Ephesians 6:14-15 ESV
“Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.”
INSIGHT
–The Roman soldier’s boots were an amazing piece of military outfit. They were made of leather with metal studs on the bottoms to provide a firmer grip on the ground and allowed the soldiers to brace against their enemies. The Roman armies did not give up ground with this kind of footwear. Apostle Paul describes the need to put on the full armor of God that we may be able to stand. We are called to stand firm against the enemy by wearing the shoes of the readiness for the gospel of peace. As we prepare to share the gospel of truth, the Holy Spirit guides us and reminds us to the words of Christ, and also allows us to share our testimony of Jesus that glorifies the name of God that the enemy cannot refute.
PRAYER
Dear Lord Jesus, how awesome is Your name in all the earth, Who have set Your glory above the heavens. How excellent is Your name in all the earth. All the earth shall worship You and sing praises to You, they shall sing praises to Your name. Lord Your awesome in wonder and glorious in splendor. Your word is a lamb to our feet and a light to our paths. May You forgive us all our sins and iniquities and wash us with Your precious blood. May You fill our hearts with Your word and testimonies of Your name even as we preach You proclaim Your truth. May You all people and nations with Your salvation. Revive us dear Lord Jesus with Your mercy and grace and establish us in Your righteousness. May You remember our nation and leaders that You may grant them Your true wisdom and the ability to follow Your will. May You grant all believers the fire and strength to preach the gospel in all the nations. We shall always overcome the enemy by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of our testimony. We thank You and we honor You, and it is in Jesus mighty name we pray believing and trusting. Amen
Further Reading: Psalms 119:105, Revelation 12:11
1 Corinthians 2:1-5 NIV
“And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.”
INSIGHT
-Apostle Paul left Athens and moved to Corinth where he preached the gospel there for one and a half years. Many Corinthians heard, believed and were baptized including Crispus the synagogue leader and his entire household. The Lord strengthened Paul in a vision comforting him that he should not be afraid but keep preaching for the Lord would protect him (Acts 18:1-11). Paul avoided Greek rhetoric and focused on the message of the cross, so that the Corinthians would put their faith in Christ who was crucified rather than in the ability of human messengers. His focus was on the divine enablement of the Holy Spirit and not mere intellectual persuasion of men that does not save anyone. We are called then to draw wisdom from the Lord alone as proclaim the gospel, and pray for divine encounters and revelation given to faith that produces the saving power of the Holy Spirit. We are also reminded to pray for our leaders and fellow countrymen that the wisdom of God that produces peace and unity among all people may reign even during this season.
PRAYER
Dear Lord Jesus we thank You and honor You for enabling us to see this day in good health. We humbly ask that You heal all those who are sick and suffering in hospitals and at home. May You strengthen the hearts of those who are bereaved and mourn the passing of their loved ones. We ask for Your peace in our families and our nation of Kenya. We ask for Your divine intervention Holy Spirit that You may hover upon this nation like You did when the earth was formless and empty, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. May Your light shine in this nation to remove every form of darkness and evil. May You expose every evil dealings, crime and corruption and save our nation. May You protect each and every one of us and grant us rest in every sphere amidst the current crisis. May You grant our president wisdom that only comes from You together with all our leaders that they may only follow Your divine counsel. May Your will be done Abba Father as it is in heaven. We come to You dear Lord Jesus with broken and contrite hearts that You do not despise. May You have mercy on us and forgive us all our sins and iniquities. May You smear Your precious blood upon us, our families and nation and restore us. May You wash us and this whole nation and people with the water of Your word. May we decrease You increase dear Savior. May You strengthen us and encourage us like You did for Paul for we are Your ambassadors that we proclaim the gospel of grace. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us now and forever more. Amen
Further Reading: Joshua 1:7, Philippians 4:9
Isaiah 52:7 NKJV
“How beautiful upon the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who proclaims peace, Who brings glad tidings of good things, Who proclaims salvation, Who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
INSIGHT
–The good news in this scripture refers to the return of the exiles from Babylon to Jerusalem. It therefore displays a scene of a battlefield, and someone brings good news of the outcome to the king and the people (2 Samuel 18:26). It shows the imagery of Jesus Christ Who delivered us from sin and has given us the gift of salvation. The return of the exiles to Jerusalem confirms Jesus’ sovereign rule over the world (Isaiah 40:9), and His kingdom will come fully at His second coming (Revelation 19:6). We are therefore reminded to keep the faith and preach the gospel of eternal peace for the salvation of others as we wait in hope for the second coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
PRAYER
Lord You are the Rock of our salvation, we thank You for Your eternal love upon us. Thank You for sacrificing Your own life for our redemption dear Jesus. May You restore us Oh Lord Our God the Lord of our salvation, and cause Your indignation toward us to cease. May You help us Oh God of our salvation, for the glory of Your name, deliver us and atone for our sins, for Your name’s sake. Lord You were pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities and upon You was the chastisement that brought us peace, and by Your stripes we are healed. May You heal us Oh Lord and save us, save our families, friends, colleagues, neighbors, communities and nation. Thank You for Your grace and for saving us through faith and not by our own works but a gift from You lest anyone should boast. May You teach us to love You Lord with all our hearts, minds, souls and strength and love our neighbors as ourselves. We declare that Jesus You are Lord and believe in our hearts that God You raised Jesus from the dead, leading to our salvation. All our hope and trust is in You. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us now and forever more. Amen
Further Reading: Ephesians 2:8-9, John 3:16-17
Acts 8:32-39 NKJV
“The place in the Scripture which he read was this: “He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; And as a lamb before its shearer is silent, So He opened not His mouth. In His humiliation His justice was taken away, And who will declare His generation? For His life is taken from the earth.” So the eunuch answered Philip and said, “I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?” Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?” Then Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing.”
