DCLM Daily Manna 23 May 2026 Devotional Message Written By Pastor W.F Kumuyi
Read DCLM Daily Manna 23 May 2026, Saturday Devotional Message.
TOPIC: Prescription for Divine Pleasure
KEY VERSE
“Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the LORD” (Haggai 1:8).
BIBLE READING: Haggai 1:8-11
DCLM Daily Manna 23 May 2026 | MESSAGE
A few years ago, there was a social media storm surrounding the Christian duty of giving to God. As was to be expected, given the freedom that social media offers, everyone chimed in, and there were many opinions. One idea that seemed to have gained considerable traction was the substituting of giving to God’s cause with giving to charitable causes. The protagonists argued for taking care of the pecuniary needs of society’s downand-outers to the total neglect of the Church’s ministry of evangelism, which unknown to them, catered for man’s spiritual needs and his immortal soul.
The idea of having to make a mandatory choice between going hungry and going to hell is not found anywhere in God’s word. How could anyone rightly substitute ardent love for God with fervent love for their fellow men, and vice versa? US billionaire John D. Rockefeller, if he were still alive, would have been amused by the absurdity of juxtaposing necessary social action with the spiritual duty of tithing. The American gave to God’s house and cared for fellow men with equal passion, both virtues stemming from his understanding of the Christian as a steward.
God had sent Prophet Haggai with words of fierce rebuke to the returning captives of Israel. He expected them to reciprocate His favour of granting them restoration back to their homeland, after long years of captivity. One way they were expected to do this was in rebuilding the temple and inaugurating regular worship. Instead, they were keen on reconstructing their own estates while God’s house remained desolate and in ruins. No one among them seemed to have noticed the incongruence between their most strenuous efforts at financial sufficiency and the meagre resources they garnered. They were, therefore, in a double jeopardy of spiritual and material destitution, though oblivious of the fact. Concentrating all our energy on material pursuits to the neglect of heaven’s demands could bring us to the same fate as Israel’s in the days of Haggai.
God, however, laced His rebuke with words of encouragement to the returnees. There was hope yet if they repented and did the right thing. Honouring God with your resources opens His treasure-house of blessings into your life.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
To deny God your resources is to be penny-wise but pound-foolish
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Galatians 1-3
About Author – Pastor W.F. Kumuyi
Listed among “500 most powerful people on the planet” by the Foreign Policy magazine in 2013, Pastor (Dr.) William F. Kumuyi is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry (DCLM) headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria. DCLM started in 1973 as a 15-member Bible study group right in Kumuyi’s apartment at University of Lagos where he was a lecturer. His revolutionary Bible teaching on personal holiness and commitment to evangelism soon gained so much traction and resulted in a widespread.