Stirring the Heart of God

Wednesday 21 December
READ: Gen. 22: 1-10
MORE LESSON: Gen. 22: 11 - 18

God will do great and mighty things for a man who will stir Him up. There are things you do that stir God to action on your behalf. When you touch the heart of God, you will see His hand move on your behalf. 2 Chron 16:9 says, for the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him . . . . God is willing to show Himself strong on your behalf, but there are things you need to do to stir Him up.
The following are things you can do to stir God to action on your behalf:
1. Praise Him: praise moves God. When you want to stir God to action concerning your matter, you need to give Him heartfelt praise. When your situation is adverse and you still give God quality praise, you will see His hand move for you. Always be grateful and thankful for whatever the Lord has done in time past before you make the next request. Don't complain about what you have not got, praise Him for what He has done for you in the past and then praise Him in advance for the things you don't have yet.
2. Pay your vows to Him: if you make a pledge out of faith to God, and you pay your vows and pledge even though it is not convenient, you have stirred the heart of God and committed Him to action. Psa. 50:14 says, Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High. And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify Me.
3. Make sacrifices: when you live a sacrificial life towards God and His Kingdom, you will move Him to action for you. When God saw that Abraham was willing to sacrifice his only son for Him, He was stirred to bless him with an irrevocable blessing (Gen 22: 15 – 18). When Solomon sacrificed one thousand sheep to God, God showed up that very night to impart uncommon glory on him. You can stir the heart of God by your sacrifices.
4. Live in righteousness: Enoch walked with God and he was no more for God took him because he pleased God. You can touch the heart of God by righteous living; righteousness stirs God up and sin turns Him off. In our world today, you may have to pay a price and do without some things in order to maintain your righteousness with God but when you decide to stand firm for righteousness despite the cost and price, you will stir God up to bless you.

Prayer/Action
* Sing songs of praise to God.
* Ask the Lord to remember your vows, sacrifices and to remember you for good.

TODAY'S PROPHETIC PRAYER
This month, I shall not sleep the sleep of death, I shall not walk into my enemy's trap, I shall live to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living, in the name of Jesus.

Potholes of Stagnancy

Tuesday 20 December
READ: Job 8: 7
MORE LESSON: Exo. 14: 15

It is important to know what causes stagnation in life so that you can know how to step out of it. When you know the potholes of life that cause stagnancy, you will know how to come out it if you find yourself in that situation. Stagnation means to stay at one level for a long time without moving forward. A man can be stagnant in his spiritual experience. A person who got born-again, was praying for ten minutes a day and after many years he is at that level of 10 minutes prayer, is stagnant. A man who starts a small shop and after so many years the business is still at that level is stagnant. A child of God is permitted to start small but he is not allowed to stay small. This is why Job 8: 7 says, Though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end should greatly increase.
The first pothole that people fall into and stagnates is ignorance. The greatest mountain in a man's life is the mountain of ignorance. The Bible says, My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge...: Hosea 4: 6. Even people that are unsaved are so on the basis of ignorance as the Bible says that the god of this world blinded the eyes of the people who refuse to be saved ( 2 Cor. 4: 4). The devil caused them to be ignorant of the gospel even when they hear it. Ignorance is deadly. This is why you must go for knowledge in your life, work, field and calling. If you are a tradesman or craftsman, there are new innovations and styles. If you are practising your trade or field the way it was done ten years ago, it will lead to poverty. You must go for training, exposure, courses, learn new things and develop new competencies if you want to move forward.
Another pothole that people fall into is the pothole of fear. Some people are so afraid of taking steps that they stay in one place for ever. Some are afraid of attempting anything new because of the fear of failure. If you want everything to be safe and certain before you move, you will never move. It is better to try and fail than to stay in one place without trying. Moreover, as a child of God, you will not fail. As you commit your ways to God, get wise counsel from the right people and rise again even in the face of a temporary setback, you will realise that victory is sure for you.
The last pothole that will be considered today is the pothole of idleness. There is no future for a lazy person. Moving forward only answers to working at it. True progress has to be worked for, not begged for. Today, in the name of Jesus, I decree your deliverance from these potholes and announce the beginning of your continual progress, in Jesus’ name.

Prayer/Action
* Ask God to move you forward by all means, in Jesus’ name.
* Today, receive deliverance from every force of stagnation, in Jesus’ name.
* Break the force of idleness, in Jesus’ name.

TODAY'S PROPHETIC PRAYER
I am a covenant member of the common wealth of Israel, my portion will reach me this year, it shall not go to another, in the name of Jesus.

