Serve the Lord with Joy and Gladness

Text: Deut. 28:47
More Lessons: Is. 12:3, Neh. 8:10
Bible Reading in one Year: Jeremiah 17-20

Before God, certain matters are concluded by our actions and the posture of our hearts. From the passage we read, it is clear that if you don't serve God with joyfulness of heart, you will serve your enemies; it is not negotiable. If you don't serve God with expression of joy and gladness, you will become a cursed child but if you do, you are blessed.

While I was ministering one day, I made a declaration: “The Lord is lifting someone here above his colleagues”. Everybody shouted, ‘Amen’, but a lady was there, who did not only shout, but also jumped on top of her chair to say the amen to demonstrate how she will be higher than everyone when the lifting comes. That word did not fall to the ground; today, she is lifted all round. She testifies today of a home, children, and millions in assets. She simply served God with joy and excitement; she looked like a crazy fellow that day-jumping at a prophetic word but she is a testifier today. So if you can express yourself with joy and gladness in the presence of God in whatever way you can, with joy and gladness, you will surely be blessed. \

There are believers who serve the Lord just for service sake. This could be because they have prayed over certain issues in their lives and are yet to receive answers. They attend every meeting called in church but deep inside of them, they are not joyful. God was speaking here to the children of Israel who were yet to enter their promised land, in answer to their prayers. Though they were still following and doing all that was expected of them, God's score card for all they were doing showed that they didn't do it with gladness. As a result they were cursed; they were committed into the hands of their enemies. Friend, you must understand that God is faithful and whoever will come to Him must believe that He is and is a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him.

Never allow the devil to tamper with your joy because the joy of the Lord is your strength and with joy shall you draw water out of the well of salvation. Serve God with gladness, whether He answers your prayer or not. God is seeking those who love Him for who He is, and not for things He can give. Most times, God delays in giving us things we desire the most just to prove our hearts. You pray, fast, and do many other activities, but in all these things God is looking at your heart and checking if it is for love, and if it is with joy and gladness. A generation of believers who just love God and serve Him with joy regardless of their conditions must arise. Will you be a part of this generation?

Prayer / Action
* Lord, I give you thanks and glory with all my heart; I will live to praise and serve you with joy.
* Lord, grant me beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.
* Rebuke every evil force of downcastness and depression in your destiny.

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Breakthrough

Text: Mark 2:1-12
More Lessons: Psa.40:1-4
Bible Reading in One Year: Jeremiah 13-16

Unlimited blessings and all-round fruitfulness are 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. 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 against you, you can create your own way (v .4). Sometimes you have problems 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 a breakthrough you must recognise opportunities and take advantage of them. Fourth, v5 of our text says, When Jesus saw their faith…. This 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. Jacob was a good example, he had to wrestle to win. (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 prophesy that I will break through as Jacob did.

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Provoking the Extraordinary

Text: 2 Chron. 1: 6-7
More Lessons: 2 Kgs. 3:26
Bible Reading in one Year: Jeremiah 9-12

God required offerings and burnt sacrifices from His people in the Old Testament and several people offered to God every now and then. But Solomon did something that was extra-ordinary and so he got an extra-ordinary result. In the scriptures we read, Solomon went up to the altar and offered a thousand burnt offerings unto the Lord. He was actually required to offer one burnt offering by law but he decided to give a thousand, And Solomon went up thither to the brasen altar before the LORD, which was at the tabernacle of the congregation, and offered a thousand burnt offerings upon it: v6. He went an extra thousand times beyond the ordinary requirement, no wonder he provoked the extraordinary from the Lord.

There are some dimensions of giving and sacrifice that you make and God in heaven will be moved immediately to do something beyond the ordinary for you. In that night did God appear unto Solomon, and said unto him, Ask what I shall give thee: 2 Chron 1:7. God could not wait till the next morning. That same night, God came to ask Solomon what he wanted that much that made him to sacrifice so much. When he asked for what he needed; God must have said, 'You gave extra above what I requested of you; I also will give extra above what you request of me.' So God gave him far above what he asked. He got the extraordinary.

Some people set out or budget a token every month to give the Lord and then change it into many low currencies. They strictly make sure that their gifts to the Lord do not exceed that which they have set aside. Friend, you can't harvest where you didn't sow. How well you sow also determines how well you will harvest. But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully: 2 Cor 9:6.

The king of Moab, Abraham and even God Himself went the extraordinary mile sacrificing their first and best sons for an extraordinary result and they didn’t miss it. Only the best can reproduce the best, both within and outside of God’s Kingdom.

Prayer / Action
* Give thanks to God for not hiding from us the secrets of breakthrough.
* Ask God for grace to be a giver and sower.
* Pray that your sacrifices and sowings will find instant results like Abraham and Solomon.

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The Manifest Glory

Text: Heb 12: 26-29
More Lessons: Ex 19: 16-25
Bible Reading in one Year: Jeremiah 6-8

One dimension to the glory of God is that it is the visible manifestation of God. God's glory is the clear and obvious evidence of God presence in a situation. It makes everybody know for sure that God is involved or present in the matter. This explanation is not to make you have the impression that the glory of God is just a cloud, an imagination or some physical phenomenon. Of course, when God comes to manifest Himself visibly to you, that's glory; but the point is that the glory of God is God showing up in your situation. When you seek the glory of God, you are seeking for the manifestation of God. May God manifest Himself to you, in the Name of Jesus.

In Exodus 19, God visibly visited His people, and the whole universe; the whole creation began to tremble. That's God manifesting Himself. People were warned not to come around the glory lest they be destroyed. The manifest glory of God is a dangerous weapon against every enemy, situation and mountain that confronts you.

Also, in the New Testament, Paul and Silas were in the prison, and as they sang and gave praise, the Bible says there was an earthquake. The place quaked, the chains were broken; that is the visible manifestation of the glory of God. There are certain prisons of life that can only be terminated by the visible manifestation of the glory of God. When certain matters become impossible in your life, ask for the visible manifestation of the glory of God. When He shows up, there is thunder, lightning and earthquake against your enemies.

The Hebrew word for glory is Kabod and it literally means weight. The glory of God is weighty; so when the enemy or situations perplex you throw the glory of God (the manifestation of God) upon/to them and you will see that they can't handle it. When the enemy rises against you, don't fidget or panic. Just invoke the glory of God. The glory brings you courage, boldness and power and it also threatens and destroys the enemy. It announces to the world that God is present and made manifest in your situation.

Prayer / Action
* Worship God for who He is in all creation.
* Ask for His weight of glory over every situation of your life.
* Declare that God will manifest His glory in everything that concerns you this year.

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