Daily Devotion — September 1 | Acts 23:11 (NKJV)

When God Stands With You

Paul was facing a difficult and uncertain moment. He had testified about his faith in Christ, and opposition against him was growing stronger. The situation had become so dangerous that the Lord personally came and stood by Paul, assuring him that he should not be afraid.

God reminded Paul that his witness in Jerusalem was not the end of his calling. He would also testify about Christ in Rome. The circumstances around Paul looked threatening, but God's purpose for his life remained secure.

This passage reminds us that God's presence does not disappear when life becomes difficult. There may be moments when we feel surrounded by opposition, uncertainty, disappointment, or fear. Yet the Lord knows exactly where we are, and He is able to strengthen us when our own strength feels insufficient.

Jesus told Paul to be of good cheer because his journey was not finished. In the same way, believers can find courage in knowing that God is still working even when we cannot see what He is doing. Our responsibility is to remain faithful, trust His presence, and continue walking in obedience.
God does not promise that every road will be easy, but He promises that we never walk it alone. When fear rises, we can remember that the Lord stands with His people and gives them courage to continue fulfilling the purpose He has given them.

Reflection Questions

1. What situation in my life is causing me fear or discouragement

2. Am I trusting God's presence even when I cannot see the outcome

3. How can I remain faithful to God in the situation I am facing today

Prayer

Lord God, thank You for reminding me that You are with me even in difficult and uncertain times. Give me courage when I am afraid and strength when I feel weak. Help me to trust Your purpose and remain faithful to You wherever You lead me. In Jesus name Amen.

Practical Application

- Face today's difficulties with confidence in God's presence

- Continue obeying God even when circumstances are discouraging

- Encourage someone who may be struggling with fear or uncertainty

Takeaway Thought

When God stands with you, difficult circumstances do not have the final word.

#LordsbookDailys #DailyDevotion #September1 #Acts2311 #BeOfGoodCheer #GodIsWithYou #CalledToBeAWitness #BibleInspiration #GrowInFaith

Baptism and Prayer
The light of Christ does not disappear from those who have received the mystery of baptism, but if they immerse themselves in evil, it becomes difficult for them to recognize it. This light is the inner intellectual perception of goodness, its love, pursuit, and adherence, and steadfastness in it. It is what moves the heart toward love, longing for God, constant clinging to the name of Jesus Christ in prayer, and love for that name which overcomes all things; for it is the most beloved name to the heavenly Father, and because it is the name spoken by the Father and the Holy Spirit. It is therefore the "Beloved" name by which we offer prayers to the Father in the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit.
And when we are baptized in the name of the Holy Trinity, we receive a spiritual communion with the Trinity, which makes us love prayer, strive for it, and long to exist in the Trinity; for Christ Jesus who is in us moves us toward the Father, and the Spirit who is in us moves us toward Christ, and the Father's longing for us is that longing about which our Lord Jesus Christ says: "We will come to him and make our home with him" (John 14:23).

#Baptism #Prayer #HolyTrinity #LightOfChrist #HolySpirit #Communion #ChristianLife

Need to know.
Signs You Have an Octopus Spirit!

What is the Octopus Spirit?

This is a spirit that causes you to feel like your mind is wrapped, squeezed, and pulled in many directions at once. It clouds your thinking, steals your peace, and tries to choke out your spiritual life with lies that sound like your own voice.

The Bible does not use the word ‘octopus’ but it does describe this type of mental attack and calls us to take every thought captive to obey Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:4-5)

So here are 8 points, or ‘tentacles,’ that can show if you are being oppressed by this spirit.

Tentacle #1: You have intrusive thoughts that you did not invite.

For example:
- You are worship and a blasphemous thought flashes in.
- You are driving and a thought tells you to hurt yourself.
- You are holding your child and a dark image appears.

You feel sick inside and wonder what is wrong with you. James 1:14 shows the enemies entices and whispers. You are not the thoughts you did not invite.

Tentacle #2: Every thought turns hopeless.

You make one small mistake and your mind jumps to ‘it is over.’ You have one bad day and feel, ‘this is who I am forever.’

If your thoughts keep ending in, ‘there is no point,’ that is a sign of mental oppression.

Tentacle #3: You have mental loops that don’t stop.

- You replay old conversations nonstop.
- You reheard disasters that have not happened.
- You wake up at night and relive things you cannot change.

You are not processing. You are in torment. The octopus spirit keeps your mind spinning without peace.

Tentacle #4: Your thoughts become your identity.

You used to think, ‘I am struggling with fear.’ Now you say, ‘I am a fearful person.’ You used to think, ‘I am tempted by lust.’ Now you call yourself a lustful person.

