THE SPIRITUAL MARATHON For Thursday July 23rd 2015

Topic: THE SPIRITUAL MARATHON

Memorise: But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. Mathew 24:13

Bible Text: Hebrews 12:1-3, Bible in one year: 2^nd Chronicles 32:1-33:9, John 3:1-21

The day you genuinely gave your life to Christ, you began a race. It is a spiritual race. The race to Heaven is not a sprint but a marathon. It is not something you run with all your strength for just one day and it ends there. Unlike the regular marathon that goes through streets and paths already marked out, you may have to take unmarked routes and paths hitherto unknown while running this race. Also, unlike in regular marathons where you can meet someone who has successfully finished the race for tips, those who have run this peculiar race to the end are definitely not around on earth for people to consult with.

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THE PRINCIPAL PERSONALITY For Tuesday July 21st 2015

 Topic: THE PRINCIPAL PERSONALITY

Memorise: Wisdom is the principal thing: therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understand. Proverbs 4:7

Bible Text: Proverbs 4:5-9, Bible in one year: 2^nd Chronicles 28:5-29:36, John 1:29-51

Today’s Bible reading defines wisdom as the principal thing in life. Wisdom is most important because you need it to relate effectively with God, the devil and his cohorts. You also need wisdom to govern your relationship with friends and foes. At work, at school and in the ministry, you need wisdom. With wisdom, you can successfully handle all your life’s pursuits. Wisdom connects everything you do. Wisdom can mean the difference between life and death, success and failure, wealth and poverty, growth and retardation. Everything you can ever ask for will come to you if you have wisdom. There are different types of wisdom operation in the natural and spiritual realms. There

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REGRESSION AND REPRESSION For Monday July 20th 2015

Message Topic: REGRESSION AND REPRESSION 

Memorise: And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. Isaiah 65:21

Bible Text: Judges 6:1-6, Bible in one year: 2^nd Chronicles 25:14-28:4, John 1:1-28

A man’s state of progress can be classified into seven basic categories; one of which is regression. The state of regression is that in which mean forces beyond one’s control continuously push one backward. An example of this is the woman with the issue of blood (Mark 5:25-34). She went through a lot in the process of seeking help from different doctors. She spent all she had but instead of getting better, she grew worse, because unseen forces kept on pushing her backward. Have you found yourself in a similar situation, where every effort you put in to take you forward moves you backward, or where every effort you put in to improve your lot only complicates matters? The Lord will step into your situation today and deliver you. Every regressive force working against your life, health, progress or destiny is terminated today in Jesus’ Name.

Another state of progress is repression. This refers to a state in which negative forces push a person down and try to hold him or her down, frustrating every attempt to move up. This can manifest in the hearing of voices that lead one to the other side of progress. In Judges 6:3-6, the children of Israel encountered repression from a particular group of people who decided to afflict them. Whenever the Israelites were sowing in the fields, this group of people pretended not to notice. They never stopped them from exerting their energy or from expending their time and money on their farms. But as soon as their crops were harvested, they swarmed in like locusts and destroyed everything. Thereafter, the Israelites will have to start all over again, after which these enemies would again waste or destroy their harvest in a vicious cycle. When I was very young, there was a very notorious thief who gained so much notoriety that musicians waxed a song about him. His name was Anikura. The lyrics of the song said: “Anikura won’t ask you not to trade. He won’t ask you not to gain, but he will ensure that you do not take the gain.” This epitomises repression! If you are in a state of repression, you will continue to work for devourers and never benefit from your labours. Are you a victim of repression? Do you labour and yet you are unable to enter into your harvest? That repressive force is paralysed today in Jesus’ Name. Jesus sets you free from repression! You will eat from your labours from now on in Jesus’ Name.   

Prayer Point: Father, today, let your fire consume every force working against me and trying to stop me from taking the good harvest of my labours, in Jesus’ Name!

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CALLED UNTO HOLINESS For Sunday July 19th 2015

Topic: CALLED UNTO HOLINESS

Memorise: But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;  Matthew 5:44

Bible Text: Matthew 5:43-48, Bible in one year: 2^nd Chronicles 23:16-25:13, Luke 24:36-53

The call to salvation is a call to holiness. The day you were invited to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, you were automatically called to a life of holiness. The Bible in 1^st Thessalonians 4:7 says:

“For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness”

Have you responded to this call? The reason why many Christian leaders are heading for Hell today is because they have not answered the call to holiness. This ingredient is so indispensable to the Christian faith that having salvation without holiness is like leaving the substance and taking the chaff that can be easily blown away. Without sanctification, the salvation experience may not know stability. The accounts for the rising-and-falling syndrome being experienced by many Christians. When you are sanctified after receiving Christ into your heart, your faith in Christ is given the strong roots it needs. Hence, when the winds of affliction, temptation, persecution and other challenges of life blow, your faith in Christ will be unshaken, because it is deeply rooted. While the experience of salvation is akin to cruising in God’s shallow waters, experience sanctification is like launching out into the deep oceans of God’s nature. You need this experience!

 

When you are sanctified and behave irrationally. What they need is sanctification. When you are holy, you are not easily provoked. In fact, after several failed deliberate attempts to make you angry, people will wonder whether you can ever get annoyed. If you are sanctified, you will find it impossible to cheat anyone, how much more your fellow Christian Brother. With a sanctified heart, you will easily forgive your persecutors like Stephen and Jesus did. You will make excuses for those who fall below your expectations. You will have grace to love the unlovable, and pray for those who spitefully use you. When Jesus gave the instruction in today’s reading, He was actually calling us to holiness. Have you accepted this call? Have you received a new heart?

