Look to Abraham 1

Wednesday 25 May
READ: Isa. 51:1-2
MORE LESSON: Gen. 12:1-10

There is a clear instruction in today's reading that calls all seekers of God to attention: Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him: Isa.51:2. Abraham is one unique man whose name is a reference point in most religions. Across generations his life before God is a pivotal story in the history of the Jews and Christians. All worshippers of God in these religions are told to follow Abraham’s pattern in serving God. What was the peculiarity of father Abraham that Jehovah God could ask men of all generations to emulate him? Some people have suggested that the reason why Abraham lives on though dead is because he is the father of faith, the friend of God and the centre of the covenant that God instituted with both the physical and spiritual Israelites. I quite agree with all these but the real reason why Abraham's life is still speaking, though he has been dead for thousands of years now is his OBEDIENCE. This characteristic of Abraham is what God asks us to look unto in this great patriarch's life. Abraham had his faults as every man born of a woman has but he uniquely obeyed God.
Genesis chapters 11-25 reveal Abraham's life of obedience to God. We will trace some together so that each one of us will really be able to “look unto Abraham”. He obeyed God when he was told to leave his roots and origin in his father's house to follow God (Gen.12: 1-5). He obeyed God and preferred Lot to himself though he was older and brought Lot his nephew out of Ur. He asked Lot to choose before him the portion of the land he preferred, Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves: Phil.2:3.
Abraham obeyed God in paying tithes (Gen.14:20). No wonder he was a prosperous man. Hear the testimony of Abraham's servant about him: And the Lord hath blessed my master greatly, and he is become great: and he hath given him flocks, and herds, and silver, and gold, and men servants, and maid servants, and camels and asses: Gen. 24:35. Do you want to be great? then, follow Abraham's pattern and tithe all that God gives you as income; and you will enter into material prosperity like father Abraham. He obeyed God by believing God's promises to him even in contrary circumstances, And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb. He staggered not at the promises of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith giving glory to God: Rom.4:19-20. Will you be considered righteous in God's sight? Then believe the promises of God no matter what you are passing through now.

Prayer/Action
* I receive help from God to emulate Abraham the father of faith.
* Lord, give me strength to live a life of obedience to You.

PROPHETIC PRAYER
Today, I remove my name and family from any demonic calendar and programme, in the name of Jesus.

The Testimony of a Quality Life 2

Tuesday 24 May
READ: Prov. 9:14-18
MORE LESSON: Matt. 5:14-16

As a child of God, you should aim for success in life. Success and prosperity are part of the package of salvation. Have you noticed that when a man is a failure and he has nothing to show for his profession of faith, nobody wants to accept the gospel from him? The gospel means the good news, when there is nothing good in the life of a person sharing it, nobody believes the gospel in his mouth. This is the reason why a child of God must make the choice of an excellent and outstanding life and performance wherever he finds himself. To be outstanding is to be of such high quality that you are first among equals. Being outstanding in life is God's desire for every believer, in your finance, career, family and academics; you testify for the Lord when you excel.
A believer that is always sinning, cheating or fighting in the neighbourhood doesn't have a basis to testify to others to accept the life he carries. So also the believer that is begging around, failing in exams, tattered and battered will realise that the people will not respect the gospel in his mouth. However when your life is desirable and your situation admirable, when you show up and you declare the gospel of Jesus, the people are compelled to give you attention because of the quality of your life. You must know that success for a child of God should not be about self-gratification or worldly pursuits but a means of making a statement for the kingdom of God.
In the text for today, we see a man that had wisdom to save a city but his wisdom was despised because he was poor. It is possible to have the message of wisdom and salvation to offer to the people of the world but the poverty in the life of the believer makes the message to be despised. Therefore you must know that your life is a testimony which validates the claims of the gospel. This is why you must pay attention to your life to make sure you live a quality life of holiness and righteousness in this perverse generation. This also includes taking due diligence to succeed in your job, finance and career. It involves aiming to be outstanding in all ramifications so that when you take Jesus to the market place of the world, the testimony of what He has done in your life is very evident.

Prayer/Action
* Ask that the goodness of Jesus will be evident in your life.
* Pray that the dealings of God in your life and family will make you a living testimony of Jesus’ faithfulness.

PROPHETIC PRAYER
No matter what the devil does, I shall not end my year in shame, in the mighty name of Jesus.

