Today’s Word Today’s Scripture “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.” Genesis 3:4–5, NLT
The Wrong Voices The enemy knows that if he can deceive you into listening to wrong voices, he can keep you from your destiny. This started in the garden of Eden. Satan came to Eve and said that she should just go ahead and eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Eve responded, “No. God said if we do, we will die.” Satan said, in effect, “Are you kidding? Do you really believe you’ll die? Of course not. God knows you’ll become just like Him. That’s why He doesn’t want you to eat that fruit.” Instead of recognizing the wrong voice, Eve started thinking about it more and more, and finally gave in.
The enemy has no new tricks. He’s going to bring voices that try to stop your purpose. Sometimes it’s an outside voice, saying, “It’s okay to compromise a little. No one cares.” Other times it’s an inner voice, saying, “You can’t forgive them. Look what they did to you.” If you’re not disciplined to tune out the wrong voices, then as with Eve, you’ll start making wrong choices.
A Prayer for Today “Father, thank You for making me aware of the enemy’s deceptive ways to get me to doubt and question what You have said. Thank You that I can tune out the wrong voices that lead to compromise. I declare that I will not allow Your Word to be challenged in my life. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”
I love the story of how God turned bitter, poisonous waters into sweet, refreshing waters for His people when they came to a place called Marah (meaning “bitterness” in Hebrew). When the Israelites could not drink the water, Moses cried out to the Lord. The Lord showed him a tree, which Moses cast into the waters. When he did that, the Bible says that “the waters were made sweet.”
SECTION TWO
I love how God’s solution then is still God’s solution now: Throw in the tree—a picture of Jesus at the cross—to turn the bitter waters sweet.
Today, in the midst of the bitter waters of your pain or condition, I want to encourage you to bring in Jesus and see what He did for you at the cross. Relief and healing don’t come from dwelling on your pain. Bring in the tree—the cross of Jesus—and see your bitter waters become sweet!
Energy Medicine: Concepts, Practices, and African Perspectives with Emphasis on Igbo Traditional Healing
By Livy-Elcon Emereonye
Energy medicine—also called biofield therapy, vibrational medicine, or subtle-energy healing—refers to therapeutic systems that diagnose and treat illness by working with the body’s energetic processes. While much attention focuses on Asian traditions such as Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Ayurveda, energy-based healing has deep, sophisticated, and historically rich roots in African Traditional Medicine (ATM). Among the Igbo of southeastern Nigeria, health is understood as a dynamic state of balance among physical, spiritual, communal, and ecological energies. Key concepts such as chi, mmụọ, ndụ, ike, and agwu demonstrate a complex metaphysical system comparable to modern biofield theory.
This article outlines the global concept of energy medicine, explores scientific perspectives, highlights African and Igbo healing frameworks, and integrates them into contemporary integrative health discourse.
Ignorance can’t be blissful every time!
Energy medicine is increasingly recognized as a core component of integrative health. It views human beings as bioenergetic systems whose well-being depends on the harmony of physical, emotional, spiritual, and environmental energies. Emerging scientific fields such as biofield research, psychoneuroimmunology, and consciousness studies continue to validate principles long recognized in traditional healing systems.
While integrative medicine literature frequently cites Chinese, Indian, and Japanese energy systems, African Traditional Medicine—and Igbo traditional healing in particular—offers equally sophisticated models of energy, illness, and wellness. African healing traditions merge metaphysics, morality, social order, and nature into a holistic energetic framework that predates modern integrative health science by centuries.
The Concept of Energy Medicine
Energy medicine is predicated on the belief that human beings possess both measurable and subtle energy fields. Different cultures describe this energy in diverse ways:
Qi or Chi (China)
Prana (India)
Vital force (Western naturopathy)
Biofield (contemporary integrative science)
Ndụ, mmụọ, ike (Igbo)
Seriti (Sotho)
Energy medicine involves practices that influence these fields to restore balance, improve immunity, and promote healing.
Scientific Perspectives on Energy Medicine
Modern scientific developments offer plausible theoretical support for energy-healing traditions:
Bioelectromagnetics
Every living organism generates electromagnetic fields detectable by EEG, ECG, MRI, and SQUID magnetometers. These fields influence cellular processes and respond to emotional or environmental changes.
