Daily devotion for August 18th
Where To Begin
Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise.

Nehemiah 9:5b
This prayer in the book of Nehemiah is a great model that will teach us much for our own prayer life. It begins with a great section of praise. First, God is praised as the Creator and Maker of everything. Beginning with the life He gave you is a great place to start when you are praising God. It seems strange to me that people who are dependent every moment on God to give them life allow themselves so easily to forget that fact. God sustains us moment by moment. We ought to be grateful for that. Let us never forget that our very breath comes from Him.

The next section praises God as the caller and chooser of people. He is the one who gives undeserved blessings to those He chooses. God is the keeper of promises. Not one of us would be here today if it were not for that merciful, sovereign call of God. Jesus said, No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him (John 6:44). We are here today because the Spirit of God in wondrous grace has drawn us to Himself.

Then the people praise God as the deliverer from sin and its enslavement. They retell the history of this nation, beginning with the call of Abraham and their deliverance from Egypt. Some of us have forgotten the lessons God has taught us and have returned to the same sins, plunging ourselves once more into rebellion and slavery. Let us never forget that we have been wonderfully, even miraculously, delivered by the great hand of God.

Praise for God as the great provider of wisdom and the necessities of life follows. Here is God's providential care of His own. He taught this people how to live in the midst of great wickedness. He knew he was sending them into a land inhabited by tribes who were morally degraded to a degree that is appalling to us today. They offered their children to the god Molech by throwing them alive into a furnace of fire. It was among these people that the Israelites had to live. Yet God taught them how to avoid defilement from those things. He taught them how to be friends with these people but not be destroyed by their immorality. It is exactly the situation we are called to live in today. God has given us this wonderful book that teaches us the rules of life, health, salvation, and deliverance and the inner strength that can resist the temptations that abound all around us. To neglect it is folly.

God also supplied their needs. He gave them bread to eat when there was none. He gave them water from the rock in the middle of the desert. That is not only an account of meeting physical needs, but it describes the meeting of spiritual needs as well. The New Testament tells us these are pictures of Christ: He is the bread of life; He is the water of life. As the Israelites learned the meaning of these symbols, they began to understand that there was One coming who would fully meet the need of the human heart.

Father, I praise and worship You as the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, as the One who has chosen me and drawn me to Yourself and the One who provides all that I need

