Good morning to everyone. Grace and Peace be with you.

It appears that the rain monster is headed back our way. Perhaps today. I have one more yard to mow/bale, and hopefully I can get that done before it gets here. If I recall, the rain is supposed to start this afternoon around 3. We kind of made a plan for today, so…fingers crossed that the monster stays away for the right amount of time.

This year has been a wild year for my yard. I do not recall a year where it felt like a cloud just passed over my place and the grass grew six inches. It is crazy how fast my yard is growing this year. I don’t even think that it has to rain a tiny bit for my yard to keep growing. It is crazy. You know, I always thought a balance of water and sun was the formula for a good growing yard. Apparently, my yard has an attitude and has said, “Give me rain, or not; give me sun or not; give me cold or not; I will grow and will not rot.” I guess it is its version of ‘hold my beer’.

The wonderful part of it is that my yard actually looks like a fluffy pillow of beautiful grass. Not sure how that happened, but it did. There are not a lot of thistles or weeds; even in the back part of the yard, it is beautiful grass.

The way that the grass is growing so quickly and fully is a reminder of how quickly sin can manifest in our lives. Now you are wondering, how did I just turn my beautiful pillow grass into sin? Stick with me; I think you will like this. Some of you who are used to my brain are trying to see my vision first. Haha.

In one of the parables that Jesus taught, the farmer planted bountiful seeds and had a great crop. However, one day one of his servants told him of how the weeds were growing up in the plants and should they pull the weeds. The farmer told them no; they would worry about the weeds at harvest.

My nice and quick-growing yard is just like the weeds in the parable, in that the weeds sprung up quickly and became noticeable to the servants. They did not need attention, but they were trying to take over the crop to the point that the servant wanted to rid the field of them.

Sin works the same way. It finds its way into our lives, usually with logic. Such as, Jesus sat with sinners, so why can’t I? The problem with that example is that Jesus was perfect and without blemish. He did not succumb to the sin from which he was trying to save them from. He simply sat with them and told them the truth in love. WE on the other hand, are sinners who are saved by grace. WE are still human and are susceptible to the temptation of the same sins that we are sitting with. Meaning, a drug addict should not move into a drug-infested area to witness because the temptation could become too strong for them to resist.

Once sin has planted itself in our minds, it festers and grows quickly. It uses logic and ‘common sense’ ideas to justify its existence. Soon, and it does not take long, for those around you to see how the sin has manifested and grew in your/our lives. And the bad part of it all is that many times we either do not see it and still try to justify our actions with the ‘Jesus sat with sinners’ or we do not see it at all.

Today I encourage you to go to Him in prayer and ask Him to reveal any areas in your life that you may be lying to yourself about as a witness opportunity to allow for your sin. When He reveals it to you, go to Him and ask Him to forgive you. If He had sent anyone to open your eyes, ask them to forgive you for not listening to His servant. As you do that, you are telling the enemy to kick rocks and that will give him a headache for sure.

Be blessed.

**Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. – Colossians 3:17

A video from my Facebook page. When I can I visit some homeless populations around the area. Homelessness and drug addiction has grown substantially, and these people are in need of grace and redemption.

St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe

St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe was born on January 8, 1894 in Poland, to father Julius Kolbe and mother Maria Dabrowska. He joined the Franciscans in 1907 and ordained as a priest in 1918. He founded a movement devoted to Our Lady and spread this movement through a magazine named "The Knight of the Immaculate". He was arrested by Nazis on February 17, 1941 and sent to the concentration camp at Auschwitz. He was singing hymns to the Virgin Mary in the concentration camp without any fear. He was tortured in the Nazi concentration camp without giving any food, water and other facilities for more than two weeks. When another person was due to be killed on a particular day, that man started crying" my wife, my children". Then Maximilian volunteered to take the place of that man to die, to save that poor man. He was killed by giving carbolic acid injection. He died on August 14, 1941.

A cure from intestinal tuberculosis to one Angela Testoni in July, 1948 and also a cure from calcification on the arteries/sclerosis were attributed to the intervention of St. Maximilian.

He was beatified in 1971 by Pope Paul-VI and canonized by Pope John Paul-II on October 10, 1982. He was declared as a martyr and is venerated as a patron saint of drug addicts and political prisoners.
#catholic #saint #St. #drug #addiction #politicalprison #political #prision #drugfree #addictionfree #savepoor #injection #virginmary #Mary #intervention #interventionfordisease
#disease #illness #cure #politicalharrasament #prisioerofconscience #dissident #undertrialprisoners #prisionalwithoutanycharge

wanted to start a new church on 30th of August. I had told my plans through the radio. I had announced that I want the most rejected in the society: drunkards, drug addicts, prostitutes, broke and broken. I believe God was ahead of me. They demanded we start yesterday. we started with 100 people. No building. just in the open. Am so thrilled. God is about to turn the whole village upside down. No grand opening only grand tiding.

