The Encounter City Lagos

*Encounter Room Devotional*

Monday, 3rd March 2025

*THE POWER OF ONE WORD*

*29 So He said, "Come." And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. Matt 14:29*

One word, “Come,” was spoken by the One who made all things, and that one word had just as much power in it as the words that were spoken at creation. Peter walked over those waves on the power of one word from the Lord. Likewise, any word spoken to us by God carries in itself the anointing and power it takes to fulfill that word if we will release it by believing it and acting on it.

We need not only know the power but the greatness of God’s power and then the exceeding greatness of God’s power. Ephesians 1:19: *_“and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power.”_* This exceeding greatness of God’s power is towards us. That means that it is for us and our benefit. Some people get glimpses of God’s power, but very few have the revelation that it is for us and at our disposal. It doesn’t do us any good to believe that God has power if we don’t believe it will work for us. The exceedingly great power of God is effectual only for those who believe. We must believe to receive, for if we doubt, we do without.

Despite all the criticism Peter may have received, he did walk on water, they did not participate. One of the important steps in receiving a miracle from God is to leave the security of your natural resources (get out of your boat) and put yourself in the position where there has to be a miracle from God to hold you up.

God is no respecter of persons. Any of the disciples could have walked on the water if they would have asked and gotten out of the boat. Are you hiding in the boat, afraid to step out and walk in the exceeding greatness of God’s power, power that is toward you? Today is your day to make that step of faith and trust Him for the miracles you need.

*CONFESSION*

_The Word of God is spirit and is life! And within the Word of God resides all of God’s miracle-working power necessary to fulfill it. The Word of God is speaking to me today and by the power of that Word, I walk upon the watery situations of my life. I walk upon the water, one Word at a time. By the Word of God I move, by the Word I overcome and by the Word I win! Hallelujah, Glory to God!_

Ready for something…Bigger?

We are excited to announce our upcoming program themed “Bigger”

Bigger represents growth, greater height and limitless possibilities

Join us on the 28th of May 2023 at the hotel ibis royale! Time: 9am.

Don’t forget to save this post, set a reminder and invite friends and family.

*Encounter Room Devotional*

Tuesday, 20th December 2022

*SHARING GOD’S LOVE*

*Then He said to them, "The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.* Luke 10:2-3

It is commonly thought that an evangelist is someone who has a passion to lead people to the Lord, but they are not alone in this call. Every believer should have a passion for souls. When presenting the Gospel, we are not presenting a theory about God but the factual account of His dealings with mankind as revealed in His Word. The ultimate witness to the truth is the bodily resurrection of Jesus. Our personal witness of the reality of Jesus being alive in our lives brings Him from theory to reality.

The early Christians experienced the love of Jesus in an intimate and life-transforming way. This motivated them to reach their known world with the Gospel more than any generation of Christians since. They didn’t have the benefit of our modern technology, but they did have the benefit of being full of the love of Christ. Experiencing the love of Christ causes us to be filled with all the fullness of God and makes us a witness that the world cannot resist.

Today, churches emphasize techniques of evangelism or spiritual warfare. We motivate people to witness through guilt or threat of punishment. Much of our evangelism has become as dead and non-productive as that of the cults who knock on doors and argue people into their way of thinking. The early Christians had a much greater impact on their world because they were full of and motivated by the love of God. We need that in our churches today! When we can say with Paul that the love of God constrains us, then we will impact our world for the Lord too.
You can’t give away what you don’t possess. You need to personally know the love of Christ in an experiential way before you try to share it with other.

*Further Study*

*Ephesians 3:17-19*
that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height — 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

*2 Corinthians 5:14-15*
For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; 15 and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.

*PRAYER*

_Heavenly Father, I ask for a fresh encounter of Your love today and to experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. As I am made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God, may Your love overflow from me to the world especially to those around me. Amen._

*Encounter Room Devotional*

Saturday, 17th December 2022

*SALT SHAKERS*

*"You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.* Matthew 5:13

What is it that will be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men? Is it the salt or is it possible Jesus is speaking about the world? If we as believers lose our preserving influence, if we fail to walk in the power of our redemption in Jesus, then there is no way He can reach out to the lost. The lost will be dominated by people who don’t know Him or His salvation.

God works through His people. Another way of saying that is that Jesus works through His body. Although it is not our power that saves and heals and delivers people, it is His power in us. He cannot do anything without us. We are in partnership. Many believers spend a lifetime praying for God to move, not understanding that He is going to flow through them. It is not God who is failing to intervene; it is His people who are failing to cooperate and let Him flow through them.

Today you have Jesus living in you, and He wants to do amazing things through you. That means you are carrying around other people’s miracles. Do not hinder or stop the miracles-big and small-that Jesus wants to do in you and through you. You are His salt. You preserve and give flavour to this putrefying world. So get out of the shaker, and let His life and love flow to someone who needs Him.

*Further Study*

*Matthew 10:7-8*
And as you go, preach, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' 8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.

*Isaiah 61:1*
"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

*2 Corinthians 5:20*
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.