Return to God and be Uplifted!
Repentance brings a change of attitude concerning God. The sinner naturally vilifies God. Even when he speaks of His love, he has no conception of God’s justice and wrath. True repentance brings a sense of the Holy God who cannot look upon sin. It impacts a change of mind concerning sin itself upon a person.
The unrepentant delight in sin. A child of God may be tempted to sin and even fall into sin, but his bosom aches when he does so. A true child of God who has repented cannot enjoy sin and continuously longs for deliverance. Before every child of God, there is a vision both of what he is and what he ought to be. He cries with the poet; “O that a man might arise in me that I might ease to be.”
Repentance gives the sinners a change of mind concerning him. Before our salvation, we all had a good opinion of ourselves. Like the Pharisees, we often thanked God that, “we were not as other men, extortionist, unjust, adulterers, or even as the publican" (Luke 18:11). But, every one that exalts himself shall be abased, and he that humbles himself shall be exalted (Verse 14). Where there is true repentance, though, men often despair of themselves, and like the publication, their cry is, “God be merciful to me a sinner”. They echo Paul’s exasperated plea: “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death" (Romans 7:24). For Christ came not to call the righteousness, but sinners to repentance (Luke 5:32).
Repentance affects the motions and will, and also creates a change of feeling. We must beware here lest we are deceived. The old time evangelist who specialized in death-bed stories often created mere human emotion filling the mourners' bench with weeping people. These mourners often had a remorse for their evil doings, deeply regretting they had not been better men and women when they were told about meeting their “mother” in heaven. But remorse in not repentance, though I must say remorse is a very common experience for those who commit sin. Someone has called remorse the “echo of lost virtue”.
Remorse is the attitude of mind and heart for some evil done. Repentance, however, goes deeper. Repentance creates a sorrow for what we are rather that remorse for what we have done. Therefore says the Hebrews writer, “Leaving the principles of the doctrines of Christ (Messiah), let us go into perfection by not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works” (Hebrews 6:1).
Christian repentance is not merely the pangs of an injured conscience. Christian repentance follows the Holy Spirit’s convicting work deep within our soul (John 16:7 and 8). It lays strong hold upon the human will and brings the sinners into conformity with the will of God. It is heeding God’s call from a life of destruction (Mark 1:15). Repentance does not mean merely shedding tears over our wrong doings. It ends in faith in Christ, the Saviour. The Church must preach and teach until these conditions are obtained in the ministries. Then our revival shall have come. For this is the will of God for all mankind (Acts 17:30).
Today what the Church and the continents at large need is repentance. The call of the pulpit to the pew must be repentance. And that of the crusades to the nations must similarly be repentance, and this must eventuate in confession of sins. The scripture, therefore, tells us: “Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against the Lord your God” (Jeremiah3:13).That will move our God to come down and heal our many wounds. We are reminded that, “The Lord’s hands is not shortened, that it cannot save neither is His ear heavy that it cannot hear, but your iniquity have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear” (Isaiah59:1 and 2). He that covers his sins shall not prosper, but whoso confess and forsake them shall have mercy (Proverbs 28:13). “For as many as the Lord loves, He rebukes and chastens; be zealous therefore and repent!” (Revelation 3:19).
The repentance must not only be among the lowly citizens but must spring from the governors trickling to the governed. “Therefore whosoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man which built his house upon a rock. And everyone that hears these sayings of mine and does them not shall be likened to a foolish man which built his house upon the sand,” declares the Lord Jesus Christ (Mathew 7:24 and 26).
Almighty God is calling to the people today as He did to former Israel that, “Therefore also now, says the Lord, Turn even to me with all your heart and with fasting and with weeping and with mourning. And rend your heart and not your garments, and turn to the Lord your God. For He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repent Him of the evil. Who knows if He will return and leave a blessing behind Him, even a meat offering and drink offering unto the Lord your God? Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly; gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts; let the bride-groom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord weep between the porch and the altar and let them say: Spare your people O Lord and give not your heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them; wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God? Then the Lord will be so jealous for His land and pity His people. Yes the Lord will answer and say unto His people, Behold I will send you corn, and wine and oil, and you shall be satisfied therewith; and I will no more make you a reproach among the heathen but I will remove far off from you northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face towards the east sea and his hinder part towards the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up and his savor shall come up because he has done great things. Fear not O land; be glad and rejoice; for the Lord will do great things. And I will restore to you the years that locusts has eaten, the cankerworm and the caterpillar and the palmerworm my great army which I sent among you. And you shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, that has dealt wondrously with you, and my people shall never be ashamed" (Joel 2:12-21: 25 and 26).
The Lord’s northern army is the destruction God brings upon a people as a result of their wickedness. Indeed righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people (Proverbs 13:34). For the Lord God of Israel, the Creator of the heavens and the earth loves righteousness and judgement (Psalm 33:5). He stresses that judgement is his strange work (Isaiah 28:21). The reason being that when his judgements are on the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness (Isaiah 26:9). When a nation leaves wickedness and turns to the Lord, such a people receive pardon and sure favour from the Lord God Almighty. The psalmist thus wrote: “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord and the people whom He has chosen for His own inheritance” (Psalms 33:12).
The Lord delights in the humility of a people. This makes Him hear our plea and smile back at us with a pardon. And this humility must start in His sanctuary. He says: “If my people, which are called by my name shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins, and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14). Therefore every Christian by and far, let us rally in repentance for the healing of our lands. For repentance turns away God’s wrath.
Nineveh found itself in a similar situation many African nations are in today. Plagued with wickedness in diverse places and faced with imminent judgment, the Almighty God used Jonah to deliver a message of judgment to the people of Nineveh: “Surely the Lord God will do nothing but He reveals His secrets to His servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7). Unlike most of our folks who hear and turn the head the other way, the Ninevehs believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest-including the king-to the least of them. And God saw their works that they turned from their evil way, and God repented them of the evil that he had said He would bring upon them, and He did it not (Jonah 3).
Repentance touches the core of God’s heart. Humble yourself and return to the Lord your Creator. Repentance automatically brings healing. The Lord says, “Wash you, and make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes, cease to do evil. Learn to do well, seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, and judge the fatherless plead for the widow. Come now and let us reason together; though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow: though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient you shall eat the good of the land” (Isaiah 1:16-19).
The Living God is the healer of nations. The psalmist has declared of Him: “God be merciful to us, and cause His face to shine upon us. That your way may be known upon the earth, your saving health among all nations” (Psalm 67:1 and 2). Perhaps this ought to be the prayer on everyone’s lips now.
Stay awake O Christian in the truth!
The good LORD has always extended this gracious invitation to man over the millennia. And, therefore, if it is your desire to know Him as He truly is - the Lord of lords and King of kings, the Savior, and Redeemer of mankind, then pray this prayer of repentance unto salvation: “Lord Jesus Christ, I come to you with all the sins I have committed and I beg you to forgive me. I confess that I am a sinner and that I cannot save myself. Please cleanse my body, soul, and spirit with your precious blood. I need your help Lord, and I ask you to come and live in my heart. I want to serve you, obey your commands and do what is right. I want to live for you every day, please lead and guide me by your Spirit into righteousness. Thank you, O Lord for hearing and answering my prayer. Amen!”
Welcome now to this grand and mighty army of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ on earth. Read the Bible often, and join a congregation near you where Christ Jesus is preached and the Almighty Godhead: Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, is worshiped in Spirit and in Truth for your own spiritual growth and strength.
The Almighty God make you the apple of His eyes as I solemnly declare of Him: “After He has honored me and has sent me against the nations that have plundered you - for whoever touches you touches the apple of His eye - I will surely raise my hand against them so that their slaves will plunder them” (Zachariah 2:8). The peace and love of Christ Jesus the Lord be with you now and forever.