Biofield Science
Defined as a “complex, dynamic electromagnetic and subtle energy field surrounding and permeating the body,” biofields are central to understanding how healing intention, meditation, and touch-based therapies produce measurable physiological changes. Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI)
PNI research shows how mental energy states (thoughts, stress, emotions) influence immunity, inflammation, and healing.
Consciousness and Intention Research
Contemporary studies confirm that intention and consciousness can modulate physiological processes, mirroring traditional healing systems that rely on prayer, incantation, or directed spiritual energy.
Global Traditions of Energy Medicine
Energy-based healing appears across civilizations:
TCM: Acupuncture, meridian therapy, qigong
Ayurveda: Chakra therapy, marma therapy, pranayama
Japanese Reiki: Energy transmission through hands
Western modalities: Biofeedback, PEMF therapy, Healing Touch
These traditions share a worldview where energy is central to human health.
African Traditional Medicine (ATM) and Energetic Healing
African Traditional Medicine is profoundly holistic. It merges: spiritual forces, natural energies, ancestral relationships, moral order, herbal pharmacology, community dynamics among others.
The African concept of “vital force” (Mbiti, 1969; Offiong, 1999) describes an energy that permeates all living things. Illness results from an imbalance, pollution, or disruption of this force.
ATM uses divination, ritual, herbal medicine, and ancestral mediation to restore equilibrium.
Igbo Traditional Medicine as an Energy-Based System
Igbo traditional medicine represents one of Africa’s most elaborate energetic healing systems. Its foundation lies in a cosmology where physical health, spiritual harmony, moral conduct, and social relationships are inseparable.
Core Igbo Energetic Concepts
Chi – Personal Destiny Energy
Chi is a person’s spiritual identity, divine spark, destiny matrix, and inner energetic guide. Harmony with one’s chi ensures health and success; misalignment produces confusion or illness (Edeh, 1985; Nwala, 2010).
Mmụọ – Spirit and Subtle Energy
Mmụọ includes spirit-beings, energetic forces, and unseen influences affecting human life. Disturbances in mmụọ manifest as sickness or misfortune (Umeasiegbu, 1981).
Ndụ – Life-force
Ndụ represents vitality, consciousness, and the energy that animates the individual. Its depletion signals illness.
Ike – Strength and Energetic Power
Ike is physical, moral, and spiritual energy. The healer may strengthen a patient’s ike through rituals, herbs, or incantations.
Agwu – Spirit of Healing and Divination
Agwu grants clairvoyance, intuition, diagnostic capacity, and healing power. Every dibia (healer) is grounded in Agwu (Onwuejeogwu, 1987).
Energy-Based Diagnostic Techniques
Divination (Igba Afa)
Divination reads energy patterns, reveals disharmony, and identifies spiritual, moral, or social causes of illness (Peek, 1991).
Dream Interpretation
Dreams reveal hidden energetic disturbances, ancestral messages, or unresolved conflicts.
Observation of Energetic Symptoms
The dibia reads posture, aura, voice vibration, emotional tone, and behavioral cues—similar to modern energetic scanning.
Energy-Based Therapeutic Methods
Hands-On Healing
Through touch, the healer transfers positive energy or removes harmful vibrations—similar to Reiki or Healing Touch.
Incantation (Ofo-Okwu)
Words possess energetic vibrations. Incantations invoke healing forces, purify space, and reprogram negative energy.
Herbal-Spiritual Medicine
Igbo herbs possess both pharmacological and spiritual energies. Their power depends on timing, intention, and ritual purity (Umeasiegbu, 1981).
Cleansing Rituals (Ịsa Ahụ, Itu Mmụọ)
Cleansing removes spiritual pollution (ajọ mmụọ) and restores energetic harmony.
Earth Energy Healing (Nsọ Ala)
Violations of moral or ecological laws disrupt personal and communal energy. Healing includes confession, sacrifice, and reintegration rituals (Okafor, 1992).
Ancestral Energy Therapy
Ancestors influence health and destiny. Rituals restore harmony between the living and the departed (Uchendu, 1965).
Music, Rhythm, and Sound Therapy
Drums, chants, and dance alter consciousness and vibrational states—similar to modern sound therapy.
The Dibia as an Energy Specialist
A dibia is a healer, diviner, herbalist, counselor, philosopher, and energy expert. Their training includes: meditation, communion with nature, dream cultivation, study of cosmology, mastery of herbs, moral discipline to mention but a few.