 Prayer point: Father, as I renew my mind with Your Word, sanctify me wholly that I may live to please you.

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ASCENDING GOD’S HILL For Saturday July 18th 2015

Topic:ASCENDING GOD’S HILL 

Memorise: Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? Psalm 24:3

Bible Text: Psalm 24:3-5, Bible in one year: 2^nd Chronicles 21:1-23:15, Luke 24:13-35

The anointing plays very important roles in the actualisation of destiny in the life of the anointed. These roles include: facilitating and accelerating connection of the anointed to destiny helpers, causing destiny helpers to see the anointed in favourable light, and compelling destiny helpers to deliver the help ordained by God to the anointed. May the anointing play these and many more roles in your life and in your family in Jesus’ Name.

Moreover, the anointing helps you to ascend the hill of the Lord, which is not an easy

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BREAKING LIMITATIONS For Friday July 17th 2015

Topic: BREAKING LIMITATIONS 

Memorise: Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me? Jeremiah 32:27

Bible Text: Isaiah 40:6-8, Bible in one year: 2^nd Chronicles 18:28-20:37, Luke 23:44-24:12

Your ability to perform well depends largely on the power and resources available to you. Every human being will be faced with the reality of insufficient resources in the face of a pressing need at one point or the other. Hence, economists advise us to forgo certain alternatives, and draw up a scale of preference on our needs. Man’s limitations have caused the introduction of certain words and phrases into our vocabulary, such as: impossible, cannot, too late, irreversible, etc. All these reflect our state of human limitation and incapacity. Even God recognises man’s limitations. Psalm 103:14 says:

“For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.”

Our natural frailty and limitation is exposed in today’s Bible reading, where man is described as grass that withers easily. Also, Bildad the Shuhite describes man as a frail worm in Jobs 25:6:

“How much less man, that is a worm? And the son of man, which is a worm?”

It is therefore evident that as long as we are confined within our natural sphere, human beings remain seriously limited.

However, God is not limited. He declared in Jeremiah 32:27 thus:

“Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there anything too hard for me?”

Since He owns the Heavens and the earth and everything in them, and because He has all power, He is able to do all things. He does not accommodate limiting words in His vocabulary like men do. How then can we break the yoke of limitation in our lives? It is by being connected to the only One who cannot be limited. When such a link is in place, whatever cannot limit God cannot limit you. What cannot stop God cannot stop you. This is because you have become a partaker of the divine nature (2^nd Peter 1:4). But you must renew your mind to walk in this reality. To this end, it is necessary to re-examine your vocabulary and delete all limiting words from it. You are what you think; your mindset determines your reality. Many people who had the potential of reaching great heights in their lifetime were stopped by their wrong belief system and limited mindset. You would be amazed to know that what witchcraft cannot stop cannot be stopped by the limiting thoughts you hold about yourself. Beloved, from now on, do not limit yourself. Rather, believe everything God says about you and confess it. Speak God’s Word over that impossible situations, and you shall see it change to conform to your confessions.    

Prayer Point: Father, in everyway, I have limited myself, I release myself from it today in Jesus Name.

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POSITIONED FOR GENERATIONAL BLESSING ForThursday July 16th 2015

Topic: POSITIONED FOR GENERATIONAL BLESSING

Memorise: There were they in great fear: for God is in the generation of the righteous. Psalm 14:5

Bible Text: Genesis 48:13-19, Bible in one year: 2^nd Chronicles 16:1-18:27, Luke 23:18-43

Shortly before Israel’s death, Joseph his son visited him with his two sons. When it was time to bless the boys, he positioned Manasseh his firstborn to come under his father’s right hand, while Ephraim would come under the left. He knew the implication of position and blessing. But when Israel stretched his hands to bless the boys, he crossed his hands, placing his right hand on the younger and his left hand on the older. Joseph protested but Israel insisted. Let us draw out a few lessons from this passage. The first of these is that after a period of service comes a time of reward. Hence, John the beloved warns in 2^nd John 8 that:

“Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.”

It is therefore possible to labour for something and never get the reward.

There will always be a time to reap after sowing. Hence, you need to be very careful what you sow, because the harvest is always around the corner. Another lesson from today’s Bible passage is that after a long stretch of service, there comes a time for the impartation of generational blessings. That is, after serving God for several years, a time comes when the blessing that transcends you will be delivered to your children. This can only be done if you have brought up your children in the way of the Lord. Generational blessings come from God. It is more than just a right; it is a reward for quality and consistent service. Psalm 23:30 says:

“A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation.”

When the time comes for a generational blessing to be transferred to your children and your grandchildren, may they not be found wanting in Jesus’ Name. The implication of this is that whatever effort you put into God’s Kingdom is duly recorded, and that for all your efforts in God’s kingdom, a reward awaits your children. This is why you cannot afford to get tired of loving, serving, pleasing and sacrificing to God. Such efforts help to lay a solid foundation for your children’s future. To what extent are you preparing your children for their tomorrow? Abraham served God and it created a higher platform for Isaac. Isaac also served the Lord and Israel rode on the pedestal. Israel continued from there and Joseph was given a soft landing. Joseph loved the Lord and it affected his sons positively. What kind of blessing will be transferred to your children through your service? 

Key Point:

Whether your children will have a smooth ride to destiny or not depends on your relationship with God today. 

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