The Fear of the Lord 1

Monday 21 March
READ: Prov. 1:7
MORE LESSON: Prov. 8:13

The book of Proverbs 1:7, which is our text for today says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. The fear of the Lord is living a life governed by the desire to only please and never to displease Him. This desire in any man births an abstinence from everything that is contrary to the desire of God. The fear of the Lord is the root of righteous living and the absence of the fear God is the cause of all evil that happens in the life of a man, society, nation and the world at large. If everybody takes God first in every discussion and in every action they take, what do you think the world will look like? The major problem men have is lack of fear of the Lord. Lack of the fear of the Lord is the reason men cheat on one another. It is the reason why armed robbers take other people’s things and sometimes even shed blood. Lack of the fear of God is why politicians go as far as killing one another to get into office and then take all public resources for self-gratification. The number one need in our lives, nation and world is the fear of the Lord.
The Bible says that the fear of the Lord is the foundation on which wisdom is built. This helps you to clearly imagine the opposite; the absence of the fear of the Lord is the beginning of all the foolishness in the world today. It is when men do things that are contrary to the will of God and despise the love of God and the Word of God that folly reigns supreme in the society. In the same way, where God is honoured, feared, respected and obeyed, things go well. When the principles of God are esteemed in a life and society, righteousness flourishes, producing fruits of wisdom and well-being.
I want you to check your life today and check whether there is a proof of the fear of God in the way you live your life. Today provides an opportunity for you to appraise your business, place of work, political office and everything you do and check the degree of the fear of God with which you operate. It is also time to pray for Nigeria that the fear of God will rule in the hearts of individuals, families, communities, leaders and the nation at large. Prov 19:23 says, The fear of the Lord tendeth to life: and he that hath it shall abide satisfied; he shall not be visited with evil. The fear of the Lord is the answer to all the problems we have had in this nation and of mankind and the only way to reverse it is by accepting the Lordship of Jesus in our lives as individuals, families, communities and nations. Jesus in us is the hope of glory and the evidence of a God-life.

Prayer/Action
* Pray that the fear of God will rule your heart.
* Ask God for grace to be guarded by the fear of God in all your decision making.
* Ask God to forgive you of all disregard to Him, His ordinance and His servants.

PROPHETIC PRAYER
Good things will locate me this day and abide with me, in the name of Jesus.

Destiny Helped by Favour

Sunday 20 March
READ: Gen 41: 37-46
MORE LESSON: Lk 1: 28-38

Favour is an unmerited help that someone receives. When God favours you, it means that you receive special help and mercy from Him. Favour takes a man beyond human ability. One of the things that the favour of God does is to qualify the unqualified. Let us examine few examples of unqualified people that God's favour located and qualified.
1. Rehab and Ruth, who were not even Israelites, by God's favour became the grandparents of Jesus.
2. Joseph was favoured from his childhood by his father. Even in slavery, he carried the favour of God and his master favoured him. He was later imprisoned but the favour of God located him there. God's favour manifested as His divine presence with Joseph, which made him notable wherever he went. Favour brings accelerated progress. This is what happened to Joseph, who one day woke up a prisoner but before the end of the day, he became a prime minister of the then most powerful nation in the world (Gen 41: 38 - 44).
3. There was a man born blind in John 9; he was 40 years old and had been blind for that number of years. When favour located him, Jesus left everyone in that environment and focused on him. God's favour brings a man under divine focus.
4. Through favour Esther came under special focus. A slave girl became the queen of the most powerful nation in the world. It was God's favour on Esther that caused King Ahaseurus to choose her (Esther 2: 9).
5. In the midst of multitude of sick people by the pool of Bethesda, favour located a man sick of palsy for 38 years. Jesus saw him, and healed him alone out of the crowd of sick people (Jn 5: 2-8).
6. Favour located David among his brethren. From following the sheep in the morning, he was the anointed king of Israel by evening (1 Sam 16).
7. It was favour that brought Moses into divine remembrance; favour brings divine remembrance; when God remembers you, it means you caught His attention. After 40 years of following the sheep in the wilderness, God remembered Moses and called him. From that moment his story was never the same (Exo. 3).
8. The disciples of Jesus were ordinary people (mainly fishermen) but favour made Jesus to beckon to them and their entire life and story changed (Lk 5: 1-11). Favour causes God to beckon to you, to bring you close to His power. He sets you apart for Himself among many. I pray that the favour of God will locate you today and bring you under divine focus.

Prayer/Action
* Make a list of ten people in the Bible whose destinies were helped by favour.
* Pray that favour will bring you to the place of fulfilment of destiny.
* Prophesy on yourself today that you will receive the favour of God that will turn you around.

PROPHETIC PRAYER
Today, I strike out my name from the list of beggars and debtors; I shall walk in abundance and lend to many, in the name of Jesus.

