A Happy Home

READ: Psalm 127:1-5
MORE LESSONS: Jn. 13:17
Bible Reading in One Year: Genesis 23-26

Having a happy home is not only a function of the good things that family members can do for one another, but also of the presence of the Lord in the home. Wherever God is present, His fullness and goodness must be there.

Building a happy home is very important because the family is a vital part of the society. It is the home that feeds the society with people. Therefore the society is the true reflection of homes. If people at home are happy, the society will be a happy one. A happy home is a happy family and for the home to be happy there must be a harmonious relationship between husband, wife and children, which cannot happen unless members have learnt to be peaceable and friendly, as Paul enjoins, Follow peace with all men,….: Heb.12:14. When family members work for peace, there will be happiness in the home.

Making everyone feel he or she is a VIP in the family by accepting, trusting and liking one another can foster joy. Making sure the basic structure for the home is correct is also a necessity as it is prescribed in Eph.5:23-24:the husband being the head, the wife the help and supporter of the husband and children the blessing of the union, with all sharing responsibilities at home.

Putting in place suitable principles to seal the relationship is very essential; when forgiveness, giving, restitution and forbearance are practised, living together becomes a delight. Showing appreciation for every good gesture helps members to be able to do more. Also, if members know, accept and play their roles well at home, there will be no lapses or schism, and every one's need will be met (Eph.6:1-9).

One other great thing that keeps the family together is family altar where everyone keeps appointment with God every day; it is the church in the home where the husband can perform his headship role as the priest. When the family houses the ark of the Lord, God will be there and pour His goodness and blessing on the family.

Finally, for the home to be free from satanic activities such as divorce, separation, disagreement all the time, adultery, wayward children, sexual perversion, we must allow the wise Master Builder to build and keep our home for us. A happy home is cultivated by a collaborative effort with God Almighty the Creator of the family.

Prayer/Action
* Oh Lord, grant me grace to be an agent of Your goodness in my home, in Jesus' name.
* I destroy everything responsible for sorrow and pain in homes today, in Jesus' name.

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Breakthrough

Read: Mark 2:1-12
More Lesson: Psa. 40:1-4
Bible Reading in One Year: Genesis 20-22

Unlimited blessings and all-round fruitfulness is the will of God for all His children. But by experience, it is clear that it does not just happen. An advancement or recovery in life depends largely on how you handle your troubles and failures in life.

The world looks like a thicket of troubles and uncertainties and finding one's way in it requires certain things. Breakthrough is one of the things that cannot be achieved or sought for casually, but by continual strong desire and labour, But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint: Isa.40:31.

In other words, for believers in Christ Jesus breakthrough and success come by our relationship with God and what we do with the opportunities He creates for us. When you have an opportunity to serve, breakthrough comes. When people struggle and manage in life, it is because they are yet to break through. May you have breakthrough in all your endeavours, in Jesus' name. When you have a desire you must make a decision.

To overcome obstacles of life, strong decisions must follow the desire to have breakthrough. There are vital lessons of life from what the friends of the man attacked with palsy did. First, if the door is shut on you, you can create your own way (V4).
Sometimes you have problem getting to what you want because there is no access through the generally known way. The men in our text removed the roof (v.4).

If you want to have breakthrough you must be ready to go contrary to the normal, do the unpopular and unusual to find a way where others cannot. Second, be ready to let go something in order to break through, …and when they had broken it up,….v4. For the
people to have access to Jesus they broke the roof; that is, confront the obstacles to your desire for the joy of fulfilment, be ready to sacrifice something. Third, to have breakthrough you must recognise opportunities and take advantage of them.

Fourth, v5 of our text says, When Jesus saw their faith…. Which means it is the labour as a result of faith that can bring breakthrough. A Christian shows his faith by his works, For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also:
Jam.2:26.

God always wants you to wrestle and not turn away when you are confronted with obstacles, so He invites you to bring your strong reasons. God wrestles with His children to get them out as He did in the case of Jacob (Gen.32:24-28). Here Jacob prevailed and broke through. You also will prevail and break through all troubles and hindrances, in Jesus' name.

