Altar of Help

Tuesday 5 April
READ: Gen.12:6-9
MORE LESSON: Luke 1:5-11

God relates with men through altars. Altars are high places of spiritual exchange. They are places where memorials are created for generations. Noah was the first man to build an altar to God (Gen. 8:20) and Abraham was the next. Abraham built an altar to God in Gen.12 and he continued to build altars to God throughout his years of sojourn. Abraham had a strong consciousness of the altar that made him to enjoy help all through his years on earth. A wise Christian that will make it in this world must know the place of the altar. Abraham watched over the altar to the point that in Gen.15 he stayed awake to drive vultures away from eating the sacrifice he offered to the Lord.
Men who build altars to God have unique testimonies. In Gen 20 Abraham’s wife was taken by the king of the land, and Jehovah the God of Abraham's altar rose on his behalf to fight his battle and plead his cause before the king. Anyone who has altars raised to Jehovah will be defended by Him. Abraham did not have to go to Abimelech to fight physically; his altar spoke for him. You do not need to fight physically and howl abuses to fight your enemies. Expend your strength in building solid altars of prayer, fellowship and sacrifice to God and He will arise on your behalf. Restoration came to Abraham with riches added; when you service your altar of help properly, God gives restoration with benefits. In Gen 21:33-34, Abraham erected an altar in Beersheba and God caused Him to sojourn successfully in a strange land. It is a lie that you cannot prosper in the land because you are not an indigene. God who caused Joseph and Daniel to prosper in their land of sojourn is alive to make you prosper in yours. God also did it for Isaac in the land of his sojourn (Gen.26): he obeyed God and sowed where God planted him and prospered in the land. He enjoyed help because he also built an altar of help in Gerar, And he builded an altar there, and called upon the name of the LORD, and pitched his tent there: and there Isaac's servants digged a well: Gen.26:25.
What can hinder the altar of help from bringing help for a man?

 i) Refusal to service the altar due to delayed answer to prayers (Luke 1:5-11). Zacharias and Elizabeth serviced their altar even while childless and their testimony changed; God blessed them. 

ii) Doubts at the altar. Keep the faith. Zacharias almost lost the help from the altar due to doubt but thank God that the altar of God also speaks mercy. Through mercy he still got his blessing though he had to be dumb for a season. This couple serviced the altar and got a unique son worth ten sons; the forerunner of the Lord Jesus came through them. 

Receive grace to service your altar and great help will be your portion.

Prayer/Action
* I receive grace and diligence to service my altar.
* I receive a new consciousness of the altar that I might truly benefit thereof, in Jesus’ name.
* The altar of God will bless me and lift me on high this year, in Jesus’ name.

PROPHETIC PRAYER
I declare that my enemies will not capture me the way they captured Samson, in the mighty name of Jesus.

Success Principles 4

Monday 4 April
READ: Psa. 27:13-14
MORE LESSON: Psa. 37:23,24

In the past few days, we have been studying basic principles for success in life. We have established that you were created to succeed; the seed of success was planted in you at creation. To get going, you need the Creator to direct your path. While it is necessary to work hard, the labour of man is exercise in futility except God orders his footsteps by bringing him opportunities. The psalmist says, Unless the LORD builds a house, they labour in vain who build it; Unless the LORD guards the city, the Watchman stays awake in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows, For so HE gives His beloved sleep: Psa.127:1-2 (NKJV). I pray that you will learn to put your trust in the LORD concerning your pursuit in life.
Let us now conclude the study with some other fundamental principles which success usually rides upon.
1. Be bold and courageous (Josh.1:6,9) to step into whatever God instructs you to do. If you want to succeed, don't be fearful; fear kills. Fear is a weapon of the devil to intimidate you, and to stop you from making outstanding breakthroughs. You can do it; you can make it. Take the step by faith and don't be afraid. Meditate on these scriptures during the day (Isa.41:10-13; 31:2-4; Deut.20: 4).
2. Believe this beloved, there is always a way forward. Don't ever give it up when you are stuck; don't throw in the towel. God makes ways even in the wilderness and rivers in the desert (Isa.41:17-20; 43:16-19). Let it be deep seated in your heart that you were created to succeed, so you can't fail. You were programmed by God to be a victor. Search out the way forward. Wait on the Lord and He will show you what to do next.
3. Never be dismayed. Setbacks, oppositions and confrontations are common with only those who are moving forward; they are part of advancement. You must make setbacks temporal and your dream in life permanent. Keep your eyes on your goals.
4. Success that will endure does not come cheap. If you ever get it cheap, it is not the original but fake. There is always the cheap way (Prov.20:17, 21), but remember that every fake product does not last.
5. There is always a higher price for any genuine product; pay the price (Prov.13: 11) and you will have it. Part of the price you pay is hard work, patience, commitment to one course, the determination to succeed. However, always remember the following scriptures even as you work hard to succeed (Psa.36:7-9, Isa.48:17-18).
If you do these things, you will surely and truly succeed in life.

Prayer/Action
* Lord, help me to understand and walk in these principles, in Jesus’ name
* Lord Jesus, deliver me from toiling; take my hand and lead me all the way.
* I insist that I will not run in vain in life; I will have good success, in Jesus’ name.

