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Rev Enoch Thompson | FEBRUARY 20, 2023 | MATTHEW 6:16-18 KEY VERSE: "When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. Matthew 6:16 (NIV) MESSAGE: Fasting is not only abstinence from food or rich food. Remember that the broader understanding of biblical fasting makes room for other activities that constitute fasting. We have a legitimate right to dress well and use cosmetics to create a certain personal comfort and pep up our person. When we deliberately tone down our dressing and cut down on our use of perfumes and make-up, and reduce or do away with accessories like jewellery, for a given period for the purposes of shifting attention from ourselves, waiting on the Lord and engaging in a spiritual transaction with God, we are on the path of fasting. A choice to live very simply but decently as far as body care is concerned is a legitimate lifestyle of fasting. We have the example of Daniel to refer to again; “At that time I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks. ³I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I USED NO LOTIONS AT ALL UNTIL THE THREE WEEKS WERE OVER.” Dan 10:2-3 (NIV). Reflect on Apostle Peter’s admonishment to Christian women in 1 Peter 3:3-5 in the context of this discussion: “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. ⁴Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight.” (NIV). When we engage with God in this way over a period of time, (a day, a week, a month), or as a lifestyle, it is another way of fasting which will not kill us. We feel the absence of things that we think make us look better, and it is a way of humbling oneself before God, as fasting is supposed to do. FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE: How does body care factor into your life as a person? We have a duty to dress and deck the body as well as we could. We can by the choices we make. Transform our grooming into a spiritual message God our Father understands. PRAYER: Lord, thank you for the things you provide me to make me feel comfortable in my body life. Please guide me to learn to set them aside so I may commune with you from time to time. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. THERE SHALL BE SHOWERS OF BLESSING. SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!

Rev Enoch Thompson | FEBRUARY 19, 2023 | MATTHEW 6:16-18 KEY VERSE: "When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. Matthew 6:16 (NIV) MESSAGE: Fasting can be the abstinence from rich food. This means that on a given fasting plan we may eat some food, but not our usual quality or quantity of eating. For example, eating only fruits, or food with no fish or meat, or refusing to drink any usual refreshing drink. A week of abstinence from soft drinks that we may be used to can be an effective fast. In this instance whenever we feel the desire to have our favourite drink we are reminded of our engagement with God, and we turn the freedom to enjoy that product into a time of prayer. We have an example in the case of Daniel; “At that time I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks. ³I ATE NO CHOICE FOOD; NO MEAT OR WINE TOUCHED MY LIPS; and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over. Dan 10:3a (NIV). In this case, Daniel ate some food, but not his usual rich food. For example, one could choose not to eat their usual meals, and opt for something less sumptuous. Spending less on food and directing the saved money to a charitable cause is this kind of fasting. The Akans fast (bua da) during funerals, by not eating the usual Fufu with the attendant soups and meats. They may eat rice or potato chips and still say they are fasting. This kind of fast will be suitable for people performing high-energy tasks or taking care of infants (lactating mothers). FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE: Have you tried this partial abstinence fast before? Consider this when your schedule does not seem to allow you the space to enter full abstinence from food. PRAYER: Lord, thank you that I do not need to die to fast. May there be more fasting as we see more options for acceptable fasting. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. THERE SHALL BE SHOWERS OF BLESSING. SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!

Rev Enoch Thompson | FEBRUARY 18, 2023 | MATTHEW 6:16-18 KEY VERSE: "When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. Matthew 6:16 (NIV) MESSAGE: The fact that fasting is a valid Christian duty is seen in the way the Lord introduced the key verse WHEN YOU FAST . . . What does it mean to fast? We have heard of people who have “fasted” and fallen sick or even died in the process. The definition of “fasting” and the questions it raises for some of our members who struggle with not being able to personally fast or join in the congregational “fasting” and feel guilty or left out, call for this reflection. Some of such have medical conditions and are on various medications which require that they eat at various times. Others are lactating mothers or people on high-energy jobs. In the midst of the public health issue of COVID-19, with its particular challenge for the immune system, we need to re-look at the mandate to fast from a biblical as well as a medical perspective. In the next few days, we shall approach “when you fast” from a biblical review of the subject, drawing attention to the varied forms of fasting, to the effect that we do not need to die when we fast. For most of us “fasting” has been defined as abstinence from food and drink, for religious purposes. This understanding is biblically true (though not the full story). Fasting must be understood as abstinence from legitimate natural appetites and sinful tendencies and behaviour. This abstinence must re-direct our focus on God, help us see our weakness as mortals, re-enforce our reliance on God and attract divine attention to us. FASTING IS ABSTINENCE FROM NORMAL FOOD AND DRINK • The Lord Jesus Abstained from Food and Drink (Matt 4:1-2) ¹Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. ²After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. NIV • The Early Church Abstained from Food and Drink (Acts 13:2-3) ²While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." ³So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off. NIV FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE: When was the last time that you stayed away from your normal food in order to re-tune your spirit to God, and receive benefits for all aspects of life? You may set apart a day, a couple of days or part of a day in a week or other such arrangements, for fasting, and you will be blessed. PRAYER: Lord, please help me to fast my food, and to draw closer to you in such times equipping myself for the rest of life’s journey. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. THERE SHALL BE SHOWERS OF BLESSING. SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!

