Good Gifts are for You

Text: James 1: 17
MORE LESSONS: 1 Cor 12: 1-1 1
Bible Reading in one Year: Romans 1-4

God has a lot of gifts in store for His children, but a lot of believers are not taking advantage of the gifts that God has prepared for them because they are ignorant of His provision and how to take delivery of them, Every good and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variableness neither shadow of turning: Jam1:17.

Sometime ago, I was to pray for a lady for healing and for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. She wanted the healing but she told me not to worry about the baptism of the Holy Spirit because it is a gift for some and not everyone can have a gift. She also said that all fingers are not equal, so everyone cannot be gifted. I replied that it’s true all fingers are not equal, some are taller than others but if I have my choice I would choose to be the tallest finger. I asked her, If given the opportunity to work in a company as the Managing Director or a messenger, which would you choose? She said she would like to be the director. That is good response.

Some people and churches teach that gifts are not for everybody but we know that the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues is for every believer. I then told her, Even if they told you that gifts are not for everybody because some are more privileged than others, why don't you choose to be among the people with the gift since they didn't say it is a crime to have the gift, it is just a privilege. The wonderful sister agreed with me and said that I had a point.

And if you hardhearted, sinful men know how to give good gifts to your children, won't your Father in heaven even more certainly give good gifts to those who ask him for them? Matt 7: 11 (Living Bible). Whatever gift you want- spiritual, physical or financial-you can get it by asking God who lavishes good things on His children, Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, ....1 Cor 14: 1 (NKJV).

When you desire the gifts of the Spirit and ask God for them, He will give to you. As you desire the gifts of God with a sincere heart to help people and to glorify God, He will richly give them to you, in Jesus’ mighty name.

Prayer/Action
* Ask now for the infilling of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues
or a renewal if you have been filled already .
* Ask God to generously pour His goodness upon you.
* Pray that you will not lack God’s Spirit and power in your life.

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Dangers of Disobedience II

READ: Gen. 19:16-25
MORE LESSONS: I Kgs. 13:1 1-24
Bible Reading in one Year: 1 Chronicles 27-29

There is one thing you must be certain of and that is that God will not break His Word. However, if you disobey Him, you get the actual measure of punishment for the disobedience. Your anointing cannot stop the punishment whenever you break God's instruction except you repent and it pleases the Lord to forgive you. You cannot trade God's instruction with disobedience and survive it.

There was a young man of God from Judah sent by God to a king. He was so anointed that when he was delivering God's message and the king wanted to ...lay hold on him. And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not pull it in again to him….: 1 Kings 13:4. The king's hand dried up because God sent the prophet. He was a man who could hear God and speak back to God without interference, And the man of God besought the LORD, and the king's hand was restored him again…. v 6. After this wonderful and excellent performance, the king offered to feed and reward him. That would contravene God’s Word to the prophet so he refused, ...Come home with me, and refresh thyself, and I will give thee a reward: v7, but he answered, ….If thou wilt give me half thine house, I will not go in with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place: For so was it charged me by the word of the Lord, saying, Eat no bread, nor drink water , nor turn again by the same way that thou camest: vs 8-9.The problem that people have is accepting the word of man without consulting the Creator first. Don't fall into the trap of liars; they will make God's judgment to be activated upon your life irrespective of your anointing, for disobedience can corrupt your anointing.

Be firm in rejecting instructions that are not godly. An old prophet came and lied to the young prophet to break the God-given command. Without checking with God the young prophet accepted the old prophet’s suggestion and that crashed his destiny because he did not go back to ask God. Let’s look at some of the dangers here that disobedience can bring: 1. It can provoke God to anger, …Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the Lord… thy carcase shall not come unto the sepulchre of thy father .…: 1 Kgs. 13:21-22.

2. It can bring untimely death that Almighty God will supervise by Himself upon a man's life, And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him: and his carcase was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it, the lion also stood by the carcase: v 24. You will know that God supervised the prophet’ s death because the lion which is known for eating flesh did not eat the young prophet's flesh, rather it killed the man and stood by the body . Be careful, if you break God's instruction, He will also break you.

Prayer/Action
* Ask the Lord for His forgiveness for every carelessness, error and mistake that could bring His punishment upon your life.
* Ask the Lord to grant you grace for total obedience in all situations.