Psalm 103:1-12 New King James Version (NKJV)
BLESS THE LORD, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
BLESS THE LORD, O my soul,
And FORGET NOT all His BENEFITS:
Who FORGIVES all your iniquities,
Who HEALS all your diseases,
Who REDEEMS your life from destruction,
Who CROWNS you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
Who SATISFIES your mouth with good things,
So that your youth is RENEWED like the eagle’s.
The LORD executes RIGHTEOUSNESS
AND JUSTICE for ALL who are oppressed.
He made known His WAYS to Moses,
His ACTS to the children of Israel.
The LORD is MERCIFUL and GRACIOUS,
SLOW to anger, and ABOUNDING IN MERCY.
He will NOT always strive with us,
Nor will He keep His anger forever.
He has NOT dealt with us according to our sins,
NOR punished us according to our iniquities.
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
So GREAT is His mercy toward those who fear Him;
As FAR as the east is from the west,
So FAR has He REMOVED our transgressions from US.
[ EMPHASIS ADDED ]

God’s goodness and mercy are always working around you and in you and watching out for you. Knowing this should give you great peace and confidence for the future. Pastor Rick teaches in this message about why you can rely on God’s good, merciful nature.
https://www.pastorrick.com/en/current-teaching/series/living-in-the-goodness-of-god-2026-1?view=why-you-dont-need-to-fear-the-future---part-2

August 13th, 2016
Read; Philippians 4:6-7

Anxiety does not have to rule the heart. Paul gives every worry somewhere to go: into prayer, supplication, and thanksgiving before God. We can make every request known because our Father is never irritated by our need or surprised by our trouble. Thanksgiving remembers who He has already shown Himself to be, and prayer places the burden into His faithful hands. Then His peace takes its post like a guard over our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. When anxious thoughts return, we can return them to the God whose peace is stronger and whose presence is near.

Prayer

Merciful God, I bring You the anxieties I cannot settle and the needs I cannot meet. Thank You for Your past faithfulness and for welcoming every honest request. As I pray, let Your peace take its post over my heart and mind. Guard me from panic and despair, keep me in Christ Jesus, and fill the places fear has occupied with the quiet strength of Your presence. I place every concern into Your faithful hands. In Jesus' precious name, I pray. Amen.

The Pure in Heart Shall See God

As we study the teaching of the Kingdom of Heaven given by our King, Jesus Christ, we are learning the kingdom principles He taught His disciples on the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew records these teachings as masterpieces. They help us understand what Jesus teaches and why He calls followers to live differently.

Jesus begins the Beatitudes by declaring, “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” followed by those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, and the merciful. Now He teaches, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). These blessings reveal the character God desires in His people.

God is holy and just, and He calls His children to holiness according to His standard, not the world’s. Yet, in ourselves, we cannot achieve holiness. Because of our sin, we need God’s grace. Through the cross, Jesus took our punishment and opened the way for reconciliation with God. His blood cleanses us from sin, and the Holy Spirit leads us toward a sanctified life.

As 1 John 1:7 reminds us, when we walk in the light, the blood of Jesus cleanses us from sin. Scripture declares, “You shall be holy, for I am holy” (Leviticus 11:45). Therefore, purity of heart is not merely outward religion but inward transformation.

