you acknowledge what He has done in your life and share that with others, it is not only you that have an impact, but the Holy Spirit that is working before you, within you and through you.

    “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. “(Romans 8:16 NIVUK)

    Your testimony can be that God provides for you everyday. It can be that He saved you from a false sense of identity, or that He placed people around you that could help you through a difficult time. Your testimony might seem insignificant or you might think it falls on deaf ears, but ask God to use your testimony to give witness to the great things He has done for you and to bring glory to God’s kingdom.

  • God loves you

    God loves you.. you are already pleasing to God! You do not need to be working towards “hopefully one day I’ll be good enough”

    God is already proud of you. You are not a failure. When God looks at you, He is not focused on all the things you’ve done wrong. No, when God looks at you He sees the goodness of His son.

    “The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.’” (Zephaniah 3:17 NIVUK)

    God has great delight in you, right now. What an incredible revealed knowledge to function from each day. No more effort to achieve God’s love or trust or seal of approval. It’s nothing to achieve, but only to receive!

    “I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in him you have been enriched in every way – with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge – God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you. Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.” (1 Corinthians 1:4-7 NIVUK)

    There is nothing you can do that will change His mind about you.

    “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39 NIVUK)

  • Saved by grace

    C.H. Spurgeon said: “If you remove grace out of the gospel.. The gospel is gone”

    Grace is the unmerited, undeserving favour of God. It is God’s grace that define your worth.

    “Yet grace (God’s unmerited favour) was given to each of us individually in proportion to the measure of Christ’s [rich and bounteous] gift.” (Ephesians 4:7 AMP)

    “For it is by free grace (God’s unmerited favor) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ’s salvation) through [your] faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [of your own doing, it came not through your own striving], but it is the gift of God;” (Ephesians 2:8 AMP)

    Because of God’s grace you don’t need to try and pay for your own righteousness or own freedom by doing good works. You can live by faith that Jesus already paid the bill! You don’t need to try and pay Him back by being good when His grace is free of charge.. A gift! You can not work your way to heaven, but because you have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, you will have good works.. not to be saved, but because you are saved.

    “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21 NIVUK)

    There was a divine exchange done on the cross. Jesus became sin for us so that we could become righteous! The good news is GRACE!

    “May grace (God’s favor) and peace (which is perfect well-being, all necessary good, all spiritual prosperity, and freedom from fears and agitating passions and moral conflicts) be multiplied to you in [the full, personal, precise, and correct] knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” (2 Peter 1:2 AMP)

  • Content

    There is nothing in your future, no relationship, achievement or new job that can make you more righteous, loved or whole then you are right now.

    “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” (2 Peter 1:3 NIV)

    In this fast paced world it is easy to be so focused on the future that you forget about living right now. It is possible for you to be content with now and in the same breath be expectant to grow in the knowledge of God each day. Every new day you can discover more of Him and more of who He created you to be.

    God wants you to have life in abundance right now. Jesus Christ redeemed you from sickness, poverty and death. It is not something you will receive when you one day leave this earth, but something you inherit now. God gave you these exceedingly great and precious promises so that you grow in the knowledge of Him, through the leading of the Holy Spirit.

    “And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.” (Romans 8:11 NIV)

    “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” (Ephesians 1:3 NIV)

    “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ,” (Ephesians 1:7-9 NIVUK)

    In Him you lack nothing. You can live today, right now, content in the knowledge of your inheritance. Make this day count.

  • Enlightened

    A definition of enlighten is to ‘shed the light of truth and knowledge upon’, to enlighten the mind or understanding.

    “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people,” (Ephesians 1:18 NIVUK)

    As you grow in faith, your understanding deepens. You start aligning your will to His and begin to see life from God’s perspective. You receive a spirit of wisdom and revelation of the true knowledge of who God is.

    “For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.” (Proverbs 2:6 NIVUK)

    Ask God to be enlightened in your knowledge of Him, infused with His wisdom and understanding.

    “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:4-5 NIVUK)

    “Stop reading the Word like a hors d’oeuvres (a little appetiser).. make His Word your main course” – Hein Bence

    God wants to impart His words to you by the power of the Holy Spirit so that you will have revelation knowledge of Him.

  • Immersed..