They serve as psychotherapists, spiritual guides, and energetic technicians.
Igbo traditional medicine thus represents a complete, structured, and sophisticated energy-medicine system.
It’s interesting to note that Energy medicine, once dismissed as mystical, is now gaining global acceptance through biofield research, neuroscience, and integrative health studies. African Traditional Medicine—and Igbo healing in particular—offers a richly developed energy-based framework that aligns with and enhances modern understanding of holistic wellness.
By uniting ancient wisdom and contemporary science, energy medicine provides a powerful pathway to healing, self-understanding, and human flourishing.
References
Achebe, C. (1959). Things fall apart. Heinemann.
Ader, R. (2007). Psychoneuroimmunology (4th ed.). Academic Press.
Afigbo, A. E. (1981). Ropes of sand: Studies in Igbo history and culture. Oxford University Press.
Aja, E. (1995). Humanism in African philosophy: A study of Igbo life and customs. Fourth Dimension Publishers.
Arinze, F. A. (1970). Sacrifice in Igbo religion. University of Ibadan Press.
Asante, M. K. (2007). An Afrocentric manifesto. Polity Press.
Bascom, W. (1969). Ifa divination: Communication between gods and men in West Africa. Indiana University Press.
Beidelman, T. O. (1963). Witchcraft in Ukaguru. Anthropological Quarterly, 36(1), 1–16.
Bastos, C., Rosário, M., & Nelson, M. (2022). Biofield therapies: A systematic review of physiological outcomes. Journal of Integrative Medicine, 20(3), 209–219.
Dossey, L., & Bernhard, R. (2021). Consciousness, intention, and healing. Global Advances in Health and Medicine, 10, 1–11.
Edeh, E. (1985). Towards an Igbo metaphysics. Loyola University Press.
Ilogu, E. (1974). Christianity and Igbo culture. Brill.
Jain, S., & Mills, P. J. (2010). Biofield therapies. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 17(1), 1–16.
Mbiti, J. S. (1969). African religions and philosophy. Heinemann.
McCraty, R. (2015). Science of the heart. HeartMath Institute.
Nadel, S. F. (1952). Witchcraft in four African societies. American Anthropologist, 54(2), 215–239.
Nwala, T. U. (2010). Igbo philosophy. Literamed Publications.
Nwoye, A. (2017). Igbo cultural and religious worldview: An integrative perspective. International Journal of Sociology and Anthropology, 9(3), 22–34. https://doi.org/10.5897/IJSA2016.0683
Obiego, C. D. (1984). African image of the ultimate reality: Igbo philosophical tradition. Vantage Press.
Offiong, D. A. (1999). African mysticism: A dimension of indigenous African healing systems. Fourth Dimension Publishers.
Okafor, F. C. (1992). Igbo philosophy of law. Fourth Dimension Publishers.
Onwuejeogwu, M. A. (1987). An Igbo civilization: Nri kingdom and hegemony. Ethnographica.
Ottenberg, S. (1959). Double descent in an African society. American Anthropologist, 61(3), 533–561.
Peek, P. M. (1991). African divination systems. Indiana University Press.
Rubik, B., Muehsam, D., Hammerschlag, R., & Jain, S. (2015). Biofield science and healing. Global Advances in Health and Medicine, 4(s), 8–16.
Uchendu, V. C. (1965). The Igbo of Southeast Nigeria. Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
Umeasiegbu, R. N. (1981). Traditional Igbo beliefs and practices in health and disease. Fourth Dimension Publishers.
WHO. (2013). WHO Traditional Medicine Strategy 2014–2023. World Health Organization.
Who do you think you are? Have you forgotten all the mistakes you’ve made?
Things will never get better. You should just accept your lot.
It’s not going to work—you are just going to fail again!
Nobody loves you. You are all alone.
Have you been at the receiving end of these words of discouragement, accusation, and dismissal?
I’ve seen these tactics of deception, loaded with condemning judgment, used too many times by the adversary. I’ve seen too many people, who have tried to move out from under the shadow of their past or break free from their addictions, end up succumbing to these lies about themselves, their identity, and their future and their destiny. As a result, they are unable to break free, and day after day, they simply live to perpetuate the pain, fears, and addictions to which they’re bound.
That’s the power of wrong believing.
