Determined to Win

Friday 12 August
READ: II Cor. 11: 23 - 33
MORE LESSON: Acts 28: 30 - 31

Paul's call included to witness the gospel of Christ before kings and rulers (Acts 9: 15). Despite much suffering and persecution, he went on to fulfil his mandate. The enemy tried all he could to stop him but he refused to be stopped. Many times he was whipped, stoned, left to die and imprisoned, however this man continued. He would be brought in bond before rulers for trial but he would use that opportunity to fulfil his call and preach to them. He testified in chains to both Jews and Gentiles and their kings.
A lot of things were determined to stop Paul from fulfilling his mandate but he also was determined to realise his call. There was a time when more than forty men bound themselves with an oath that they would not eat again till they have killed Paul. In other words, they made a vow that it was either they kill Paul or they die of self-starvation. However, God didn't hand His servant over to the plans of the enemies; Paul survived. I wonder what happened to his enemies; if they kept their oath not to eat, that meant starvation till death, and if they ate, the result of breaking a covenant is still death. So Paul survived and his enemies all died.
The highest ruler in the Roman Empire was Caesar and Paul appealed to go to Rome so that he could testify before Caesar. Through many tribulations, toils and snares, he was eventually on his way as a prisoner to Rome for the testimony of
Jesus. In Acts 27: 17 – 43, a furious storm arose in the sea and threatened the life of everyone on the ship. They all gave up and didn't eat for fourteen days as they resigned to the looming death, but Paul refused to die. He called upon God and the Angel of the Lord came and stood by him. It was because of Paul that every life on that ship, including the lives of his captors, was spared. Paul was determined to get to where he was going. Even after they survived the life threatening storm on the sea and escaped to land, the first thing that greeted Paul was a venomous snake bite (Acts 28: 3). This servant of God refused to die until he fulfilled God's mandate upon his life. He got to Rome and preached the gospel.
Vision is frustrated and life truncated without a determination to win. You need to make a decision that come what may, by the strength of God, you will continue till you arrive. Whatever threatens your vision and batters you, do not give up. Keep pressing on with a determination to arrive at your divine destination. Whatever storms, enemies, attacks or situations confront you, refuse to die till you win. You will arrive safely in Jesus’ name.

PRAYER/ACTION
* In the name of Jesus, I am a winner irrespective of challenges.
* I shall not be stopped, I shall achieve my purpose, in Jesus’ name.
* My light shall not be extinguished in destiny, in Jesus’ name

TODAY'S PROPHETIC PRAYER
2016, I shall not be barren of good things, in the name of Jesus.

Keep from Idols

Thursday 11 August
READ: Exo. 20:3 - 5
MORE LESSON: II Chro. 33:15

In the text, God says, Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image...: Exo. 20:3-4. A god is anything that you have exalted above God in your life. It may not be a physical image but something deep in your heart that has become number one apart from God. A god is anything that has taken the place of the One True God in your heart. Whatever you adore, worship or esteem so much that nobody can come near it or even touch it is becoming an idol. Whatever you rate so high that nothing, including the things of God, compares to it in your scale of priority has become a god.
Idolatry is love for things at the expense of love of God. This includes physical things that the eyes can see or intangible things that the eyes cannot see. Whether tangible or intangible, anything that has sat upon the throne that God is supposed to sit in your heart is an idol. It could be money, children, life-partner, success, fame or recognition. People would easily condemn a man who carves graven images and makes oblations and bows to them as an idolater. However, there are people that do not bow to graven images but are also idolaters; any man that has anything that is dearer to him than God is, is in idolatry. If you have money, house or anything that you can't allow even God to touch, then that very thing is your idol. How dare a man put anything above God? The Bible says that God is a jealous God (Ex 20:5). He will not accept you placing anything above Him. 1 John 5:21 says, Little children, keep yourselves from idols.... This scripture comes out as a command and not a suggestion or advice. The commandments of God are not to be negotiated; they are rules that must be obeyed and whose disobedience will incur severe consequences. If a man continues to hold anything dearer than God, he will pay for it in the day of reckoning. God can even take away that thing that is esteemed more than Him. This is the reason many live a life of loss rather than addition.
Today I want you to search your heart and set aside anything that wants to take the place of God. Also, it might not be a thing, it might be a person. Is there any man/woman that you have now loved more than God and is taking the place of God in your heart? You had better dethrone such a person so that only God can be God in your heart. As you reverence and worship God alone and you surrender all idols at His feet, you will see the greatness of the blessing that He will bring into your life. Amen.

