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Tag: In His Presence

  • [Devotional] IN HIS PRESENCE: Do not cover it up

    [Devotional] IN HIS PRESENCE: Do not cover it up

    By Oke Chinye

    Read: 2 SAMUEL 11:1-28

    Meditation verse:

    “He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy” (Proverbs 28:13).

    After a particularly restless night, I got up in the early hours to take off a weave I had attached to my hair. The heat and discomfort on my scalp had become unbearable. I stood in front of my bathroom mirror at about 3am with a pair of scissors in my hands, taking off the threads that attached the weave to my hair. As the weave came off, I cringed at the state of my hair. It looked very dry and had gone grey at the roots. The weave had served as a cover for the true state of my hair. On the outside, my hair looked perfect and well groomed, but underneath the weave, were rows of dry and damaged hair. I decided there and then to visit a hair therapist and commence the process of rejuvenating and restoring my hair to a healthier state.

    Whilst praying a few moments later, it was impressed in my heart that in much the same way, we cover up mistakes, sins, and wrong attitudes in our lives. We use pretence, falsehood, lies or bravado to cover up the rottenness that is going on inside us. After committing Adultery with Bathsheba and impregnating her, king David tried to cover up his act by ordering the death of her husband in the battlefront. But his actions were visible before God, and He was displeased. David’s life and family were greatly affected by that singular indiscretion.

    “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 16:25). Do not cover your sins no matter how grievous they are. If you do, it will not be well with you at the end of the day. You may succeed in fooling others, but God cannot be mocked. He knows about them; He is waiting for you to own up and ask for His help. I could only commence treating my hair, after the weave came off. Complete restoration and healing can only occur when you confess and forsake your sins. Decide today to remove every cover of falsehood. No sin is too great to be forgiven, and none is too small to be confessed.

     

    IN HIS PRESENCE is written by Dcns Oke Chinye, Founder of The Rock Teaching Ministry (TRTM).

    For Prayers and Counseling email rockteachingministry@gmail.com

    or call +2348155525555

    For more enquiries, visit: www.rockteachingministry.org.

  • [Devotional] IN HIS PRESENCE: What are you hungry for?

    [Devotional] IN HIS PRESENCE: What are you hungry for?

    By Oke Chinye

    Read: Acts 10:1-23

    Meditation verse:

    “And a voice came to him, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat” (Acts 10: 13).

    Peter became very hungry and wanted to eat, then he fell into a trance where he saw a great sheet descending from heaven containing all kinds of four-footed animals, wild beasts, and birds of the air. Then God told him to rise, kill and eat. Peter’s hunger put him in a state that enabled him to see the vision God had for him. Similarly, God can create a void in your life in preparation for the vision He has for us. This void leads to a hunger within you, which either puts you in a state of vulnerability or creates a restlessness in you.  Either way, as you look up to God for answers, He opens your heart to perceive what He wants you to do. The bible states that as Peter thought about the vision, the Spirit spoke to him, revealing what the vision was about.

    It is difficult to go after what you are not hungry for or what you have no desire for, because you are likely to give up at the slightest challenge. The hunger becomes the motivation that pushes you further. The greater the hunger, the greater your desire to satisfy it. When God was leading the children of Israel to the promised land, He repeatedly told them that the land was beautiful and good, flowing with milk and honey. He was creating a hunger in them that would enable them take possession of the land, despite opposition from its previous inhabitants.

    Which area of your life is there currently a vacuum or deep void? What are you hungry for? What is your deepest heart desire? The hunger and yearning you are feeling, may be connected to the vision that God has for you. It may be tied to your God-ordained assignment. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled (Mathew 5:6).

     

    IN HIS PRESENCE is written by Dcns Oke Chinye, Founder of The Rock Teaching Ministry (TRTM).

    For Prayers and Counseling email rockteachingministry@gmail.com

    or call +2348155525555

    For more enquiries, visit: www.rockteachingministry.org.