Path Way to Wealth

Monday 19 December
READ: Gen. 25: 5 -6
MORE LESSON: Psa. 37: 25

The Bible says that Abraham gave all he had to his son Isaac (Gen 25: 5). Everything a father has belongs to the son by right. The sons of the concubines only got gifts but Isaac got the inheritance. This shows that a son has the certificate of ownership by birth, as Isaac had the right of ownership of all that Abraham possessed, by birth.
If God is your father, then you are not a poor man. You have the right of ownership by inheritance. I have discovered that poverty is a choice and wealth is also a choice. Many people argue when we make this statement. The reason is that such a statement places the responsibility of their poverty or wealth squarely on their shoulder. The truth is that you can choose to be rich and you can choose to be poor. The day a man makes the choice to be rich, he sets out deliberately to discover principles of wealth and work with them. Your heavenly Father is rich and you have an inheritance of wealth but you must make a deliberate effort to possess your inheritance.
Money doesn't have favourites. Money is not a citizen of any nation. There are beggars in America just as there are beggars in Nigeria. It is disheartening to see believers, Abraham's children, go around begging. When you make God your father, silver and gold become yours. As long as you are a child of God, then what belongs to Him also belongs to you. The first step to becoming wealthy is to become a child of the Possessor of Heaven and earth.
Psa. 37: 25 says, I have been young and now am old, I have never seen the righteous forsaken nor his children begging bread. Righteousness means compliance with the principles of God. The reason many beg bread is because they constantly violate the principles that God has put in place for wealth. After being born again, the next step in becoming wealthy is righteousness – being in right alignment with God's principles. You must deliberately search out the principles and commit yourself to fulfilling them even when it is difficult. This is where the choice comes in; you have the choice to search for the principles or remain ignorant and you also have the choice to obey or disobey. One of such principles is kindness to others.
I heard the true life story of a woman who has been kind to people and her son travelled to go and borrow money in a far place. As the son passed by a church, the Lord spoke expressly to someone in the church that there was a young man passing in front of the church who was going somewhere to beg for money. The Lord asked the man in church to go and give him some money and thus stopped the young man from continuing on his journey to borrow. His mother's righteousness spoke for him.

Prayer/Action
* Ask God to lead you by His Spirit to secret riches in dark places, in Jesus’ name.
* Ask God to visit all your seeds to humanity and His kingdom and bring you abundant reward, in Jesus’ name.

TODAY'S PROPHETIC PRAYER
I command every satanic seal and embargo over my destiny to be broken by the force of Heaven today, in the name of Jesus.

Steps to Divine Restoration

Sunday 18 December
READ: Isa. 61: 7
MORE LESSON: Psa. 126: 1 - 6

Divine restoration is possible. In fact from the text of today, we can see that divine restoration is God's will for you. God desires that in all the places where you have been disgraced you become celebrated and that for all that you have lost, there is a double restoration to you. However, you have to know how to activate divine restoration in your life. The following steps are to be
followed in receiving restoration.
1. Identify what you have lost: If you don't realise that you have lost something, there will be no need to look for it. You can only find what you seek (Matt. 7:7).
2. Believe that God is able to restore whatever you have lost; you must appreciate the fact that if God has done it before, He can do it again. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. If He did it for people of old and has not denied men in contemporary times, your case cannot be an exception for God is good to all that call upon Him.
3. Fight back: the only language the enemy understands is that of violence and resistance. Jam. 4: 7 says, resist the devil and he will flee from you. Jesus himself puts it this way, that the violent takes it by force. The enemy is only as powerful to the extent that he is allowed room for operation, the day you rise up and talk back to him on the strength of your position in Christ, he will give way and let go of whatever he has stolen. Don't keep quiet over what you have lost, fight back!
4. Never give up; keep hope alive. Sometimes discouragement may arise in your heart when you look at how much damage has been done. It might even be as a result of your own errors and as such you think you don't have the morality to fight back. But I have good news for you that this battle is not in your name; this battle is the Lord's and you know what, this is a valid stance that even the enemy cannot contend with. Know this, that you are more than a conqueror through Christ. Keep hope alive!
5. Do something: Having done all, stand. You can't afford not to act in line with your conviction; for faith without works is dead. Whatever you were not able to do because of what was lost, start doing it now.

Prayer/Action
* Ask the Lord to restore to you all that you have lost, in Jesus’ name.
* Receive grace to stand firm until your change comes, in Jesus’ name.

TODAY'S PROPHETIC PRAYER
God of second chance, cause all my delays to become a testimony before this year runs out, in the mighty name of Jesus.