Personal Decision to Praise

Saturday 18 February
READ: Psa. 89: 1 - 2
MORE LESSON: Psa. 101: 1

In the text, we see David, the beloved of God, speak to himself. He said, I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations. For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens. The first thing to note about this scripture is that it shows personal decision. Before the actual praising and singing, the first thing that David did was to say, ‘I will . . .’ He further said, 'with my mouth will I . . .' and 'for I have said . . . .' These statements show a strong personal decision. It can be inferred from this scripture, therefore, that praising God is a personal choice after all.
Thanking Jesus is foremost an individual decision before a corporate decision. If you have not made a personal decision for thanksgiving even if the church organises a praise service, you will be present but you will not give God praise from your heart. A person who has not made the personal decision to praise God could be in the house or in church where everyone is standing and praising and he stands with them in appearance but actually he is seated in his heart. He might even be singing with them but his heart is not praising God. Acceptable praise is when the praise you give actually flows directly from your heart. This starts with the choice to praise. Dancing is good and singing is important but the foremost thing is the decision to praise God
.
David made the choice and you also have to make this choice. He didn't only make the choice to praise God, he also chose to make known the faithfulness of God to all generations. You also have to make the decision to make God's faithfulness known to all your generation. Parents should learn to gather their children and tell them what God has done for them in times past. When these children grow up they should tell their children what God did for them and also relay to their own children what their parents told them that God did for them. By so doing we can have generational testimonies of God's faithfulness. At family altar, time for sharing testimonies should be allowed so that we can be aware of family testimonies to pass down our generations.
A life of thanksgiving and testimonies starts with a personal decision to praise God and tell of His faithfulness to all your generations. Personal decision is about you as nobody can use another person's mouth to sing or testify. So, make that decision for yourself today and then go ahead and give Him praise.

Prayer/Action
* Lord, no situation will take away my personal decision to always praise You for all things, in the name of Jesus.
* Father, thank You for creating me for Your praise, I shall not live less than that purpose, in Jesus’ name.

TODAY'S PROPHETIC PRAYER
I activate the covenant of peace and wellbeing to begin to function in my destiny unhindered from today, in the mighty name of Jesus.

Keeping the Word in Heart

Friday 17 February
READ: Rom. 10: 8 - 13
MORE LESSON: Prov. 4: 20 - 23

Psa. 119:11 says, Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. Keeping God's Word in one's heart is very vital to a successful Christian living. The heart is the core when it comes to profiting by the Word of God. It is good to know memory verses and it is also good to quote the Scripture fluently. Making confessions of the Word is important to your success in destiny. However, before all these, it is the Word in your heart that determines how well all these will profit you. Until the Word mixes with faith in your heart, it will not be of any good, For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it: Heb 4:2 (NKJV). If you are born again today, it is because the Word that was preached the day you gave your life to Christ mixed with faith in your heart. You must retain all the Word of God that comes into your heart and let it mix with faith.
How does a man keep the Word of God in his heart? It starts by hearing and hearing the Word until faith comes. Faith comes by hearing the Word of the Lord (Rom 10: 17). You must keep hearing the Word until it becomes a strong conviction in your heart. Get the Word during your quiet time, hearing it at the family altar is essential, come to prayer meeting and hear it, come to Bible study and hear it again. Hear it in church on Sunday, hear it during special programmes, buy the CD and listen to it again and again. Just keep hearing the Word and before you know it, the Word becomes part of you and a reality in your life.
Take in the Word of God anyhow. When it comes to the Word, there is no danger of overdose. So look at it, read it, memorise it, meditate upon it and do it. As you commit yourself to the Word, it becomes ingrained in your heart and it begins to show in your health, finances, spiritual growth, success in your career, peace in your home, happiness in your marriage. There are lots of rewards that are yours from the Word but first you have to keep the Word in your heart and from there it will find expression in your life.

Prayer/Action
* Father, let Your Word be life to me and bring healing for my body, in Jesus’ name.
* Father, I receive grace to keep Your Word in my heart and to meditate on it day and night, in Jesus’ name.

TODAY'S PROPHETIC PRAYER
I shall be fruitful in every way and barrenness shall not be mentioned anymore in my destiny, in the name of Jesus.

