MGD: Ground Zero - 1

Shalom, beloved. You are warmly welcome to today's Morning Glory Devotion.

I am happy to be bringing you a devotional message

written by Pastor Indikinus Gilson from the Harvest Chapel International,

Denyame Kumasi. Let us kindly share a word of prayer.

Heavenly Father, Thank you for the privilege of hearing your word.

Open our hearts and reveal yourself to us afresh. In

Jesus' mighty name. Amen. Let us kindly take our confession

for today from Joshua chapter 1 verse 8. Joshua chapter

Joshua 1:8 Joshua 1:8

1 verse 8. This book of the law shall not

depart from my mouth, but I shall meditate in it

day and night. that I may observe to do according

to all that is written in it. For then I

will make my way prosperous, and then I will have

good success. Amen. Today's message, written by Pastor Indignus Kilson,

is titled, Ground Zero, Part 1, When God Becomes Your God.

Ground Zero, Part 1, When God Becomes Your God. Our

scripture reading shall be taken from Genesis chapter 28, the

Genesis 28 · chapter mention

verse 10 to 22. Genesis 28, the verse 10 to 22.

I will be reading from the New International Version. Jacob's

Dream at Bethel Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran.

When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the

night because the sun had set. Taking one of the

stones there, he put it under his head and lay

down to sleep. He had a dream in which he

saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top

reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending

and descending on it. There above it stood the Lord,

and he said, I am the Lord, the God of

your father Abraham. and the God of Isaac, I will

give you and your descendants the land on which you

are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of

the earth, and you will spread out to the west

and to the east, to the north and to the south.

All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and

your offspring. I am with you and will watch over

you wherever you go, and I will bring you back

to this land. I will not leave you until I

have done what I have promised you. When Jacob awoke

from his sleep, he thought, Surely the Lord is in

this place, and I was not aware of it. He

was afraid and said, How awesome is this place! This

is none other than the house of God. This is

the gate of heaven. Early the next morning, Jacob took

the stone he had placed under his head and set

it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top

of it. He called that place Bethel, though the city

used to be called Luz. Then Jacob made a vow, saying,

If God will be with me, and will watch over

me on this journey I am taking, and will give

me food to eat and clothes to wear, so that

I return safely to my father's household, then the Lord

will be my God. And this stone that I have

set up as a pillar will be God's house. And

all of that you give me, I will give you

a tenth. The Lord add his blessings to the reading

and hearing of this word. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Whenever I get into a taxi or Uber I like

to ask the driver about his faith. The answer I

hear most often is some version of this. I was

born into a Christian home. My father was a pastor.

My mother served in the church. It is offered as

though it settles the matter. But beloved, having parents who

knew God is not the same as knowing God for yourself.

No one had a richer spiritual heritage than Jacob. His

grandfather was Abraham, the friend of God. His father was Isaac,

the child of promise. In that household, the stories of

God's faithfulness were not a distant history. They were family history. Yet,

notice how God introduces himself at Bethel. I am the

Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac.

The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, not yet

the God of Jacob. But by the end of that night,

Jacob makes a declaration of his own. The Lord shall

be my God. The faith he had inherited was now

becoming personal. Perhaps that is where some of us must begin.

You may have been carried to church before you could walk.

You may know the songs, the stories, and exactly when

to say amen. You may even know how to look

like a Christian. But your mother's prayers cannot substitute for

your own relationship with Christ. Your father's faith cannot be inherited.

Your pastor's encounter does not become yours because you sit

under his ministry. God has no grandchildren. Every generation must

meet him for itself. This is what I call ground zero.

The place where God ceases to be someone you have

heard about and becomes someone you know. For Jacob, it

came when life was anything but comfortable. He was running

from home. Behind him lay a broken relationship with his brother. Ahead,

a land he had never seen. No father to bless him,

no mother to advise him. Just Jacob, the darkness, an

uncertain tomorrow, and a stone for a pillow. And there

God met him. God often becomes most real when the

things we have leaned upon fall away. For one person,

it is a painful season. For another, a failure. For

someone else, it is simply the day you grow tired

of pretending. When you realize that knowing Christian language is

not knowing Christ, and that the image everyone sees is

not the person God sees, the facade comes down and

you say, Lord, I need to know you for myself.

Ground zero need not be dramatic. There may be no dream,

no ladder, no sign. It become quietly, over an open Bible,

in a sermon, alone in prayer, in that moment when

the Holy Spirit opens your eyes and you see that

Jesus is not merely the Savior others have told you about.

He must be your Savior and your Lord. Jacob woke

up and said, surely the Lord is in this place,

and I did not know it. God had not suddenly arrived.

He had been there all along. It was Jacob who

woke up, and perhaps that is the prayer some of

us need to say today. Lord, awaken me. Take me

beyond familiarity, beyond borrowed faith, beyond Christianity by association. Let

me know you. Jacob walked on towards Haran. Work, marriage, children,

disappointment and prosperity all lay ahead. But never again could

he say he had only heard about God. He had

met him and come to know him. Beloved, where is

your ground zero? Can you remember when the gospel became

more than a story? When grace became personal? If you cannot,

Let today be the beginning. God is not asking you

to manufacture someone else's experience. He is calling you to himself.

The God of Abraham became the God of Isaac. The

God of Isaac became the God of Jacob. And the

God others have told you about desires to be known

by you. Would you meet him at your ground zero? today?

God richly bless you. Let us kindly take our memory

verse for today. Our memory verse shall be taken from

Genesis 28-16. Genesis 28-16 I will be reading from the

New King James Version. Then Jacob awoke from his sleep

and said, Surely the Lord is in this place, and

I did not know it. Amen. Let us kindly share

a word of prayer. Our Heavenly Father, We thank you

that you desire a deep personal relationship with each of us.

We ask for your forgiveness for the times we have

relied on borrowed faith, we have relied on familiarity or

a Christian heritage instead of seeking you for ourselves. Please

awaken our hearts today. Strip away the facade. Take us

beyond just knowing about you and reveal yourself to us

so profoundly that you truly become our God. We pray

today will be our ground zero, the beginning of a

genuine living walk with you. In Jesus' mighty name, Amen.

Precious One, God has no grandchildren. A rich Christian heritage

is a blessing, but every individual must come to their

own ground zero and know God for themselves. Amen. God

richly bless you for staying all through today's morning glory devotion.

Kindly join us again for another episode tomorrow by God's

grace at the same time for part two of this series,

Ground Zero. Stay tuned to Radio HCI today for more

spirit-filled content. Stay blessed. Shalom.