By Joseph Ametepe
It’s my privilege and pleasure to pronounce God’s blessings upon you for the month of August 2024! May you be specially and sufficiently blessed by YAHWEH-NISSI (THE LORD OUR BANNER [See Exodus 17:15])! May the Spirit of the LORD enable you to walk in close fellowship with and obedience to God, so that He will be well-pleased with you - which was not the case for the sons of Israel under Moses’s leadership (1 Corinthians 10:1-5)! May you experience God’s faithfulness in a special way in the midst of the trials He permits in your life – realizing that “no temptation has overtaken you, but that which is common to man” (1 Corinthians 10:13a; NASB)! May the Holy Spirit lead you to take the way of escape which God will provide for you in your trials, “so that you will be able to endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13b)! May God’s Spirit sufficiently empower you to “do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31b)! May the LORD grant that your heart will overflow with gratitude to Him in your tough and trying times, even as our Lord Jesus Himself exemplified in His life on the night He was betrayed (1 Corinthians 11:23-25)! May the Holy Spirit, freshly and forcefully remind you that whenever you partake in the Lord’s Supper, you are actually announcing the death of the Lord Jesus and affirming His soon and sure return (1 Corinthians 11:26)! May the Holy Spirit make you worthy of partaking in the body and blood of the Lord – by careful examination of yourself in His presence (1 Corinthians 11:27-32)! May the LORD Himself assure your heart as a believer that “to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” (1 Corinthians 12:7)! May the Spirit of God Himself grant you a fresh desire to use your spiritual gift or gifts for the benefits of others in the body of Christ – to the praise of His glory (1 Corinthians 12:8-11)! May the LORD who placed the members of the body just as He desired, place you in a local Bible-believing church – among whom you have a sense of belonging, care and need of each other (1 Corinthians 12:14-26)! May the Spirit of God enable you to “earnestly desire the greater gifts” (1 Corinthians 12:31)! May the LORD grant you the joy of serving Him and doing all things in LOVE – which is a more excellent way (1 Corinthians 12:31b-13:1-7)! Yes, may you be specially and sufficiently blessed by the GOD OF LOVE – for His love “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Corinthians 13:7)! And above all, may you experience and enjoy His LOVE which never fails (1 Corinthians 13:8a) in the month of August 2024 and beyond!