Be Patient

Saturday 18 March
READ: Heb. 10: 36-39
MORE LESSON: Luke 8: 15

Patience is a fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5: 22). It is one powerful virtue that is often overlooked. We talk so much about faith, love, peace and so on but we forget the power of patience. Heb 6: 12 says, ...be followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. This shows that the celebrated heroes of faith were patient people. God is love (1 John 4: 8) and love is patient (1 Cor. 13: 4 NIV); so God is a God of patience. As God's children we must be people of patience.
We need to exalt the virtue of patience now than ever in this age, where everyone is on the fast track. People want everything and they want it now. We want fast food, fast money, fast mail, fast banking, fast lane; the faster the better. Even in the Church of God, people don't believe in waiting anymore. They feel if it does not come 'sharp-sharp' then it means you don't have faith. If the pastor prays for them and the thing doesn't happen instantly, they say that the pastor is not anointed; they start looking around for a more anointed man so that the miracle can happen right away. This is what makes many to become victims of false prophets. Why not wait on God? Waiting is the proof of faith. Patience is the real test of faith. Those that believe do not make haste (Isa. 28: 16).
1 Cor. 13:13 talks about three things you must have to be a successful Christian. They are faith, hope and love (charity). All these three work out in patience. Faith is having patience with God. Faith is when you are trusting God for something and the thing is not forthcoming but you stay patiently, knowing that God will do it. Faith is patience.
Hope is patience with people and situations; it is not giving up on people because you know that good can still come out of them. Hope is not throwing in the towel because you know good can still come out of that situation. Hope entails patiently waiting for your change to come.
Love is patience with yourself. Many people are not patient with themselves; they put so much pressure on themselves. They penalise themselves and are mean to themselves. Why not relax and love yourself. It is only when you love yourself that the love can flow to others. Don't give yourself ulcer out of starvation because you say you are too fat and you are not beautiful. Love yourself.
In Luke 8: 15, the good seed fell on the good soil but it still needed patience to be fruitful. But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the Word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience. You will get there; be patient.

Prayer/Action
* Father, help me to add to my faith the virtue of patience, in Jesus’ name.
* In the name of Jesus, I receive grace to patiently wait for God's promises for my life.

TODAY'S PROPHETIC PRAYER
Wherever I need help today, in the name of Jesus, I shall not be turned back.

A Friend of God

Friday 17 March
READ: Isa. 41: 8 - 13
MORE LESSON: Gen. 18: 17 - 33

In every generation, God seeks men that will break away from the things that preoccupy the hearts of other men and make Him their one devotion. There are always many things calling for the attention of men but a special few always decide to step out of the rat race and pursue God with all their heart.
Abraham lived in Ur of the Chaldeans; a land of great merchandise where people were busy pursuing things of the world and worshipping idols. God called Abraham out to walk with Him and he obeyed. Abraham walked closely with God in faith and became a friend of God. There is a place of relationship where you become so close to God that you are like lovers and friends. It is possible to enter into the exalted relationship with God as His friend. When you are God's friend, He begins to discuss things that are dear to His heart with you. He tells you secrets about people and places, He reveals things in the future that have not yet happened to you. He even asks for your opinion on what He wants to do.
There are great rewards of being God's friend. In Gen. 18, God was on a silent mission to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, He didn't tell anybody and wanted to get there and destroy everyone. But then His friend met Him on the way and they started talking. The Lord thought within Himself, ...Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?: Gen. 18: 17. God had to disclose His intentions to Abraham and thus, Abraham was able to plead with God to save Lot and his family. If not for Abraham's relationship with God, Lot would have been destroyed. Being a friend of God grants special benefits to everyone associated with you. Even your children are given a special place in God's heart and He does exceptional things for them that they don't deserve because of His relationship with you. The reason God favours Israel exceptionally and destroyed nations to save them is because they are His friend's children (Isa. 41: 8).
John 15: 14 – 15 says, Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. Jesus wants to be your friend; He wants to tell you things that are dear to His heart. However, the price of friendship is love and time. You have to love Him more than any other person or thing in your life. You have to give Him more time than you give other things in your life. This entails studying His Word, spending time with Him in worship, enjoying His presence with other believers, giving sacrificially to Him and obeying His Word.
Oh the blessing of being a friend of God!

Prayer/Action
* Father, bring me into an exalted and intimate relationship with You, in Jesus’ name.
* Father, grant to me today access into the deep things of God, in Jesus’ name.

TODAY'S PROPHETIC PRAYER
Today, I am moving up, no going down, no turning back, my place is in the highest of all, in the mighty name of Jesus.