Prayer/Action
• Oh Lord, open my eyes to the ways and agents of my breakthrough, in Jesus’ name
• Lord, I receive the power to wrestle in the process of breakthrough, in Jesus’ name
• I will breakthrough as Jacob did.

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In the Likeness of Men.

READ: Jn. 1:10-16
MORE LESSONS: I Tim.3:16
Bible Reading in One Year: Genesis 16-19

God's eternal Son, Jesus Christ, became one of us. He took on human flesh like us, only that He was without sin. When He was born in Bethlehem, He had come down to us; in essence, He became man like us, but not in our condition.

Jesus did that because He was willing to take our place before God. He lived a life of absolute holiness, thereby meeting the standard of God for man. Since man failed utterly, the Son of God sacrificed His spotless life for us, He became man in order to die for us. We deserved God's judgement and death because of our sin, but Jesus took our place and died voluntarily, so that all who believe in Him as their Saviour might be saved and obtain eternal life.

Until Jesus came, satan had the key of death. The Bible says that men and women were all their lifetime subject to bondage because of the fear of death. But Jesus put an end to the fear through His victory over death and the grave, and liberated all men
from the fear of death, Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage: Heb.2:14-15.

Blessed be God! When Jesus died on the cross, He went right into hell, the devil's territory and took back from him the keys of death and hell, I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death: Rev.1:18. He overcame death when He triumphantly rose from the dead and ushered man into a new life.

God has clearly demonstrated His great and boundless love for man because while we were yet in sin, He died for us (Jn.3:16). The Bible says in II Cor. 8:9, For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. Take advantage of God’s love today and come out of poverty, sickness, failure and mediocrity because God has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness (II Pet. 1:3).

Prayer/Action
* Thank You Jesus for taking my place before God.
* Oh God, let me have an in-depth understanding of how much You love me so that I can take my rightful place on earth.
* In the name of Jesus, from today, I refuse to settle for poverty, failure, sickness and mediocrity.

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Mandate of the Church

READ: Matt.28:18-20
MORE LESSONS: Acts 2:41-42
Bible Reading in One Year: Genesis 12-15

The world population is about seven billion. The tragedy is that most likely half of this number have not heard about Jesus. But the great commission which is the last command that the Lord Jesus gave the Church before His ascension to the Father is, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature: Mk.16:15. This is the mandate and indeed, the greatest work that every child of God must be involved in.

The Gospel is to be proclaimed universally to all peoples – all nations and all cultures, every individual, all tribes, without discrimination. The primary preoccupation, passion and purpose of Christ’s ministry on earth was to seek and save the lost. Jesus paid the greatest price and sacrifice to redeem humanity from the bondage of sin and satan.

The Church was born and strengthened to evangelise and thereby reproduce ourselves as children of God. It is for this purpose that people are not taken to Heaven the moment they believe so that we can evangelise and save the lost. The responsibility to evangelise is not for the church leaders only, but for all born again Christians. It is a debt to be paid by all believers to all men in the world for whom Jesus died (Mk 16:15-17).

Therefore, we must go into every nook and cranny of this busy
world and preach the Gospel. We need to get to the lost souls everywhere - in the motor park, market, hospital, prison, school, neighborhood, office, seaport, airport, railway station, village, city, on the internet, etc and convince them to come to Jesus Christ.

This will be costly in terms of sacrifice, self denial and discipline, but no sacrifice is too great, no expense or time is too much to be invested in the task of soul winning. The work of soul winning has not ended yet because there is still much to be done. We are to re-dedicate our lives and give the best of our time and resources to bring the lost into the Kingdom of God.

Prayer/Action
* Pray that God will make you a pillar in the end time to win souls for Christ.
* Ask God to send more labourers for the harvest of souls.
* Ask God for grace that your place and role in world evangelism will not be given to another.

* Make a phone call, send text messages or email to members of your family, friends and neighbours that are not yet born again, and tell them about Jesus.

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