As children of God, let us pursue holiness, love God, love people, and walk faithfully in His light. May our lives reflect His holiness so that, by His grace, we may see God.

Good morning God
12 August 2026
As we continue our meditation on the Sermon on the Mount, we see Jesus teaching His disciples and followers the principles of the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus, the King, reveals how citizens of His Kingdom are called to live according to God’s ways and experience the blessings that come from following His will.

Today, we focus on another beautiful statement of blessing: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy” (Matthew 5:7). Mercy is one of the important attributes of God revealed throughout Scripture. Understanding who God is helps us understand His character, strengthens our faith, and gives us confidence in the One whom we trust.

The Old Testament repeatedly reveals that God is merciful, gracious, compassionate, loving, just, and righteous. Psalm 103:8 declares, “The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.” The same God calls His children to reflect His character in the way they live and treat others.

As followers of Christ, our goal is to become more like Jesus. Christlikeness means allowing God’s character to be reflected through our words, actions, attitudes, and relationships. Therefore, showing mercy is not simply an outward action; it is evidence of a heart that has been transformed by God’s grace.

Jesus concludes this section by saying, “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). Kingdom citizens are called to reflect their Heavenly Father.

May we therefore be people who freely extend mercy, forgiveness, compassion, and love to others, remembering the mercy we ourselves have received from God. This is the blessed way of life in the Kingdom of Heaven.

May God bless you as you love God and love people.

Brothers and sisters in Christ,
Please hear my heart: this is not an attack on anyone, nor am I telling you to leave church. No, no I am still in church, and I am still part of what we call church in this modern day.
For a very long time, God has been showing me clearly through His Word that much of what we see today is not His original design. Many have come against me and tried to convince me that these modern setups are from God, but when I open the Scriptures, I see something completely different.
I am not telling you what to do with what I share in this group. All I know is that revelation does not mean leave, and revelation does not mean attack.

Revelation means:
Question and search the Word (Acts 17:11).
Test all things (1 Thessalonians 5:21).
Read and study the Scriptures (2 Timothy 2:15).

Most importantly, PRAY.
When the disciples walked with Jesus, received all His wisdom, knowledge, and revelation, they didn't go out to fight the religious leaders or destroy the system the Pharisees had built. Instead, they asked Jesus one specific thing: "Lord, teach us to pray" (Luke 11:1). They knew that prayer is the ultimate source of power, the answer, and the only thing that brings true change from our Heavenly Father.
So yes, if you want to do something about what you read here, you have my full support: pray for the Body of Christ and for HIS Church not mine, not yours, but the Church of King Jesus Christ.
Amen, brothers and sisters

Exposing Religion, Restoring Covenant, and Understanding the True Body of Christ

THE ROOT PROBLEM: ADAM'S BLOODLINE VS. THE LAST ADAM
To understand what the Church is supposed to be, we must first understand why we needed Jesus in the first place.

The Inherited Condition: In Genesis 2:21-23, Eve was taken out of Adam’s side they shared the same life and blood. When Adam sinned, spiritual death and corrupted iniquity entered the human spiritual DNA.

The Transmitted Curse: Just like a child born with a condition inherited from their parents through no fault of their own, every human born of human seed inherited Adam’s fallen nature (Psalm 51:5, Romans 5:12).

The Pure Virgin Birth: This is why Jesus could not have an earthly human father. The Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary (Luke 1:35). Jesus was born with pure, heavenly, undefiled blood bypassing Adam's fallen seed.
"The first man Adam became a living being. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit."
1 Corinthians 15:45

Key Insight: Salvation through Holy Communion and the Blood of Jesus acts like spiritual dialysis filtering out the toxicity of Adam's sin and replacing it with the pure, incorruptible life of King Jesus!

GOD’S DESIGN FOR MARRIAGE AND COVENANT
Why did God create marriage, forbid sex outside of it, and tell us not to be unequally yoked (2 Corinthians 6:14)?

God is Eternal Community: God exists as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Love requires relationship. When God said, "It is not good that man should be alone" (Genesis 2:18), He wasn't just fixing Adam's loneliness He was creating humanity to reflect His relational, self-sacrificial nature.

Godly Offspring: Sex inside marriage creates a covenant shield over the home. Malachi 2:15 asks why God made two into one: "He seeks godly offspring." Born-again parents create a holy atmosphere covered by prayer (1 Corinthians 7:14).