  • [Devotional] IN HIS PRESENCE: The latent function of work

    [Devotional] IN HIS PRESENCE: The latent function of work

    By Oke Chinye

    Read: Genesis 2:1-15

    Meditation verse:

    “Whatever your hand finds to. Do, do it with your might, for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going” (Ecclesiastes 9:10). 

    From the beginning of creation, God instituted work. As soon as He created the first man, He gave him work to do. “The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it” (Genesis 2:15).  Psalm 104; 22-23 says, when the sun rises, they steal away and lie down in their dens. Man goes out to his work and to his labour until evening”. Ecclesiastes 9:10 says, “whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going”. 1 Thessalonians 4:11 says, “that you aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you”.

    Work is important for our total wellbeing. Absence of dignified labour affects our mental, emotional, social, financial, and psychological health.  According to social psychologist, Marie Jahoda, work has some latent benefits, besides a paycheck, which include:

    • Imposing a time structure to your day
    • Conferring status and identity on you
    • Enabling you to be part of a collective purpose
    • Providing you with activities to get involved in
    • Providing opportunities for social contact 

    If you have been feeling out of sorts, unfulfilled and worn out, a good place to begin your search is the work that you do. Are you meaningfully and sufficiently engaged? Are you utilising the gifts and talents that are important to you? Is your work an integral part of who you are? Is it in alignment with your core values?  Do you interact with others while discharging your duties? And are you part of a purpose that is bigger than you?

     

    IN HIS PRESENCE is written by Dcns Oke Chinye, Founder of The Rock Teaching Ministry (TRTM).

    For Prayers and Counseling email rockteachingministry@gmail.com

    or call +2348155525555

    For more enquiries, visit: www.rockteachingministry.org.

  • [Devotional] IN HIS PRESENCE: The many voices that speak to us

    [Devotional] IN HIS PRESENCE: The many voices that speak to us

    By Oke Chinye

    Read: John 10:1-30

    Meditation verse:

    “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27).

    There are many strange voices speaking to us that we need to be aware of. Voices are powerful because they shape our lives. But listening to the wrong voice can impact your life negatively. What are some of these voices that speak into our lives?

    Your past mistakes: One of the ways the enemy tries to keep you down is by constantly reminding you of your past failures, errors, wrong choices, sins, and setbacks until you become imprisoned in it. That silent voice of accusation belongs to the devil. He wants you to focus only on what is wrong with you, until you lose your faith in God and in yourself.

    Your imagination: Our imagination always makes things seem worse because the brain prefers to focus on what could go wrong. Your imagination can speak into your life can causing you to focus only on what is wrong or can go wrong.

    The voice of others: Different people will speak to you based on their opinion of you and what their intentions are. Those with good intentions will speak good words, whilst those with evil intentions will speak negative words. Be very careful of the voices you permit into your life.

    Your thoughts: take heed to the thoughts you allow to take root in your heart for as a man thinketh in his heart so is he.

    Your experiences: Our experiences can take on a voice and begin to speak into our lives. For instance, if life has dealt you many bad blows, you begin to expect nothing good in life. That is your experience taking on a voice and speaking into your life. Failing a few times does not make you a failure. You only experienced failure for a season in your life, you can also experience success in a different season of life.

    The danger with some of these voices is that while what they speak might seem true because they mirror the realities of life, they are nit the truth. The only truth is what God says about you in His word and that is the only voice you should only to constantly speak into your life. John 10:2-5, NLT, says, “but the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice. They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice”.

    Why not silence every strange voice currently speaking into your life and speak God’s truth instead?

     

    IN HIS PRESENCE is written by Dcns Oke Chinye, Founder of The Rock Teaching Ministry (TRTM).

    For Prayers and Counseling email rockteachingministry@gmail.com

    or call +2348155525555

    For more enquiries, visit: www.rockteachingministry.org.

  • [Devotional] IN HIS PRESENCE: Do exactly what you were created to do

    [Devotional] IN HIS PRESENCE: Do exactly what you were created to do

    By Oke Chinye

    Read: Judges 9: 7-15

    Meditation verse:

    “But the olive tree said to them, ‘should I cease giving my oil, with which they honour God and men, and go to sway over trees?” (Judges 9:9).

