Persistence

Monday 18 May
READ: Matt. 15:22-28
MORE LESSON: Matt. 15: 22

The story of the Canaanite woman shows how you can get anything through persistence.
She needed healing for her daughter at a time when the era of ministering to the Gentiles had not come. She could have claimed that Jesus was not going to heal her daughter because she was a Gentile but she neglected the barriers and asked the Lord to have mercy on her. She knew that the Lord is merciful and always willing to help. I want you to know that it is God's will to meet that pressing need you have if you do not give up.
This woman cried to Jesus, O Lord, thou Son of David . . . verse 22. She acknowledged Jesus as the Messiah. When many Israelites who were the children of the promise didn't believe or accept Jesus as the Messiah, she already knew Him as the Messiah, the only One who had the answer to her prayer.
You will persist with God only when you believe that He alone holds the answer and solution to your problem.

The woman cried to the Lord but the Lord didn't answer a word; however, she wasn't deterred. She kept crying after Jesus and the disciples. The disciples wanted the Lord to send her away and probably tried to but she refused to leave. So the disciples begged Jesus to send her away or do something because, as they said, ...she crieth after us: Matt 15:23. They had to report her to Jesus and that was what she actually wanted; she wanted the attention of the Master. When she got it, the first thing she did was to worship Him (verse 25). Your persistence should not only be in asking the Lord but also in worshipping Him.

Don't stop worshipping the Lord because you have not got what you want from Him; in fact that is the time to worship Him more. Jesus told her, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs: Matt 15:26. This is where many people would have left in anger but the woman knew that it takes humility to be persistent. Jesus was not being derogatory here, rather He was testing the woman’s humility in persistence. It takes humility for a man to go back to a place where he has failed before and start all over again, not minding whether people mock him or not. The woman answered, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table: v27. Jesus knew she had passed the test of persistence and He answered, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt . . . Persistence was counted as faith to the woman. You shall acquire your desire if you perspire and do not retire but re-fire.

Prayer/Action
* Pray that all the blessings due you will get to you today , in Jesus’ name.
* Ask God for grace to persist in the place of prayer and not give up.
* Pray against every obstacle that can hinder you from getting the blessing God has for you.

PROPHETIC PRAYER
My portion is with the great; I shall not be less, in the name of Jesus.

The Lord's Jealousy

Sunday 17 May
READ: 2 Cor. 11:2
More Lesson: 1 Kings 19:9 -10

When we hear the word 'jealousy', the first thing that comes to mind is being envious; that is, to feel bitter and unhappy because of someone's advantages, possessions or luck. We also see it as being suspicious of rivals, especially in regard to a loved one or being possessively watchful of someone or something. But the Bible tells us about men of God that were jealous for the Lord and even God being jealous for His inheritance. It thus appears that jealousy could either be positive or negative. Jealousy could mean having warm feelings, that is, zeal for or against someone or something. It means demanding extreme loyalty or adherence from someone.
Elijah saw the children of Israel leave God and go after Baal and he became jealous for God. He called the nation to Mount Carmel and called down fire so as to make the people go back to God (1 Kings 18: 20 - 40). God also displayed jealousy for His people when the heathen oppressed them, making Him to execute judgment on the oppressors, … Thus saith the LORD of hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy: Zech. 1:14. God indeed is a jealous God (Deut. 6:15), but God's jealousy is an expression of His zeal for His people to bring His promises concerning them to pass.

God also expresses His jealousy by punishing His people when they backslide in order to bring them back to Him, They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods; with abominations they provoked him to anger: Deut. 32:16. God shows His jealousy or anger against sinful children to move them to repentance. God is jealous anytime the enemy oppresses His people, The LORD shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war: he shall cry, yea, roar; he shall prevail against his enemies: Isa. 42:13. Man's jealousy always carries a negative impulse of envy and vengeance, which are borne out of selfishness and distrust, For jealousy makes a man furious, and he will not spare when he takes revenge. He will accept no compensation; he will refuse though you multiply gifts: Prov. 6:34-35 (ESV). Human jealousy is cruel, devilish and selfish. This is not what we are called to indulge in as Christians because the jealousy of man cannot work the righteousness of God.

But jealousy for the Lord made Paul to say, for I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ: 2 Cor 11:2. This attitude of jealousy for the things of God is what we must develop. God is jealous for you; will you also be jealous/ zealous for God?

Prayer/Action
Declare as follows:
* O Lord, let Your kind of jealousy consume me just as it was with Jesus.
* Arise O God and kindle the fire of Your jealousy for me against my enemies.
*O Lord, by Your zeal, bring to pass all Your promises concerning my life and destiny.

