Being Relevant

Wednesday 28 December
READ: Prov. 18:10-16
MORE LESSONS: Dan. 5: 1-17, 29

A man of God once said, Several people are looking for relevance and significance outside themselves whereas what makes a man important is what comes out from him.
Many people live and die without finding relevance, not because they are not created to be famous but because they seek relevance in the wrong places. What you are looking for outside is inside. What makes a man relevant and important is on his inside. The only way to find relevance and importance is for you to locate that valuable gift inside of you and start working at it. Stop striving or lobbying with people for relevance, concentrate on working out the gifting of God inside you and giving it out.
If you need to get more training to bring out the relevance on your inside, please do. First, locate where your relevance is and then relate with people from there. If what you need to bring out the potential on your inside is relationship, then break the wrong relationships that will not take you to where you are going and pay the price for the right type of relationship. It may take time but you have to put yourself there by service. You can get to a church or an organisation and in one month become more relevant than someone who has been there for 10 years. All it takes is putting what is inside you into use. When you first enter a place, don't start looking for what to get or take away, look for what you can add. This is because what you add determines your value and relevance.
The point is, to be relevant in any relationship or community, among other things, learn to serve. Service makes a man prominent and noticeable. When the Bible says that a man's gift makes room for him, and brings him before great men (v16), it is not only referring to what you have as a talent, it also means what you have to offer. The New Living Translation puts it this way, Given a gift can open doors; it gives access to important people! So what makes you relevant in life is not what you get but what you give, either in sacrifice or in service, or in offering to God and to man. People like Solomon in the Scripture and others in contemporary times have shot themselves into limelight by giving extra- ordinarily and the same opportunity still exists for you too today. Choose to be relevant, go for service.

Prayer/Action
* Father, help me to discover what You have deposited in me for my relevance and greatness.
* I renounce anything that can rob a man of value and relevance, in Jesus' name.

TODAY'S PROPHETIC PRAYER
No evil shall be repeated in my destiny, failure shall not come a second time, I'm destined to win, in the name of Jesus.

Jesus is King II

Tuesday 27 December
READ: Mark 5: 1 - 19
MORE LESSON: Matt. 9:18

Some years ago, my spiritual mentor was running an open air crusade in Makurdi, Nigeria. He asked me to pray and say a few words before he came up to preach. I began to read the text of today and spoke about the ferocious mad man who eventually sat down at the feet of Jesus, clothed and transformed such that nobody could recognise him anymore. Thereafter, my father came up and as he was ministering, the power of God fell. A popular mad man in the town began to walk towards the crusade ground. As he headed straight towards the altar, people began to step back and make way for him. They knew who he was and so no one dared to come near to hold him. No usher or protocol dared come near him. He went straight to the altar, stood before the preacher, and asked, “What am I doing here?'' He was ministered to and asked to sit there with the people on the altar. He replied that he couldn't sit there as he was not properly dressed. You have to understand that whenever a mad man discovers that he is wearing rag, he has become sane.
The mad man of Gadarenes met Jesus and his madness disappeared (Mark 5: 1 -19). Whenever Jesus shows up, whatever has been wrong in men becomes right. Whenever King Jesus shows up, what was ruling men on the inside and making them behave contrary is over-ruled by Jesus. So madness, sickness, death and every other thing that rule man negatively bow when Jesus rules. Mark 6:56 bears record. When they came out of the boat, immediately the people recognised Him, ran through that whole surrounding region, and began to carry about on beds those who were sick to wherever they heard He was. Wherever He entered, into villages, cities, or the country, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged Him that they might just touch the hem of His garment. And as many as touched Him were made well. The wonders that Jesus performed were evidence of His Kingship. Jesus is King; even madness, sickness, poverty, negative situations and circumstances recognise His Kingship and submit to Him.
Today, everything that has been ruling you to your detriment bows to the Kingship of Jesus permanently. Jesus is King; tell your situation the King is born. Command your pain and adversity to bow to the new born King on your inside and it will surprise you what God can do. Since Jesus was born in me I have never looked up to anything anymore. I don't serve or worship any other king, since Jesus became my King. Thankfully therefore, nothing has dared to demand worship from me, be it sin, hell, satan or affliction. I simply tell them, I shall serve no other god other than the Saviour of my life, and guess what? They all bow and leave.

Prayer/Action
*Command every throne contrary to Jesus that has been set up in your life to be destroyed by fire.
* Enthrone Jesus over your home, children, health and your life.

TODAY'S PROPHETIC PRAYER
Today, I see the face of grace and glory, to triumph over evil and to prevail where others tumble, in the name of Jesus.