*PRAYER*

_Father, thank You for making me Your salt to a decaying world and Your light to a darkened generation. Today, I ask that You flow in me and through me to manifest your miracles to the people I meet. As I go, may I bring healing to the sick, hope to the hopeless, deliverance to the captives and joy to the depressed. In Jesus most precious name. Amen_

*Encounter Room Devotional*

Friday, 16th December 2022

*BECOME A PERSON AFTER GOD’S HEART*

*But You, O Lord, are a shield for me, my glory and the One who lifts up my head. I cried to the Lord with my voice, and He heard me from His holy hill.* Psalm 3:3-4

When God scans the earth for leaders, He looks for people who share the same qualities He found in David. God is looking for men and women “after His own heart.” What does it mean to be a person after God’s own heart? It means that your life is in harmony with the Lord. You are deeply sensitive to spiritual thing—God-things and you are focused on God, not self. 2 Chronicles 16:9 (NASB) explains it this way: *_"For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.”_* When we are going through a difficult time or dealing with a heavy burden of stress, anxiety, fear or condemnation. It’s extremely challenging to make the paradigm shift from self-occupation to Christ-occupation. So how do we do it?

To answer that question, let’s learn from someone who God describes as *_“a man after His own heart”_* –David. The Bible tells us that whenever David was fearful, anxious or depressed, he encouraged himself in the Lord. Whenever he was in trouble, instead of wallowing in defeat and groping in darkness, David would turn his eyes to the heavens and lift up his voice to the King of kings. In his closing years, when Absalom, his own son betrayed him and tried to usurp the throne, David could have chosen to retaliate by sending out troops against Absalom. However, he didn’t have the heart to fight his beloved son. But rather than being overwhelmed by the situation, David looked to the Lord and worshipped Him as he ascended the Mount of Olives, with these eternal words from our opening scripture: *_“But You, O Lord, are a shield for me, my glory and the One who lifts up my head. I cried to the Lord with my voice, and He heard me from His holy hill.”_* Psalm 3:3-4

Isn’t it wonderful to know that when we cry out to God in worship, He hears us? As David worshipped the Lord, God turned his circumstances around for his good. It doesn’t matter what trouble you are in today, learn to worship Jesus in your valley of trouble and praise his lovely name. See Him as your shield. See Him as your glory and the lifter of your head. Be consumed with Jesus, and watch Him turn your circumstances around for good!

*Further Study*

*Acts 13:22*
And when He had removed him (Saul), He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, 'I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.'

*PRAYER*

_Lord Jesus, like David, I turn my eyes to the heavens and lift up my voice in worship to You, the King of kings. Thank You for hearing the cries of my heart from Your holy hill. I believe that You are the glory and the lifter of my head and that You have turned my circumstances around for my good. Amen._

*Encounter Room Devotional*

Monday, 12th December 2022

*WORSHIP IS LOVE RESPONDING TO LOVE*

*4 He brought me to the banqueting house, And his banner over me was love. 16 My beloved is mine, and I am his. He feeds his flock among the lilies.* Songs of Solomon 2:4, 16

God is head over heels in love with us. God wants to have an intimate relationship with us. There is nothing that we can do to get God to change God’s mind. It’s scary, mind boggling and wonderful. The love He has for us has been tagged with all kinds of adjectives—reckless, excess, amazing and unending. Paul the Apostle prayed for the Ephesians, that they would *_“be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge”_* (Eph. 3:18–19). The love of Jesus Christ for us is so deep, so rich, and so intense that we can never completely grasp the full depth of it. But when we get a glimpse or a taste of that love, our hearts are cannot but love Him back. Worship is our love responding to His love. The word “worship” itself speaks of giving worth, time, honour, and glory to something. The degree to which you love something is to the degree to which you will ascribe worth to it.

When we read the Song of Songs, as Jesus speaking to us and of us, we can’t help but notice the many personal possessive pronouns and the intimate tone used throughout this book: “my beloved,” “my love,” “my dove.” It reveals the intimate, personal relationship between the Shulamite and her king. They belong to each other: “My beloved is mine and I am His.” This is the same relationship we are to have with Jesus Christ the moment we receive Him as our Savior. We must claim Him personally. No one else can be saved on our behalf; it is something that must be done individually.

I love the old story of the small boy who built a toy sailboat. He spent time making it, painting it, getting it ready to sail. When he finished, he proudly took it out for its maiden voyage. To his horror, the wind caught the sails and swept it down the river. The boy searched long and hard for his boat but could not find it anywhere. Several weeks later, he happened to see his very own boat in the window of a pawnshop. Joyfully, he burst into the shop and asked the shopkeeper to return it to him, but the man refused, saying that he had bought it from someone and if the boy wanted it, he would also have to pay for it. The boy sadly left the shop, thinking how hard it would be to save all that money, and for a boat that was already his. Nevertheless he worked hard and earned the necessary sum to get his boat back. He returned to the shop and handed over the money. As he left, his boat safely tucked under his arm, he said tenderly, “You are mine, little boat; twice mine; once because I made you, and twice because I bought you.” We belong to Jesus, once because He wove us together in our mother’s womb and twice because He bought us by His death on the cross.

*PRAYER*

_LORD Jesus, I am so excited that You love me and desire an even more growing personal relationship with me today. Thank you for loving me, and shedding you blood for me at Calvary’s Cross. Thank You for claiming me twice as Yours and I declare that I belong to You. I love you precious Saviour from the depths of my heart, You are mine too. I claim You as mine. You are heart’s desire and the apple of my eyes. You are all that really matters to me and the centre of my being. May Your name forever be glorified in me. Amen._