Wrong believing puts people in a prison—a prison where its inmates behave as though they are incarcerated in a maximum-security penitentiary. They march inexorably to their dank cells of self-doubt and addictions. They allow themselves to be led into dungeons of destructive behaviors. They have convinced themselves never to dream of a better place, believing that they have no choice but to live in despair, frustration, and defeat.
If that describes you, it’s time for a prison break, my friend. It’s time to break free from the crippling grip of all that has held you back. How? Through right believing—the light that illuminates the path of freedom out of this prison.
Know and believe that God does not want you to live imprisoned by fears, guilt, and addictions. Open your heart to believe His plan for you is to live with joy overflowing, peace that surpasses understanding, and an unshakable confidence in what He has done for you. Through the cross, Jesus has paid for you to have His abundant life—a life marked by His liberty, His power, and His blessings.
It’s time to let go of the life of defeat and step into a life full of victory, security, and God’s abundant grace!
There is so much wrong believing today about who Jesus is. I am asking you to throw out every idea, concept, and picture that you may have of a “religious” Jesus.
Allow me to introduce the real Jesus to you, for this is where it all begins. I’m not talking about the religious Jesus you may have heard about growing up, but the real Jesus who walked along the dusty streets of Jerusalem and upon the raging waters of the Galilee.
He was the one whom the sick, the poor, the sinful, the down and out, and the outcast instinctively gravitated to and felt at ease with. He was God in the flesh and He manifested God’s tangible love.
In His presence, those who were imperfect didn’t feel fearful of Him, or sense judgment or condemnation from Him. To those who sought Him for healing, restoration, and supply—no matter what their past or background—He always extended a loving, compassionate heart and hand to them and oversupplied their need.
Contrary to what a lot of people think, you don’t have to be “religious” to have access to God and His help. In fact, the less “religious” you are, the better. The real Jesus didn’t come to bring a new religion. He didn’t come to be served and waited upon. No, He came to serve, and serve He did.
The real Jesus created the universe with one command and orchestrated the paths of each planet so that none would collide. He had every right to demand service from those He created, yet He supplied service.
He bowed down and with His own hands washed the grime and filth from His disciples’ feet. Those same hands would later be pierced with coarse nails at the cross, and He would with His own blood wash us of the grime and filth of all our sins by taking them upon His own body. What a far cry from the condemning, judgmental, and faultfinding God whom many have portrayed Him to be!
This is the true Jesus—totally unlike what many of us have been taught about God. He is willing and able to meet your need today and love you into wholeness.
Joel Osteen Ministries Today’s Word Today’s Scripture Praise the LORD, my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases. Psalm 103:2–3, NIV
Heals Your Diseases. One of the names of God in the Scripture is Jehovah Rapha, which means “the Lord your healer.” Some believers believe for their healing, that “by Jesus’ stripes you were healed,” and receive a divine touch as my mother did with her cancer when there was nothing the doctors could do medically speaking. Others get healed with the help of medicine, doctors and experts, which we’re grateful for. But God is the healer. Medicine can help you get well, but only God can heal you. It’s not God or medicine; it’s God and medicine. Where else did the doctors and medical experts get the wisdom to invent such amazing medicines, procedures, and devices that help us get well? Where did they get the insight, the knowledge, and the creativity? That didn’t come from the enemy. Every good thing comes from the Father above. That is the hand of God.
Ultimately, we get healed through death. The healing didn’t get manifest here, but in heaven there is no heart trouble in our new body, no cancer, no pain, no tears, and there never will be.
A Prayer for Today “Father, thank You that I can know You as my provider, as my miracle maker, as Jehovah Rapha, the Lord my healer. Thank You for making it so clear that it is Your will to heal and restore me from all diseases. I will live from a place of faith, with no doubting or wondering. In Jesus’ Name, Amen
Cruel words spoken in anger. A betrayal of trust. Promises broken. A destructive relationship you knew you should not have entered into.
SECTION TWO
Have you been down those dark paths before? There are so many people who are living in the shadow of guilt and condemnation. The mistakes of their past haunt them and it is a painfully lonely and arduous journey for them.
Perhaps the paralyzed man who was let down through the roof by his four faithful friends in the book of Mark understood a little of this. The Bible tells us he was paralyzed to the point where he could only lie on a mat, which was how his friends carried him to the house Jesus was in.