Important Note: Born-again parents give their children a spiritual foundation, but every child must still reach an age where they personally accept Jesus as their Savior. God has children, not grandchildren!

Marriage as a Prophetic Picture: In Ephesians 5:31-32, Paul reveals that marriage between a husband and wife was created from Genesis to be a prophetic mirror of Christ and the Church.

THE TRAP OF MODERN RELIGION, CULTURE, AND TRADITIONS
In Matthew 15:6–9, Jesus confronted the religious leaders of His day with a severe warning:

"You have nullified the word of God for the sake of your tradition. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules."

When the modern Church strays from the Holy Spirit, it falls into three traps:

Religion: Replaces raw intimacy with God with mechanical checklists and outward appearances.

Culture: Waters down the Gospel to avoid offending people offering a soft "love" without Truth that leaves people bound in sin.

Tradition: Protects "how we've always done it," defending empty human routines even when the Holy Spirit wants to move.
The Pool of Bethesda Warning (John 5)
A paralyzed man lay by the pool for 38 years. He said, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up." He was inside a place called the "House of Mercy," yet he was totally isolated by religious crowds pursuing their own blessings. Jesus bypassed the crowd, spoke Kingdom power, and commanded him to rise! The Holy Spirit does not need a human run-sheet; He needs obedient vessels.

TRUTH AND LOVE: THE GREAT PHYSICIAN
Modern churches often preach Truth without Love (Legalism) or Love without Truth (Compromise). Jesus came full of Grace and Truth (John 1:14).

Truth without Love - Brutality: Uses Scripture like a hammer to condemn people without helping them.

Love without Truth - Deception: Tells a drowning person they are fine while they perish in their sin.

The Doctor Analogy: A good doctor hates the cancer, but loves the patient.

To the woman caught in adultery (John 8): Jesus offered unconditional Grace ("Neither do I condemn you") AND uncompromising Truth ("Go and sin no more").
Why Jesus Acted Differently with Different People:

To the broken, lost, and hurting sinner: Jesus was gentle, patient, and merciful (Zacchaeus, the woman at the well).

To the hypocritical religious leaders: Jesus was sharp, bold, and uncompromising ("Woe to you, hypocrites! White-washed tombs!" - Matthew 23:27).

WHAT IS THE TRUE CHURCH (EKKLĒSIA)?
If Jesus walked into our towns today, He wouldn't look for a brand name, a denomination, or a big building. The word "Church" in Greek is Ekklēsia, meaning "the called-out ones."

The Origin of the Setup: For the first 300 years, the early Church met from house to house as a family (Acts 2:46). When Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity in 313 AD, church life was merged with Roman pagan structures building giant basilicas, introducing altars, and turning active believers into passive spectators watching a priest or pastor perform on stage.

What is a "Saint"? In Scripture, every born-again believer is a saint (Ephesians 1:1). The "assembling of the saints" (Hebrews 10:25) was never meant to be watching a weekly 90-minute show. 1 Corinthians 14:26 says: "Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation."
Whose Church Does Jesus Visit?

Where believers gather in HIS Name (not human brand names - 1 Corinthians 1:12-13).

Where people worship in Spirit and in Truth (John 4:24).

Where genuine Love is shown to the broken (John 13:35).

Where Jesus is not locked outside the door by human programs (Revelation 3:20).

REVELATION IS A CALL TO PRAYER, NOT REBELLION
Testing what we hear against Scripture is biblical the Bereans were praised because they searched the Scriptures daily to verify what Paul taught (Acts 17:10-11).
When God gives you revelation to see the flaws in religious traditions:

Do not use it to destroy or attack: Revelation is not a weapon to throw rocks at the Bride of Christ.

Use it as an assignment to intercede: In Luke 11:1, the disciples didn't ask Jesus how to preach or do miracles they asked, "Lord, teach us to pray."

Follow Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer (John 17): Right before the cross, Jesus prayed for the protection and supernatural unity of His believers ("that they all may be one as We are one").

OUR CALLING AS STEWARDS
We do not own the Church; we are only stewards of what Jesus built. It was already perfect in the New Testament. We don't need to reinvent it with human business models or cultural traditions.
It is time to be soft and compassionate toward the broken sheep, but bold and uncompromising against the religious spirit that keeps people trapped.
Let us return to the original blueprint: living in the pure bloodline of Jesus, worshipping in Spirit and Truth, loving one another, and being His living Body on the earth! Amen!