Rest

Tuesday 14 June
READ: Heb. 4:1-11
MORE LESSON: Heb. 3:15-19

The children of Israel had been wondering around battered and beaten in the wilderness for years. They left Egypt and were headed to the promised land of Canaan. Many died on the way because they disbelieved, complained and refused to walk by God's principles. Eventually, the little children grew up and were led into the place of rest by Joshua. Our text today shows that beyond the rest that Joshua led the children of Israel into, there is an additional rest that God has prepared for His children.
There is a rest from struggles, labour, troubles, financial crisis, family problems and matrimonial troubles. However, for you to enter into this rest, you must believe in the ability of God. Faith is the key that opens the door to your place of rest, the problem is that many 'believers' don't believe, they are doubters and rationalisers. For example, God says that there is a place of financial rest but He wants you to be a giver to enter in; He wants you to give your tithe, offering and other kingdom seeds.
One person believes and gives till he enters financial rest while another starts asking questions how he will fare if he removes from his salary that is not even enough; he also wants to know what the church does with all the tithes that people have been giving. So he continues in financial toil. There is a rest ordained for you in every area of your life, you need to search the Word, discover God's prescription for rest in that area of life, believe it and obey it.
The Bible says that for you to have matrimonial rest as a husband, you have to love your wife unconditionally. It says that the key that opens the door of rest for the wife in her home is submission. But if you continue to run your home based on what your committee of friends, village/clan meeting or women rights organisations tell you; you will realise that your home will continue to be a boiling pot.The key to rest is the Word of God. Abandon your head knowledge, mathematical calculations and logical reasoning when you realise they contradict scriptures. God's Word doesn't have to be rational, it just has to come to pass. Believe God and enter into rest.
The ultimate rest is in making it to Heaven; this rest also as every other form of rest is through faith. When you believe in Jesus as your Lord and Saviour and you accept Him into your life and dedicate your life to living by His Word; you are assured of entering into His eternal rest. Do not harden your heart as some did in the wilderness and could not enter into rest, even though it had been prepared for them, Speak tenderly to Jerusalem. Tell her that her sad days are gone and her sins are pardoned: Isa. 40:2(NLT).

Prayer/Action
* Father, let me enter into the rest prepared for me in every area of life.
* I receive grace to follow God’s prescription for my rest.
* Lord, I receive a season without war, in Jesus’ name.

PROPHETIC PRAYER
Father, as king David enjoyed uncommon mercy with You, let it be so with me and my family this year, in the name of Jesus.

The God of all Doing

Monday 13 June
READ: 1 Sam 2: 6 – 8
MORE LESSON: Luke 1: 37

God is the only One who can do all things. He can do whatsoever can be done and even those that cannot be done by any mortal . God can do the easy, the difficult and the impossible. Only He can bring the dead back to life – something which is impossible to any other. But God does not only have the power to make alive, He also has the power to kill, The Lord killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up. 1 Sam 2:6.
Some people theologise that God doesn't kill, that He only gives life. They should read the Bible complete and balanced; we have seen several cases in the Scripture where God struck people dead, especially people who stood `against His purpose and His children. God will strike those who have purposed relentlessly to frustrate your life and destiny, in Jesus name. The Bible declares concerning Abraham, before Him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were: Rom. 4:17. We understand from scriptures that one of the reasons Abraham was willing to offer Isaac to God was because he believed that if he killed Isaac, God was able to bring him back to life (Heb 11: 17 – 19). God can kill everything; sickness, evil, curses and agents of wickedness that have risen against you. He also can give life to every good thing that has died in your life.
Is it your health, womb, career or ministry that seems dead? The God of all doing can raise it back to life.
Another doing of the Lord revealed in our text is that He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory....: 1 Sam 2:8. He makes a nobody to become somebody. Joseph was a slave but God made him a prime minister. Esther was a maid-servant but God took her to the throne. I don't know what you are today but the God of all doing can take you to the highest place. If there is also any highly placed person that is using his position to intimidate you and work against your God-ordained destiny, it doesn't cost God anythingto remove him.
When Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, felt that he was so high that he lost respect for God; the God of all doing sent him from the throne to the bush. He became an animal and all his guards could not prevent him from entering into the forest. However, when he repented before God after seven years, God restored him back to the throne. God truly can do anything whatsoever. I pray that you will pertake of this power on the positive, you shall pertake of His glorious doing and it shall be marvellous for you.

Prayer/Action
* Father, let me witness Your wonderful doing today, in Jesus’ name.
* Father, strike down those who have purposed relentlessly to frustrate my life and destiny, in Jesus’ name.

