Being Like Jesus

 30 DAYS DEVOTIONALS WITH PREACHER SAM THE RHEMA WORD FOR TODAY SEPTEMBER 11, 2022. TOPIC: JOY III (JOY COMES IN THE MORNING) BIBLE READING: PSALMS 63:1-8 VERSE FOR MEDITATION: PSALMS 30:5 GNT His anger lasts only a moment, his goodness for a lifetime. Tears may flow in the night, but joy comes in the morning. David when he was in the wilderness of Judah in 1 Samuel 22, wrote Psalms 63. In it, he wrote, “… Early will I seek You…” To seek the Lord is to wait on Him (Lam. 3:25). And yesterday we saw one of the benefits waiting on the Lord; He renews our strength. And that God supplies strength to us by His joy in our spirit. David sought for strength early. And the Bible says that early in the morning, Jesus went to pray [to wait on the Lord] (Mk. 1:35). So early in the morning, David sought for God. And joy only respond to the nature of God in us. Now this joy comes in the morning, so simply put, David needed the joy of the Lord to supply the strength he needed during his trying t...

  30 DAYS DEVOTIONALS WITH PREACHER SAM THE RHEMA WORD FOR TODAY SEPTEMBER 10, 2022. TOPIC: JOY II (THE JOY OF THE LORD) BIBLE READING: 2 CORINTHIANS 4:7-18 VERSE FOR MEDITATION: NEHEMIAH 8:10B NKJV … Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. Apostle Paul shared his experience with the church in Corinth about the challenge he faced in ministry and his reaction towards them. Yesterday, we saw that joy does not respond to what we feel or our emotion, but it responds to the nature of God in you. When writing to the church in Colossae, Apostle Paul said, “… Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Col. 1:27). So the Christ in you, which is God’s nature in you, is what is working for us (a hope) a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory (2 Cor. 4:17). So the hope of glory is the joy of the Lord at work in us. The psalmist wrote, “Let the saints be joyful in glory…” (Ps. 149:5). So Apostle Paul’s reaction to the challenges in ministry were as a result of the joy of t...

  30 DAYS DEVOTIONALS WITH PREACHER SAM THE RHEMA WORD FOR TODAY SEPTEMBER 9, 2022. TOPIC: JOY I (THE FRUIT) BIBLE READING: PSALMS 126:1-6 VERSE FOR MEDITATION: HABAKKUK 3:18 NKJV Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. Joy should not be mistaken for happiness or pleasure. Pleasure is a response in your body, happiness is a response in your soul, but joy is a response in your spirit. Both pleasure and happiness fluctuate because they respond to physical situations, but joy does not fluctuate because it flows from the realm of God. You may find pleasure in reading books, that’s your body responding. But if there are no books to read, the pleasure won’t be there. You may be happy if you see a credit alert; a part of your soul called the emotion is responding to that. But if all you receive is debit alert, you will be sad. But joy does not respond to what we feel or our emotion, but it responds to the nature of God in you. Joy is not as a result of...

  30 DAYS DEVOTIONALS WITH PREACHER SAM THE RHEMA WORD FOR TODAY SEPTEMBER 8, 2022. TOPIC: THE FAITHFUL GOD II BIBLE READING: GENESIS 26:1-17 VERSE FOR MEDITATION: PSALMS 23:2 ERV He gives me green pastures to lie in. He leads me by calm pools of water. Yesterday, we saw the way of God is different from the way of man. And that the way of God may not look like it at first, but when you follow through His process, the end thereof is glorious. Isaac was instructed by God to stay still in Gerar, and at that time, there was famine. Because he had judged God faithful, he obeyed and he sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. How do you explain that? And the Bible passage went on to say, “The man began to prosper, and continued prospering until he became very prosperous… So the Philistines envied him.” (Gen.26:13, 14). If truly you are living by the faith in the Son of God, then you ought to walk by faith and not by sight (Gal 2:20; 2 Cor. 5:7). Some believers...

  30 DAYS DEVOTIONALS WITH PREACHER SAM THE RHEMA WORD FOR TODAY SEPTEMBER 7, 2022. TOPIC: THE FAITHFUL GOD I BIBLE READING: ISAIAH 43:1-21 VERSE FOR MEDITATION: 2 THESSALONIANS 3:3 NKJV But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from evil one. In our Bible reading, we see that in the moments of trails, God is still judged as faithful. Our ways are not His ways (Isa. 55:8); for His ways are past finding out (Rom. 11:33). “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” (Prov. 14:12; 16:25). The way of man is the way of death, but the way of God is the way of life (Ps. 16:1). Meaning there is no life if Jesus isn’t the way. Jesus is the only way to God and eternal life (cf. 1 Jn. 5:20), that is why the way is narrow. The broader way that leads to death is the any other way apart from God; which is the way of man (Matt. 7:13, 14). The psalmist wrote, “Even when your path takes me through the valley of deepest darkness, fear will nev...

  30 DAYS DEVOTIONALS WITH PREACHER SAM THE RHEMA WORD FOR TODAY  SEPTEMBER 6, 2022. TOPIC: THE FAITH OF MAN AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD II BIBLE READING: ROMANS 3:1-8 VERSE FOR MEDITATION: 1 CORINTHIANS 1:9 GW God faithfully keeps his promises. He called you to be partners with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. An apostle once said, “Faith is man’s to God, but faithfulness is God’s response to man.” The Bible said of Sarah, “By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed… because she judged Him faithful who had promised.” (Heb. 11:11). If faith comes by hearing the word of God, then it means that Sarah acted by the word of God; that was her response to God. And the reason for this was because she had judged Him to be responsive to man. The Bible says that if we have no faith in God, He remains faithful; for He cannot deny Himself (2 Tim. 2:13). It is always in God’s nature to respond to man, even though we fail in our own part. Our faithlessness can never ma...

  30 DAYS DEVOTIONALS WITH PREACHER SAM THE RHEMA WORD FOR TODAY SEPTEMBER 5, 2022. TOPIC: THE FAITH OF MAN AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD I BIBLE READING: ROMANS 4:13-25 VERSE FOR MEDITATION: HEBREWS 11:6 NKJV But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. The promises of God are made effective through faith (Rom. 4:13 cf. Phm. 1:6). Abraham obtained the promise through faith and it was accounted to him for righteousness. We won’t receive God’s promises if we lack faith in our lives, for He is a rewarder of those with faith. There is a difference between faith, trust and belief. Belief is a mental acceptance of a claim as truth regardless of supporting or contrary empirical evidence. In James 2:19, it says, “… demons believe [God] and tremble.” Trust is a confidence that one has on some person. But faith goes beyond belief and trust; if you only believe that there is ...