Rev Enoch Thompson | FEBRUARY 17, 2023 | MATTHEW 6:16-18 KEY VERSE: "When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. Matthew 6:16 (NIV) MESSAGE: As we observed in the earlier discussion of prayer we see once again that the Lord Jesus Christ is opposed to the public display of our religious observances. Fasting is presumed by the Lord as a useful exercise for His followers after His ascension (Matthew 9:15). Fasting goes along with our prayers to show that we renounce every reliance on the flesh and rely totally on the hand of God. Prayer with fasting is a message of self-humiliation so that God may be exalted in whatever matters we are praying about. In fasting, we deny ourselves of legitimate physical God-given pleasure so that we may focus on our transactions with God. Cornelius in his search for God fasted, (Acts 10:30), and was recognized by God for salvation. Godly people of old fasted; Anna (Luke 2:37), and the early Church (Acts 13; 14:23). Fasting is a good practice, but the reason for which the Pharisees did it was to be seen by people and applauded by them. This was what the Lord considered wrong and spoke against. The lesson is simple; do not make a public show of your fasting. In that case, you receive your reward when people applaud you, and you are to expect no blessing from God. Anything we do to attract the attention of people does not win the approval of God. When people praise us because we covet and work towards that praise, we have earned our rewards with humans and lost our reward from the One who can really reward us. What other things do we do to earn human praise? The display of our talents and spiritual gifts, the levels and amounts we contribute to the finances of the Church, the positions we occupy and the titles we are given. What else? FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE: Let’s search our hearts to be sure why we do what we do, how we do it, when we do it, and where we do it. Any discovery of vain glory must drive us to our knees in tears and repentance. Let’s pray for the right heart attitude for all our religious activities. PRAYER: Lord, I am prone to seek the praise of people, as if that matters at all. Lord Jesus Christ, your fame spread throughout Israel and into the neighbouring regions, but you were not bent on human praise at all. Please help me and my fellow Christians to seek to please you alone, and not seek the praise of humans. For your dear Name’s sake, Amen. THERE SHALL BE SHOWERS OF BLESSING. SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!

Rev Enoch Thompson | FEBRUARY 16, 2023 | MATTHEW 6:13 KEY VERSE: . . . for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Matt 6:13 (NIV) MESSAGE: The Lord’s Prayer starts with an acknowledgement of God and our relationship with Him, as our Father in Heaven. The prayer ends with praise to God for His kingdom, His power and His glory. Whatever we ask for in prayer, for ourselves or for others must be covered with a desire to see God’s Kingdom in the face of the kingdoms of this world, the little kingdoms the enemy tempts us with and the tottering kingdoms we try to build for ourselves. The true King is God and He rules over His Kingdom. But the kingdom of this world is His too, for He created all things, and they all belong to Him. Satan is only a thief that has taken humanity and the beauty of God’s creation captive. At the end of the story, we are told “The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: _“The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever." Rev 11:15 (NIV). Power belongs to God, from beginning to the end. For a while, it seems the power belongs to Satan. In fact, he suggested to be the powerful one when he dared tempt the Lord Jesus with the power to give Christ the kingdoms of this world. The glory belongs to God, alone, and He has chosen to share it with us to an extent in this life (John 17:22), and forever in eternity, He will glorify us (Rom. 8:17-18). God does not need my praise and worship. He is sufficient in and of Himself. And yet He gives me the privilege of believing and speaking His praises. This is indeed a rare privilege to bring praise to God when we pray. FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE: Reflect on the call for attention by Satan and the world system, to deviate our attention from the praise due God. Will you make up your mind that by mindset, attitude, words and actions you will magnify God? PRAYER: Lord, I really appreciate who you are, your Kingdom, your power, and your glory. Please help me by your Holy Spirit to always project your greatness. May your Church be a praising Church, till we join the saints in glory. For your dear Name’s sake, let it be so, Amen. THERE SHALL BE SHOWERS OF BLESSING. SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!

