The Ten Lepers

Sunday 31 December
READ: Luke 17:11-19 
MORE LESSON:  1 Thess. 5: 18

Ten lepers approached Jesus and prayed Him to heal them. He asked them to go and show themselves to the priest, and as they went, they were healed.  It was the step of faith that they took as they went to meet the priest, according to the Word of the Lord, that released the power of God for their healing. A leper ordinarily was not supposed to appear before the priest, but becasue they went in faith according to the Word of Jesus, the leprosy disappeared before they met the priest. Therefore, they were healed not because of their qualifications but because of faith in the Word of God.

After they noticed that they had been healed, one of the lepers immediately returned to the Lord to give thanks. When he went back to Jesus, the Lord gave him an extra blessing - he made him whole. The others were merely healed but he was made whole. It was faith in God that healed them all but it was gratitude that sustained and perfected the healing of the one leper who returned to give thanks. The other nine lepers were forgotten but the one leper that returned to give thanks was noticed. Gratitude makes you to be noticed; it brings you to limelight.

The other nine lepers displayed their ignorance through their ingratitude. An ungrateful person is ignorant of the Person and principles of God. An ungrateful person belittles the blessing of the Lord and therefore is disqualified from more. The nine lepers made light of the fact that the leprosy had disappeared. They therefore missed the greater blessings that the Lord had in place for them after healing their leprosy. Don't take the 'little' blessings you receive for granted, thinking until you hit that major miracle before you give thanks and testify. At the end of this story, the other nine lepers lost their blessing because of ingratitude. Ungrateful people are always losers.

Gratitude can be learnt and can be taught. In fact, it should be taught from childhood. Gratitude starts from the home and from childhood; we should therefore teach children to be thankful and grateful so that they grow up to be grateful people.  Choose gratitude!

Grateful people are few in life; usually there is only one grateful person out of ten people. You must make a deliberate choice to be the one out of them. According to 2 Tim. 3: 1 – 2, one of the signs of the end time is ingratitude. We should make the deliberate choice not to be overcome by the spirit of ingratitude that holds sway on people in the world today.  Ingratitude shuts the doors of blessing against men while gratitude opens the door for greater blessings. Be like the one leper that returned to give thanks.

Prayer/Action
* Repent of any form of ingratitude.
* Pray to God that you will not be an ungrateful individual.
* Pray that your gratitude to God will never be short of a substance.

TODAY’S PROPHETIC PRAYER
Imela! Nagode! Jesu E sseun!! Hallelujah!!! 2017 ends today, thank You for sunshine, in the mighty name of Jesus.