Honour God with your Firstfruits

Wednesday 10 June
READ: Neh. 10:35 (NLB)
MORE LESSONS: Ezek. 44:30

In our text, Nehemiah confessed the sins of Israel in backsliding from the Lord. He prayed and pledged a complete return to the Almighty. In repentance, the people promised to always bring the first part of every harvest to the Lord's temple. The first part of a harvest is what the Bible calls the firstfruits.
When a believer begins to backslide, his/her giving to God is the first casualty. To forget to give to God your tithe and first- fruits before spending out of your income is a proof that your love for God has gone cold. To become stingy in your giving to God shows that excitement for God and His household is now a secondary matter and many believers are in the backsliding state (Prov.14:4).
But when a man's heart is burning with love for God he will give with great excitement, he will tithe and honour God with his firstfruits. Your salary in a new employment, the first profit in a new business, the first produce of your farm, the difference in your new and old salaries when you are promoted, the first money you earn in a new year, these are all examples of firstfruits. You are to bring your firstfruits to God’s servant in the house of God. He will receive them and command the blessing of the Lord to rest upon you and your work. It is this blessing of the Lord that will make you rich with no sorrow added (Prov.10:22).

Giving your firstfruits opens Heaven upon your life. When you give your first- fruits, you are working in obedience to God's Word and He will make you to eat of the good of the land (Isa.1:19). When you put God and His Kingdom first in the affairs of your life, He will surely add other things to you(Matt.6:33). Honouring God with your substance connects you with abundance (I Sam.2:30). Finally, when you give God your firstfruits, you trigger the release of His blessings upon all the work of your hand. He will see to it that you become rich (Prov.10:22). Give God the firstfruits always and He will defend and preserve the remaining harvest from wasters (Prov.3:9-10).

Prayer/Action
* Give thanks to God because He is the One who gives strength to His people.
* Ask God to help you obey Him in all things.
* Ask God to forgive you any act of disobedience in your financial responsibilities and restore all the blessings due you.
* Ask God to stop devourers that could be working against you because of a weakness in the area of finance.

PROPHETIC PRAYER
The enemy shall wait in vain for my failure, andall who secretly desire my fall shall be disappointed, in the name of Jesus.

Vows and Promises

Tuesday 9 June
READ: Ecc. 5:4-5
MORE LESSONS: Psa. 50:14-15

Vows in the Scripture are always about asking God to do something you critically need, promising to do or give something in return to God. There are many examples in the Bible. Hannah vowed that if God would give her a child, she would give him back to God. God did and she fulfilled her vow. Jephthah vowed that if God would give him victory over the Ammonites he would sacrifice whatever first came out of his house to meet him to God (Judg. 11:35). It was his precious daughter, his only child, that came out to welcome him and he offered her to the Lord. God always honours such vows and it is better not to vow than to vow and not fulfil it.

A promise is different from a vow. A promise could be to a man or to God or to an organisation. Unlike a vow, a promise is not made in return for your need being met. Although in giving a promise you may not be expecting something in return for your action, God expects you to keep your word. Be a promise keeper and walk in integrity. By so doing you will find favour with God and with man.
The point is, a vow is different from a promise. A vow is asking God to meet a need with a promise that you will do something in return when the need is met, on the other hand, a promise is a commitment to be part of something like a church project, or even an individual project, for which you are not expecting anything in return. You just want to be a part of fulfilling a vision that is dear to your heart. Whatever it is that you promise, whether in form of a vow, a pledge, or a commitment, be a man/woman of your word. Make sure you keep the promise and the Lord will bless you. God has been too faithful to us to be denied anything, and when we are faithful to Him, He will be faithful to us.

Prayer/Action
* Repent of all commitments, vows, pledges or promises you made in the past that you have not redeemed. Ask the Lord to forgive you and to provide for you to fulfil them speedily.

* Ask for divine provision, ability and strength to fulfil your vows, promises, pledges and commitments.

* Ask for the wisdom and discipline not to be rash in making promises.

* Ask for the favour of the Lord upon the works of your hand and the restoration of all that might have been lost to not keeping promises and vows to the Lord.

PROPHETIC PRAYER
My head will never lack oil, and the enemy shall not be able to soil my garment, as the Lord lives.

