BLESSED ARE THEY THAT MOURN For Friday June 12th 2015

Topic: BLESSED ARE THEY THAT MOURN 

Memorise: For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. 2^nd Corinthians 7:10

Bible Text: Matthew 5:4, Bible in one year: 1^st Kings 20:26-21:29, Luke 6:46-7:17

The word of God is full of mysteries. Our Bible reading today reveals one of such mysteries. How can mourning, which is an expression of deep sorrow, become a blessing, which is an expression of deep sorrow, become a blessing? The answer lies in our memory verse which reveals two types of sorrow: godly sorrow and the sorrow of the world. There are lots of blessings associated with godly sorrow. One of these is that it produces repentance which brings about salvation. Godly sorrow can be expe

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PRODUCING CHILDREN OF GOD For Thursday June 11th 2015

Title: PRODUCING CHILDREN OF GOD

Memorise: So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Romans 10:17

Bible Text: 1^st John 3:1-3, Bible in one year: 1^st Kings 18:41-20:25, Luke 6:24-45

Children of God are produced by the power in the Word of God. The reason why it seems genuine children of God are scarce nowadays despite the increase in the number of churches and increase in church attendance is because the Church is suffering from a famine of the genuine Word of God. It is by faith that we become genuine children of God. However, this faith does not come by the wisdom of man; neither does it come by the philosophical sayings of the learned or the motivational words of orators. 1^st Corinthians 2:4-5 says.

“And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.”

The world, especially devotees of certain religious, still wonder up till now how it is possible for a human being to claim that he or she is a child of God. Such people look at divine paternity with the mind of the flesh, and so they cannot understand or accept the mystery of adaptation which empowers us to become sons of God through Christ Jesus. Even to us who have been conferred this prestigious status of being children of God, it is still a mystery. John the beloved expressed this mystery with awe in 1^st John 3:1:

“Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.”

The Word of God came to Mary and produced the Son of God, when she had not known any man (Luke 1:30-35). This is a template for us. The mystery of divine adoption lies in the Word of God. For us to produce children of God from children of disobedience, we need to expose them to the undiluted Word of God that will produce the required faith for their adoption. Romans 10:17 says;

“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

We should therefore follow the pattern of the early apostles, we produced children of God through the Word of God. We see this manifested in Acts 4:4

“Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand.”

Key Point There is power in numbers. For the kingdom of God be firmly established on earth, there must be a tremendous increase in the number of God’s children

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A WATCHMAN FOR GOD II On Wednesday June 10th 2015

 Topic:A WATCHMAN FOR GOD II 

Memorise: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. Matthew 28:20

Read: Ezekiel 33:12-16, Bible in one year: 1^st Kings 17:8-18:40, Luke 6:1-23

As a young Christian, I used to think that the soul purpose of preaching was the conversion of souls. When I preached and people did not respond positively, I used to be discouraged. Often times, I felt that there was no need to preach to people whom I assumed were despises of the message of the gospel, until the Lord led me to a truth about my assignment as a watchman. This truth is hidden in Mathew 24:14:

“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness

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A WATCHMAN FOR GOD I For Tuesday June 9th 2015

Ttopic:A WATCHMAN FOR GOD I 

Memorise: Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; Acts 3:19

Read: Ezekiel 33:7-11, Bible in one year: 1^st Kings 15:25-17:7

God called Prophet Ezekiel and set him as a watchman over the house of Israel. As a watchman for God, he was to hear from Him and warn the people concerning whatsoever God told him. Just like Ezekiel, believers in these end-times, particularly ministers of the gospel, are set as watchmen to warm the world of the impending judgement of God. One of the most important responsibilities of a watchman for God is that he or she must of necessity here from God (Ezekiel 33:7). You must hear from

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MESSENGERS WITHOUT A MESSAGE For Today Monday June 8th 2015

Theme: MESSENGERS WITHOUT A MESSAGE 

Memorise: Preach the Word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. 2^nd Timothy 4:2