Daily devotion for August 9th
Prayer And Preparedness
But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat.

Nehemiah 4:9
The enemy mobilizes its forces, escalating the attack, and begins to plan direct violence. When you begin to move with God to change things in your life for the better, you will find that you are met first with derision, and if you keep persisting, someone is going to get very upset with you and attack you in a vicious, perhaps physical, way.

But see how Nehemiah reacts, He still relies on prayer (Nehemiah 4:9). But he does more than pray. He posts a guard as well. Prayer and preparedness! This blending of the resources of the spiritual life with those of the material world is a marvelous picture of how believers ought to face threats, recognizing that we need action on both levels.

Still the enemy persists, and he launches a propaganda campaign. There was an enormous amount of debris and broken stones that had to be cleared away before they could get to the walls. It must have been very discouraging.

The enemy immediately takes advantage of that weakness and discouragement (Nehemiah 4:11). Have you ever faced something like that? Were you ever threatened at work when you tried to correct an immoral or illegal practice that was being carried on around you? Perhaps someone said to you, Keep that up, and you may lose your job here. You may have been threatened with demotion or with eviction from your apartment. You may even have been invited out in the parking lot to face a physical attack. These kinds of things are possible when we begin to right wrongs.

Nehemiah's response is very deliberate. First, he carefully looks over the situation and evaluates what is needed. This approach is necessary if we are going to improve our own lives. We must observe exactly where we are under attack. What are we addicted to? A wrong habit, a drug, an attitude of mind? Bitterness of spirit? When we have identified the source of attack, we must post a guard at that point.

Then, second, Nehemiah reviews the spiritual resources available to them. They had a power at work in their lives that their enemies knew nothing about. The great and awesome God who was with them would stand with them in their peril. When they remembered this, they became reassured and renewed in courage. The enemy saw that they could achieve nothing with their attacks.

One of my favorite passages of the New Testament is found in Paul's second letter to Timothy. Paul is a prisoner in Rome, and Timothy, a rather timid young man, is all alone and feeling discouraged in the great pagan city of Ephesus. The great apostle writes to him this word of advice: Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead (2 Timothy 2:8). Timothy was not alone. God was with him. Jesus is risen! He is awesome. He is strong. He is powerful. Reckon upon Him, and you will be able to stand against the most subtle temptation and the most dangerous threats that come against you.

Thank You, Father, for how practical and helpful the Scriptures are. Teach me to rely on You both in prayer and preparedness.

The National Chairman of the Youth Wing of the Christian Association of Nigeria (YOWICAN), Ven. Ademola Daniel Arowolo, has challenged Christian youths across Nigeria to rise beyond fear, division, corruption, violence, tribalism, drug abuse and hopelessness, describing them as critical barriers to the nation’s progress.


https://baptistchronicle.com/2026/08/07/yowican-chairman-urges-christian-youths-to-rise-beyond-division-corruption-violence/

We all have things we wish would disappear from our lives: a character flaw, a bad habit, an addiction...

Salvation is instantaneous, but spiritual growth is a lifelong journey. Our natural instinct is to try to change ourselves through sheer willpower. Yet this approach often leads to failure, frustration, and guilt. The more we focus on ourselves and our weaknesses, the more power we give them.

Jesus teaches us a completely different way.

While speaking with a woman at a well, He said:

"Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life." (John 4:13–14)

The woman replied, "Sir, give me this water." Only then did Jesus reveal her past, telling her that she had had five husbands and that the man she was living with was not her husband (John 4:15–18).

This encounter unfolds in two stages.

First, Jesus reveals what He is able to do in her life. He speaks of a living spring capable of transforming her from within. For two thousand years, this promise has continued to be fulfilled. Lives have been restored, depression has been overcome, and countless men and women have been set free from alcohol, tobacco, pornography, and drug addiction. This is the work of the Spirit of Christ in a heart that opens itself to Him.

Only afterwards does Jesus expose what is keeping her in bondage. He does not do this to condemn her, but to show her the very place where He wants to bring freedom. Perhaps she had been trying to fill a deep emptiness or a longing for love through her relationships—a thirst that nothing had ever truly satisfied.

This is a crucial detail: Jesus knew about her sin from the very beginning. Yet He did not start there. Instead, He first drew her attention to the new life He wanted to give her.

God still works this way today. When He looks at us, He does not focus first on our failures. He sees what His grace can accomplish in us. He sees the potential of His Spirit in a life that is fully surrendered to Him.

