LIVING ABOVE THE SCHEMES OF THE DEVIL (PART 2 OF 2)

LIVING ABOVE THE SCHEMES OF THE DEVIL (PART 1 OF 2)

August 31, 2022

MOVING IN THE SPIRIT – A CALL TO DISCIPLESHIP

September 2, 2022

1st SEPTEMBER 2022

^“Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister – 1 John 3: 7-10

The easiest way to sin and to give a direct invitation to the devil is to deliberately do what is wrong to hurt another, or harbour hatred against another. How regularly do you forgive others for offending you? How regularly do you consider others’ comfort or safety first? God does not answer our prayers if we do not first forgive others for the wrongs committed against us. Jesus says, “But when you are praying, first, forgive anyone who offends you, in order that you may receive forgiveness from God.” (Mark 11:25) Love opens our hearts to forgive. Love is the key to eternal life; it’s the key to breakthrough and victory over the devil’s schemes. Love removes death from our paths and brings us face-to-face with Christ our redeemer, whose main aim is to give life.

On the need to express love, the scripture tells us that: ^“For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brothers were righteous. Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him”. (1 John 3: 11 – 15).

So beloved, love is the key to eternal life. The reason we may continue to have problems in life could be our inability to express love to others. Love opens the door of fortune and closes that of shame and reproach. Beloved, starting from today, begin to live the new life in Christ by sowing the seed of love in the lives of others. These seeds will germinate to bear fruits of goodness and favours; fruits of victory and fulfilment; fruits of wellbeing and breakthrough; fruits of healing!

PRAYER

Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, today I open my heart to receive your word and I declare your word finds fertile ground in my heart and it’s growing right now. Its fruits shall feed the hungry, clothe the poor and heal the sick. Let your grace abound in Jesus name. AMEN

FURTHER READING: 1 John 3: 16 – 18

Mary Lawrence-Dokpesi

Mary Lawrence-Dokpesi was born in Nigeria to Patrick Abuda Obeakemhe and Juliana Fatimatu Obeakemhe, both from Ogbona Town. With a master’s degree in law, she was called to the bar at the age of twenty-two, and she is currently the principle partner of the law firm Mary Lawrence-Dokpesi & Associates. She is also the founder of two philanthropic organizations: the Living Waters Mission and the Rose Croix Foundation. In addition to law, Lawrence-Dokpesi was drawn to spiritual pursuits at an early age, having begun studying philosophy, theology, chaplaincy, and spirit therapy by the age of eighteen. Inspired by her spiritual calling, she has produced ten intensively researched manuscripts on spiritual matters. Although Understanding the Spiritual was the last to be written, it is the first to be published. Lawrence-Dokpesi is a mother and a wife living in the city of Abuja, Nigeria.