The Good Soil

Thursday 16 February
READ: Luke 8: 5 - 15
MORE LESSON: Prov. 3: 1- 8

Almost everything in life is a seed. Your time is a seed; when you sow it by investing it in right things and people, you reap a harvest. Your words are seeds, when you sow the right words, you will reap the right harvest. Your money is a seed, when you sow it into God's kingdom and into building lives, you have a reward. Jesus came as a seed; so when He was sown by dying on the cross, He brought many sons as fruit to God. You are a seed, you must bring forth fruit unto the Sower. God's Word that comes to you is also a seed.
It is a matter of fact that good seed is at the mercy of good soil. If the soil is bad; it makes the seed to be non-potent. This is the reason farmers cultivate and fertilise the soil they plant on in order to have a good harvest. In addition to a good seed, you also need to have a good soil. The text shows us that the good soil is an honest and good heart. It is the heart that determines your success in the Christian life. Prov. 4: 23 says, Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. A preacher can preach but if your heart is not good and well cultivated, everything can amount to a waste. You can give your time or money to do God's work, but if the motive of your heart is wrong, it will not bring eternal fruit. On the other hand, when the soil is good, even if the wind mistakenly blows a seed its way, it will germinate and bear fruit. This is how some people with a pure heart and good motive benefit from a Word from God that is intended for someone else; they just receive it and it profits them.
Prov. 4:4 says, He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live. A good heart is one that retains the Word of the Lord. Such heart will always produce a harvest whenever the seed comes upon it. Retaining God's commandment in our hearts and keeping His Word fixed on the tablets of our heart is what helps us to live a successful Christian life.
Today, you should search your heart and commit it afresh to God. Let Him cleanse your motives and fill your heart with His Word. As you do so, you will bear your fruit in its season. Your leaves will not wither, your flower will not fall off and every seed of your life will bring forth and become a mighty forest for God's kingdom, in the name of Jesus.

Prayer/Action
* Father, make me pure in heart and let my heart be receptive to Your Word, in Jesus’ name.
* In the name of Jesus, the Word of God will always mix with faith in my heart.

TODAY'S PROPHETIC PRAYER
Father, I prophesy, no curse shall have power to perform any more in my destiny, in the name of Jesus.

Raising Generations III

Wednesday 15 February
READ: Est. 2: 5 – 7
MORE LESSON: Est. 10: 2 - 3

Mordecai was a Jew in exile in the Medo-Persian Kingdom. He had humble means as he was a gateman at the palace in Shushan. Mordecai took Esther, an orphan, under his care and began to take care of her among his own children. Esther was Mordecai’s niece. There would have been no hope or future for Esther if not for Mordecai who became a father to her and made her a part of his nuclear family.
A time came when King Ahasuerus wanted a queen, he ordered all the young girls in the kingdom to be paraded before him, perhaps he would find one that suited him to be his queen. Mordecai told Esther to go for the pageant and helped her to prepare. Mordecai not only provided for Esther's need as a parent but also opened her to opportunities that would take her high in destiny. Mordecai probably had other daughters that were his biological children. But as the father, he knew all of them, and knew that it was Esther that had what it took to win the pageant and become queen, so he supported Esther. The favour of God was with Esther and she became the queen over the realm of over 127 provinces and cities that Ahasuerus ruled; spanning India in Asia to Ethiopia in Africa. The orphan girl of yesterday that Mordecai
raised had become the wife of the most powerful man in the world.
In raising Esther, Mordecai probably didn't know that he was raising and preserving the whole generation of Israel. When Haman wanted to eliminate the Israeli race from the world, it was because Esther had been raised that the life of Mordecai and every other Jew was preserved. That wasn't all. When Esther finally disclosed her identity and lineage as a Jew, Mordecai had to be recognised as the father of the queen and so was given a pride of place in the kingdom. Through Esther, Mordecai advanced till he became the second in command to the king. For Mordecai was great in the king's house, and his fame went throughout all the provinces, ...for this man Mordecai waxed greater and greater: Est. 9:4.
The best you can do with your life and resources is to invest in people. Invest in your children and invest in other people's children. Let your life be a ladder that raises men irrespective of their tribe, family, gender or race. Just go out of your way and look for people to raise, you may not know the full implication of what you are doing now but the future will tell. God will give you grace to raise generations of people, in Jesus’ name.

Prayer/Action
* Pray that the opportunity you need to be raised and raise others will not elude you, in the name of Jesus.
* Pray that your seed shall be greater than you, in the name of Jesus.

TODAY'S PROPHETIC PRAYER
Father, I banish every spirit of sympathy visit this year, in the name of Jesus that is above all names.