Godly Friends

Tuesday 25 July
READ: Prov. 18: 21-24
MORE LESSON: Dan. 2: 14 – 19

One of the secrets of success in life is having the right association. You must surround yourself with the right people if you want to go far in life. Among the people around you, your friends have a lot of influence over you. This is the reason having godly friends is not just for good companionship, it is one of the principles of success in life. Decisions are vital in the school of success, and your friends considerably influence your decisions.
As a child of God who is filled with the Spirit of God, you must develop friendship with people of same Spirit. They are the ones that can make the right contribution to your life. If you surround yourself with unbelievers, in the day of trouble, they will counsel you with the wisdom of the devil and sink you deeper in the quagmire of trouble. If you have friends that are filled with the Spirit of God, when you need help, they will speak words of God into your life and you will be lifted. To a large extent, your association determines your destiny.
Daniel had a problem because the king had instructed that all his wise men and counsellors be killed because they couldn't give him the answer to his puzzle. When they got to Daniel’s house to kill him, he begged them to give him time and quickly ran to meet his friends. He didn't start looking for godly friends that day; he had developed a viable relationship with them earlier. Don't think you can be hanging around with the wrong guys and then on the day of trouble, you look for emergency spiritual friends, it won't work. Daniel called his friends and they prayed all night. The mystery was revealed to them as they prayed and the Lord saved Daniel and his friends.
It is important to have the right friends, therefore be careful about your friends. Many times God uses your immediate companions to counsel you and satan uses your immediate companions to destroy you. Your friends are closer to you than everyone else and they are the first people to identify that you have a problem and they can influence you positively or negatively. Make good friends. Make friends with God's children in the house of God where all of you believe the same thing and are brought up to hold on to the same truths. You need godly friends in the journey of life.

Prayer/Action
* Ask God to surround you with godly people, in Jesus’ name.
* Ask God to deliver you from relationships that take you far from God.
* Pray that you will be a God sent companion to people around you in their time of need, in the mighty name of Jesus.

TODAY’S PROPHETIC PRAYER
I command the forces of good news to show up for me and fill my day, in the mighty name of Jesus.

Divine Problems

Monday 24 July
READ: Rom. 8: 28
MORE LESSON: John 21: 1 -19

I have discovered that God sometimes takes advantage of problematic situations to reveal His will to people. God can use situations – even negative ones - to help give directions and instructions. When you pass through such situations, you must be submissive and sensitive. Submissive, not to fight God's will and insist on your own way; sensitive, to pick the message the Lord is passing across and not unnecessarily delay the process. In Luke 5: 1 -11, Peter and some other would-be-disciples were fishing and they laboured for long but caught nothing. Then Jesus showed up at the river and asked to use Peter’s boat. If Peter was having a good catch, he probably would not have released the boat to the Master. However, the lack of a catch made him promtly release his boat to the Lord and the Lord used it, blessed him with a good catch and called him into ministry. It was the situation of the day that worked out God's purpose in Peter’s life.
Later in John 21: 1 – 11, Peter returned to fishing after the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus and some of the disciples followed him. Then something happened again; he laboured and didn't catch anything. The Master showed up and instructed him to throw the net on the right side. The instruction of the Lord gave him both a good catch and restored him to ministry.
It seems whenever God needed Peter's attention, He allowed a hard time in his fishing business. Peter loved fishing and having challenges in it made him to seek the Lord who, in turn, used the opportunity to bless and restore him. The truth is that some people will not seek God passionately until they have difficulties here and there. The Lord in His love allows them to experience things that will make them come home to Him. The intent of the Lord is to use the opportunity to solve their problems and more importantly, reveal Himself to them.
By the time the Lord is revealed to them beyond the solution to their situation, they become grounded in the Lord and stand for Him irrespective of situations. For Peter's call and restoration, the Lord needed a troublesome situation to get his attention. After Peter grew and became Spirit filled, he was a rock and was established both in good and adverse situations. We should grow to the point that it is not trouble that makes us seek God; rather seek Him for who He is.
This is why Apostle Paul said, ... all things work together for good to them that love God...: Rom. 8:28. Note that all things work together only for those who love the Lord, not just anybody. When one may think one has done something wrong and is being afflicted as a consequence, Paul the apostle says God can still make it to work together for your good.

Prayer/Action
* Pray that your present situation will turn out to the praise of God, in Jesus’ name.
* Ask God to reveal Himself to you in your situation, in Jesus’ name.
* Pray that the situations of life will not turn you away from the Lord, in the mighty name of Jesus.

TODAY’S PROPHETIC PRAYER
I decree strength into my new week, I shall not be weak, I shall not faint, I shall live in good health, in the mighty name of Jesus.