PROPHETIC PRAYER
Today, I forbid the forces of destiny robbers over my inheritance and divine provision, in the name of Jesus.

Glory that Speaks

Saturday 16 May
READ: Acts 4:13
MORE LESSON: Acts 3:1 – 4

There are levels of glory, beauty and results that God gives a man that even when you don't speak or broadcast it, it is obvious and undeniable. I fondly call it the glory that speaks because you don't need to announce such glory; it speaks for itself. Until the glory of God in your life begins to show without you announcing it, you haven't started enjoying glory yet. Glory is never to be covered or hidden. This is why Jesus teaches, Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house: Matt 5:15. Dormant glory is not glory. When you carry glory, people should be able to identify it. Your glory will speak expressly for men to see, in Jesus’ name.

In Acts 4, Peter and John displayed a level of glory that spoke for itself. They were on their way to church at the hour of prayer when they saw a man cripple from birth. They walked up to the man and Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk: Acts 3:6.

They didn't have silver and gold but they carried glory. Your glory is in what you carry and every born again child of God carries something. When the cripple man walked, a crowd gathered to Peter and John and began to pay attention to them. They didn't need a signpost or poster because the glory spoke for them. The Jewish religious leaders arrested Peter and John and questioned them on why they were preaching in the name of Jesus. That gave them another opportunity to say more about Jesus. So they spoke again and when they had finished, the religious leaders looked at them and noticed such level of glorious eloquence, knowledge, intelligence and power though they were ordinary, uneducated men. They were uneducated but they were not ignorant, Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus: Act 4:13.

The religious leaders concluded without anybody telling them that there was a glory in these men. They also noted that the glory of super intelligence and miraculous power in the men proved that they must have been with Jesus. Jesus didn't give them a certificate for the years they spent with Him but the glory they contacted spoke for them more than any certificate could. The Pharisees had to let them go even though they didn't want to because the man they healed was standing for everyone to see. That was the evidence of their glory. From today, God will give you results that will be the evidence of your glory.

Prayer/Action
* Say, Lord, let Your glory speak expressly in everything I do.
* Ask God for great results that announce a man’s destiny.
* Ask that your glory will speak for you in impossible situations and celebrate you.

PROPHETIC PRAYER
Father, in the name of Jesus, permit nobody to ever again say to me, “Sorry, it’s unfortunate, accept my sympathy.”

Cure for Stagnation

Friday 15 May
READ: Is 51:1 -2
MORE LESSON: Gen 12:1 - 8

God is a God of movement and He hates stagnation. This is the reason why He made movement an integral part of the attributes of living things in creation. Movement is evidence of life and so the Living God doesn't want His children to remain stagnant in life; He wants them to move higher and higher. The Bible also is a book of movement. In it we see people moving from one place to another, from one situation to the other and changing from one level to another. The Bible is replete with the account of God taking men to where they could never have reached and giving them what they could never have attained by their own strength, by His grace coming upon them to move them from the ordinary to the extra ordinary.

Our second text summarises the story of the movement of Abraham from his own land to the land that God prepared for him. He was one man when he was called but God advanced him and increased him till he became many nations. The secret of Abraham's advancement to greatness was faith and obedience. He could have remained in the land of Ur and he would have been stagnant forever, but he obeyed God's instruction and broke out of eternal stagnation. I want you to know that your break out of stagnation will come by your obedience to the command of God. This might not be a command to physical movement as in the case of Abraham but a command for you to start doing something good that you were not doing before or to increase your expectations and effort in certain areas of endeavour. God wants to move you to the level that you have been hoping and praying for, and the secret to actualising it is your obedience.

Trust and obey God as He leads you on from where you are to where He wants you to be. Divine direction is the heavenly cure for stagnation and when you get direction from God, you must be prompt to obey His Word. As the Word of God comes to you through the voice of the Holy Spirit, through the Bible and through God's servants and you obey, you will see the force of stagnation broken over you, . . . Believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper: 2 Chron 20:20-21 (NKJV).

You cannot move forward by your own strength, it takes divine push which comes by divine direction. Divine direction will deliver you from a monotonous life of moving in circles. There is an instruction for you, and unless you hear it, you cannot move. Today, that instruction will come your way and your situation will turn around positively, in the name of Jesus.

Prayer/Action
* Tell the devil no amount of road block can stop your progress in life, you will move.
* Declare that every delay must turn to blessing.
* Tell the Lord you will always trust and obey Him in all things.
Announce today as your day of victory over stagnancy.

PROPHETIC PRAYER
As the Lord lives, my hope shall not be dashed this year, in the name of Jesus.