The Bible tells you to take thoughts captive, not to wear them as your name. When a repeated thought becomes how you describe yourself, it turns into a stronghold.

Tentacle #5: Prayer feels heavy and numbing feels easy.

The Bible feels boring, worship feels hollow, and prayer feels dry and heavy. But scrolling, eating, drinking, and binge watching feel effortless.

This can be spiritual warfare that pulls you away from what nourishes your spirit and drags you toward what only numbs you.

Tentacle #6: You hide and isolate.

You start thinking things like:
- ‘Do not tell anyone.’
- ‘They will judge me.’
- ‘No one will understand.’
- ‘Handle your problems alone.’

This spirit thrives in secrecy and isolation. The Bible calls us to confess our sins to one another and pray for each other to be healed. (James 5:16)

When you think your thoughts into the light, the grip of this spirit begins to loosen.

Tentacle #7: You live in mental fog and double mindedness.

You feel constant fog in your mind and struggle to focus, pray, and make decisions. Some days you feel close to God, but other days you feel numb and distant.

That fog is not from your Father. It is the enemy clouding the water so you cannot see clearly.

Tentacle #8: You start giving yourself permission to sin.

At first the voice in your head tempts you. Then it starts to sound like permission.

- ‘You deserve it.’
- ‘Just do it this once.’
- ‘God will understand.’
- ‘It’s not that serious.’

When your own thoughts start writing permission slips and signing God’s name on them, this is a sign that this spirit is at work.

If you see these signs in your life, it does not mean things are hopeless. It means the Holy Spirit is bringing this into the light so Jesus can set you free.

Here is what to do:
- Come to Jesus and confess that your mind belongs to Him.
- Identify the lies and name them out loud as lies.
- Replace lies with the truth of Scripture.
- Repent of any open doors and invite Jesus to close them.
- In the name of Jesus, command every spirit tied to these lies to leave.
- Refuse isolation and share honestly with a trusted, mature believer.
- Begin to renew your mind daily in the word of God.

You do not have to live with this forever. In Christ there is real freedom.

The Advent Truth.
POV: You remind someone that the Ten Commandments are still God’s moral law—and suddenly you’re told you’re denying grace, rejecting Jesus, trying to “earn salvation,” or putting Christians back under the Old Covenant.

But Scripture presents a very different picture.

The same Bible that says we are saved by grace also says:

“If ye love me, keep my commandments.” — John 14:15

“For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.” — 1 John 5:3

“Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.” — Romans 3:31

Grace does not turn sin into righteousness. Grace forgives the sinner AND transforms the life.

And what is sin?

“Sin is the transgression of the law.” — 1 John 3:4

Here’s the strange part: most Christians have absolutely no problem saying we should have no other gods, reject idols, honor our parents, not murder, not commit adultery, not steal, not lie, and not covet.

But mention the FOURTH commandment—

“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.” — Exodus 20:8

—and suddenly keeping God’s commandments becomes “legalism.”

Why is the commandment that begins with REMEMBER the one Christianity has worked hardest to forget?

Jesus never abolished the Sabbath. He declared Himself “Lord also of the sabbath” (Mark 2:28). He said it was “made for man” (Mark 2:27). Isaiah describes Gentiles keeping it (Isaiah 56:6-7). Jesus told His disciples to pray concerning the Sabbath decades after the cross (Matthew 24:20). Revelation identifies God’s final people as those who “keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus” (Revelation 14:12).

We don’t keep the commandments to GET saved.

We keep them because Christ HAS saved us, writes His law upon our hearts (Hebrews 8:10), and produces loving obedience in the surrendered life.

The gospel doesn’t save us in rebellion against God.

It saves us from rebellion against God.

And yes—that includes the commandment that says REMEMBER.

When you hunger for God, He truly becomes your priority!

#FastingAndPrayer #SeekGodFirst #FocusOnGod #SpiritualGrowth #HungerForGod #ChristianEncouragement #LordsbookApp

THE MONEY’S MIND
The Body of the Word: The Container of Economic Contents

By Omodolapo Ogunye

What if the greatest economic storehouse is not a bank, a vault, a market, or a financial institution?

What if it is the Body of the Word?

We have been trained to look for economic resources in external systems: capital markets, institutions, commodities, technology and investment opportunities.

But Scripture presents another possibility.

The Body of the Word is a container.

A container filled with contents.

And among its contents are economic contents.

Song of Solomon describes the Beloved:

“His head is purest gold.”
— Song of Solomon 5:11

Proverbs declares:

“In her left hand are riches and honour.”
— Proverbs 3:16

And again:

“My fruit is better than fine gold.”
— Proverbs 8:19

These descriptions are not merely poetic ornaments.

