Running for the Prize

Friday 2 December
READ: I Cor. 9: 24-27
MORE LESSON: Phil. 3: 13-14

If you are pursuing nothing in life, you will surely get nothing. In fact, if you woke up this morning and there is nothing you want to achieve, it is better you go back to sleep. There are broadly three categories of people in life; goalless people, goal setters and goal achievers. Age, gender or physical look notwithstanding, each man is classed in life by which of these categories he chooses to belong to. The Bible says, Where there is no vision, the people perish...: Prov 29:18. A goalless man is like someone without a purpose and goal in destiny. Such a man lives carelessly and might self-destruct. You must have a goal you are working towards in life.
It is not enough to have a goal, you must follow the discipline to achieve it. Paul the Apostle wrote to the Church in Corinth, Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain: 1 Cor 9:24. He was encouraging them not to be mere goal setters but goal achievers. He said, I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway: verse 27. His goal was to preach to others and also make Heaven; and he disciplined himself to achieve it. Without disciplined pursuit, goals set will never be actualised.
This is why you have to avoid things that seek to distract you from the pursuit of your vision. Wherever you find yourself, in the church and in your secular place of enterprise, there is a vision and goal being pursued; you must do your part to contribute to the achievement of this corporate goal. Do not be distracted and do not be a distraction to any--work for your team to win. As you work for the actualisation of the goal of your church or workplace, it is necessary that you have a personal goal that you are working towards as well. People with personal visions have more to offer to corporate visions because they are self-motivated and don't need to be cajoled before they do things. You don't have to be the head of an organisation before you pursue the vision and contribute to the achievement of the goal. A wise man once said, If you are a street cleaner, be the best so that every man who passes that street will say that here lives a street cleaner that makes a difference. Your goal should be to do what you do so excellently that it will count no matter how little it is.

Prayer/Action
* Today, I choose to see the best in all I do, in Jesus’ name.
* As I run the race of life, I come against distraction, in Jesus’ name.
* I put myself under subjection for the sake of the prize.

TODAY'S PROPHETIC PRAYER
Father, having brought me gracefully into December, every day of it shall be for joy and celebration, in the name of Jesus.

Resist the Devil

Thursday 1 December
READ: Jam. 4: 7
MORE LESSON: Isa. 14: 12 -15

The devil's history is full of defeat upon defeat. In Isa. 14: 12 – 15, we see how he was defeated. When he tried to raise himself against God he was cast down to hell. He was defeated by Michael and his angels (Rev. 12:7-8). Jesus gave him an eternal defeat at the cross. At resurrection, Jesus took the keys from his hands and crushed him underfoot (Rom 16: 20). The devil has suffered much defeat but he needs to suffer more defeat in your hands as well so that his defeat can be full. When you give your life to Jesus, you defeat the devil. Each time he makes any attempt and you rebuke in the name of Jesus, you add to his woes and defeat. This is the reason the Bible encourages us to resist the devil and that he will flee from us (Jam. 4: 7).
The Lord defeated satan and He gets happy seeing you heap more defeat on his head. The people of the world say that when you eat with the devil, you should eat with a long fork. But then people with understanding say that you should not eat with the devil at all. Eat your own and let him eat his own separately. However, I add that you should not even allow him to eat at all. Eat your own and if he wants to eat, look for him and scatter his meal. Do not allow the devil a breathing space (Eph 4: 27).
Jesus went about looking for those that were oppressed by the devil and freeing them (Acts 10: 38). He went around destroying the works of the devil ( 1 John 3: 8). So also you should go around causing pain to the devil. You do this by getting souls saved, people healed, devils cast out, men delivered and the gospel advanced. The Bible says that you should submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. Don't regard satan as a threat, treat him as the defeated person. When your life is in submission to Jesus Christ, when you confront satan, it wouldn't be you fighting him but Jesus in you. The same Lord Jesus who crushed the head of the devil lives in you. So when you resist the devil in the name of Jesus, he remembers his defeat on the cross of Calvary by the blood of Jesus. He sees that same Jesus in you, and he therefore takes to his heels.
The devil cannot rule over you, except you submit yourself to him. However, when you submit to Jesus, you become the master over the devil because Jesus the Master Himself lives in you. As you walk confidently in the light of your position in Jesus Christ, I proclaim you more than victorious over every satanic wile, in Jesus’ mighty name.

Prayer/Action
* I declare I am more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus.
* Oh God, destroy every work of satan in my life, in the name of Jesus.
* Release fire against satan and his cohorts over your life and destiny.

TODAY'S PROPHETIC PRAYER
Jesus, thank You for the love that kept and sustained me from January to December, I praise You to the high heavens, in Jesus' name.

