Zealous for the Lord

Text: Num 25:1-13
MORE LESSONS: Exo. 32:22-29
Bible Reading in One Year: Psalms 46-48

Israel had transgressed the law of God by committing sin with the Moabite women. While Moses the servant of God stood on the altar and was rebuking them for the evil they had done, one of the Israelite men brought a Midianite woman. He probably put his hand round her neck and leaned on her as they walked like they were not concerned with what the man of God was saying, determined to go into the camp to commit sin. Phinehas went after them with a javelin and stabbed them to death. Thereafter, Jehovah turned His anger away from the house of Israel because Phinehas was zealous to avenge unrighteousness on behalf of God. God also made a covenant of a lasting priesthood with him. The zeal and enthusiasm with which you serve God can determine what you get from Him. 

The reason many people are serving God and are not getting a return for their services and giving is because they are not doing such acts zealously. Anything you do for God reluctantly is a waste of time and energy and you will not get a reward. Worse still, you can even incur God's anger and punishment. Be zealous to do right and to serve God.

But it is not just enough to be zealous to do right; you must also be zealous to do something about the wrong that is happening around you. Phinehas took a spear and avenged iniquity. Many of us need to learn a lesson from this. Sometimes while doing things right you see a colleague doing wrong but you don't bother to correct him and thereby you have aided the wrong act. Phinehas was living right; if he was not, he wouldn't be able to correct someone else. But he also didn't stop at just living right, he went ahead to confront wrong. If you see a brother doing wrong and you turn your face the other way or encourage him, you have partaken of the sin. Instead of being tolerated, the sinning person needs to be confronted and corrected. God's blessing to Phinehas was that he and his descendants shall be priests for all times. 

By this one zealous act, Phinehas rescued the nation, distinguished himself and got his unborn children blessed. Some of the blessings we are enjoying today are the products of the zeal of our parents. This is where parents have to pay due attention to their lives. If as parents, being in church three times a week is already a problem, what will the children inherit? This man left an unforgettable heritage for his children; this should be our zealous pursuit in this generation.

Prayer/Action
* Pray that you will serve God in an extraordinary way all your life.
* Pray that the spirit of immorality will not prevail over you.
* Ask God to help you live a consecrated life.
* Pray that you will never be a partaker of sin.

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Signs of Spiritual Exile II

Text: Psa. 137:1-7
MORE LESSONS: Gen 4:16
Bible Reading in one Year: Psalms 43-45

Every time you go into spiritual exile you lose being edified by God’s Word. Therefore you can no longer hear the Word of God and be excited; the joy of being blessed by the Word disappears and the Word no longer impacts on your spirit because there’ s no connection. When others are saying that was a powerful message in a service, do you see the dimension the pastor intends? Are you indifferent? In fact, when a message ends in church, to pray will be difficult because nothing is deposited in you, you feel bored inside church, you are more concerned about the time, asking when the preacher will finish so you can go home. All this shows you are in a spiritual exile, it’s not normal. 

When you are in a meeting where others are busy taking notes and you are sleeping, there is a problem and it may be spiritual. You are in a meeting and you see people responding to the message and to you it doesn't look like anything is happening. In fact, you understand better in your classroom when you sit down to do academic things but in church, you just look around and when at the end, others are praying fervently you yawn and wonder what’ s happening to them; something definitely has gone wrong with you. 

Moreover, an obvious loss of edification and direction attracts confusion, mental and spiritual. How do you know this? You lose the grace to easily know the will of God in a situation and taking decisions becomes difficult. When an unbeliever walked up to you before and said he liked you and would like to go out with you, you let him know that you are a child of God. As soon as he started to speak to you, your spirit connected that he was an unbeliever and you had no business with him. But now, you say okay, I will think about it because you no longer have a check in your spirit when you do the wrong things; you just feel normal in sin. Surely things have gone wrong, but the devil is a liar. 

The powers that have taken you captive are hereby broken. The powers that have carried you away in to exile are broken and revival fire has come your way today, in Jesus’ name.