This is the key to lasting transformation: turning our eyes away from ourselves and fixing them on Christ. The more we discover His love, His power, and our identity in Him, the less power sin has over us.

I once knew a man who had been trapped in pornography for twenty-seven years. His addiction had driven him into despair and even suicidal thoughts. Then he discovered God's love. He came to understand that, in Christ, he was fully loved, fully justified, and that "there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1). Without even realizing it, his addiction gradually lost its grip on him. Soon afterward, God blessed him with a wife. His freedom did not come through his own efforts, but through a revelation of God's grace.

The Bible encourages us to "fix our eyes on Jesus" (Hebrews 12:2). As we behold who He is and all that He has accomplished for us, His Spirit works within us. Then rivers of living water begin to flow from our innermost being, and we are transformed into His image from glory to glory.

Matthew 3:8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.

The words of today’s verse were spoken by John the Baptist. They came right after he called the religious leaders a brood of vipers. His ministry was always focused on true repentance from people as he prepared the way for Jesus. But the religious leaders relied on their heritage rather than heart change. And John called them out for it.

John’s instructions were simple - product fruit while being repentant. But what exactly does this mean?

The Pharisees and Sadducees came to the river not to confess and be changed, but to see what was going on and possibly to pass judgement. They were not there for any reason other than curiosity. They assumed that the fact they were descended from Abraham granted them favor before God. And John was actively preaching that people needed to turn back to God as the kingdom of heaven approached. Salvation was not inherited from their ancestors or lineage.

Real inner repentance will produce evidence that others can see. Someone who is living a life of sin will have a visible change in their life when they repent and turn to God. You will see drug addicts seek help to get clean, alcoholics seek help with addiction, promiscuous people stopping the sexual behaviors, liars confessing and making amends, and so on. People they hung out with before changing complain that they are not who they used to be, that they are “Jesus freaks” or religious nuts because they don’t like the changes they see in them. There is evidence that their lives have changed and they are living for God.

John continued with his warning after this verse. He went on to say that trees that do not produce good fruit get cut down and thrown into the fire. Empty religious titles and positions mean nothing. They do not guarantee anything. There is no value in them.

Genuine transformation only comes when a person repents and turns back to God. Repentance is a complete turn around, a u-turn. It is only when we come to Him broken and humbled that we find grace and mercy.

#TEENS4JESUS #devotion #dailydevotional #christianteens #DailyBibleVerse

QUAD-PALS: 002

Nebuchadnezzar proved himself worthy of this appointment by forcefully advancing the nation’s territory. He practically transformed the military by introducing novel intelligent hierarchy and idealistic strategies to the Shinar Army.

One of the new innovations was a list of 10 decrees made to be read out loud to the soldiers each morning. At first, the soldiers were critical of his far-fetched methodologies, but the numerous far-reaching successes that resulted from his mode of operation were rewarded by an unreserved vote of confidence from them to him.

The new commander was not only brilliant and tactful, but also courageous, aggressive, and composed. He fought day and night, year in and year out, dethroning generals and rulers for the sake of his state.

Prior to his era, the soldiers had been fighting with manageable morale. But his ever high spirit boosted the soldiers’ spirits, and this presented him before the soldiers, including seasoned senior officers who were once his trainers, as a worthy role model.

As a matter of fact, every soldier and officer under his command willingly submitted their loyalty to him; he was indeed a king in the making. They now refer to him as a king even though his father, King Nebopolassar, was still on the throne.

His father found no fault in this because everything had been working just as he had planned it. He knew he could have a long, sound sleep as long as his son was in charge.

The past few months had been tough for him; he had been diagnosed with sibtu sa napisti, an ailment akin to tuberculosis, which had resulted from his carefree lifestyle even though it was believed to be caused by wicked spirits. Heaven knows that he was an addicted cannabis smoker, an unrepentant alcoholic and a hard drug patriot in the noon of his life.

He had not sat on the throne seat for about five months in a row but had been confined to his bed with Ashpenaz sitting beside him to constantly offer him hopeful words, convey the king’s intentions and instructions while intimating him on the state of the nation.

By the way, the king’s private room was built inside the palace, and only the king, the chief of staff, and the heir to the throne were allowed into this room; it was called the Eternal Portal. The room was supposed to be the bridge between the physical realm and the spiritual realm.

It was one of the national monuments of Shinar; it had a spacious section where tombs were built for dead kings. Whenever a king’s ailment was tending towards death, he would be moved into a compartment of this room. If he survives the sickness, he will return to continue the kingdom business, but if he dies, he will be buried in the king's sepulcher.

Kaptain Lamblion JC

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