They reveal something profound:

There are economic contents stored in the Body of the Word.

Gold.

Riches.

Honour.

Fruit.

Prosperity.

These are not external additions to the Word. They are revelations of what is contained within the Person of the Word.

This changes the way we think about economics.

The question is no longer merely:

“Where can I find money?”

The deeper question becomes:

“What economic contents are stored in the Body of the Word?”

Colossians 2:9 says:

“In Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.”

The Body is therefore a container of fullness.

And if the Word is revealed in Scripture as economic and financial, then the Body of the Word contains economic identities, economic wisdom, economic abilities and economic performances.

This is where The Money's Mind begins.

The Money is not merely a currency.

The Money is a Person.

And the economic contents we seek are contained within the Body of that Person—the Word.

The Scriptures are capable of producing performances because they testify about the Word.

But perhaps the economic performances of Scripture are activated when we begin to discover and hunger for the economic contents stored within the Body of the Word.

This is the proposition:

The Body of the Word is the container of economic contents.

And the future of economic revelation may depend on our willingness to look beyond the pages of Scripture—not away from them, but into the Person they reveal.

Because perhaps wealth is not first something to pursue.

Perhaps wealth is a content waiting to be discovered in the Body of the Word.

The Money has a Mind.

And the Mind of the Money is stored in the Body of the Word.

Omodolapo Ogunye

THE MONEY'S MIND

The Body of the Word as Finance & Economics

The Kitchen
Celebrating The Body of the Word.
shows.acast.com/the-kitchen

A life changed by Jesus becomes a testimony that leads others to Him.

Share this with someone who needs to hear the hope found in Jesus.

#John42830 #ComeAndSee #ShareYourTestimony #LifeChangedByJesus #LivingWater #BeHisWitness #FaithInAction #ChristianLiving #FaithInChrist #Lordsbook

September 1
“WHEN I CANNOT SEE HIS HAND”
WHEN I CHOOSE TO REMEMBER
Lamentations 3:21–23 (LLV) —
“Yet this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD's faithful love we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.”
There are times
when hope
seems to arrive
naturally.
Something changes.
A prayer
is answered.
A door
opens.
The clouds
begin
to clear.
And suddenly
hope
feels possible
again.
That is not
what happens
here.
Jeremiah
is surrounded
by devastation.
The city
he loves
has fallen.
His people
are suffering.
His heart
is filled
with grief.
Nothing
around him
has suddenly
become better.
Then Jeremiah says:
“This
I call
to mind.”
He makes
a choice.
He remembers
something.
And because
of what
he remembers,
hope begins
to return.
“Therefore
I have hope.”
Sometimes
hope begins
not when
our circumstances
change,
but when
we remember
what our circumstances
have caused us
to forget.
God
is still faithful.
His mercy
has not
run out.
His love
has not
disappeared.
His character
has not
changed.
Jeremiah
cannot yet
look around
and say,
“Everything
is well.”
But he can
look toward God
and say,
“Great is
Your faithfulness.”
That is
a very different
kind of hope.
It does not
deny
the ruins.
It does not
pretend
the pain
is small.
It simply refuses
to allow
the ruins
to tell
the entire story.
Then Jeremiah
gives us
one of Scripture's
most beautiful
images:
“His mercies
are new
every morning.”
Yesterday
may have been
difficult.
Yesterday
may contain
things
we cannot change.
Yesterday
may have exhausted
every bit
of strength
we thought
we had.
But morning
comes.
And when
it does,
God's mercy
has not been
used up
by yesterday.
There is mercy
for this morning.
Grace
for this day.
Strength
for this burden.
Faithfulness
for this step.
Perhaps
that is why
remembering
matters so much.
When we cannot
see God's hand
in what
is happening now,
we can remember
where we have
seen it before.
We remember
the prayers
He answered.
The strength
He supplied.
The doors
He opened.
The times
He carried us
through something
we once thought
we could never
endure.
And memory
becomes
a bridge
between yesterday's
faithfulness
and today's
hope.
Nothing
around Jeremiah
had changed.
But he remembered
something
greater
than what
surrounded him.
God had not changed.
A new beginning sometimes begins by remembering:
when I cannot see what God is doing today, I can remember who He has always been.
Reflection: What evidence of God's faithfulness from yesterday do I need to deliberately remember today?
Prayer: Heavenly Father, when difficulty fills my vision, I can easily forget the many ways You have already been faithful. Help me call them to mind. Remind me of Your mercy, Your provision, Your strength, and Your presence through every season behind me. Thank You that yesterday cannot exhaust the mercy You have prepared for today. Whatever surrounds me this morning, let me remember and say with Jeremiah: “Great is Your faithfulness.” In Jesus' name, Amen.