Rev Enoch Thompson | FEBRUARY 15, 2023 | MATTHEW 6:13 KEY VERSE: And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Matthew 6:13 (NIV) MESSAGE: Following true repentance which lies under the prayer for God to forgive us, it is proper to desire and to pray that we do not enter any situation that will make us sinful and guilty again. True repentance must not only make us remorseful, and feel sorry; it must be transformational, making us to be different, better, and living as God would have us be. A plea for forgiveness which does not lead us to turn away from sin and to hate sin is not true repentance. Yes, true conversion to Kingdom citizenship, which recognizes that it cost God His only Begotten Son to die a shameful death for us, must make us hate sin, and yearn for that lifestyle that is freed of the love and practice of sin and sinful behaviour. Lead us not into temptation? Remember that “Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.” Matt 4:1 (NIV). Though God Himself will not tempt us He has the power to place us where we may be exposed to temptation. We must ask God who is sovereign over all things to guide our paths in such a way that we do not come into situations where we are confronted with temptations and may be likely to make the wrong choices. Stated more positively we are to ask God to keep us safe from the evil one, Satan. When we have to face the enemy face to face, we can rely on the power of God to deliver us from his evil power, deceptive attraction, evil suggestions, and murderous lies. We are at war, we wrestle against spiritual forces of wickedness that are against our committed walk by Kingdom standards, and sure they have their human agents everywhere, including in the Church and in the larger community. We must not become preoccupied with Satan and his agents to the point that we become paralysed and are not able to function in our blessed state as children of God, (Eph.6:12). FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE: Are there challenges that you are facing in your desire to live the Christian life? Are there situations that exact your energies and drag you into wrongful choices? Do we have attractions and desires that conflict with the Lord's demands? Let us go to God in prayer and seek His help. We are able to overcome because God is willing to help us. PRAYER: Dear Lord, lead me not into temptation but deliver me from evil, and from the evil one. Lord, please help all your holy people who travel this path of pilgrimage, that we might overcome everyday and in every battle of this war. In Jesus’ blessed Name. Amen. THERE SHALL BE SHOWERS OF BLESSING. SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!

Rev Enoch Thompson | FEBRUARY 14, 2023 | MATTHEW 6:12, 14-15 KEY VERSE: Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. Matthew 6:12 (NIV) MESSAGE: When we stand before God in prayer we are instructed by our Saviour and Master Jesus Christ to forgive other people for the offences they have committed against us. It is natural to nurse hurt feelings and to seek ways to deal with our offender, to pay them back in their own coin, or a bigger coin if possible. We struggle to forgive because it is contrary to our nature, but it even gets worse when the offender keeps repeating their offence, and because we do not retaliate, because we are meek, they keep adding salt to our injuries. It is not our part to seek revenge (as we have seen earlier). We are to pray for the grace to forgive, for it takes divine empowerment to forgive. We are to forgive because God in Christ has forgiven us; “Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” Col 3:13 (NIV). There are people who hide behind the Christian duty to forgive and keep on hurting their spouses, children, church members, colleagues they know are Christian etc. For such, if we are any of such, the reminder of something else the Lord said is important; "Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man through whom they come! Matt 18:7-8 (NIV). If our continued provocation makes other people struggle with the issue of forgiveness, we can be sure that we will face the judgment of God. Our forgiveness of our offenders paves the way for God to forgive us of the sins that stand between our prayers and His answers, between us and our God. We must lift up hands that have been cleansed from holding the faults of others against them (1 Tim 2:8). FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE: Search your heart to ensure that you deal with all known and unknown sins, because they stand between us and God. Decide to forgive your offenders, truly. You may not forget their hurts against you, but you can choose not to use it against them, that is forgiveness. PRAYER: Father in Heaven, I acknowledge that it is not easy for me to forgive people when they offend me. Please grant me the grace to forgive people and mean it. I also admit that though I have become a saint by your new view of me, because of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, I sin by my thoughts, words and actions. Please forgive me for my sins and answer my prayers. In Jesus’ precious Name, Amen. THERE SHALL BE SHOWERS OF BLESSING. SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!