    The story is told of a lady who died and was on the queue standing before the Judge on judgement day to give an account of her life. She watched those in front of her reel out the mighty exploits they had done whilst on earth. Some had built great cathedrals and several places of worship, others had given billions of naira in God’s name, and some had fed thousands of people.

    Finally, it was the lady’s turn. Feeling intimidated and bowing down her head in shame as she approached the judge, she said “I am so sorry that I did not do much with my life. I stayed at home to raise my four boys. But to her utmost surprise, the Man at the gate said “well done woman, you did better than the others because you did exactly what you were put on earth to do. You were sent to raise these four boys well so that they could fulfil the great call on their lives. And because you did that, your three sons who are pastors have collectively won thirty million souls into God’s kingdom and your last child created an invention that improved the existence of mankind here on earth. These other people did what no one asked them to do, even though they spent millions doing so.

    Isaiah 55:8-9 says “for My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways My ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. Before you were formed, God knew you and ordained you for a particular assignment. It is important that you discover, stick with, and actualize your purpose, because when all is said and done you will stand before God and give a full account of how you accomplished your purpose. Whether yours is insignificant or great, stick with it. The size of your purpose does not matter to God, it is how well you accomplish it that He is interested in.

    The One who created you did so for a reason. So, stick with who you were called to be, every other person is taken.

     

    IN HIS PRESENCE is written by Dcns Oke Chinye, Founder of The Rock Teaching Ministry (TRTM).

    For Prayers and Counseling email rockteachingministry@gmail.com

    or call +2348155525555

    For more enquiries, visit: www.rockteachingministry.org.

  • [Devotional] IN HIS PRESENCE: Identify and feed your multitude

    [Devotional] IN HIS PRESENCE: Identify and feed your multitude

    By Oke Chinye

    Read: Luke 9:10-17

    Meditation verse:

    “But He said to them, “You give them something to eat.” (Luke 9:13a).

    A multitude followed Jesus as He went to a deserted place in the city of  Bethsaida. When evening came, His disciples urged Him to send the multitude  away to find food and shelter, but Jesus said to them ‘you give them something  to eat’. You are a bundle of wisdom, abilities, skills, and knowledge which you  have gathered over the years and your life experience is an asset. There is a  multitude out there waiting to drink from your wealth of experience. These are  the people you have been called to serve. This is the multitude you are meant  to feed. You were not called to serve everyone on earth. You cannot be  everything to everybody. There are about seven billion people in the world. You  are called to serve only a tiny dot of this seven billion.

    So how do you identify the multitude your multitude? Your life experiences can  lead you to them. What trials have you overcome? What processes have you  gone through and succeeded? What have you become an expert at doing? The  things that happen to us in life are hardly random, they are usually part of God’s  plan to get us to where He wants us to be. God will hardly waste a life  experience, including a painful one. If you allow Him, He can enable you use it  to feed your multitude. People are helped better when they can relate to your  personal experiences. The bible says that God comforts us so that we can  comfort others with the same comfort wherein we were comforted. (2 Cor 1:4).

    What is your story? Are you a cancer survivor? Are you a victim of rape or  domestic violence, a parent with an autistic child or a rehabilitated drug addict?  A thriving single parent, divorcee or at home mother? Your experiences can help  you identify the multitude you are called to serve. You can feed them with your  mess to message story which is a powerful tool to transform someone’s life.

    Your life is a bundle of energy which people must experience when they  encounter you. Quit feeling sorry for yourself. Identify and feed your multitude.  You have enough to feed them with. You are the light of the world. Light up your  section of the world.

     

    IN HIS PRESENCE is written by Dcns Oke Chinye, Founder of The Rock Teaching Ministry (TRTM).

    For Prayers and Counseling email rockteachingministry@gmail.com

    or call +2348155525555

    For more enquiries, visit: www.rockteachingministry.org.