Bible Text: 2^nd Samuel 18:19-33, Bible in one year: 1^st Kings 14:1-15:24, Luke 4:38-5:16

One anomaly noticeable in the Body of Christ today is the presence of messengers running around without a message. An example of such messengers is Ahimaaz in today’s Bible reading. After the death of Absalom, Joab, the captain of David’s army, sent Cushi with a message to the palace; but Ahimaaz volunteered himself to also deliver a message to the king. In spite of the fact that Joab reminded him that he had no reason to go since he had no message to deliver, he insisted that he would, and he was allowed to. The funny thing about this story is that, Ahimaaz outran Cushi who actually had a message to deliver. When Ahimaaz  got to King David and he was interrogated, the emptiness of his message was laid bare, and the king therefore asked him to step aside for the person who actually had substance in his message. One cannot help but wonder: what was the essence of Ahimaaz’s effort, so much so that he outran the person who actually had a message?

The attitude demonstrated by Ahimaaz can be referred to as zeal without meaning. This is the situation of some so-called ministers of the gospel today. They are massagers sent by their belly or by the devil (Romans 16:18). How do we know messengers without a message? We know them by their deceptive speeches, which are geared towards making people “feel good” when they should be sober about their lifestyle of sin. Apostle Paul, while giving his final charge to Timothy, his son in Christ and a young bishop, instructed him to:

“Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.”

2^nd Timothy 4:2

Today, many so-called sermons are actually motivational speeches, given by motivational speakers disguised as preachers. Their message cannot be the word of God; it contains no rebuke, no reproof and no doctrine. As a matter of policy, they would not teach doctrine because they say they have not been called to do so! One cannot help wondering who commissioned them in the first place. It is their belly, of course (Philippians 3:17-19). Beloved, I advise you to be careful of the ministers you listen to, and to filter the type of sermons you admit into your spiritual sub-consciousness. On the other hand, if you are a deceptive preacher of the gospel, desist before the anger of God comes on you without remedy.  

Prayer Point: Father, help me to recognize your appointed messengers, and grant me the grace to listen and do according to Your bidding through them.

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FIRST COMMANDMENT WITH PROMISE For Today Sunday June 7th 2015

Theme: FIRST COMMANDMENT WITH PROMISE 

Memorise: Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. Exodus 20:12

Bible Text: Ephesians 6:1-3, Bible in one year: 1^st Kings 12:16-13:34, Luke 4:14-37

Our God is a God of reward and an excellent motivator. He gives a law, and specifies the reward that will follow if we keep it (Deuteronomy 28:1-2). In like manner, He also indicates the punishment attached to breaking any of his laws (Genesis 2:16-17). In our Bible reading, we read about the first commandment with a promise. Apostle Paul got the inspiration on this truth from Exodus 20:12. It is unfortunate that this law of life is not being heeded by the young folks of today. This is the reason why life expectancy is reducing. The story was

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REPORT DON’T MURMUR For Today Saturday June 6th 2015

Theme: REPORT DON’T MURMUR

Memorise: Plead my cause, O LORD, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me. Psalm 35:1

Bible Text: Luke 18:1-8, Bible in one year: 1^st Kings 11:1-12:15, Luke 3:23-4:13

One of the sins that God hates so much is the sin of murmuring. During the mass exodus of the Israelites from Egypt to the Promised Land, the reason why God destroyed some of them was due to their incessant murmuring. They kept on murmuring instead of discussing their problems with the One who has severally demonstrated the capacity to solve them. A reoccurring scene in their journey is described in Numbers 14:1-2. The consequence of this demonstration of faithfulness in God was that He denied them the joy of making it to the Promised Land. They all died in the wilderness, according to what they had said against themselves while murmuring. We must be careful of what we use our mouth to say in times of challenges (Numbers 14:28).