# **DWELLING IN THE SECRET PLACE**

There is a difference between **visiting God and living close to God**. Psalm 91:1 says, *“He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.”* I think of the secret place as that quiet space where you can put everything down for a moment—the things you cannot explain to anyone, the worries you carry into the night, the questions you are afraid to ask out loud. It is where you come before God without pretending that everything is fine. In His presence, you can breathe again.

The secret place is not necessarily a particular room, building, or mountain. It is a life of intimacy with God. It may be those early minutes before everyone else wakes up, a quiet corner after a long day, or simply a moment in your car when you turn everything off and talk honestly to God. **To dwell means to remain.** It is more than running to God when life falls apart and then forgetting Him when things become comfortable. It is learning to walk with Him in ordinary days as well as difficult ones. When you make God's presence a regular part of your life, prayer becomes more than an emergency call; it becomes a relationship.

Something changes when you spend time with God consistently. Your problems may not disappear overnight, but your perspective begins to change. You become less controlled by fear and less dependent on people's approval. You begin to recognize God's voice, understand His Word more clearly, and make decisions from a place of faith rather than panic. The secret place does not promise a life without trouble; it gives you somewhere to stand when trouble comes. **Psalm 91:2** says, *“I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him I will trust.’”*

Perhaps you have been trying to carry too much on your own. You have been strong for everyone else, answering messages, solving problems, meeting expectations, and quietly wondering who will strengthen you. **Come back to the secret place.** You don't have to arrive with perfect words. Come tired. Come confused. Come grateful. Come disappointed. Just come. God is not asking you to perform; He is inviting you into His presence.

Don't make the secret place somewhere you visit only when you are desperate. **Make it your dwelling.** Let prayer become part of your rhythm. Let Scripture shape your thinking. Let worship quiet your heart. And when the storms come—and they will—you will have something deeper than circumstances to hold onto. **You will know where your strength comes from, where your peace is found, and where you can return when everything around you feels uncertain.**

A WORD FOR YOU.
(Insights For Life)


Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations; Deuteronomy 7:9 KJV


YOU NEED A COVENANT WALK
You must understand this fundamental truth: God is an ever-faithful and A COVENANT KEEPING GOD. He watches over, guards, preserves, maintains His Words (not to hold it but) to fulfill it. He doesn't just fulfill his promises, HE FULFILLS HIS COVENANT. So what is a covenant?

A Covenant is a solemn, binding agreement between two or more parties. When you become born again, you are automatically adopted into a covenant family - you become a covenant child of God. But that covenant is a BASIC COVENANT. IT COMES WITH BASIC RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES. IT IS LEGAL AND BINDING ON GOD AS REGARDS CERTAIN PROMISES TO YOU. BUT IT IS BASIC COVENANT.

Many believers stop at this "basic" level of the covenant. So they get the basic provisions and promises in the covenant package. But there is so much more. IT COMES WITH A COVENANT WALK. You MUST strike a personal covenant with God before certain covenant promises and provisions can become accessible to you. Everyone can proclaim: I cannot be poor, yet remain poor. But those who walk in the covenant of this scripture don't just proclaim it, they experience the reality of that scripture. You know why? It is because that scripture has changed from just a promise to a covenant - it is now adopted and enacted, and binding on God to fulfill. How do you enter into a covenant walk with God? Check out this scripture.

“Gather My godly ones to Me, Those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.” Psalms 50:5 AMP.
Watch the Word: "...who made a covenant with me by sacrifice."
On the 9th of December, 2010, After our Church wedding, both of us attended Shiloh (winners chapel) otta, Nigeria, no time for honeymoon. The Lord came to me and said: DROP ALL YOU HAVE, I WANT TO ENTER INTO A COVENANT WITH YOU (3times). Then he added: A COVENANT OF CONSTANT SUPPLY. You can doubt this encounter but you can't doubt the result. Listen, THERE ARE THINGS YOU WILL NEVER ACCESS BY CONFESSING AND PROCLAIMING. THEY ONLY COME BY A PERSONAL COVENANT WALK WITH GOD - AND THIS IS MADE POSSIBLE BY SACRIFICE.Once enacted, living that scripture becomes seamless. Remember, you can initiate the covenant with God and God can initiate it with you. But there is more. I pray for you, may your understanding be enlightened and may you walk in a covenant with God in Jesus precious name. Be blessed, Stay refreshed!


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