The Profit of Pain

Friday 4 September
READ: 2 Cor 4:17
MORE LESSON: Psa.119:71

Every affliction in the life of a believer has an expiry date. However, while it lasts it should make a believer take a stand of faith. Trials work for us a far more exceeding weight of eternal glory. Though nobody wants or likes affliction, yet the Bible says even when they happen they work for benefits. This seems a hard message but it is true that no matter how bad the afflictions are, there are certain benefits attached to them. That is why David said, It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes. (Psa. 119:71). David had profits from his pains. He discovered the statutes and rules. He did not suffer in vain but made gain out of his pain. I pray for you that you will not suffer pain in vain but you see and enjoy gain out of your pain.

There are many people in the scriptures that had pains that became gains. A good example is Job who had a lot of pains but at the end of the day, the pain did not consume him. As for the gain, he had double of everything he lost. Job today has become a reference point of prayer for those who are afflicted, that the same God that helped Job should help them. It simply means then that Job became an example of someone who gained victory over affliction. Affliction is not altogether bad. Paul confidently said that he reckons, admits, and counts the suffering of this present time as a prerequisite for a gain that is weightier than the pain. (2 Cor. 4: 17). Paul was another person who suffered a lot of pain for the sake of the gospel but he never gave up. He stayed on knowing full well that his suffering is not in vain. That affliction in your life is but for a moment, don't give up but rejoice that God has counted you worthy of a greater gain.

The depth of your pain will lead to the height of your gain. The foundation of a bungalow can never be compared with that of a sky scrapper. While the man building a sky scrapper is still digging his foundation, the other man building a bungalow would have completed his building and probably moved in. Your pain is not the same as that of your brother, friend, or colleague. It may be similar and can even bear the same name but before God, your case is unique. Draw lessons from others but never judge the dynamics of your conditions by those of others.

Prayer/Action
* Pray that your pains will become gains in all areas.
* Pray that your pains will not swallow you up in life and destiny.
* Tell yourself that weeping may endure for a night but joy is coming for you in the morning! Hallelujah.

PROPHETIC PRAYER
Father, break every yoke in my life this month and let Your glory not be hidden in my destiny.

Eternity

Thursday 3 September
READ: Rev. 21:1-5
MORE LESSON: 2 Cor. 4: 18

2 Cor. 4: 18 says, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. There is the glory which is eternal- it consists in the unseen and it is permanent. In Rev. 21:1-5, John the Beloved gives us a picture of how he saw a new heaven and the new earth because the old heaven and earth had passed away. He talks about a city prepared for us like an adorned bride. It cannot be overemphasized that this present earth with all its glory will disappear because it is temporal.

During the Millennial reign of Jesus Christ on earth, which will happen immediately after the Second Coming of the Lord, Jesus will call each of the saints to assume glorious positions based on the reward for the works done in the body in this temporal earth. Just like the president of a nation gives out national honours, so will the Lord give us. The glory that will be accorded each man that day will not be temporal; it is for eternity. This is the reason you should do everything godly to qualify for great glory on that day. Everyone will be honoured according to the quality of work done. Some people will be decorated as generals while some on that day will receive nothing as reward. Their only consolation will be that they will not be cast into hell. I want you to labour for eternal glory by serving God with all your might in this temporal world because all the efforts and labours of believers have a fixed day of reward.

A preacher once described eternity thus: it is like a bird picking a grain of sand from one end of the sea shore and travelling to the other end for a thousand years and then returns in another thousand years to pick another. When the bird has succeeded in carrying all the sand by the sea shore to the other side, eternity is just one minute old. From the day I heard that illustration, I became conscious of the awesome length of eternity and made up my mind that I won't go to hell. If you are in heaven, it will be for that long and so it will be for those in hell. Eternity is beyond human minds. Secure your eternity by giving your life to Jesus and living your life on earth for Him.

Prayer/Action
* Speak now to your destiny, that you will not spend eternity in Hell.
* Ask that the blood of Jesus will cleanse you of any thing that could make you lose your reward in heaven.
* Rededicate your life to God’s service and for righteous living by the power of the Holy Ghost now.

PROPHETIC PRAYER
The God that does what no man can do, manifest Your great power in my life now, in the name of Jesus.