Emotional Attachment

Wednesday 30 November
READ: Lk. 17:32
MORE LESSON: Gen. 19: 24-26

You must be careful what or who you get attached to. Guard your feelings, emotions and desires. Any emotional attachment that is contrary to the will of God is dangerous and should be avoided. People have destroyed their destinies due to emotional attachment to wrong things or people. The whole issue of sexual immorality and all the accompanying evil is linked to wrong emotional attachment. A person commits immorality with another for a few minutes and carries sexually transmitted disease for the rest of his life. Five minutes of pleasure have destroyed many people's destinies. When the devil wants to ruin people, he advocates preventive measures like condom, pills, contraceptives and other methods to make people believe that they can have sex outside of marriage and still prevent the consequences. The only way out that is recognised by God is to flee fornication (1 Cor 6: 18). Anything or anyone that you are attached to and will destroy you, you have to destroy that attachment and avoid that which can destroy you.
When God wanted to destroy Sodom and Gomorah, He told Lot and his family to run quickly out of the perverse land. There was no time to pack load or carry property, they were to move out as quickly as possible and run for dear life. Lot's wife was not a Sodomite but she was attached to the things of Sodom. She probably had things and people that she still loved in Sodom and so she looked back contrary to the command of God. She became a pillar of salt and couldn't escape the destruction that came upon Sodom. The Bible warns all, Remember Lot's wife: Lk. 17:32. Sodom was destroyed for disobeying God, living in terrible adultery, whoredom and perversity. Lot's wife was not doing all these things but the destruction that came upon the people of Sodom also happened to her because she had affinity for some things in Sodom. If you are friends with a thief, you might get locked up when he is locked up. If you always hang out with fornicators even though you are a child of God, you will become ensnared in their web. Remember Lot's wife.
If a righteous man is attached to an evil doer and commits sin for one day, it is sufficient for him to face the same punishment that the other who has been committing sin habitually will face. Therefore God warns, The soul that sinneth it shall die...: Ezekiel 18:20. 1 Cor 15: 33 also says, Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners: 1 Cor 15:33. Destroy all wrong attachments before they destroy you. I commit you to the grace of God, in Jesus’ name.

Prayer/Action
* Ask God for His grace to remain pure and undefiled even in this generation, in Jesus’ name.
* Ask God to deliver you from every sin that easily besets you.
* Break yourself loose physically and spiritually from every evil or sin-partners, in Jesus’ name.

TODAY'S PROPHETIC PRAYER
Father, thank You for being Lord over the month of November, I celebrate Your goodness, in the name of Jesus.

Death and Life

Tuesday 29 November
READ: Phil. 1: 21-23
MORE LESSON: Ezek. 33: 12-19

Death is a certain reality that men must face. Searching through scriptures, we see that death will definitely come to all men if Jesus tarries. The right prayer is not to die an untimely death and if Jesus appears before death comes, that you will be caught up in rapture with Him. There are two definitions and perspectives that we can look at death from. The first is that death is the door that opens a man into eternity. This shows that death is not the end after all but the beginning of eternity. This is what some people do not understand that makes them get tired of life and commit suicide. They think that by so doing, they will end all their misery, distress and unbearable pains in life. Such people die only to realise that they have opened the door to another life with a beginning but no end where their misery, pains and distress is amplified without a hope of escape. It is a sin for any man to take any life, including his own. No man can create life and no man should take life. No matter the pain and agony in this life, a man must rest in God and draw succour from Him to overcome the challenges of life. No man should take his own life. Allowing Jesus into your heart will bring all the comfort and succour that you need to face and overcome the challenges of life.
Another definition of death that should be noted is that death is separation. A good understanding of death is to see it as a true separation. When a man dies physically, he is separated from his body. The spirit and soul of the man move into the realm of eternity and his body returns to dust. Physical death is also separation from friends, loved ones and other people on earth. Since we will be separated from all these things on earth, we must be wise in our approach to them.
Spiritual death is separation from God. When a man is spiritually dead, he is separated from God. A man does not have to die physically before he is separated from God spiritually. As long as a man is not connected to the Spirit of God through Jesus Christ, he is spiritually dead. This means that a man can be physically alive but spiritually dead. Such is the fate of every man that is alive physically but has not accepted Jesus as Lord and Saviour.
Jesus is Life. Life is the only victory over death; when you accept Jesus Christ into your life; you have accepted the Life that death cannot overcome. The Spirit of Life in Jesus Christ is in you and death will not have power over you in Jesus name. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die: Ezek. 18:20-21.

Prayer/Action
* Renew your commitment and love for God and His kingdom.
* Ask the Lord to make you an effective tool in His hands.
* Tell the Lord that you will not see death until your mission here on earth is fulfilled.

TODAY'S PROPHETIC PRAYER
The heaven and earth shall declare Your glory upon my life and my enemies shall live to see it and be dumbfounded, in the name of Jesus.