Woman Thou Art Favoured

Saturday 19 March
READ: Luke 1: 26-29
MORE LESSON: Prov 31: 30

Genuine favour is the righteous man’s inheritance from the Lord; the favour of man is deceitful. The woman is a creation of great favour. Although the men folk have so much to say about the woman, God's record about her is the truth. In Luke 1: 28, God sent His angel to reveal His verdict about the woman and it is . . .Hail, thou art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: Blessed art thou among women. Mary the mother of Jesus is blessed and every believing woman is also divinely blessed.
The woman must know who she is and whom she belongs to. The woman belongs to so many people; her father, her mother, her husband, her children. However, she belongs to the Lord more than she belongs to any man, and so can contact and enjoy the unlimited favour of the Lord. And when the King of kings has favoured a man, the king of the earth will have to follow suit.
However, the favour of God is not 'magic', it is contacted. Don't wait for it to come like magic. Therefore, for the woman to be highly favoured she must possess some virtues:
1. A favoured woman must be chaste. One of the reasons why the woman has fallen below the price line before man is lack of chastity; women easily yield to the flesh and breed only weed. It is purity that produces true liberty. Our soul is much more important than the body. What qualified Mary for the high favour was her chastity. Sex is not a tool to get all you want in life; it is a creation of God within the confinement of marriage. When it comes to sex, it is for “the married only”.
2. To be a woman of high favour, you must know the LORD, know His Word and carry His Spirit. It is when we know the Lord that we can know ourselves, the Holy Spirit helping us each day to become more like Jesus.
3. The woman must be ready to accept the will of God always in all things. To be a beneficiary of God's favour, the woman must always ask: “What is the will of God for me in this? What are the things I should do and not do?”
4. She must not rate the knowledge of men above that of God. She must hold onto Jesus in everything and follow her godly passion. She must discover her gifts/talents and use them without being intimidated.
5. She must accept responsibility in God's vineyard and grace will locate her. She must be ready to showcase the grace of God in her life and not the flesh by not hiding what she can do for God and others.
Dear woman, rise up today and become who God made you to be because He wants to use you.

Prayer/Action
* Ask the Lord to open your eyes to see the treasure and high value He has placed inside you.
* Pray that you will believe the report of the Lord and not the opinion of men regarding your esteem.
* Pray that God will give all believing women the grace to be women of virtue and favour, in Jesus, name.

PROPHETIC PRAYER
Every negative mystery that has surrounded my life and destiny for ages be terminated now, in the name of Jesus.

Silver and Gold

Friday 18 March
READ: Haggai 2:8
MORE LESSON: Deut. 8:10-18

Men and women of all ages and races desire silver and gold and even the Bible says that money answereth all things. Indeed money is a vital and essential commodity on this side of eternity. All over the world we see men wake up early and work throughout the day looking for ways to make money. I wish they know that first and foremost wealth is not got by labour and sweat but by connecting to the divine owner of wealth. How do you get wealth?
1.) Let Jehovah God be your God. When you identify with God who owns the silver and gold then you will also receive by inheritance (Gen. 25:5).
2). Identify with the principles of making money and money will be yours. One of such principles is being kind to others. Psalm 37:26 says, The righteous is ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed is blessed. Be ready to give to others. Be ready to scatter rather than hoard. Proverbs.11:24 also says, There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty.
3.) Whatever is not enough, turn it into a seed. Plant it; give it to God as an offering. The widow in I Kings 17:12-15 was in severe lack and God sent a prophet to her to feed. As she obeyed and sowed her last meal in the house for the prophet to eat first, abundance flowed in that replaced the lack, And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah; and she; and he and her house did eat many days. And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Elijah: I Kings 17:15-16.
4.) Break your siege with your seed. A king did this in hot intense battle; when the tide turned against him, he gave a very costly sacrifice and he won the battle (II Kgs. 3:26-27). One such seed is giving first fruits at the beginning of each year to rid the coming year of lack and tightness. It has been tried and tested that those who honour God with their first fruits walk in supernatural abundance, Honor the Lord with thy substance and with the firstfruits of all thine increase; so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine: Prov.3:9-10.
5.) Look inwards for your miracle. Sometimes you suffer poverty because you are always looking outwards for someone to help you, bless you and give to you. Look inwards by using what you have in your hands to move your life forward and get wealth. These include your skills, talents and gifts.

Prayer/Action
* Take a step of faith and sow a big seed beyond your routine giving to God’s work.
* Lord, I connect to divine ownership today that I might walk in abundance.
* I receive grace to walk in the principles of wealth and terminate poverty forever in my life and lineage.

PROPHETIC PRAYER
Today, the Lord shall increase my greatness and comfort me on every side, in the name of Jesus.