The Cross: The Pathway to Glory

Sunday 4 October
READ: Isa. 53: 7 - 12
MORE LESSON: Luke 23: 23 - 47

When Jesus was taken to be crucified, He had many lies and accusations thrown at Him but He refused to say a word in defense of Himself. He was led to the cross like a lamb to the slaughter, He had the power to deliver himself but He didn't. It was because of His love for mankind that He followed on without resistance as He was beaten and tormented. A time came when He was tired and would have fainted for lack of strength, then another person was apprehended to help Him carry the cross. Women were crying and wailing in pity after Him. He replied them that they should better cry for themselves and their children. He chose the cross because it was the way to our salvation. On the cross, the people taunted Him to save Himself and come down if He was truly the Son of God, He didn't say a word. At one stage, He cried, I thirst. He was not just thirsty for water; it was a spiritual agony He felt and He needed eternal ability to endure. He committed His spirit to God and gave up the ghost.

The cross is the path to glory. Jesus passed through the cross and God saw His surrender and sacrifice on the cross and God was impressed. Is 53: 11 says, He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied . . . God saw His travail on the cross and He was impressed in heaven. Then God responded to His cross experience with a reward of glory. When you impress heaven, it doesn't matter how many people you have not impressed. As you pass through situations that are challenging and demanding, your singular goal should be to impress heaven with your surrender, faith and joy in tribulation. When Heaven is touched by your action, Heaven will rise up and work on your behalf.

You can impress heaven by enduring the cross and glorifying God through the cross. God responds when He is touched. This was what He did for Jesus. Phil 2: 9 says, Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name. 'Therefore . . .' this means that as a result of what He did. So, Jesus' experience at the cross compelled a reciprocal action from God. The response from God is that He gave Jesus the glory that He has up to today. I want you to know that as you stay true to the cross of Christ, you get to a point where God begins to pay you back. He pays back with glory. As you cling to the cross, there is a glory and crown that awaits you.

Prayer/Action
* Pray that you will not loose sight of the glory beyond your cross.
* Pray that your labour of old will not be buried in fire but yield a victor’s triumph.
* Ask God to turn your pain to glory.
* Pray that in all situation of life you will laugh last and that you will never labour in vain.

PROPHETIC PRAYER
Father, this month, open my eyes to know things that I have never known since I was born and let it be a great beginning for me, in Jesus’ name.

My Heart is Fixed

Saturday 3 October
READ: Psa. 16: 8 -11
MORE LESSON: Isa. 50:7; Dan. 1:8

The reason a lot of believers are unstable today in many areas of their lives is because their focus is not entirely on the Lord. Jesus said if your eye be single then your whole body will be full of light. (Matt 6: 22) Could it be that the instability in your career, prayer altar, business, job, family life etc, is as a result of not being focused on the Lord? The Psalmist said in Ps 16: 8, I have set the Lord always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. David used the word, set to describe his positioning with God. To set is not just placing of a thing; it is a deliberate and precise placement of a thing or person. We must 'set' our focus on the Lord.

The time of pain or prosperity is when a man's focus is revealed. When in pain the real essence of who a man is and the focus of his heart is unveiled both to God and to men. Jesus also said to Martha ''Martha, Martha thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her''. Luke 10: 41 – 42. When you set your heart on the Lord every other thing gets fixed automatically. The different facets of our lives get aligned and in order, nothing missing, nothing broken.

Daniel in the Bible was also faced with a situation that conflicted with his convictions about God. He could have overlooked the matter since everyone in his category had already compromised based on the prevailing circumstance but the Bible says in Dan. 1:8 that he purposed in his heart not to defile himself with the king's meat and dared the consequence of failing the test of looking good before the king. Can you also dare any consequence of not compromising in your place of work, in school, your political ambitions, relationships etc? Your sincere response will tell if indeed your heart is fixed in God. Resolve today that by the grace of God your heart and mind will be stayed on God. Isaiah said I have set my eyes like a flint, I shall not be moved. (Isa. 50: 7).

Prayer/Action
* Command every Satanic attraction around your destiny to loose their strength and bow out in the name of Jesus. 
* Ask God to help you maintain your ways before him permanently.
* Pray that no storm will make you sink in the waters of life.

PROPHETIC PRAYER
Every Pharaoh that has resisted my freedom from slavery shall perish in the sea of October, in the name of Jesus.