With the man lying helpless on his mat, his four friends lowered him through the roof, right in front of Jesus—the only way they knew how to bring their crippled friend before Jesus and secure his healing. Scripture tells us that when Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you” (Mark 2:5).
To all who were watching this scene unfold that day, that must have been a very strange thing for Jesus to say—”your sins are forgiven you.” The man was clearly paralyzed. He was obviously there for healing. What had forgiveness to do with his condition or healing?
But Jesus knew it was exactly what this poor man needed to hear for his healing to manifest. And indeed, at Jesus’ next words, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home,” the paralyzed man “jumped up, grabbed his mat, and walked out through the stunned onlookers” (Mark 2:11–12 NLT).
What had transpired? Jesus saw, when no one else could, that the man needed to hear he was forgiven, that God was not condemning him. And those words opened the door to his healing and broke him loose from his paralysis. No wonder the onlookers were stunned—the man went from being immobile and helpless to being active, strong, and completely whole right before their eyes!
My beloved friend, if you are paralyzed by a heavy sense of condemnation over something in your past, I want you to know beyond any doubt that God is not withholding your breakthrough from you. He loves you, understands your pain and suffering, and has forgiven you through the cross. He wants you to know that your past does not have to poison your future.
No matter how many dark days you have experienced, God has prepared many wonderful open doors of opportunity, favor, and good success for you to walk through in the days ahead. Your brightest and most glorious days are still ahead of you.
Today’s Word Today’s Scripture Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. Psalm 100:4, NIV
A Time to Give Thanks Today is a special day for us to give thanks to God for the good things He has done in our land, in our lives, and in the lives of our family members. When you take the time to pause and remember, you can see those times in your life when God brought you victory, brought you success. When you remember that He is providing for all your needs and give thanks to God for who He is and the miracles He has done in your life, you will be transformed.
And let us remember that thanksgiving is an attitude of our heart. Living with an attitude of gratitude means you don’t just thank God for what He did in the past, you also thank Him for what He will do in the future. You thank Him for opening new doors, for increasing you, and for bringing the right people into your life. When you thank God in advance, that’s really a declaration of faith. Live every day with an attitude of gratitude and thanksgiving.
A Prayer for Today “Father, thank You that I can enter into Your presence with a heart full of thanksgiving. Thank You for providing for all my needs and doing exceedingly abundantly above all I could ever ask or imagine. I give You a sacrifice of praise for You are good, and Your mercy endures forever! In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”
If we’re honest, we all have some measure of wrong believing in our lives. Just ask yourself, “Have I often felt anxious, worried, or fearful that the worst would happen to me and my loved ones?” These negative, exhausting emotions are merely flags that indicate what we truly believe about ourselves, our lives, and God.
When we are fearful and worried all the time, we are living as if we don’t believe that we have a strong and able Shepherd who is tenderhearted toward us, who leads us to good places, who protects us and lovingly watches over us. So if worrying or being fearful seems to be your natural default mode, what you need to do is to keep hearing and learning about how much God loves you, and how precious you are to Him.
That is why the way out of constant worrying is not a matter of just thinking positively; it’s birthed out of knowing you have a personal and intimate relationship with a loving Savior who watches over your needs and tends to you as a loving Shepherd. The more strongly you believe that He is taking care of you, the more it will change your thoughts and feelings, and the less you will fall victim to unhealthy emotions and behaviors.
Today, if you need freedom from a bad situation, see Jesus, your good Shepherd, leading you out of it by His Word that brings life and illumination. The psalmist says it this way: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Ps. 119:105). In The Message translation, it says, “By your words I can see where I’m going; they throw a beam of light on my dark path.”
My friend, the Lord wants to throw a beam of light on your path today. Whatever you are struggling with presently, no matter how insurmountable your challenges appear, when you start believing right, things are going to start turning around for your good!
Today’s Word Today’s Scripture Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah: “Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there.” 1 Kings 17:2–4, NIV
A Specific Place of Blessing The prophet Elijah told King Ahab that because the people had turned away from Jehovah and were worshipping idols, there wouldn’t be rain for years. Then God spoke today’s Scripture to Elijah. Notice there’s a specific safe place where God has commanded you to be blessed—not maybe, not hope so. No, He’s commanded the ravens to feed you. He’s commanded provision, commanded resources, commanded the right people to be there. But here’s the key: The blessing was by a specific brook and provision was by ravens. If Elijah had stayed in Samaria, thinking that God would take care of him there, he would have missed the blessing.