Rev Enoch Thompson | FEBRUARY 13, 2023 | MATTHEW 6:11 KEY VERSE: Give us today our daily bread. Matthew 6:11 (NIV) MESSAGE: When we pray, the Lord Jesus Christ encourages us to ask for the things we need to live this life. We are spirit beings, with souls, but we live in physical bodies that have physical, material, and psychological needs. Our creator Father and God was actually intentional to create all the material things we would need before He created human beings. He also created an abundance of the material necessities so that we would live in abundance. The Fall of the human race into the deception of Satan and therefore into sin led to the curse of the creation and the rat-race to get enough of anything without much struggle. Our humanity has suffered over the centuries, and we continue, in spite of the advances in knowledge in agriculture, in science etc, to live a life of never-enough, disease and social strife. God intends for us to have what it takes to live well. The directive to pray for kings and rulers in 1 Tim 2:2 is given so that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. God’s power has provided “everything we need for life and godliness” 2 Peter 1:3 (NIV), not only in spiritual terms but also in physical terms. The Lord came so we may have life, in its totality, physical and spiritual and that we may have it abundantly (John 10:10). This is the Gospel, not a prosperity gospel. I do not believe in the prosperity gospel, but I believe there is prosperity in the Gospel! Desire good things for your life and bring them to God in prayer. WHEN YOU PRAY, ASK FOR BREAD! FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE: It is helpful to put into writing what we are thinking of as needs. We should also subject our wish list to ascertain how they contribute to God’s glory in our lives and help bring about God’s Kingdom on earth. PRAYER: Dear Lord, give us this day our daily bread. Thanks for all the provisions you have made for our upkeep. Lead us into green pastures and make us lie by cool waters. May we always have enough for ourselves and for supporting others and the work of the Church. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. THERE SHALL BE SHOWERS OF BLESSING. SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!

Rev Enoch Thompson | FEBRUARY 12, 2023 | MATTHEW 6:9-10 KEY VERSE: ⁹"This, then, is how you should pray: "'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, ¹⁰your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:9-10 (NIV) MESSAGE: Giving God His rightful place in our prayers requires that we acknowledge that God is elevated above anything here on earth, He is our Father in heaven. His Name must be honoured and adored by us in the words we use concerning Him, in and outside prayer. We must acknowledge that God is King and that He seeks to establish His Kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven. The kingship of God is His rule in the hearts of people who willingly submit to His standards and by His Spirit live like His children. Our words must remind us to work for the realization of that Kingdom among humans. If we pray without the Kingdom in mind, we pray amiss. Giving God His rightful place in our prayers means we accept the fact that God has a will, revealed to us in His past interactions with humanity and recorded for us in the Bible. He also expresses His will on particular issues that touch our lives as individuals, families, and church communities. When Paul prayed in 2 Corinthians 12 he brought a request that God had a different thought about, and Paul gained fulfilment only when he submitted to the will of God. In prayer we must approach the throne of grace, not to impose our will on God, but to humbly readily hear the will of God and submit to it. We should not attempt to change God by our prayers, but rather allow God to change us to conform to His will on the matter. The Lord Jesus Christ showed us the example when in Gethsemane He prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will." Matt 26:39 (NIV) FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE: Do you find yourself having your prayer repeated many times over after God has ruled on the matter and given His answer? Do we keep pushing after this point because we have not learnt to hear from God and to submit to His will? Determine to ask God to speak concerning your prayers, and then submit to His will. PRAYER: My God, my Father, please help me to come before you in prayer always with a consciousness of your exalted place in my life and over all things. May I glorify your Name in word and deed Rule in my life and may your perfect will be done in all things, personal and in your Church. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. THERE SHALL BE SHOWERS OF BLESSING. SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!

Rev Enoch Thompson | FEBRUARY 11, 2023 | MATTHEW 6:9-10 KEY VERSE: ⁹"This, then, is how you should pray: "'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, ¹⁰your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:9-10 (NIV) MESSAGE: Much of our prayer tends to focus on us and our needs and requests for others. This is necessary, as we shall soon see as we proceed in the lesson on prayer. But the Lord Jesus teaches us when we pray to think of our relationship with God, focus on God as our Father, and start our prayer from that point. Prayer as communication is based on a relationship we have with God. It is an exciting thing to think of and to understand that God is our Father. Some religious thoughts cannot entertain the belief that we humans could become children of God. But the Bible teaches us that at conversion God becomes our Father, and we are accepted as His children. What a thought! God as our Father means that we define and derive our source from Him. It means that we are loved by God and kept by Him (Jude 1). Being children of God means we are a people indwelt by the Holy Spirit, are no longer slaves to Satan and sin, and are inheritors of all that God has (Eph. 4:6-7). These and many other great truths go along with the fact that God is our Father, and we are His children. It is in this understanding that the Apostle John declares: ¹How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. ²Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. ³Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure. 1 John 3:1-3 (NIV) FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE: When you come to prayer, do not come as a poor stranger or with a sense that you will not be accepted. Come as a child of God, that is if you have accepted the opportunity God gives us through faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the sacrifice to reconnect us to our God and creator. Come boldly to your Father in Heaven. PRAYER: Lord, I am privileged to be your child, through faith in Jesus Christ. Please enable me to remember always that I am accepted in your heavenly presence. Please remind me daily to help others come to faith in Christ by my lifestyle and my evangelistic efforts. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. THERE SHALL BE SHOWERS OF BLESSING. SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!