  • [Devotional] IN HIS PRESENCE: Take no thought for tomorrow

    [Devotional] IN HIS PRESENCE: Take no thought for tomorrow

    By Oke Chinye

    Read: Mathew 6: 25-34

    Meditation verse:

    “Therefore, I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what  you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than  food and the body more than clothing?”.

    Learn to live in the present and do not worry about tomorrow. Does this mean  you should not plan for tomorrow? The answer is no. Planning for tomorrow  entails putting well thought out plans in place. It is action based and is time well  spent. Worrying about tomorrow is fretting and agitating without taking any  action. It is a harmful as it interferes with our productivity and efforts for today.  It also portrays lack of faith in God.

    The same God who put life in you, surely can be trusted with the details of your  life. Jesus enjoins us to take no thought for tomorrow, but rather focus on His  kingdom and righteousness. When we make God our priority, everything we  need will be given to us in due course. Rather, than fretting over prevailing  circumstances, the psalmist yearned for God amid his distresses. He said “why  are you cast down, o my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in  God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance” (Psalm 42:5).

    The song writer says, “count your blessings, name them one by one and it would  surprise you what the Lord has done”. Are you currently worried over a future  occurrence over which you have very little control? Why not spend the time  instead counting your current blessings. Icons of God’sfaithfulness over ourlives  are always evident. Enjoy the blessings of today. “Be anxious for nothing; but in  everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be  made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding  will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).  Praying about tomorrow, is time well spent. Worrying about tomorrow is time  wasted.

     

    IN HIS PRESENCE is written by Dcns Oke Chinye, Founder of The Rock Teaching Ministry (TRTM).

    For Prayers and Counseling email rockteachingministry@gmail.com

    or call +2348155525555

    For more enquiries, visit: www.rockteachingministry.org.

  • [Devotional] IN HIS PRESENCE: Count every day as significant

    [Devotional] IN HIS PRESENCE: Count every day as significant

    By Oke Chinye

    Read: Romans 14:5-10

    Meditation verse:

    “One person esteems one day above another; another esteems everyday alike.  Let each be fully convinced. In his own mind” (Romans 14:5).

    Psalm 118:24 says, “this is the day that the Lord has made; we will rejoice and  be glad in it”. Ecclesiastes 11: 5-6 (NLT) says “just as you cannot understand the  path of the wind or the mystery of a tiny baby growing in its mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the activity of God who does all things. Plant your seed  in the morning and keep busy all afternoon, for you don’t know if profit will  come from one activity or another, or maybe both”. Jeremiah 10:23 says “O  Lord, I now the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct  his own steps. Proverbs 16:1 says, “the preparations of the heart belong to man,  but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord”. What do the above scriptures tell us?

    Each day you wake up alive, be grateful to God. Count it as significant because  God created it to be, and then expect the best from it. You do not know how the  day will turn out. It is not yours to understand. What is expected of you is to give  yourself fully to it, toiling from morning to evening in whatever tasks your hands  have found to do. Make plans for the day but remember that the final outcomes  of the plans you make is determined by God, so be sure to commit your plans to  Him and keep an open mind.

    God’s word is full of wisdom and life transforming insights for daily living. I have  learnt to esteem everyday as important to my existence here on earth. I have  learnt to esteem everyone that God sends to me as significant to the accomplishment of my assignment on earth. I have learnt not to label any event  in my life as a coincidence or happenstance. I have learnt to esteem every  experience in my life as working together for my good and a significant part of  where God is taking me to. I have learnt that destination is more important than  the journey. Ecclesiastes 7:8-9 says, “the end of a thing is better than the  beginning”. I am therefore persuaded that everything will be alright in the end.  If it is not alright now, then it is not the end.

     

    IN HIS PRESENCE is written by Dcns Oke Chinye, Founder of The Rock Teaching Ministry (TRTM).

    For Prayers and Counseling email rockteachingministry@gmail.com

    or call +2348155525555

    For more enquiries, visit: www.rockteachingministry.org.