Abiding in God

Thursday 16 March
READ: John 15: 4 - 8
MORE LESSON: Luke 13: 6 - 8

God expects fruits from your life. The Bible therefore shows us the secret of fruitfulness; which is, abiding in God. A man will never be fruitful if he is the kind of Christian that is in today and out tomorrow. A little church and a little party will not take a man anywhere. A little holiness and then a little sin will lead to a life of frustration. You must abide entirely in God.
The Bible draws an analogy between a tree and being rooted in God. As long as the branches of a tree are vitally connected to the stem which is connected to the root, every supply reaches the branches. A connected branch doesn't need supplication to the root before nutrient and water flow into it through the stem. In the same way, connectivity to God makes blessings to naturally flow to you. A well connected child of God may not even have prayed for certain blessings but they just flow to him as a natural consequence of his abiding in God.
Abiding in God means abiding in His Word. Abiding in God means a vibrant prayer life. When you pray in the spirit abundantly and enjoy communion with the Holy Spirit daily, some blessings will flow naturally to you that you might not even remember asking for. It is when you pray in tongues, enjoying God and abiding in Him, that you access those blessings. Abiding in God involves serving God with your time by being a worker in His vineyard. When you stay with God and work for Him, you may not even fast and pray for a life partner but as you abide serving diligently, God just locates you and connects you with the person He has for you. Giving tithes and offerings is part of abiding in God. You might love God and continue to give to Him, spend your resources for the expansion of His Kingdom and help others, and you notice that you keep experiencing blessings that you cannot account for by your fasting. God blesses you naturally as you abide in Him.
You must stay in God, with God and for God. John 15:7 says, If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Abiding in God is the secret of answered prayers. The reason many people's prayers are not answered is because they are not abiding. They just dash in when they have a need and try to con God's hand by much tears and prayers. If God peradventure answers them, you won't see them again until there is another problem. How do you explain a Sunday-to-Sunday Christian? He is not abiding; he is only visiting. It is time for you to abide in God so that all-round fruitfulness can be yours.

Prayer/Action
* I receive grace to abide in Jesus Christ all the days of my life, in Jesus’ name.
* Lord, because I am connected to You, let there be a flow of Your blessings into my life, in Jesus’ name.

TODAY'S PROPHETIC PRAYER
Every spirit of loneliness, discouragement and abandonment, flee from me, in the name of Jesus.

Destroying Jezebel

Wednesday 15 March
READ: 1 Kings 21: 1 - 15
MORE LESSON: Rev. 2: 20 – 23

1 Kings 16: 30 – 33 talks about Ahab, a king in Israel who did more evil than all other kings before him. This was because he married Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal of the Zidonians. Jezebel influenced and encouraged Ahab to become an enemy of God and to build altars for Baal in Israel. Nine hundred and fifty demonic priests ate at Jezebel's table every day. She killed God's prophets and was set to eliminate the memorial of God from Israel and enthrone the gods of her fatherland. She was a principality and actually the one ruling her husband. Any where a woman assumes authority over the man in the home and is the one that determines what happens and what does not, there is a curse. It is not love for a man to be controlled by the woman in the home, or for the woman to become a dictator. Each has a place in the home and each listens to the other; takes counsel from each other, submits to God and submits to each other in love as the Bible commands. However, the man is the head of the home.
Jezebel promoted immorality anywhere she operated. She had demonic powers and witchcraft and she determined what King Ahab would do or not do. She controlled the land and did what even her husband the king would not dare to do. There was a man called Naboth who owned a vineyard that King Ahab coveted. Ahab asked Naboth to sell to him his vineyard and Naboth said that he couldn't give out the heritage of his fathers. It is right for children to decide that they will not sell the spiritual inheritance that their fathers hand over to them but rather build on it. King Ahab was sad because Naboth would not sell his vineyard to him and his countenance showed it when he got home. Jezebel asked him what the matter was and when he explained. Jezebel said, “Is that all; don't worry, go and eat. I will give you the vineyard of Naboth.” That was the kind of woman that Jezebel was. She sent orders to the rulers of the city where Naboth was and commanded them to stage a plot and murder Naboth. Immediately the rulers received her letter, they gathered the whole land and killed Naboth. She finished Naboth and told her husband to go and take the vineyard for free as the owner that didn't want to sell it is dead.
God raised Jehu the Son of Nimshi to destroy Jezebel according to the written judgment. God used the sword of judgment in the hand of Jehu to destroy Jezebel. Every spirit of Jezebel must be destroyed in our home, church and nation. We must pray against every operation of Jezebel in our midst.

Prayer/Action
* In the name of Jesus, I raise a judgment against every Jezebel that has risen against my life.
* I cut off the influence of Jezebel from my life and home, in Jesus’ name.

TODAY'S PROPHETIC PRAYER
Where others are spending sweat, toil, and needless hard labour, I shall spend grace, in the mighty name of Jesus.