Greetings and thank you for the opportunity to be able to come to you and spend time with you in the word of God and prayer. Although these are just short and brief moments, we trust that these devotionals are building you up and encouraging you in your walk of faith with the Lord. This week, I just want to share some stories from my own life, especially the early days, at the very beginning, from the time of coming to know Jesus Christ as my Savior and some things that took place in those early days. Personally, it is always very encouraging to look back and think about the ways in which God has worked and we also know that sometimes stories are something that people enjoy hearing and can be inspiring. The very first story that I want to share this week, of course, is how I came to know Jesus as my Savior. It happened in a very, very simple way. I had a friend in school, this was sometime in October of 1981, just before my 13th birthday. I had a close friend; at that time, he was a believer in Jesus, but he came from a non-Christian background. I did not know that he had actually come to faith in Christ, but I just thought he was a friend who was from a non-Christian background but we were close friends because we played football together, soccer together in the school team and so we were very close. One afternoon he invited me he said, would you like to come with me to this chapel? In the school where we were studying, we had a chapel. I was quite surprised, why my friend who was from a non-Christian background is going to the chapel during lunch break, when usually we go play football. But because he is my good friend, I said ok, I'll come with you. So, we went to the school chapel and there I saw boys who were praying and some of them I knew, my friends. So, I was very surprised because I didn't know this was happening in my school and towards the end of that short time during lunch break where the boys were praying, one of the teachers who was leading that group came, he saw me and he said you come back tomorrow I'll talk to you. So, the next day I made sure I went back, had my lunch, went to the chapel during lunch break. The teacher was there, he took me aside, he shared a few words with me and then he prayed with me, he led me in a very simple prayer. Now at that moment I did not feel anything. In fact, I didn't even necessarily understand everything he spoke to me. I just prayed, I didn't feel anything, I didn't see any vision, nothing but something happened from that moment on in my life. Nobody forced me, nobody compelled me, but something in me had changed and I was able to go back, I went back to the chapel, I started reading my bible, I started praying. Something had changed in a very simple way. I'm reminded of what happened in Elijah in first Kings chapter 19, verses 11 through 13 where the Bible says Elijah heard the sound of an earthquake and a fire, then there was a still small voice and God was in that voice. When I look back at that moment, the thing I could take away is this that sometimes God works in a very quiet way but in a very, very powerful way. I didn't know what was happening, but in those few moments of prayer, my life changed forever. So even though it was a very quiet moment, it is a very powerful moment. It was a life changing moment. God works in very quiet ways, but yet very powerful ways. Be open to that still, small, quiet work of God that He is doing in your life. Let's pray, Father, we thank you, that many times in very quiet and yet powerful ways, you work in us to change our lives forever. Help us to be receptive to these quiet ways in which you work, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Daily devotions to strengthen your faith each day. Daily Devotional for Spirit filled living. Each daily devotion is about five minutes in duration. These daily devotionals are centered around a weekly theme. So there are seven daily devotions that focus on the theme and bring you insight, understanding and revelation from the Bible. Each week's theme is listed as a series. So you can listen to the current week's devotions or go to any previous theme/series that speaks to your present need (https://apcwo.org/resources/daily-devotions ). Also available free sermons (https://apcwo.org/sermons), and free Christian books (https://apcwo.org/books) to nourish and strengthen your faith.