Spiritual maturity is not in the accumulation of theological degrees, spiritual maturity is not in climbing the ecclesiastical ladder and becoming everything – arch bishop or cardinal and so on (this is not bad though). Spiritual maturity is not in occupying Church positions. Spiritual maturity is in knowing Jesus Christ and falling in love over and over again with him; giving him preeminence in all things. This year, may we give our Lord Jesus Christ the preeminent position in every facet of our lives. May we fall in love over and over again with him and place one hundred percent value in our relationship with him in the mighty name of Jesus. Receive the grace to fall in love over and over again with Christ in every facet of your life. Receive the grace to know him better. Ask him to reveal himself to you. Receive the grace to enthrone him, to celebrate his lordship in the name of Jesus.
Celebrating Christmas is waste of both physical and spiritual energy. We don’t celebrate Christmas, we celebrate the Christ. We don’t celebrate the day, we celebrate the essence. We celebrate not just the event, we celebrate the person and that should be our lifestyle. I love this songs:
“I live for Jesus all my life, the Holy Spirit I will obey, I give to Jesus all I have, for he will take good care of me.”
Let’s talk about Jesus more and more. Let’s celebrate him. Celebrate his person. Celebrate his essence. Celebrate his substance. Celebrate his life. Celebrate his ministry. Celebrate his majesty.
Pray
- Lord, this year, I want to know you more and fall in love over and over again with you. Please reveal yourself to me.
There is something about the revelation of Jesus. Anyone who has not had an encounter with Christ, his or her conviction will be a bit shallow. This, I can tell you authoritatively because I was there. In the early seventies, when we gave our lives to Christ, we went to Church, we read the Bible and did other things but I never knew Christ. The only Christ I knew was the one I read about in the Bible. That was the reason why I backslide for five years and almost lost everything. But I thank God because like the prodigal son, I returned right there in my little room when I was undergoing the mandatory youth service corps programme (NYSC) in Maiduguri in the northern part of Nigeria. I rededicate my life, I dusted, my old and torn Bible. Something in me told me told me that the Bible was still important and that was the reason why I went along with it to the NYSC programme. I started reading the Bible and I started having encounters with Jesus Christ.
One encounter is worth more than billions of sermons. May we desire to have divine encounters. I pray that you will have a definite encounter with Jesus Christ in the name of Jesus. Saul of Tarsus was busy terrorizing the believers and persecuting them at that time but on his way to Damascus with a mandate to persecute and kill, he had an encounter with the Lord, Jesus Christ. With that encounter, he became unstoppable for the rest of his life. You don’t recover from one encounter with Christ.
Pray
- Jesus, I want to have an encounter with you – one on one personal encounter with you, a life changing encounter – deep encounter that can never be taken away from me. Jesus, I need an encounter with you. Please reveal yourself to me in a tangible palpable manner. Reveal yourself to me, Jesus Christ. Dissolve every doubt in my heart, dissolve every unbelief in my heart. Dissolve anything that hinders your purpose in my life. Draw me closer to you, make heaven more real to me than any earthly thing can ever be.
- I ask you, Lord, Jesus, do it and take all the glory in the name of Jesus Christ. This is my desire.
- I pray into the life of everyone connected to this ministry that everyone will have a definite life changing encounter with Jesus Christ, your Son. Reveal Jesus Christ to every one of us progressively in the name of Jesus. Help us, O God, to prioritize our relationship with your dear Son Jesus Christ, the Way. Thank you blessed Lord, in Jesus name I pray. Amen.
TO BE CONTINUED…….