PROPHETIC PRAYER
Father, by your mercy, don’t leave me in the hands of my enemies, lift me up for my triumph and advancement, in the mighty name of Jesus.

The Name of Help

Sunday 12 June
READ: Psa. 124: 1-8
MORE LESSON: Psa. 20: 1 -2

Everyone in life seeks for help. Even great men still need help; as long as you are breathing and have something you still want to achieve in life, you will need help. The key to get anything you seek in life is to know where it is located. This is why I want to divulge to you where help is hidden so that you can access it. Psa. 124: 8 says, Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth. The help you seek is inside the name of the Lord. As long as you have the name, you have help. This is the reason you can never be helpless in destiny as a child of God. Help is just the shout of the name of Jesus. When you shout that name, help is guaranteed; it doesn't matter what the problem is. The Scripture says, For whosever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved: Rom. 10: 13. The name of the Lord Jesus Christ is the name of help; when you shout 'Jesus', you have shouted 'help', and help will surely come to you.
The secret of accessing the help that is in the name is to do everything you do in the name of Jesus. According to the Word of God, ...whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him: Col 3:17. So when you want to sleep, sleep in the name of Jesus and there is no devil in the universe that can stop you from waking up. When you want to travel, say 'I travel to . . . in the name of Jesus.' No power on earth or hell can stop you from arriving safely at your destination. An enemy might have told you that you cannot pass your exams but when you say, 'I write this paper and pass it in the name of Jesus', failure bows to the name.
When you proceed in the name of Jesus, it will take a name higher than the name of Jesus to stop you, Wherefore, God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: Phil 2:9. There is no name higher than the name of Jesus, this is the reason your help cannot fail. Your help is limited only by the extent to which the name of Jesus can perform. But since the name of Jesus is limitless in its possibility and infinite in its power, so your help is limitless and infinite.
Today, you are blessed in the name of the Lord; your destiny receives help in the name of the Lord and may the name of the God of Jacob defend you (Psa. 20:1).

Prayer/Action
* I receive all that it takes to pass the tests of life.
* Father, grant me grace to handle all my life situations well, in Jesus' name.
* In the name of Jesus, whatever happens I will keep the faith.

PROPHETIC PRAYER
Father, today, take me above my weakness and lift me to leap over every wall of blockage, move me forward, in the name of Jesus.

Have a Great Day

Saturday 11 June
READ: Psa 90: 12
MORE LESSON: Mark 1: 35

Men commonly greet one another saying, “Have a great day”. It is therefore expedient to know what a great day is and how to have it so that you will be able to know at the end of the day if it was a great day. Psa. 90:12 says So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom. The following points should be noted in evaluating your day so that you know whether you are making maximum use of it or not.
1. A great day begins with God: In order to have a good and resourceful day, you have to start your day with God. No man should leave his house without praying and committing the day to God. Do not go out into the day without hearing a word from God that you are holding onto for the day. This is where reading the Word of God comes in. You have to cultivate the habit of waking up early to have time to pray, pray with your family and invite God into the day.
2. A great day answers to planning and purpose: You should never leave your house to start the day without a purpose defined for the day. What are the things you want to achieve in the day? Which places do you intend to go? Giving attention to all these is very important because that determines whether the day will be great or not. Time is the only commodity that is equal in everybody's possession. It is the same number of hours that is in every man's day. It is how it is organised, managed and deployed that differentiates the wise from the foolish, the rich from the poor and the successful from the unsuccessful. You must set out with a plan and purpose for the day and then pursue such.
3. Avoid distractions: It is easy to get distracted in your day and decide to just spend a few seconds on something that doesn't contribute to the plan and purpose you drew up for the day. However, you have to remember that it is the seconds that make up minutes which turn into hours, days, weeks, months, and then years. It is the accumulation of the years that is called a lifetime. When you allow seconds to be messed up in irrelevancies, you are messing up your life.
4. Appraise and evaluate the day: When you return at night, take a record and judge how you spent the day so that you will know where to do better the next day. Know that if you refuse to take records and evaluate how you spend the day, Heaven is taking records. One day you will explain all you did with the days.
Have a great day and from today start having great days.

Prayer/Action
* Pray against the forces of distraction today, in Jesus’ name.
* Declare for yourself; I begin today in the name of the Lord, I shall end in the name of the Lord, in Jesus’ name.

PROPHETIC PRAYER
God of my fathers, send your rain to every dry season of my destiny this month, in the name of Jesus.