Jesus is King I

Monday 26 December
READ: Matt. 2: 1 - 6
MORE LESSON: Num. 24: 17 - 19

When Jesus was born, some men in the Far East noticed something strange that had happened. They saw a star and the extent of the brightness of the star indicated that somebody had been born, who is beyond the ordinary. Star indicates rulership; a star is a ruler, God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also: Gen 1:16. Light rules and the light of the star they saw that night is the Light that shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot comprehend it (John 1: 5). The star that shone so brightly that it lighted the sky is symbolic of the fact that the King who was born will overcome darkness in every area of the world.
The wise men were wise in that they decided to follow up on the light and confirm whether what they had seen was real. They knew that the star represented a king but the extent of his jurisdiction was not known to them. They were sure that the child that was born was a king but they didn't know the king of where he would be. So they asked where the King of the Jews would be born. They knew he was king but their wisdom was limited because they didn't know that he wasn't merely the King of the Jews. Had they known that Jesus is the King of all Heaven and earth, they would have worshipped Him better.
These wise men were limited in their wisdom because of an inaccurate revelation of the person of Jesus Christ, so they brought gifts and bowed to Him in worship. Today, you know that Jesus is the King of the universe and that all things were created by Him (John 1: 3). He is the only Saviour and Lord who can save and deliver. This is the reason you should bring gifts to Him beyond what these men brought; the greatest gift you can give Him is to give your life to Him if you have not done that already. Make Jesus the Saviour, Lord and King of your life.
The shepherds have laid an example for us all to follow; athough they were ignorant of who Jesus was yet by the little they knew, they worshipped Him as King. We too must worship Him with all we have been endowed with, (physical, spiritual and all other ways). There must be nothing too big or expensive for us to lay down at the feet of Him who laid down His life for us. He should be the King of our lives and to Him alone we must ascribe glory and worship, and to none else. Serving Jesus is the proof that we recongise that a King was born.

Prayer/Action
* Praise Jesus and proclaim Him King over your life forever.
* Ask that Jesus will be revealed to all men in your family and neighbourhood, who have not accepted Him as King in their lives.

TODAY'S PROPHETIC PRAYER
My glory and greatness shall not end with 2016, I shall remain ever strong and advancing, in the name of Jesus.

Jesus: The Manger Born Messiah

Sunday 25 December
READ: Luk. 2:1-7
MORE LESSON: Luk. 2:12.

Jesus' time and place of birth are of great significance and that is why our Scripture reading of today started with it. It was a time of decree and a time of fax, everyone going to his/her city to obey the decree. The prophecies about Jesus' place of birth must be fulfilled and so Ceaser Augustus ordered everyone to move, And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, in Bethlehem of Judea: for thus it is written by the prophet: Matt. 2:4-5. In fact, it is not only about the place of His birth; everything written concerning Him was fulfilled. Jesus' birth fulfilled the Scripture because He Himself came to fulfil the whole Scripture (Jn. 19:28). May your life fulfil the Scripture positively, in Jesus’ name.
The fact that He was born in a manger was a sign and highly significant (Lk. 2:7). The Messiah for the whole world was born in a manger; what a paradox and an irony! But as usual, it happened also that the Scripture might be fulfilled. Jesus was born where He was born because of what He came to do! Jesus came as a lamb to take away the sin of the whole world; as it is usual for a lamb to be born in a manger, Jesus was born there. He was also born in a manger because ... there was no room in the inn... which means that Jesus came to a people who were not expecting Him. There was no space in a comfortable and expected place, so, He was born in a manger. We must make room for Jesus in our heart and life so that He can do all that He was sent to do in us.
Moreover, His birth in a manger was prophetic; low place, a place no pregnant woman wants to deliver her child. Can you imagine delivering your first child in a place where sheep and goats are feeding? Jesus was born there to tell the whole world that He would fulfil His ministry with humility, He came and did things the world expected. His birth in a manger is a declaration that He did not come only for the highly placed, but for the lowly too. Jesus came to die for all categories of people and so all celebrated His birth; the wise men from the east, which signifies the learned and the shepherds which signifies the unlearned and the illiterates (Matt. 2:1-2, Lk. 2:8-16).
It also means that if Jesus could be born in a manger, He can inhabit any life no matter how bad it is. Only if the heart can be opened, ready to receive Him, Behold, I stand at the door, and knock, if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come into him and will sup with him, and he with me: Rev. 3:20. All you need to do to be a saved person is to open the door of your heart, when Jesus comes in, He will take care of your entire life from the earth to Heaven. Can Jesus be born in you today? Is there room for Jesus in your life? He wants to be there now!

Prayer/Action
* Thank You Father for delivering me from the bondage of sin.
* Father, thank You for the gift of salvation and permanent place for Jesus in my life.

TODAY'S PROPHETIC PRAYER
Just as angels celebrated Jesus with shouts of hosanna, so shall my destiny be celebrated with songs of high praise to Jehovah, in the name of Jesus.