The Testimony of a Quality Life 1

Monday 23 May
READ: Matt. 5:14-16
MORE LESSON: Dan. 1:20

A product is desirable on the basis of having good quality. When the quality of a product is high, it is confidently marketed. The moment people discover that the quality of a product is good, they desire to buy. Did you know that fervently marketing a product with bad quality can be counter-productive? If you convince a person to buy the product and after buying it, he discovers that it is a bad product, you have lost that customer. So ensuring quality should take preeminence over marketing. When people see the quality of what you have, they will ask for it in large quantity. As a believer you must know that your life is a product. If you have accepted Jesus as Lord and you want to evangelise the people of the world, the evidence of Jesus in your own life is what attests to the quality of accepting Jesus in a life. That's the power of the market place. The world is a market place of evangelism. Every sect, religion and group is trying to win people to their beliefs. It is the quality of what you have come to offer and the quality of your life that will eventually differentiate you from the rest.
You must trust God and work hard to live a quality life in every aspect of your life because when you take Jesus to the market place, the only thing that will make your claims of Jesus to sell is the quality you demonstrate in wisdom, power, healing, miracles, wealth, success and excellence. The people of the world want solution, so when you offer solution, they listen to you.
This is the reason why a believer must not be satisfied with mediocrity. As a believer you should not pursue success and excellence for the mere fact of self-gratification like the people of the world. But you must go for it because the testimony of such a life is what gives you a voice for evangelising people and nations. A saved life is a high quality life. Your prayer makes your life not to be a mockery of redemption and make salvation undesirable to the people of the world. A Christian still languishing in sin, addiction and bad habit doesn't make the Christian life desirable to unbelievers. A child of God buffeted by poverty and begging around doesn't make Jesus marketable to the world. A child of God sickly and always sorrowful makes it difficult for the world to believe in the quality of what they are offered in salvation.
Today, everything that makes mockery of salvation in your life is destroyed, in Jesus’ name. Pray and aspire for a quality life and thereby become a good ambassador of Christ. You are the light and salt of the world, don't stand less.

Prayer/Action
* Lord, let Your beauty reflect in me that I may market You well.
* I shall not be a mockery of redemption, in Jesus’ name.
* I destroy everything that reduces my quality as a Christian, in Jesus’ name.

PROPHETIC PRAYER
Today, I receive the power and spirit of focus, courage and determination in the name of Jesus.

Shout of Praise

Sunday 22 May
READ: Isa. 12:6
MORE LESSON: Psa. 98:6-9

Some years ago as a student in Kwara State School of Basic Studies, I was facing a particular situation that made me cry for sometime. Then I decided to go to an open field to shout praises to God for 30 minutes. Friend, that problem did not last for two days before I got the victory. Next time there is no one around to share your problem with, shout praises to God. I once asked our father, Daddy E.A. Adeboye this question, “Why shout hallelujah?” He replied that satan hates the shout of hallelujah. Give your enemy what he hates. When you shout praises because negative things are happening around you, satan is defeated.
One of my excitements in praise is the secret of it that I understand. There are a few things I know about praise and many things it has done in my life. If there is a multipurpose tablet in the Christian world, that tablet is praise. It reverses the enemy's activities. I have not seen anything that is needful for God that praise is not useful for. Praise is useful for all times. Praise is a singular multi-faceted tool that God has given us. The dimension of praise I want to share with you today is SHOUT. The Bible admonished in the Old Testament that the priests be clothed with righteousness and the saints shout for joy. Praise can be manifested in form of shouting. Isa.12: 6 says, Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee. In this scripture, there is a command to shout. Why? Because of joy. Shout is an expression that goes with joy. In this scripture, it is so clear that one of the ways we can express the presence of God in our midst is to shout. God's appearances in most occasions in the Old Testament were heralded with shout. When God comes into a situation, there is a shout. This means you can do a shout of praise to invite God into a situation.
Why do we have a shout when God is involved in a matter? This is because shout is an expression or a reaction that God is present in a matter and the presence of God brings greatness into a matter. David said: Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee: Isa. 12:6. This is because something extraordinary has come to the people of God. You can either use shout to invite the presence of God into a matter or to celebrate God in a situation. These are the two things you can do with shout. As you shout praises to God, the Lord will arise and destroy your enemies, in Jesus' name.

Prayer/Action
* Shout praises and drive the spirit of affliction out of your body.
* Loudly command the spirit of fear out of your destiny.
* Declare a holy coordinated shout against disappointment and barrenness of all kinds.
* Declare that your shout of praise will manifest God in your situation.

PROPHETIC PRAYER
Every noise and voice of confusion and depression in my mind and spirit stop now, in the name of Jesus.