Daily Devotional

Approach the storms with a positive attitude. God will not allow you to experience a trial unless He wants to use it to bless you. David had just been anointed king, yet he was just a musician in Saul’s palace, a shepherd and an errand boy. It seemed as though the anointing was a waste. Goliath became the mighty storm that would bring David to the limelight. When you face a storm, stop asking: “God, where are you?” Instead, ask: “God, what do I stand to gain from this?” David asked his brothers, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine?” Once you can see the prize, challenges transform into opportunities.

In Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi, we see a priest who lived out the selflessness required of the priestly vocation. As we read in today’s Gospel passage, Tansi “sold everything he had to purchase the kingdom of God.” Blessed Tansi was often accused of taking his Christian faith too seriously. For a time, Tansi worked tirelessly in the parishes of Nnewi, Dunukofia, and Akpu/Ajali before discerning his vocation as a Cistercian monk at Mount Saint Bernard Abbey in Leicester, England. He lived this vocation at the abbey for 14 years. Father Tansi used to say: “If you are going to be a Christian at all, you might as well live entirely for God”.

Let us resolve this week to be new in thoughts, words, and actions. Let us strive to put sin aside and live a new life in Christ. Whatever represents darkness in your life should not continue this new week. Are you used to disobeying one or a few of God’s commandments? You cannot suddenly repent because you desire to; you must change the skin to accommodate the new wine. In other words, we cannot do the same thing and expect a different result. You must change your tactics; you must cut off any relationship or attachment that constantly pulls you to sin.