Divine Pardon

Sunday 23 July
READ: 2 Sam. 24: 1 - 24
MORE LESSON: 1 Jn. 1: 7 – 9

David was a young shepherd when the Lord picked him up and made him king. The Lord increased him and he waxed greater and greater till he became very great. One day, when David had become very mighty, he decided it was time to take a census of all the people in his kingdom so that he could have an idea of how great he had become. After he counted the people, the Lord was angry with him and the Lord gave him three punishments to choose from. Either the land faced seven years of famine, or he fell into the hands of his enemies for three months or the Lord struck the land with a plague for three days. All these three were disastrous but David had learnt a lesson in his relationship with God; he had learnt the depth of the mercy and compassion of the Lord. Therefore David said, ...let us fall now into the hand of the LORD; for his mercies are great: and let me not fall into the hand of man: 2 Sam 24:14.
It is important to have an understanding of the mercies of the Lord. God is full of compassion and forgiveness. Even if you have committed a blunder and you are suffering the consequence, there is mercy for you in God. When someone suffers because of the mistake he made, men may say that it serves him right but God looks at the blood of His Son and feels compassion. God is merciful; you can always run back to Him when you err.
David chose to be struck by plague from Heaven instead of famine or for his enemies to afflict him. As the angel of the Lord went around striking people dead, David went beseeching the Lord for mercy. Then the Lord told him to sacrifice an animal on an altar. The sacrifice of the seed of that land was what broke the siege of death. The Lord saw the blood and stayed the hand of the angel of death.
David understood the mercy of the Lord and the power of the seed, so the angel of death was stopped before he destroyed all the people of Israel. The blood of Jesus also has been shed as a seed for you and every plague, pestilence and death is stayed from you. The seed of the Blood breaks the siege of death. If the blood of an animal could appease God, how much more the blood of His Son. That lamb in any case is symbolic of the Lamb of God that took away the sins of the whole world. Verses 1 and 3 tell us it was the anger of God that moved David to do this evil, that even the counsel of his army commander could not stop him. However, by a single sacrifice God reverted the evil. In the same way we are sometimes moved into acts mysteriously, but the blood of Jesus is the antidote for all errors. By truth and mercy iniquity is purged (Prov. 16:6). Never argue or justify sin, rather truthfully seek for pardon by the blood of Jesus, and bounce back again.

Prayer/Action
* Pray that God will not use your enemy’s cain as a tool of discipline for you, in Jesus’ name.
* Pray that God’s mercy will never depart from you, in Jesus’ name.

TODAY’S PROPHETIC PRAYER
I prophesy never again to have repeated tragedy and evil patterns in my life, family, and church, in the mighty name of Jesus.

God of Preparation II

Saturday 22 July
READ: 2 Kings 6: 8 -12
MORE LESSON: Psa. 23: 5

In 2 Kings 6: 8 – 12, Israel was at war with Syria and God prepared Israel ahead of every attack by prophetic prior information. Prior information prepares and preparation makes you smarter than your opponents. God revealed the enemy's plan ahead of time and made His children to be prepared. The reason for prophecy is so that you might be prepared. Our God is a God of preparation. He has fore-knowledge and so can inform us ahead to make us prepared. Don't follow a god who has no fore knowledge of what would happen. There are some people whose god is as surprised as they are when some things happen to them. Our God has the power of fore knowledge, prior information and preparation. It was preparation that brought victory to Israel in the war with Syria. Each time the enemies laid an ambush, they waited in vain because the Lord had prepared His people. Today, God will give you the prior information that will save you from destruction. Privileged information that will make you prepared to cash in on rare opportunities will also come your way today, in Jesus’ name.
Individuals must learn to prepare, the Church must learn to prepare and the nation must also learn to prepare. Economic down-turn happens because when a country is in surplus, there is no preparation ahead. Even natural disasters can be well-managed when there is preparation. On one of the occasions I was in the United States, I discovered that if a tornado or earthquake is to happen, they would start announcing it weeks before. They would start moving people away from the likely target places and putting emergency measures in place. In fact, in Israel, they are so militarily prepared that they have bunkers in every vicinity in the event of attacks. They have prepared rooms that are air tight, internally ventilated and secure, in case of a chemical attack against the country. The strength of a man is his preparation and the strength of a nation is her preparation.
So when David said, Thou prepareth a table before me in the presence of my enemies: Psa. 23:5, he was making us to understand that God gives victory over enemies by the power of preparation. This is the day when you must start preparing spiritually, mentally, academically, financially and in every way for the future that you picture. Greatness in life is at the mercy of preparation. God prepares; so if you are a true child of God, you must also learn to prepare.

Prayer/Action
* Tell the Lord to always prepare you ahead of your adversaries.
* Decree that whatever is preparing against you shall never prevail.
* Declare that honour, beauty, favour and appointment with greatness are your portion today.

TODAY’S PROPHETIC PRAYER
Father in fruitfulness I shall be fruitful, in prosperity I shall prosper, nothing that works against me shall prosper, in the mighty name of Jesus.