When confronted with the challenges of life, we should learn from our Bible reading and our memory verse what our attitude should be. In our memory verse, the Psalmist asked God to come to his aid against enemies that fought against him. He chose the correct Ally for the battle of life he was confronted with – the One whose Name is the Lord of hosts. He would rather report his enemies to the Captain of his battle rather than murmur about them. When you consider the end of David and the posthumous glory accorded him till date, you will see a man whose Ally was the Almighty God. Also, the widow in the parable of Jesus did not go to the house of the judge to murmur. She knew what she wanted: that the judge should fight her cause and grant her justice. Nobody knows what her adversary did to her; probably the adversary killed her husband and took their properties away. We are not even told for how many days, weeks, months or years she had been going to the judge for justice. But one thing we know is that, she kept on saying to him. “Avenge me on my adversary” (Luke 18:3). The judge had no choice but to avenge her. Hear the Lord’s conclusion from this parable in Luke 18:7-8^a:

“And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily.”

This is so confronting and reassuring. I therefore urge you to cultivate the habit of reporting your adversaries to your sure Ally: the All-powerful God. Don’t engage in murmuring which you think you are praying. My prayer for you is that the Great God of heaven will avenge you of your adversaries this season, and you will know peace in Jesus’ Name.    

Prayer Point: Father, You are the All-powerful One, arise and avenge me of all my adversaries in Jesus Name. 

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THE OTHER SIDE OF PROSPERITY For Today:Friday June 5th 2015

 THEME: THE OTHER SIDE OF PROSPERITY

Memorise: Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: proverbs 30:8

Bible Text: 2^nd Chronicles 18:1-3, Bible in one year: 1^st Kings 9-10, Luke 3:7-22

Prosperity is good, and it is far better than poverty. As a matter of fact, God wants His children to prosper (3^rd John 2). However, we cannot wave off the words of Agur’s prophesy in today’s memory verse. One may wonder why he would make this strange utterance. The answer lies in Proverbs 30:9

“Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.”

The first part of his reason for this statement is what I consider to be the other side of prosperity. When you become so prosperous that you forget the God who prospered you in the first place, you are in very serious trouble. My prayer for you is that the prosperity that will make you forsake God will not come your way in Jesus’ Name.

In our Bible reading, we see how God prospered King Jehoshaphat with abundant riches; but after he experienced prosperity, he made a military alliance with the wicked King Ahab. He would have lost his life through this evil association with Ahab, but for the mercy of God (2^nd Chronicles 18:31). You must be very careful of the people you associate with as you climb the ladder of prosperity (Proverbs 19:4). Some people suddenly become clubbers after they start commanding wealth. They now enjoy the world of vanities, and no longer value time for fellowship with the brethren. The story of King David in 2^nd Samuel 11:1-2 is an example of what prosperity can do to a one-time valiant warrior. David had no time for extra-marital affairs when he was running for his dear life from cave to cave. But after the crown came, at a time he was supposed to lead Israel to battle as he used to do, he was busy enjoying a sinful holiday.

Should we then conclude that prosperity is evil? Not at all; all we need to do is to fellow the pattern of prosperity management used by the fathers of faith like Abraham. No matter how wealthy you become, keep standing out as a lover of God who trembles at His commandments. Your wealth has a purpose, which is to serve the interest of God and His Kingdom through the machinery of the Church. You cannot imagine that God will bless someone with a car, when the motive is to use it for seducing innocent girls to defile them. This is the reason why some children of God are yet to receive their promised prosperity: God knows they cannot handle it yet.   

Prayer Point: Father, grant me the wisdom and the spiritual maturity to handle wealth.

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GET RID OF THE AMALEKITES For Thursday June 4th 2015

Topic:  GET RID OF THE AMALEKITES 

Memorise: And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. Matthew 5:29

Read: 1^st Samuel 15:1-3, Bible in one year: 1^st Kings 8:12-66, Luke 2:41-3:6

Who or what is an Amalekite? An Amalekite is a symbolic representation of whosoever or whatsoever stands as an enemy of God or His plan. In our Bible reading, God opened the book of remembrance to the page where the wickedness of the Amalekites against His chosen people was recorded. 1^st Samuel 15:2 says:

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