Category: Shepherd Daily Devotional

Allow God to deal with the enemy.

There’s a saying that “revenge is a dish best served cold”. This implies that revenge is more fulfilling when it’s carried out at an unexpected time.

I strongly disagree because the Bible condemns it (Romans 12:19).

Recall what happened in the case between Peter and Herod. When Herod tried to kill Peter, God stepped in and rescued Peter by Himself because Herod was actually fighting God, not Peter. By not fighting back, Peter left room for God’s wrath as Herod was eventually struck down with a blow by an angel (Acts 12:17-24). Allow God to deal with the enemy.

Written by Ben Dankaka

Commit to focusing on what you can change, rather than what’s already happened.

When Peter told the brethren how the Lord had saved him, He said to them, “Tell James and the brothers about this,” and then he left for another place. That is, Peter didn’t hold on to his past. He moved on (Acts 12:1-17).

Clearly, the main thing on Peter’s mind was how to further his work of spreading the gospel. And not on dwelling on the bitter experiences. He moved out of the city, leaving his past behind.

One reason why many people fail to overcome the crises in their lives is because they often go through life feeling bitter and frustrated, even after they’ve been liberated.

To fully recover from a crisis, do what Peter did. Move on!

Written by Ben Dankaka

You may not know who’s going to be inspired by your testimony.

On the night that Peter was rescued by the angel, he went to the house where people had gathered to pray for him. He was eager to meet those who stood by him.

Peter didn’t think of rushing home to celebrate alone. Instead, the first thing on his mind was to share his testimony (Acts 12:25).

Too often, we fail to share our testimony after we’ve had our miracle. When we are facing challenges, we talk to people and ask them to pray for us. But when God eventually answers our prayers, we forget to return to those who prayed for us. What we fail to realize is that testimonies are important because they serve as proofs to God’s faithfulness.

Written by Ben Dankaka

Why worry over something that is beyond your control?

On the night that Peter that was rescued by the angel of the Lord, he was heavily guarded by armed men. Ordinarily, there was no way Peter could have escaped by his own effort. So, he simply slept.

Probably, he had resolved to make the best use of that moment by having a good sleep.  So, when the angel suddenly struck Peter on the side and woke him up, Peter was dazed. He thought it was a vision.  But he followed the angel out of the prison, even though “he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening” (Acts 12:1-11).

When God responds to your prayers, act like Peter; and just follow the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Written by Ben Dankaka

Prayer works!

Prayer doesn’t always work like a clock. While you can easily predict the hands of a clock, you can’t predict how or when a prayer will be answered.

After Peter was jailed by Herod, the Church prayed for him. The Bible didn’t mention how long it took God to answer their prayer. But we are told that on the night before Herod was to bring him to trial, an angel suddenly appeared and rescued him (Acts 12:1-7).

The miracle happened at the eleventh hour! My prayer for you is that God will suddenly respond to your prayer in an unexpected way.

Written by Ben Dankaka

Ask God to do for you what you cannot do for yourself.

Shortly after Herod had James, the brother of John killed; he proceeded and arrested Peter, thinking it would please the Jews. Since the Church knew they couldn’t physically confront Herod because of his power and influence, they resorted to prayers (Acts 12:1-5)

I don’t know the sort of crisis you are facing. But if you are at a point where you feel helpless; then do what the disciples did by handing over the matter to God.

Like the disciples did, pray earnestly and ask God to do for you what you cannot do for yourself. And if you’ve lost the strength to pray for yourself, then ask someone to pray for you.

Written by Ben Dankaka

If we ask anything according to His will, He listens.

There are many reasons why some of our prayers turn out to be ineffective. Let me deal with one of them. In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus tells us to pray according to Heaven’s will. This means that when we don’t pray according to God’s will, we may not get what we are asking for.

Years ago, I asked God to show me how to revive my business. Instead, He showed me something different. At first, I thought it was the devil, playing with my mind. But it wasn’t so, because after a while I realized it was God redirecting steps.

Here’s the key: When you know what God wants you to do, you will likely pray according to His will (1 John 5:14).

Written by Ben Dankaka

It takes knowledge to create anything.

True leaders depend on creativity. And it doesn’t matter the field, creativity is required in every line of work. You may not be creative in your current work, but there’s a place you can be creative. And that place is oftentimes in your area of gifting.

The Bible tells us, God made the heavens and earth by His understanding. That is, by His knowledge, God created the heavens and the earth (Psalm 136)

So, He didn’t just create the heavens and the earth with His word alone. To create the earth, God had to use His understanding. Do what God did. Use your knowledge and understanding to create something that can impact our world.

Written by Ben Dankaka

Whatever you can overcome, God will let you handle it.

All humans want to feel powerful. But in our quest to feel powerful, we end up dominating others. But it doesn’t have to be that way.  The Bible tells us that, “God made the earth by his power; he founded the world by

his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding” (Jeremiah 10:12; Proverbs3:19).

Notice that when God created the earth, He neither exploited anyone nor asked anyone to do the work for Him. He created the earth by Himself, with His wisdom and understanding.

If you want real power, you have to do what God did. Whether you want to create a product or business, it will require your wisdom and understanding.

Written by Ben Dankaka

Whatever you can overcome, God will let you handle it.

Miracles were a vital part of Jesus’s ministry. In the gospels, Jesus did miracles when there was an urgent need. Also, whenever He saw someone who was helpless, know that Jesus would perform a miracle (Luke 9:11; John 2:1-11).

Equally, the miracles that God performed while He was taking the Israelites to the Promised Land were often as a result of an urgent need. For instance, when they were unprepared to fight, God divided the red sea; when they didn’t have farms, He dropped manna. But when they settled in Canaan, they took charge.

While we need God’s help, it is important for us to know that God also expects us to take charge.

Written by Ben Dankaka