Obedience and Service

Monday 15 August
READ: Job 36: 11
MORE LESSON: Luke 12: 43- 48

Obedience and service are a twin-set of virtues that will take a man to the high places of life. Prosperity in the Kingdom is linked to obedience and service. Isa. 1: 19 says, If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land. This scripture points to us the power of obedience to the ways of God in making a man prosperous. As Job also declared, If they obey and serve him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures: Job 36:11.
Psa. 23 shows the prosperity that follows a man when God is his shepherd. Being a sheep connotes obedience; sheep follow the shepherd's leading. When you obey the words of the Great Shepherd, you will move forward into prosperity. Success and progress is sure when you walk in covenant with God. A covenant is an agreement between two or more parties where each party has terms and conditions to obey. As a covenant child of God, you have to obey the terms that are revealed in His Word, only then is your success guaranteed.
Disobedience is terrible; it causes stagnation in life. In Jer. 7: 23 – 24, the Lord warned, I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways I command you, that it may go well with you. But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backward and not forward (NIV). Retrogression, stagnancy and hardship characterise a life of disobedience to God.
Psa. 89:20-21 shows the blessing of serving God, I have found David my servant; with my sacred oil I have anointed him. My hand will sustain him; surely my arm will strengthen him (NIV). David was a servant and that was why God committed Himself to exalting him. When you serve God with all your might, you are on the pathway to the high places of life.
Service must be accompanied by obedience. There are some people that want to serve God but on their own terms and to suit their own methods. It is not enough to be a servant of God or a worker in His vineyard, you must be a servant that obeys. Luke 12: 47 says that a servant who knows his master's will, and does not do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. This refers to a man who was serving quite all right but he was not doing so according to the master's will. So he still was beaten with many stripes. Today as you purpose to serve God with all your ability and obey His instructions with all your heart, you will increase in every area of life, in Jesus’ name.

PRAYER/ACTION
* Father, as I obey and serve You, I shall spend my days in prosperity and my years in pleasure, in Jesus’ name.
* Father, you found David, find me and anoint me with Your Holy oil for Your work and cause Your hand to sustain me, in Jesus’ name.

TODAY'S PROPHETIC PRAYER
This new week, I shall not be a victim in any battle, I shall win and walk tall, in the name of Jesus.

He that Scattereth

Sunday 14 August
READ: Prov. 11: 24 – 26
MORE LESSON: Lk. 6:38

The laws of God are not the same with the laws of men. Isa. 55: 9 says, ...the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts (NKJV). The way of God might be contrary to the ways of men but we must know that His way is superior.
In the world of economics and accounting, the way to have more money is to gather, accumulate and hoard what you have. However, in God's world, the way to have more is to let go of what you have. According to Prov 11: 24, There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty. When you refuse to scatter what you have so that others can benefit from it, you have just signed to be poor. Economics tells you to conserve but that philosophy is the key to poverty. There are people who spent all their life gathering and they eventually die without benefiting from what they have gathered. When God gives to you, take what you need out of it and share the remaining with others. There is no need to keep amassing more than you need, be a giver and distributor who is a blessing to people.
Even in business, the secret of prosperity is in scattering and not hoarding. Prov 11: 26 says that the people will curse him who withholds grain, but blessing will be on the head of him who sells it. You must determine to be a blessing to people with your service and product and not merely focus on gathering cut-throat profit at the detriment of people. When your service and product generously help the people to solve their problems, you will be blessed as you offer them. The secret of increase is in giving and scattering and not keeping and hoarding. When all you do is gather money at the detriment of people and good service, you will eventually lose the people and become poor. Abundant life is in giving.
You must focus on distributing, giving and being a blessing. When you are a blessing you will be blessed. According to Prov 11:25, The generous soul will be made rich, and he who waters will also be watered himself (NKJV). The water-pipe that delivers water from the supply board to the homes will also have its inside wet because it is distributing water. So as long as water must be distributed, the pipe will be wet. When you become the distributor, you will always have.

PRAYER/ACTION
* Ask God for grace to please Him always.
* Lord, I choose to be Your favourite. Please help me.
* Pray that you will find favour with God and men.

TODAY'S PROPHETIC PRAYER
No evil eye, hand, thought, imagination, or mouth is permitted any more over my destiny, I shall walk in victory, in the name of Jesus.

Labour not to be Rich

Saturday 13 August
READ: Prov. 23: 4
MORE LESSON: Psa. 127: 1 - 2

Psalm 24: 1 says, The earth is the LORD's, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. This shows that everything men possess on earth actually belongs to God as He is the bona fide Land-Lord of the universe. When you understand the implication of this scripture, you will stop running helter-skelter in life. This means that no matter the gimmicks a man engages in, he cannot have anything except God lets him have it. John 3: 27 says, ...A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven. The best wisdom in succeeding and prospering in life is to rest in God and seek to know how to follow His ways. Otherwise, a man can struggle, sweat, steal, burgle and do everything to acquire things and still at the end has nothing to show for it. Prov. 23:4 advises, Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom. The point is to remove the mindset that hussles around to acquire things without resting in the grace of God from you. It is better to connect in faith to the principles of the Owner of the whole world than to toil from beginning to end of life without having time for the Almighty God because you want to have things – the very things which belong to Him.
If the Bible says 'labour not to be rich' and the same Bible wants you to be rich, then there must be a provision it has for your riches other than your labour. God's provision for your riches is connection to the Owner. When you personally become His heir and learn the principles of tapping ceaselessly from His resources, then you have the legal right to be blessed no matter where you live on the face of the earth. Therefore, if you are desirous of riches and you want to possess the things that your money cannot give you, the way is not to labour ceaselessly to obtain things but rather to labour to be connected to the Owner of all things. It is deception to think that the way to go in life is to go after money all your life and use it to purchase and own all that you want. People have tried that and they are now old and still they never got it. You do not need to labour to be rich; just labour to be connected to God who owns the earth, and all that is in it flows to you. The labour of connection is not burdensome. All it involves is to invite Jesus into your life and after giving your life to Him, discover His principles and start living by them. The best way to own all things is to become a child of the Owner of all things and live by His principles of connection and flow.

PRAYER/ACTION
* Ask God for the grace not to acquire wealth to the detriment of your spiritual well-being, in Jesus’ name.
* Receive grace to be directed by the Spirit of the Lord to where your land is flowing with milk and honey.

TODAY'S PROPHETIC PRAYER
I prophesy against the arrows, missiles and spells from any evil altar against me, in the name of Jesus.

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.