PRAYER/ACTION
* Father, give me honour and praise in every place where I have seen shame, in Jesus’ name.
* Lord, let me have exceptional help as I go out today.

TODAY'S PROPHETIC PRAYER
The sun of righteousness shall rise for me today with goodness and progress on its wings.

Honour God with your Possessions

Wednesday 10 August
READ: Prov. 3: 9
MORE LESSON: Psa. 50: 7 - 15

The Bible says The earth is the LORD's, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein: Psa. 24: 1. If everything already belongs to God, then the issue of giving to God actually needs to be seen in the proper perspective. When a man gives to God, he is actually handing over what belongs to God back to Him. It is not wise to withhold what belongs to God from Him and it is criminal to use what belongs to God to fight Him. When a man refuses to give tithes and offerings to God, God counts it as robbery (Mal 3: 8). This is because what you are withholding from God actually belongs to Him. Prov. 3: 9 says, Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase. When you give God what belongs to Him, you are not helping Him; you are honouring Him – acknowledging that it actually belongs to Him. Remember what the Lord says that . . . them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed: I Sam 2:30. The reason many struggle is because they have refused to honour Him who owns all things.
A man cannot have anything unless God gives it to Him (John 3: 27). Anything means anything – nothing that you have is not God's property that He gave you. There is a name for a care-taker who holds back the house rent he collected from the landlord. Every man on the face of the earth only holds whatever he has in trust for the Almighty God – the Land-Lord. The things of God must be used to honour Him.
God is the owner of all that we have and so we should be careful how we use His property. We should learn not to use anything God has given us as a possession to do anything contrary to the Word of God. Honouring God with our possessions is not just about giving, it includes using the things that God has given you to bring glory to Him. If you use God's car that He graciously gave to you to carry a lady who is not your wife to go and commit sin with her, you have used God's property to contravene His law. It is a very serious offence. If you see God's child in dire need and you have something that God has given you that can help this child of His and you refuse, you are using God's property against Him. Everything on earth is God's property and He doesn't want you to use His property in a wrong way. Wrong usage includes using the things God has given you to commit sin or to offend Him. Everything you have belongs to Him and you must use God's property in your custody in a way that honours Him.

PRAYER/ACTION
* I am sorry Lord for robbing You in anyway.
* By the power of the Holy Spirit, I shall honour God with my life and possessions, in Jesus’ name.

TODAY'S PROPHETIC PRAYER
Whatever makes this month a minus, I minus it today from my destiny, in the mighty name of Jesus.

Look Inside II

Tuesday 9 August
READ: II Kings 4: 1 – 8
MORE LESSON: Prov. 3: 13 - 14

People live in poverty and perpetual debt because they are always looking outside to somebody to give them what they need in life. A beggar will always lack; a man who believes that someone out there is responsible for his well being in life will always live in poverty because he will never look inside to discover the wealth that is in him. Any time you have a need of money and you start to think of people you could go to and receive money, you have missed the key to riches. Your default setting should rather be to look inward and search for what you can do that will bring you money.
We started yesterday to examine the story of the widow in 2 Kings 4: 1 – 8, she needed money and the prophet pointed her attention to the fact that there must be something inside her house that was the key to her prosperity. She, like many others, first claimed that she had nothing that could bring wealth but then she remembered that she had little oil. The oil is the symbol of ability, anointing, skill and grace. I want you to know that there is a miracle in your house. There is a little something inside you that can bring about the abundance that you desperately cry for and are looking up to people to give you. When she eventually agreed that she had something little that she could use, the prophet of God told her to go and get vessels from her neighbours because the little vessels in her house could not contain the wealth miracle that was about to happen. This implies that her present capacity was not enough for the level of wealth she wanted. She needed to go to her neighbours for capacity development. She needed to go and get more information, counsel and strategies from people that already had oil vessels. Don't beg people for money, beg them for vessels. Getting more vessels means capacity development. You need to develop that little thing in you by consulting experts and going for more training where necessary.
After getting more vessels, she stayed with her sons in the house and filled the vessels with oil. She developed her skill and capacity, polished and packaged it. Then the prophet told her, ...Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest: 2 Kings 4:7. You will notice the prophet told her to go and sell the oil and not to give it out. God is not against you making profit from the ability in you. In fact He gave you so that you and your children can live on it.

PRAYER/ACTION
* Ask God to bless your gifts/talents and cause them to enrich you, in Jesus’ name.
* Ask God to grant you divine enablement to utilise your abilities, gifts, profession etc to launch you to limelight, in Jesus’ name.

TODAY'S PROPHETIC PRAYER
I receive God's grace to function in this new month, in the mighty name of Jesus.