Prayer/Action
* Ask God to examine you and expose to you wherever you went wrong.
* Ask God to give you back any spiritual connection that could be missing in your life, known or unknown to you.
* Pray that you will live a revived Christian life.
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Signs of Spiritual Exile I

Text: Matt. 14:26-31 
MORE LESSONS: Psa. 51:12 
Bible Reading in one Year: Psalms 40-42

One easy way to identify a situation of spiritual exile in the Christian walk is the loss of joy and gladness. Do you know the joy of salvation? It is the satisfaction, comfort and peace that flow in your heart with the assurance that you are a child of God. I remember sometime ago my father, mother and elder ones gathered on the night before I was to go back to school and said to me, from today when you get to school, you must not go to school fellowship anymore. If we catch you there you get nothing from us, no school fees, no provision. 

I went back to my room and knelt down to pray and tears rolled down my face. How would I not go to fellowship anymore, as the leader of the fellowship, because of school fees? I didn't want to disobey my parents and I didn't want to disobey God. If I obeyed them, I would have money for school fees, but I would lose eternity. I was scared with tears running down my face but I had joy inside me. So I noticed that I had crisis physically but it did not affect me inside. My joy was still there. The moment you break from God, you are on exile from the throne of God, from the presence of God. 
The first thing that proves it to you is that your peace and joy disappear. 

Secondly, you can always expect a silent loss of power. Things that you can easily do and get results become difficult because there is no more power. Y our effect upon situations disappears, you cannot make impact anymore the way you used to because your link with the power source has been broken and you are empty. You don't carry what to transmit anymore for the moment you break from that connection, the power disappears.

Thirdly, when one goes into spiritual exile one notices that gradually there is a loss of confidence. The things that you could easily handle--demons that will oppress you in your dream and you wake up and command them to go to hell even without preparation--can’t be done without struggle because that confidence has disappeared. Things happen around you and you can't boldly confront them. I beseech you, whatever your title or place in the faith, if you are convicted of any of the evidence today, cry to the Lord, like Peter the sinking disciple, and say to the Lord of life, Save Lord.

Prayer/Action
* Confess every known sin to God now and ask for His mercy, cleansing and forgiveness.
* Ask God to restore your joy of salvation.
* Ask for grace to go and sin no more.
* Give God thanks for His mercy and restoration
.
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Advancing by Prayer

Text: Acts 12:1-9 
MORE LESSONS: Matt. 26:40-41
Bible Reading in one Year: Psalms 37-39

The challenges of the Church didn't start today, they started from the beginning. Herod vexed and persecuted the Church because the people were pleased when he killed James the brother of John. He then decided to take Peter and kill him also, And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people. Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him: vs4-6. We have heard so much about prayer. James was killed because the Church refused to pray; and because the Church refused to pray Herod moved to kill Peter, but the Church had learnt her lesson. I pray God's Spirit move the Church so that she determines what happens to the Church and the nation.

The Church can enthrone and dethrone; the Church can decree as the Bible says whatever you decree in the name of the Lord shall be established. The Church earnestly prayed and Heaven intervened and sent an angel to help Peter (v7). God heard the prayer of the Church and sent an angel to the inner dungeon where Peter was kept in chains. The angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison, and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, ...Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands: v7 The angel didn't bring a file to cut the chains but the presence of the angel of God changed the spiritual environment of the prison, Heaven took charge of the prison and miracles began to happen.
When the Church prays, the chains the enemy has used to bind her will begin to break.

Let the chains the enemy has used to gag the Church preventing the Church from praying begin to break off, in the name of Jesus. Let the padlock the enemy has used to lock the mouth of the Church open, in the name of Jesus. The chains broke by themselves. The doors opened of their own accord. All this happened because the Church prayed. However, when the Church refuses to pray men perish. These are the days of revival of prayer in the Church of Jesus so that the things that have stopped us from achieving our mandate will begin to give way. We can break the chains and open the doors by prayer. Pray; it starts with you and your family.

Prayer/Action
* Command every prison door wherever believers are held for Christ’s sake to be broken.
* Ask God to dethrone every satanic agent on the throne of your nation.
* Ask God to stir His Church back to prayer, beginning with you.
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