Carry the Cross

Wednesday 2 September
READ: Matt 16: 24 - 25
MORE LESSON: Heb 12: 1 - 3

Jesus said that anyone who will follow Him must deny himself, take up his cross and follow. The Christian life is a life of the cross so we need to clearly understand what the cross is and what it means to carry one's cross in total surrender to Christ. The first thing I want you to know about the cross is that the cross is a place of pain. Bible said that Jesus endured the cross (Heb 12: 2). The cross is not a place of enjoyment; it is a place of willful acceptance of pain. Jesus was crying in agony on the cross but He was not ready to escape from the pain because He saw the glory it will bring to God. He was crying and agonizing, yet He was not looking for relieve but was ready to stay with the pain if the glory of God would be made manifest by it.

This means that the cross cannot be an Adamic nature or sinful habit that you have refused to give up and then you claim that is your own cross. No, the cross Jesus carried was not a sinful habit that He kept falling into. Your cross also cannot be a sickness that you are carrying about and you have not received healing; the intent of the cross is to glorify God. Your being sick doesn't glorify God in any way. Furthermore, your cross is definitely not a wrong decision you made and are suffering for it. You should avoid the consequences of wrong decisions by making sure the word of God governs every step you take. Don't break God's principles and when the repercussion comes, you look sober and say you are carrying your cross. That is not what the cross is.

Carrying the cross is not being controlled by sinful habits, afflicted by sickness and it is obviously not wearing a big cross on your neck and strolling around claiming to be carrying a cross. Carrying your cross means willfully subjecting yourself to an unpleasant experience which you could have avoided but, for the sake of heaven, you embraced. It is when you say Lord I know I could have chosen this other easier way, but this painful way is the one that will glorify you. So I lay my neck on the altar even at the point of death.

When you willingly subject yourself to situations that are not convenient because you want God to be honoured and glorified, you have embraced the cross and there is a glory awaiting you. Jesus endured the cross and now He is seated in glory. Now that you have understood what carrying your cross is, it is time to carry your cross and follow Him.

Prayer/Action
* Like Jesus, receive grace for the cross you have to carry.
* Proclaim that you will not endure a cross without the glory manifesting.
* Rebuke every evil hanging on you in the name of bearing your cross.

PROPHETIC PRAYER
God of Israel, You led Your people for forty years by the pillars of cloud and fire, do the same for the rest of my year, in Jesus’ name.

Choose Eternal Glory

Tuesday 1 September
READ: Luke 16: 19 - 31
MORE LESSON: Matt. 6:33

There are different types of glory as expressed in 1 Cor. 15: 40 – 41; There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is the earthly and the eternal glory. There is a major interrelationship between the earthly and eternal glory that you must never forget.

Eternal glory can bring earthly/physical glory but earthly/physical glory cannot bring eternal glory. You may have wealth and glory here on earth and do not have eternal glory. However, spiritual glory can bring earthly glory which will last forever. This is amply captured in Matt. 6:33, which says, But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. This means that when you have spiritual life which is the eternal glory, every other thing will be added. When you carry the grace of God, that is, you are born again and doing the things of God, every other physical thing can be added to you. However, if you are not born again even if you are a church goer or church worker, whatever you have physically cannot qualify you for everlasting life. The fact that you are born again gives you access to glory even on the face of the earth. But if you have everything beautiful on the face of the earth it does not guarantee you access into eternal glory.

If you are wise therefore, what should be your choice? There is one that can attract the other, and there is the other one which cannot attract the first. There is one which is permanent and the other which is temporal. Which should you aim for? Go for eternal glory because it will deliver to you earthly glory. There are many who are not interested in the things of God; they are so cumbered with worldly pursuits, great ambitions and quest for fame. If those are your life pursuits, I warn you that you will fall prey to the hand of the devil because he can afford all these things for you. But if your pursuit is God and His kingdom, then you have eternal glory and even in this earth you will live a glorious life.

The rich man in the story in Luke 16: 19, had glory while on earth, but because he didn't choose to get eternal glory, he found himself in hell where he was begging for water not even to quench the fire but for a drop to assuage his thirst. That tells you what happens to a man who chooses earthly glory over eternal glory. The Bible describes hell as a place where worms eating up men do not die. The greatest pain in hell is not the fire but the thirst and regret. Heaven, on the other hand, is a place of eternal glory; choose correctly.

Prayer/Action
* Pray that you will never substitute holy glory for earthly glory.
* Pray that as you choose eternal glory, other things shall be added according to scriptures.
* Pray that no earthly thing will take eternal glory from you. 
* Ask that no earthly pressure will stuff eternity from you.

PROPHETIC PRAYER
Thank You ancient of days for a new month; make this ninth month a mighty month for me, in the name of Jesus’.