Give unto the Lord II

Friday 2 October 
READ: Josh 3: 13 - 17
MORE LESSON: 2 Chron.1:1-7

Solomon gave offerings no man ever gave to God before and God was compelled in heaven to visit him and presented a blank cheque to him. God decided that He would not allow a mere mortal to out give him, so He bestowed wisdom and wealth on the son of David. Solomon learnt how to give from David his father and he took it to another dimension. So he had the achievements his father didn't have. David couldn't build the temple, even though he made all the provision for it; it was Solomon who built the temple his father couldn't build. David had a great kingdom after so many battles and struggles but Solomon didn't fight a single war, he had rest and greatness. A man who fights wars and wins a victory is not as great as a man who doesn't need to fight before he wins. Enemies willingly submit to a man who has great power. (Ps 66: 3). So Solomon had victory without battle. Every parent wants his/her children to be greater than him/her. God did that for Solomon; he was greater than his father, the great King David.

Solomon got his greatness by giving. You also can give your way to greatness. Apart from giving to meet needs in the house of God, you should also give to meet the personal needs of God's servants. In Bible times, people would rather go hungry than allow God's servants to go hungry. If you want to keep climbing until you reach greatness; do not starve the person God as placed as a spiritual head over you. The Levites were the carriers of the ark that would lead the way as Israel travelled into Canaan. At river Jordan, the Levites carried the ark and as they stepped into the river, the water dried up and Israel walked into the promised land of inheritance. The people of Israel could only cross Jordan after the priests had gone ahead into the waters. So it was not possible for Israel to enter into the land of inheritance until the Levites entered the river and led the way.

Do not starve your pastors because until they enter into their inheritance, you cannot enter yours. It is a spiritual principle. Your spiritual leaders are the ground breakers in the spirit. When they press into an inheritance, you will see that every one will thereafter easily access it. When your pastor becomes prosperous, the next thing you will see is that everyone in the Church suddenly starts accessing prosperity. Give to your spiritual leaders and lift them up. As they enter into their inheritance, they are making a way for you to enter into yours.

Prayer/Action
* Promise God, you will not be an enemy to the greatness of your spiritual leader.
* Ask God to make you a kingdom financial by exceptional open doors.
* Pray that the reward of the prophet you serve, will not elude you.
* Promise God you accept to be a tool in His hands to make others great as He steps you into greatness.

PROPHETIC PRAYER
My nation (name) shall serve the Lord God Almighty and shall not be taken over by Islam, in the name of Jesus’.

Give unto the Lord I

Thursday 1 October
READ: 1 Chron. 22: 6 - 19
MORE LESSON: 2 Sam 7: 1 - 16

David was called the man after God's heart. He loved God so much that He always gave. When David wanted to raise an altar to God and the owner of the land offered to give him the land for free, he said, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. 2 Sam 24:24 KJV. David also decided in his heart to build a house for the Lord. Though God didn't permit him to build the temple because he had shed too much blood, he still went ahead to provide everything that needed to be put in place for the temple to be built. He told Solomon his son, I have taken great pains to provide for the temple of the LORD a hundred thousand talents of gold, a million talents of silver, quantities of bronze and iron too great to be weighed, and wood and stone. And you may add to them. 1 Chron 22:14 NIV. When you study the heart of love and giving that David exercised towards God, you will not wonder why God blessed him and chose him as an eternal dynasty on the throne of Israel.

As the saying goes, 'Like begets like’. Solomon grew up seeing his father give, so he took after him well taught by his father to give to God. Solomon gave God a thousand burnt offerings and God was so impressed that God came down personally to bless him. (2 Chron. 1: 6 – 12). Solomon went ahead to become the greatest, wealthiest and wisest king in history. His father laid the foundation for him to build on. Parents should not undermine the place of giving and teaching their children to give. Let your children see you giving and instruct them to do likewise. From giving offering in Church, giving to servants of God to helping people, be deliberate in teaching your children to give. Don't let them grow up to become tight fisted like dry bones.

Right from infancy, give them offerings in Church and walk them to the altar of God to drop it. Let them see it when you give the last food left in the house to a prophet of God like the widow of Zarephath did. (1Kings 17: 12 - 13) and also tell them the testimony when God shows up with a miracle of provision in response to that act of faith. As you give and your children continue in it, God will make you great all round and your children will become even greater than you: your roof will be their own basement in greatness, in the name of Jesus. In addition to all other teaching you give your children, teach them the act of giving because it secures their future in abundance.

Prayer/Action
* Pray that you will be a practical example of a giver like your father God.
* Pray for God’s wisdom to raise a generation of givers for God’s kingdom.
* Pray that the blessing of a giver will not cease in your life and generation.
* Give God thanks for the privilege to give.

PROPHETIC PRAYER
Thank You Jesus for the gift of the tenth month. Every form of shapelessness and void in my nation and life shall begin to take shape and order, in the name of Jesus.