    As we are fully immersed in the water, we are baptised into His death on the cross and are no longer slaves to sin.. When you are raised out of the water, you are raised to a new life in Christ, born into the family of our loving God..

    “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.” (Romans 6:3-5 NIVUK)

    The baptism is a declaration of your inclusion in His death and resurrection. It goes right to the heart of God’s forgiveness and His gift of salvation. It is a public acknowledgment of your salvation that was already accomplished on the Cross.. once and for all..

    The baptism is not what saves you, for you are saved by grace through faith.. not by your own faith, or effort, but by His faith.

    His faith is not limited to your five senses. God’s gift of faith goes beyond that.. It is by His faith that you are defined.

    “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9 NIVUK)

  • Beyond any doubt

    “Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. ‘You of little faith,’ he said, ‘why did you doubt?’” (Matthew 14:31 NIVUK)

    “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.” (James 1:5-6 NIVUK)

    You are not at the mercy of every doubt that comes to your mind. Like the waves of the sea, doubts will come, but you do not have to let them undermine your faith.

    When your mind begins to wander down the path of doubt, or when you stare at the mountain before you and feel uncertain about God’s ability to move it out of your way, or when you lack confidence that God will keep His promises, you have to intentionally go to God and ask with the humble faith of the man who said to Jesus:

    “…I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!’” (Mark 9:24 NIVUK)

    “Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.” (Psalm 34:8 NIVUK)

    “For I am persuaded beyond doubt (am sure) that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things impending and threatening nor things to come, nor powers, Nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39 AMP)

    Be reminded that you are not relying on your own wisdom, but on His. Pray that God will let you walk by faith, not by sight, trusting Him in all things… Beyond doubt!

  • Let prayer rise..

    “May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.” (Psalm 141:2 NIVUK)

    …like sweet incense rising up.. when you pray and come before God with the name of Jesus on your lips, it gives Him great pleasure. Nothing please Him more than your engaging conversation with Him.

    Prayer aligns your desires with His desires.

    You might think.. why tell God what He already knows? ..and yes, He knows what you need before you ask, but you are definitely, specifically told to pray and to ask. This is not to impress or inform God, but to invite Him so that you might have fellowship with Him. Prayer is building a relationship with Him so that you might grow and learn to depend upon Him.

    “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7 NIVUK)

    When you pray, you can experience the full joy God offers you. Don’t ask for trivial things, because…

    “…,You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” (James 4:2-3 NIVUK)

    Pray for your mind to be renewed with greater faith, love, holiness, wisdom, discernment, experience of God’s grace, boldness, joy in God, and less satisfaction with worldly things.

    If you are going to impact your family, community and world… prayer is where it begins… Don’t be casual about your prayer life!

  • His light within you

    When darkness (fear, confusion, anger) seems to consume the light.. Be intentional and with a renewed mind, draw from God’s Word..

    “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:6 NIVUK)

    God equipped you and called you to be the light in the darkness. The light that is within you exposes and drives out the darkness..

    “Darkness cannot drive out darkness.. Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate.. Only love can do that!” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

    “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:21 NIVUK)

    “Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our LORD Jesus,….equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (Hebrews 13:20-21 NIVUK)

  • You are qualified

    Why do you often hold back when you hear God’s voice, when you feel the Holy Spirit’s gentle urging for you to take a bold step, serve others, pray for others, prophesy over others? It could be because you might not feel qualified to do it. You might see yourself lacking courage, strength, wisdom, experience or education. Maybe you are thinking of first enrolling in another course on how to pray..

    It is not through your own works, but through the knowing that He created you with ALL you need to glorify His Name. God has made you exactly how He intended. He has given you unique a personality, unique gifts, strengths and talents…

    The point is that whatever God leads you to do, He has already qualified you.

    “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” (2 Peter 1:3 NIVUK)

    “Not that we are fit (qualified and sufficient in ability) of ourselves to form personal judgments or to claim or count anything as coming from us, but our power and ability and sufficiency are from God.” (2 Corinthians 3:5 AMP)

    “….We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.” (Colossians 1:9-12 NIVUK)

    Now may God.. “equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (Hebrews 13:21 NIVUK)

    May you be encouraged to pray for each other, b bold enough to say..: “Yes Lord.. I am fully equipped and qualified to be your hands and feet on earth. May Your wisdom, strength and love guide me and show me how I can glorify Your Name every day.”