  • [Devotional] IN HIS PRESENCE: A heavenly perspective

    [Devotional] IN HIS PRESENCE: A heavenly perspective

    By Oke Chinye

    Read: Hebrews 11:1-16

    Meditation verse:

    “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but. Having seen them  afar off were assured of them, embraced them, and confessed that they were  strangers and pilgrims on the earth” (Hebrews 11:13).

    I watched a Christian documentary several years ago. In it were scenes of  different individuals in desperate situations. There was the story of a teenage  mother with a 2-year-old son who had lived a rough life and had no income of her own. She was suffering from sickle cell and had been bleeding for two  months. And she was asking why God would do this to her. In another scene a  plane full of passengers was shaking violently and about to crash. And the movie  focused on a man shouting hysterically “help us oh God”. Several other scenes  were shown were people in desperate situations cried out to God.

    Hebrews 11: 13-16 (NIV) says “All these people were still living by faith when  they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and  welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and  strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a  country of their own… They were longing for a better country- a heavenly one.  Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city  for them”. These people died without receiving all that God promised them, but  they never lost their vision of a better place- Heaven.

    The Christian life and our walk of faith is not always a bed of roses. Bad things  happen to sinners and believers alike. We live in a fallen world where loss and  pain abound. God did not promise us a hassle-free life here on earth, what He  promised us was a better place in Heaven. Too many Christians become  discouraged, frustrated, and eventually give up, when we feel God did not show  up as we expected Him to. We must keep our eyes on Him and adopt a heavenly perspective. Life may be hard now, but someday, we will be in a place where  there will be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, nor pain. For the former  things would have passed away (Revelation 21:4). Hold on to this hope today  and never lose sight of it again.

     

    IN HIS PRESENCE is written by Dcns Oke Chinye, Founder of The Rock Teaching Ministry (TRTM).

    For Prayers and Counseling email rockteachingministry@gmail.com

    or call +2348155525555

    For more enquiries, visit: www.rockteachingministry.org.

  • [Devotional] IN HIS PRESENCE: Don’t get scared by your experiences

    [Devotional] IN HIS PRESENCE: Don’t get scared by your experiences

    By Oke Chinye

    Read: Daniel 3:8-30

    Meditation verse:

    “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more  exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:17).

    To be scarred means to be deeply affected or marked by mental or physical pain  or injury. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had just passed through a horrible  experience. They had been bound and thrown into a fiery furnace heated seven  times more. But they came out unhurt and untainted by their experience. They  did not even smell smoke; meaning there was nothing on them that showed  what they had just gone through.

    Scorned, betrayed, and sold into slavery by his own blood, Joseph had every  reason to be scarred. He was accused of rape and thrown into prison. He was  forgotten in prison by someone he had helped. He could have turned into an  angry and vengeful person. But when he found himself in a position of authority,  he refused to let his past define him, he said “you meant evil against me, but  God turned it around for good” (Genesis 50:20).

    Jephthah was the son of Gilead, but his mother was a prostitute. His half brothers drove him away. So, he fled from them and settled in the land of Tob,  where a gang of scoundrels followed him. When the Ammonites were fighting  against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to him to request that he be their commander, to fight the Ammonites. Through his leadership, the Lord gave  Israel victory (Judges 11). Esther the orphan became queen in place of Vashti  (Esther 2). Moses, a shepherd who fled into exile for committing murder, led  God’s people out of Egypt. He was eighty years old. (Exodus 7).

    Irrespective of what your past experiences have been, don’t get scarred by  them. Your past does not define you; it prepares you for your future. Do you  know why the front windscreen of your car is bigger than the rear-view mirror?  It is because what is ahead of you is more important that what is behind. Quit  reliving your past experiences. Stop talking about the pains of yesterday. Look  ahead and move on to what God has in store for you. “For I know the thoughts  that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give  you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11). If God has. said it, then it is settled.

     

    IN HIS PRESENCE is written by Dcns Oke Chinye, Founder of The Rock Teaching Ministry (TRTM).

    For Prayers and Counseling email rockteachingministry@gmail.com

    or call +2348155525555

    For more enquiries, visit: www.rockteachingministry.org.