When God tells you to do something, don’t reason it out, don’t ask friends, and don’t come up with alternatives. Just do it. Sometimes you have to leave a friend who’s pulling you down, or leave an environment where you compromise, or leave what didn’t work out and move forward into the new things God has for you. Be quick to obey what you hear in your spirit. God is leading you to your place of blessing.
A Prayer for Today “Father, thank You for the times when You hide me from trouble and provide for all my needs. Thank You for the other times when You call me out of my comfort zone and take me where I’ve never gone. I look forward to being led to my place of blessing and whatever You want to do in my life. In Jesus’ Name, Amen
There are Christians who know in theory that Jesus is with them, but they do not actively practice His presence. For me personally, one of the best ways to practice the presence of the Lord is to thank Him all the time.
SECTION TWO
You can give thanks to Him for everything. Just say, “Lord, I thank You for this beautiful sunset. I thank You for Your love and for surrounding me with good things and good friends.”
There is no limit to what you can thank Him for since every good and perfect gift that we enjoy today comes directly from Him (James 1:17). Even if you have had a rough day at work and you are facing a seemingly impossible challenge, you can practice His presence.
The moment you realize that your heart is heavy with worry and your mind is plagued by anxiety, share your challenge with Jesus and thank Him that this problem is not bigger than His hands. Begin to surrender it to Him and depend on Him for His strength, power, and peace.
As you do that, you are already practicing the presence of the Lord. And as you honor His presence and behave like He is indeed with you, He sees it as faith in Him and intervenes on your behalf for your success in whatever situation you may be in.
It is sad when Christians behave like some husbands who bring their wives to a party, only to ignore them completely. Their wives could be right there with them physically, but these guys are so engaged with their own friends, talking about the stock market, economy, or latest game on television, that their wives might as well not be with them.
Ladies, do you know men like that? Now, men who are reading this, I know you are not like that, so don’t get offended, all right? I know you cherish and love your wife.
What I am trying to illustrate is that just because someone is with you physically, it does not mean that the person feels appreciated by you. Appreciation only occurs when you start acknowledging the presence of that person.
Now, what does the word “appreciate” mean? It means “to increase in value.” If you appreciate someone, the person increases in value in your eyes.
My friend, the Lord is already with you, so start to practice His presence. Begin by thanking Him, appreciating Him and increasing His value in your eyes, and you will see Him acting on your behalf.
Today’s Word Today’s Scripture For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. Hebrews 3:4, NIV
You’re Under Construction. you can’t find anyone in the Scripture who did something significant that didn’t have messy times, unfair times, times that didn’t make sense, times when it seemed as though they were disqualified. Abraham had God’s promise of a son and becoming the father of many nations, but think of the mess and dysfunction that he and Sarah lived through when they tried to bring Hagar into the fulfillment of that promise. God chose Moses to deliver the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, but he ended up fleeing to the wilderness and hiding for forty years after killing a man. God gave Joseph a dream of being a ruler, but he spent thirteen years as a slave and then a prisoner. Here’s the key: All of them were under God’s construction, and He worked out His plans for their lives.
God, as our planner and builder, will allow things that we don’t understand, that look like mistakes, that are uncomfortable. But it’s all on God’s blueprint, and He’s using it for a purpose that we can’t see. Don’t worry. What He started, He’s going to finish.
A Prayer for Today “Father, thank You that You have a blueprint for my life and that You’re going to finish what You’ve started. I choose to stop worrying about what doesn’t make sense and leave it in Your hands. I trust that You will go before me with Your plan and get me to where I’m supposed to be. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”
SECTION TWO
Psalm 103:20 tells us that angels heed “the voice of His word” (boldface mine). Who gives voice to God’s Word? YOU do.
Every time you quote Scriptures out loud, you are giving voice to His Word, and angels will respond. When you say, “Father, I thank You that no evil shall befall me today, nor shall any plague or disease come near my dwelling,” angels harken to the voice of the Word of God being spoken. Angels cannot read your mind—so speak forth His Word!
I want to encourage you to study the Word of God and memorize a few verses. When you feel swamped by fear, learn to speak out God’s Word. God’s power lies dormant until you speak it forth. When you do, it becomes real and powerful in your situation and comes against whatever you might be facing.