Rev Enoch Thompson | FEBRUARY 10, 2023 | MATTHEW 6:9; 8:1-8 KEY VERSE: ⁹"This, then, is how you should pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, ¹⁰your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Matt 6:9-10 (NIV) MESSAGE: Matthew 6:9-13 gives us what is generally known as the Lord’s Prayer, which some others prefer to call the Disciples’ Prayer (because they hold that the prayer offered by the Lord is captured in John 17). That does not make any difference of the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ taught that prayer is an essential part of Kingdom living, and He took time to teach them “This, then, is how you should pray:” (verse 9). We want to reflect on the need to pray. The Lord Jesus Himself prayed, and He presumed and expected that His disciples will pray. Prayer, a lot of it is happening around us, in churches, on football fields, in forests and on mountain tops. Prayer is an essential part of the Kingdom of God because prayer is communication with God. Take note that prayer is not only talking to God but communicating with God. God by the Holy Spirit inspires the desire to pray, guides the content of our prayer and helps us exercise faith for receiving and conforming to the answers of God to our prayer (Rom. 8:22-27; Jude 17-20). Prayer is necessary because we believe in and love God and want to be in communication with Him. Prayer is necessary because we need guidance, direction, and reinforcement from God our Father till we arrive before Him either by the Rapture or by death. Prayer is a necessity in an evil fallen world where the forces of darkness, and often working through their human agents are opposed to the Kingdom citizen, who is thereby engaged in spiritual warfare. We should pray. FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE: What is your prayer life like? Do you have a consciousness which makes you see the relevance of prayer, being in communication with God at all times, and in specified times of prayer? Do you pray as a family and participate in group and congregational prayer? We should pray and pray we should. PRAYER: Lord, thank you for the gift of prayer, that I, a human being can converse with my God. Please forgive me for the times when I have ignored prayer and lived as if everything depended on my power and the human connections I have. Please inspire my desire to pray and lead me by your Spirit to be a Kingdom citizen who prays. May the Church be roused again to pray. As we live, may we pray. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. THERE SHALL BE SHOWERS OF BLESSING. SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!

Rev Enoch Thompson | FEBRUARY 9, 2023 | MATTHEW 6:1-8 KEY VERSE: "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. Matthew 6:5 (NIV) MESSAGE: How we love to see ourselves and love to be seen by others, as doing the right religious things. What if we could get the whole community or the entire church to “like” our prayers, fasting and giving, and to “share” the same till it’s all viral? Righteous acts and acting, “to be seen by people” in order “to be honoured by people.” This was the major problem that the Lord Jesus Christ had with the champions of Jewish religion, the Pharisees. They were strict on fulfilling the religious ceremonies in the Law of Moses, with a desire that people saw them and were impressed with their religious showmanship. The Pharisees went through physical motions of worship while their hearts were far removed from God. Their audience in worship was the human beings around them, and sometimes with an intention to gain an advantage over their observers and to benefit materially from them. The Lord confronts them in Matthew 23. For Kingdom citizens, however, the Lord sets a new standard which must guide His followers. The performance of our religious duties must be carried out with one audience, God, in mind. Those who seek the applause of humans receive their empty rewards once they had been seen by humans. They can expect no rewards from God, the One who matters above all else in the assessment and rewarding of our spirituality and religious practices. True Christian spirituality does not manifest in a public show of lengthy prayers since God our Father already knows what we need, and He is willing to hear us if we approach Him in the secret place of prayer. There may be times when the situation demands that we do some religious duties openly, publicly, and emotionally; "During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.” (Heb 5:7) NIV. Take note of the fact that when the Lord was loud and emotional in His prayers, He was heard because of the right relationship He had with the Father. Showmanship does not produce divine response. FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE: Do you have a place of intimate quiet relationship with God? It is also important to develop the ability to retreat within oneself, even when in public or in the company of other people. Try to steal away to God as often as you can. Make up your mind that God will be the One that you focus on in all that you do as your religious expression. PRAYER: Lord, save me from religious showmanship, in all my religious practices. Lord deliver the church from unspiritual performances that seek the approval and ratings of humans and guide us to the development of God as our one audience. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. SHALL BE SHOWERS OF BLESSING. SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!