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Dangers of Disobedience I

Text: Gen. 3:1-19
MORE LESSONS: Gen. 3:20-24
Bible Reading in one Year: 1 Chronicles 24-26

Disobedience attracts God's punishment upon a man while obedience fulfils God's promises for him. Whenever God gives you an instruction, any other instruction that counters the God-given instruction is simply to make God's promises for your life of no effect. One of the fastest ways to see the anger of God upon your life is to disobey Him. That is to say, if you want God's goodness, live in obedience and if you want His punishment, live in disobedience. Let's quickly look at some of the dangers of disobedience.

God became angry with man that He created when man disobeyed Him and incurred a curse, ...Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife… cursed is the ground for thy sake: Gen.3:17. Therefore disobedience can:
1. Bring a curse upon the work of a man; remember here that God didn't curse man but the work of His hands.
2. Make a man to eat his bread in sorrow , … In sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life: Gen. 3:17.
3. Make a man to labour in vain, Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee;… v18.

4. Make man labour before he can eat, In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground;…  19.
This was not God's original plan for man. The plan had to change because man listened to his helper than what God told him, he forgot in a hurry that God gave him instructions as regards the Garden.

Man then got the opposite of the promises of God. May that not be your portion ‘Amen’ is not enough; keeping His instructions is the key. Furthermore, disobedience can banish a man from God's presence completely, So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden….: Gen. 3:23. Looking at that, you will see that it was the man that God banished out of the Garden and of course the woman had to follow.

The breaking of the instruction began from the serpent who seduced the woman and truncated God's initial plan for man because man listened to his helper against God's instructions. Those who advise you against the Word of God are breakers of God's instruction and when God will declare His judgment upon you, they will not be able to help you out. If God has made you the head of an organisation or a leader at any level, you will need to base your instructions on God and His servants so that you will not put both yourself and your followers in danger of disobedience.

Prayer/Action
* Ask for God’s forgiveness and cleansing for any lingering sin in your life.
* Ask for His mercy to turn His anger away from you.
* Pray that you will never be driven from the presence of God

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Breaking God's Instructions

Text: Gen. 3:14-19
MORE LESSONS: Ezek. 18:20
Bible Reading in one Year: 1 Chronicles 20-23

Giving listening ear to the devil will re-write God's programme for your life if you don't stop on time. Do not give space for the enemy to ever prepare or engage you in the conversation that will lead you to break the instructions from the Word of God. Be vigilant enough to take note of the devices of the devil; any statement from anybody that is contrary to the Word of God should be rejected immediately. The serpent presented God as a liar, For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God.…: Gen. 3:5. Satan’s suggestion is a lie that contradicts the Bible, ...God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him.…: Gen. 1:27. It is easy for the devil to tell lies because it is in his nature, ...for he is a liar and the father of lies….: Jn. 8:44. But God made man in His own image and breathed His life into him. That advice that is contrary to God's Word has the target of leading you to destruction; don't eat that bait.

As soon as the woman yielded to the serpent’s enticement, there was a re-programming in Heaven that changed the plan of God for man. As soon as the woman …saw that the fruit of the tree was good and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, She took some and ate it….: Gen. 3:6. At this point, the process of enticement was over, the serpent had just won Eve over . Don't let the serpent win you over, do not give in, the devil has not given up on you at all, don't also give up on God by accepting the devil's lies. As soon as the woman yielded the serpent disappeared, mission accomplished.

All that the serpent was trying to do from the conversation with the woman was simply to make man break the God given instruction, but don't let the devil take you to the valley of disobedience. Instead of waiting for the time to shift blame on the devil, your husband, wife, children, boss, teacher or anybody, simply refuse to be drawn into the process that breaks the law of God. In Gen. 3:12-14, as soon as God asked what happened,

Adam shifted the blame on the woman and the woman on the serpent. Did you notice that shifting the blame did not save anyone of them from God's punishment? Everybody was served his/her own punishment accordingly. This simply means that God wants everybody to confront the devil whenever he entices one to disobey Him, for anyone who disobeys God will not go without punishment.

Prayer/Action
* Say to the devil, ‘I shut my ears, eyes, thought and imagination to you permanently.
* Declare every satanic access to your destiny blocked now.
* Ask for God’s pardon and mercy for carelessness that could have opened your life to sin.