Peace in the midst of Trouble

Monday 8 June
READ: Matt. 8:23-27
MORE LESSONS: Acts 16:23-26

Peace is not the absence of trouble, problems or challenges in one's life but the ability to rest or stay calm despite the troubles all around. The main reason why many people hardly stay calm in the time of trouble is that they don't remember God's abiding presence. If Jesus is right there in the boat of your life, it is impossible for the boat to go under.
Don't run up and down when you are faced with challenges of life. If God be for you nothing can be against you. God will never abandon His children, no matter the situation or circumstance of life. He was with the Hebrew children in the fiery furnace (Dan. 3:24), He was with Joseph in the prison (Gen. 39:21) and He was with Daniel in the lions' den (Dan. 6:22). When you remember that Christ is with you, you can act calmly in the face of painful and difficult situations. Jesus has the ability to calm a mighty storm, He will certainly calm the storms you are encountering and overcome any force of evil that comes against you.

One reason why people feel agitated in the face of storms is that they forget the promises of God - the Lord will deliver you from all your afflictions (Ps. 34:19). He will never assume the state of man to lie (Num. 23:23). If you are a child of God, He will deliver you from that sickness, barrenness, lack, oppression etc. Have the knowledge today that His Word has already gone ahead of you. Believe God for whatever He says in His Word that He is: a fortress (Ps. 18:2); a helper (Heb. 13:6); a healer (Exo. 15:26); a deliverer (Ps. 18:2); a sun and a shield (Ps. 84:11); a shepherd (Ps. 23:1) Your glory and the lifter up of your head (Ps. 3:3), a shield and a buckler (Ps. 91:4). Believe and stand on the promises and surely the storm will give way to peace.
Like Apostle Paul says in the midst of storm, …for I believe God.... Acts 27:25. Believe God despite the storm. I command peace to you, in Jesus' name.

Prayer/Action
* Say, “Lord, thank You for being the God that can be present in the storm”.
* Say, “I declare peace to every storm around me, in Jesus' name”.
--Today, take a worship and praise song, give thanks to God for His power to calm storms. Praise Him sincerely because I can hear in my spirit that the storm is over.

PROPHETIC PRAYER
I shall not go back to Egypt, I shall not return to my vomit, and I shall press to the prize mark, in the name of Jesus.

The Pilgrimage

Sunday 7 June
READ: I Cor. 10:1-6
MORE LESSONS: Heb. 12:1-2

The Israelites’ journey out of Egypt, through the wilderness, to the Promised Land is a type of Christian pilgrimage. Our Christian journey has such a striking resemblance to the Israelites' journey that it is important for us to study it, learn from their experiences and avoid pitfalls as we move towards the heavenly Canaan. As Apostle Paul exhorts, Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition...: 1Cor. 10:11. The lessons from Israel’s experience are many. The Israelites were chosen by God to be His peculiar people but God had to raise a deliverer to lead them out of the bondage of Pharaoh and Egypt (Exo. 2:23-25; 3:7-10). This compares favourably with our need to be free from the bondage of sin and Satan, Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son…: Gal. 4:3-4.
To escape from this bondage, one must accept Jesus as Lord and Saviour (Jn. 3:16). This is about creating a Father-son relationship with God through acknowledging that you are a sinner, and accepting Jesus' offer of forgiveness through cleansing in His blood. If you are already born again but you still struggle with your old sin, this can be compared with the stubborn act of Pharaoh who even after he had released Israel to go, still pursued them to the Red Sea, where he perished with all of his army. In that same manner all your enemies shall perish, in Jesus’ name. As long as you don't give up the battle, your old life will bow to your new Saviour.

Here are some few things you must do to permanently win the battle over your old sin habits.
1. Attend a good convert/follow-up/foundation/discipleship class in a Bible-believing Church, immediately.
2. Begin to give more time to reading, studying, memorizing and confessing God's Word.
3. Go for deliverance and don't hide anything from the man of God, including your old habits.
4. Spend more time praying in the Holy Ghost.
5. Ask God to sanctify you wholly – spirit, soul and body - (I Thess. 5:23).
6. Never give in to satanic blackmail of being a sinner. You are not; God loves you with an everlasting love. (Rom. 8:36-37).
7. Be assured of your victory over Satan, sin and the world (I Jn. 4:4). God is faithful who has begun a good work in you and will perform it until the day of Christ (Phil. 1:6).

Prayer/Action
*Pray that your sojourn on this earth will not terminate in hell.
*Ask God for grace to be a full time Jesus chaser.

PROPHETIC PRAYER
Even if darkness and gross darkness cover the whole world, God’s light and glory shall be seen upon me, in the name of Jesus.