Hebrews 1:14 says that God’s angels are “all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation” (boldface mine). Notice that it doesn’t say “minister to” but “minister for” those who will inherit salvation (that refers to children of God—you and me).
That’s an important distinction—”minister for” means that they are waiting for our instructions. We need to speak to activate them. They are waiting to respond to our words; they will not automatically look into every need that we have.
You activate angels when you declare, “Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence.” Trigger your heavenly army when you proclaim, “A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you.”
Our Lord Jesus Himself demonstrated the importance of speaking aloud God’s Word in the wilderness when three times He said, “It is written” and quoted God’s Word. I don’t know about you, but I intend to speak forth God’s Word!
When negative thoughts come your way, you must not give them time to take root in your heart. That correlates with the wise saying that you can’t stop birds from flying over your head, but you can surely stop them from building a nest on your head. We can’t stop the enemy from attacking our minds, but we can surely defend ourselves with the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God (Eph. 6:17).
God’s Word is infallible, unshakable, and everlasting (Isa. 40:8, 1 Pet. 1:25). Our Lord Jesus Himself showed us what to do when we are under attack by the devil. Three times He was tempted by Satan in the wilderness. Each time, His response was the same—He quoted the written Word of God. Against each attack, His response was to say, “It is written” (Matt. 4:1–11).
I know of believers who say, “God spoke to me and told me that He will do that for me.” I want to encourage you not to go by what you think the Lord said to you. You cannot fight the devil by saying, “God spoke to me,” apart from the written Word. Please understand that I am not at all against God speaking to you, but coming against the enemy and his attacks with “God spoke to me” is not what our Lord Jesus did.
My friend, if you want to combat the enemy’s attacks, stick to the pattern that our Lord Jesus showed us. In the first temptation, the devil challenged our Lord Jesus to prove His identity, saying, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread” (Matt. 4:3).
Don’t you think it is interesting that our Lord did not rely on what His Father had audibly spoken over Him at the River Jordan? A voice had come from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17).
Yet, the Lord did not point Satan to the spoken word of God. Over and over again, He declared, “It is written.” Now, if the Son of God used “it is written” to defeat the devil, how much more you and I need to.
When fear grips your heart or evil thoughts plague your mind, quote His written Word!
I see a new generation of God’s people emerging as the grace revolution sweeps the globe. The truth is that only grace, found in the person of Jesus Christ, can lead us into the promised land.
Moses, who represents the law, is dead (Josh. 1:2). And only Joshua, a type of Christ, can bring us into the promised land.
We can’t enter it based on the obsolete Mosaic covenant. We can’t inherit it based on our efforts to be justified through keeping perfectly the Ten Commandments. We can inherit it only through faith in the grace of our Lord Jesus. It is not by our works that we inherit God’s promises, but by Christ’s perfect, finished work.
How did the wall of Jericho that stood between God’s people and the promised land come crashing down? Did God’s people have to use their own might to push down the wall? Did they have to fight an army? No, at just the blast of the rams’ horns and with a great shout, God caused the wall to crumble.
The ram’s horn is a beautiful picture of the death of our Lord Jesus. The ram had to die for the horn to be obtained. The sounding of the ram’s horn is thus a proclamation of our Lord’s death and finished work. At the cross, when Jesus had paid fully for all our sins with His blood, He proclaimed, “It is finished!”
It is the shed blood of Jesus that brings us out of captivity and into the promised land. What the ten plagues of Moses could not do, the blood of Jesus did. It was the blood of Christ, typified by the lambs’ blood applied to the lintels and doorposts of the Hebrew homes, that caused Pharaoh, a type of Satan, to finally release God’s people.
God threw down His trump card—the blood of His Son! So it was His Son, the true Lamb of God, Who brought them out of Egypt, and it was also His Son Who brought them into the promised land. It is all Christ and Christ alone!
Why couldn’t the miracles of Moses free God’s people? Because they were miracles of judgment. Judgment and condemnation will not free you, only the love and grace of our Lord Jesus, Who shed His blood at Calvary for you, can do that.
My friend, are you hearing about the judgments of the law today, or are you hearing the ram’s horn being blown? One condemns and brings death, the other liberates and gives life. One causes you to remain in bondage to sin and live a defeated life, the other empowers you to break free and reign in life.
Today, make sure you are hearing the true gospel that makes bondages and addictions crumble and fall away like the walls of Jericho did!
Dara Network TV 