PROPHETIC PRAYER
Father, today, send the fourth man in this fourth month to neutralise every satanic fire set against my life, home and ministry, in Jesus’ name.

Success Principles 3

Sunday 3 April
READ: I Cor.2:9-14
MORE LESSON: Rom.8:14-16

There are at least five success principles from the Scripture passage you have just read.
1) God has prepared things for those who love Him.
2) The natural eyes, the human ears and the undiscerning heart cannot comprehend them.
3) Although the human sense organs cannot identify them, God who prepared them reveals them.
4) God reveals them through His Spirit who has the capability to search those things out.
5) We also have received that Spirit who can search out those things God has in stock for us and reveal them to us.
If you must succeed in life, relate with these truths. Your destiny is not void; there are things prepared by God for you. You are so precious to God that He sat in Heaven and devoted time to prepare THINGS for your life and destiny. These things He has prepared are beyond human comprehension. This is one of the reasons I believe that satan may try as much as he can, but he will not be able to steal my allocation from God, because he cannot comprehend my lot. No wonder the psalmist says: The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places, Yes I have a good heritage: Psa.16:6.
The reason why men look down on you now is because their eyes, ears and hearts cannot fathom the things that God has created for you. Unfortunately, many people look down on themselves because they cannot see anything unique about their lives. Some even contemplate suicide because they see only a bleak future. The issue is that you are what you see of yourself. If you want to succeed in life, begin to see yourself in the light of the Spirit of God. If you can see it, there will be comprehensive strength to pursue. This is what is called VISION: men who have vision are those who see what God has prepared for them. The degree or level of anyone’s success is ruled by the vision he sees. Begin to see the things God has prepared for you today, and like one with a wild fire burning in their bones, you will do exploits.
You will never be able to develop a sound vision except you engage the Holy Spirit who knows the mind of God and can search out what He has allocated for your destiny. Many people believe so much in themselves and the capacity of their brain. Unfortunately, where the human capacity ends is where the wisdom of the Holy Spirit starts, Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 1Cor. 1:20 (NKJV). If you really want to succeed, seek after the true fellowship with the Holy Spirit. Then you will ride on the eagle’s wings to greater height in life.

Prayer/Action
* Lord, open my eyes of understanding to comprehend what You have in stock for me in life.
* Father, cause me to catch a vision for my life and grant me power to run with it.

PROPHETIC PRAYER
This month, every power assigned to mess up my consecration and destiny shall be utterly destroyed by fire, in the name of Jesus.

Success Principles 2

Saturday 2 April
READ: Eccl. 9:10-11
MORE LESSON: Gen. 26:1-4

Although all men are created with the seed of success vested in them, not all men succeed. Success in life is governed by principles and ordinances. No one succeeds overnight without following these principles though some people believe in working hard to succeed. While it is true that lazy people do not succeed, you must also know that success is not all about hard work. You don't succeed because you are wise, clever, strong or brave. The scriptural passage (Eccl. 9:11) says men succeed by reason of “time and chance”; you succeed because you are at the right place and the right time.
This brings us to a very crucial issue. How can a man be at the right place and at the right time? There is a power that orders the footsteps of men to be at the right place and the right time to harvest opportunities. That force is the voice of God.
1. Listen and hear the voice of the Lord before taking life decisions, before taking steps into any venture or before you launch into the deep. Carefully study the following scriptures in your spare time, and you will be amazed how the fathers of faith succeeded because they listened to and heard the voice of God (Gen.26:1-4; Josh.1:1-3, Exo. 3:3-8, Lk.5:1-11, 1Sam.30:7-8, Eph.5:17, Psa. 32:8-9). You may note from these scriptures that the persons mentioned therein sought God and heard Him before taking steps. This was one of the greatest secrets of their success. Isaac was on his way to Egypt that he might take advantage of the Nile River to water his livestock and probably practise irrigated agriculture. What he embarked upon was the natural tendency of a fast thinking person. But God said to stay in Gerar, and God blessed him and the man waxed great. The voice of God will deliver you from personal labour and toiling all night.
2. Allow God to lead you, and remain under His leadership (Psa. 16:7-8; John 15:10-14). When the branch of a tree breaks off from its main stem, it dries up in a matter of days. A stream that is severed from its source flows away and dries up. Jesus said that without Him you can do nothing. You can choose to end your countless failures today if Jesus can be all in all in your life.
3. Develop a personal and functional altar with the Lord. Learn to go back to God again and again. Report back and learn the next way forward. You must maintain continuous link with the One who knows and understands all in order to succeed in a progressive manner.
You succeed in life because God causes you to succeed. You can only enter into great opportunities if God remembers you and grants you favour before Him and men. If you continue to stay in Jesus, seeking Him first in all you do, you will surely succeed in your ventures.

Prayer/Action
* LORD, let me hear Your voice every day of my life, in Jesus’ name
* I denounce every voice that is not of God that is speaking loud over my destiny.
* Father, draw me nearer, nearer to Thee (make this your song for the day).

PROPHETIC PRAYER
This month and all through the year, I shut down the mouth of everything that swallows up destiny, in the name mighty of Jesus.