INSIGHT
–A high ranking court official of the queen mother from Ethiopia was reading from Isaiah 53:7-8 about the sacrificial, sin-bearing work of our Messiah Jesus Christ. The scriptures were not clear to him and the Holy Spirit sent Philip his servant to go do an exposition on the message. The Ethiopian then believed in his heart and declared that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and therefore received the gift of salvation and he was baptized. The Holy Spirit imparted him with joy and went on his journey rejoicing. Once we received Christ through the confession of faith, the Holy Spirit grants us His peace and enables us to rejoice always despite our shortcomings.
PRAYER
Thank You Jehovah Jireh, Jehovah Nissi, Jehovah Shalom our peace, we honor You and give You praise. Thank You for the gift of salvation that You have given us free of charge. Thank You for redeeming us and sanctifying us because You love us. We love You Lord because You loved us first. We humbly implore You our God of peace to sanctify us completely; spirit, soul and body so that we may be preserved blameless at Your coming our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. May You keep us in perfect peace for our minds and hearts are focused on You. Open the eyes of our hearts, those of our family members, colleagues, communities, leaders and nation that we may see You and confess that Jesus Christ You are Lord to the glory of God the Father. May You anoint us afresh Holy Spirit and guide us in our walk of faith and everything that we do. May You grant our nation peace always we humbly ask You Lord. We honor You Lord and give You praise, and it is Jesus mighty name we pray. Amen
Further Reading: Acts 2:1-31
John 1:1-5 NKJV
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”
INSIGHT
–In the beginning as echoed in Genesis 1:1-4 we find the Holy Spirit hovering over the face of the waters and God created light since the earth was formless, void and darkness was on the face of the deep. In the same breath Jesus the Word of God existed before the foundations of the world, died for our sins and resurrected giving enigmatic light to the world. God calls us then to acknowledge Him as Lord for His sovereignty over all creation and Savior for His sacrifice giving us the gift of salvation.
SUMMARY
The Gospel is the good news of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the salvation we have because of His sacrifice. We build our lives upon this gospel of peace by basing everything we do on the Firm Foundation and Rock of our salvation, Jesus Christ. Not only did He pay the ultimate price for our sins, but He also left a wonderful example for us to follow throughout our lives. Jesus the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace. He gives us His peace not like the world gives lest our hearts are troubled (John 14:27). His peace transcends all human understanding and guards our hearts and minds through Him (Philippians 4:7). As we learn, receive, hear and see the things that Jesus does in the gospel, we are called to follow Him; for He our God of peace who is always with us (Ephesians 5:25-27). Apostle Paul followed and became Christlike to a point where he declared to the Corinthians saying, “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). Paul relied in the power of the Holy Spirit as he proclaimed the testimony of God to many who believed and were saved (1 Corinthians 2:1-5). Philip also preached the gospel to the Ethiopian Eunuch who believed, was baptized and saved (Acts 8:32-39). We are called to go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that Jesus has commanded for He is with us always to the end of the age (Matthew 28:19-20). Even as we go, we are called to stand upon the foundation of Christ and our shoes ready to preach the gospel of peace (Ephesians 6:14-15), which are declared beautiful in the proclamation of the message of salvation (Isaiah 52:7), yielding a crown of glory (1 Peter 5:2-4).
PRAYER
Dear Lord Jesus, we do not come to You as perfect human beings but in submission to Your power and wisdom. We are nothing without You and we can do nothing without You dear Lord Jesus. We thank You for You are our exceedingly Great Reward. You are our Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Truly our government is upon shoulders for You are the King of kings and the Lord of lords, and the Son of God. We pray that You shall reign over our lives and our country Lord. May You be exalted over all the earth and the universe. We speak Your Word Lord over all our situations and every storm of our lives that we may receive Your peace and may be still. Dear Lord may You release Your ultimate peace that surpasses all our understanding upon all who mourn, for those who mourn shall be comforted by You the Father of all comfort. Lord may You release Your divine wisdom and leadership upon our nation. May You release Your precious Holy Spirit upon all our leaders and our nation, that righteousness shall rule our land. We surrender all unto You for we know that You are able and mighty to save. May You bless us and keep us dear Lord Jesus. May You shine Your face towards us and be gracious unto us. May You show Your countenance unto us and give us peace. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us now and forevermore. Amen
Further Reading: Isaiah 9:6, Daniel 12:3