Deceitfulness

TEXT: Matt.24:3-5, MORE LESSONS: Matt.7: 13-15

We are living at a very dangerous time that the Bible refers to as the end time. It is characterised by sad events, chief among which is the spirit of deceit and lie. Deceit is an act of concealment or distortion of the truth for the purpose of misleading someone. Satan's greatest enemy this end time is the truth, he knows that if the truth is allowed its rightful place, nobody will choose the lie or be in bondage; in other words, with truth at work all of Satan's activities will collapse. Any type of sin or evil work is an absence of the truth and the fullness of deceit.

This is why Satan chose to fight the truth. Satan has taken this battle beyond the world and introduced deceit into the Church. There is so much concealment of the truth in the global Church today. The Church that should have been the home of the truth is itself messed up!

Jesus saw it coming well over 2000 years ago, and warned, …Take heed that no man deceive you v.4. This places upon you the responsibility of ensuring that you live in the truth. You are responsible for whatever information you accept. Satan has no blame lying to you because that is his assignment but you have the blame if you accept his lies, if you don’t cross check the details with God's Word and man. Every lie of the devil is exposed and dealt with by the Word of God. If you will use the Bible as the standard for all that you do in life and decide never to do anything except it is expressly proven by God's Word, then you will likely not be a victim of deceit. Another vital tool to defeat lie is a Spirit-filled life and prayer.

These two added to the Bible will place you above deceit and lie, and you will never be a victim of falsehood. The phrase, …and shall deceive many v5 in our text, spoken by no less than Jesus, bothers my heart so much especially as I see the “many” already happening. I challenge you today to do all within you not to be among the “many” that shall be deceived. Rather be a part of the “few” that will find Heaven (Matt 13:14). Don't be deceived and don't be a deceiver. Be a child of God indeed; live by the Word of God only.

PRAYER/ACTION

* Pray that you will not be a victim of the end time deceitful spirit.

* Pray for the ever abiding Spirit of truth to guide you in this perilous times.

* Pray for the help of God never to accept anything until proven by God's Word.

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Fellow Labourers

TEXT: Phil. 2:19-24, MORE LESSONS: Acts 28:13-15

Co-labourers are people appointed by God to fulfil their destiny through supporting their leader to do what God has appointed him to do. This way, both the appointed leader and his fellow workers/helpers fulfil destiny by working together although in different capacities. In the wisdom of God, no one church/ministry/assignment is raised to be headed by two persons side by side. Just as there is no human with two heads, in God's order, it is usually one leader, many followers. Any assignment, human or spiritual, that is saturated with competitors will fail, but where there are co-labourers, success is sure.

Every leader should deliberately pray for co-labourers in his/her assignment. A leader should also watch out for who is a co-labourer around him and draw such closer for greater collaboration. Among other things, co-labourers are people who:

1) Handle every assignment as though it is theirs personally, they do the work as if it is theirs.

2) Do not wait to be instructed or supervised to get the work done.

3) Never do eye service – whether the boss is present or not, they do whatever is required.

4) Work without attaching any condition to their service. They serve with little or no incentives.

5) Go extra mile – they are not restricted in service, they do as much as will bring result.

6) Are of absolute commitment – they are prepared to sink or float with their assignments.

7) Believe in and carry the spirit of their leader.

The ministry of Paul the apostle, though very tough and challenging, was made easy by the gift of men and women who were co–labourers, supporters, givers and helpers of all time, such as Timothy and Epaphroditus who Paul revered to severally as brothers, fellow workers, fellow soldiers, messengers and ministers (v25); they nearly died for the work (v30).

Are you a co-labourer or a problem in God's Kingdom?

PRAYER/ACTION

* Ask God for team spirit in every area of your service in His Kingdom.

* Pray for the grace to sacrificially love God and His work.

* Pray that God will send faithful co-labourers to His vineyard.

* Examine the seven steps above and ask yourself, under God, which of them you lack.

* Give thanks for the ones you have and pray that you will increase in them.

* Take practical steps on the ones you consider lacking in your life.

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Upload your Day/Year

TEXT: Ps 68:19, MORE LESSONS: Isa 46: 9-10

From the Scripture, it is clear that days, years and seasons are not the creation of man or any human authority, and God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and or days, and years Gen 1: 14.Since all are the creation of God, then days, years and seasons are spiritual things, not just natural occurrences.

The good news arising from this is that knowing the origin and source of days and years gives one the opportunity to determine how a day/year/season runs by going to the source. Everyone therefore who is connected to God, the author and creator of days/years/seasons, is also connected to the power of the day and can influence it. What a great thing to be able to influence what happens in your day/year/season.

No doubt the components of a day how that there is evil in it (Eph.5:16) but it also has good in it, Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits.… Psa.68:19. In essence, God made the day and uploads it daily with benefits. Therefore, all of God's children who have this knowledge of God as the creator and loader of everyday should not allow any evil in their day. By prayer to God you should daily upload your day, first thing in the morning every day of the year, with all the benefits that you want your day to bring and download them every second as you run in the day.

 The scripture you read, the prayer you say and the confession you make at the take-off of your day are your uploading process, and what you load into the day is what you download in the day. Every time you refuse to start your day with the Word and prayer you give Satan an opportunity to upload evil into your day. Days and seasons are spiritual, they are gifts from God with loaded benefits and every child of God should go through each day with this knowledge and take charge of what his or her day will be from the spiritual (God) at every start of the day/year, especially at the personal and family altar.

A day started with God as the Alpha and Omega cannot end in disaster, God will take charge. Upload your day from the beginning with God and your day will be loaded with benefits.

PRAYER/ACTION

* Ask the Lord to help you never to start a day/year without raising an altar to upload your day/year with blessings.

* Rebuke every evil intended from hell over this day.

* Declare your desires for this day/year and command them activated now.

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No Evil

TEXT: Luke 11:2-4, MORE LESSONS: Psa.23:4

Evil is described as anything wrong, bad, immoral, offensive, wicked or unrighteous. In the Lord's prayer, Jesus teaches us how to ensure that our lives are free from evil. He says pray that God will deliver you from evil, this is a great lesson. If you want to overcome evil anytime, it is not by wishing that evil will not happen to you, it is by praying against it.

When you pray against evil you are handing the devil over to God for a safe day from satanic intervention. This is because the devil is the origin of evil and his activities on the earth are on-going round the clock. The only way therefore to stop his activities over your life is by effective fervent prayer.

Jesus’ choice of words on this topic is worth noting, deliver us. First, the word “us” means nobody is exempted. Second, the word “deliver” implies evil is intended for us; therefore we all without exemption, pastor and congregation, need to ask God to deliver us from Satan’s evil intentions.

Paul the apostle further spoke on this when he wrote to the Ephesians, redeeming the time, because the days are evil Eph.5:16. If the days are evil then the people in the days are at risk, but they can conquer by prayer. The good thing is that, whatever the devil intends against us and our days can be stopped by the power of prayer.

Therefore Jesus has taught us by this that evil exists in the air and the power to terminate it also exists; if you pray, you conquer the evil. If you don't pray, you become vulnerable to the evil. It's a choice. If you want to overcome the evil that is intended over you, give yourself to daily effective regular prayer without ceasing, And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; Luke 18:1.

Jesus, the apostles, men of old and contemporary leaders of the Church have survived the evil of their days by prayer; we cannot do less today. Pray and turn all evil intended against you and your destiny to a testimony. It is possible.

PRAYER/ACTION

* Give thanks to God for providing a way of escape out of all evil.

* Ask God to empower you not to faint in the place of prayer.

* Ask God to deliver you from all evil intended for today.

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