Stewards of God's Resources

Thursday 10 August
READ: Matt. 14: 14 – 20
MORE LESSON: 2 Cor. 9: 10

All the resources we have are given to us by God, ...A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven: John 3:27. We are actually not owners of riches or blessings but stewards to whom God has committed them. The earth with its fullness is owned by God (Psa 24: 1) and all that we have are what He has given us to hold in trust for Him. According to Jam 1: 17, Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. We will give an account of how we use God's resources that He has committed to our care.
God gives us money to keep for Him and then He demands for it when His work on earth needs it. One notable thing about God's resources in our care is that while He gives us money to keep for Him, He allows us to enjoy the interest that accrues on the money. So God's money is in our hands for His use, however the money yields interest for our use. God does not wish that you give to His work without a return, ...and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it:
Mal 3:10. He desires that you give to Him and He multiplies the resources in your hands so that you have more than enough to meet your needs.
In Matt. 14, Jesus collected five loaves of bread and two fish from a young lad so that it could be used for His work. We must not forget that the bread and fish was created by the Master and was His in the first place; the boy realised that he was a steward of the Master's belongings. So after the boy handed it over to the Lord, the Lord used it but it yielded an interest. The bread and fish multiplied and there were 12 baskets leftover. That interest belonged by right to the boy who gave up his lunch pack.
This shows that even though God puts resources in our hands and will make demands on them, He will always leave us with the interest so that we also have more than enough for ourselves. God is gracious. He gives His resources to us, asks us to give to Him out of His resources that He has given us, multiplies our gift when we give to Him out of His resources and gives us the multiplied interest so that we have more than sufficient for our needs and more to give to Him, which He will multiply again when we give.

Prayer/Action
* Ask God to make you a channel through which His resources will flow to the world at large, in Jesus’ mighty name.
* Pray that you will be a faithful steward of God’s resources, in Jesus’ name.

TODAY’S PROPHETIC PRAYER
Today I shut the door of August against every force of sorrow, misfortune and sad news, in the mighty name of Jesus.

Trust not in Riches

Wednesday 9 August
READ: Psa. 62: 8 – 10
MORE LESSON: Psa. 49: 6

Wealth is a great blessing that helps us to further the cause of the gospel and help humanity. Zech 1: 17 says, Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad.... Wealth and prosperity are part of God's plan for expanding His kingdom and purpose on the earth. There is an assumption in the Body of Christ that when a righteous man is rich, he will commit sin; therefore, God doesn't want us to be rich so that we will remain holy. This teaching has made a lot of believers unconsciously desire poverty in order to be safe. The truth is that poverty, more than prosperity, endangers salvation. It also endangers the work of God. The danger in prosperity comes when the money in our hands is not used for advancing the work of God. Anything we have that we cannot use for God becomes sin in our hand.
In the quest for prosperity, we must never allow riches to take the place of God in our heart. Those that trust in riches instead of God will destroy their own souls. Psa 62: 10 says if riches increase, do not set your heart upon them. It is in setting your heart on riches that you begin to offend God. When making money becomes more important to you than loving and serving God, or your sense of security is in the amount of money you have and not in the God that you have, there is trouble.
There are people that cannot give because there is a benchmark that they do not allow the money in their accounts to go below. Once their bank accounts start reading below a particular amount, they get restless and behave as if the sky is about to fall. This benchmark that they have set for themselves is another man's financial prayer point for a whole year. The sad thing is that they have not set a benchmark for their prayer life or fellowship with God.
As children of God we must get victory over the hold of money as we get victory over sin. As a child of God overcomes sexual immorality and stealing, he must also overcome the hold of money over his life. Greed and lust for money must be destroyed so that one is not ruled by money. Paul said, I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need: Phil 4:12. Paul is not advocating poverty but advising that there is nothing that we should not be able to live without. We should not trust in riches but be able to live contentedly with or without it.

Prayer/Action
* Tell the Lord that He will remain first in your life, in Jesus’ name.
* Ask God to add everything else to you as you seek first His kingdom, in Jesus mighty name.

TODAY’S PROPHETIC PRAYER
I open the door of miracles, signs and wonders to this month; it shall be testimony all the way, in the mighty name of Jesus.

Seed of Restoration

Tuesday 8 August
READ: 2 Kings 6: 1 – 7
MORE LESSON: Joel 2: 23 – 26

The sons of the prophet wanted to build a bigger house for the prophet. In order to achieve this, one of them went to borrow an axe for the job. As they were working, the axe head fell into the water. They needed a miracle to salvage the situation so they went to meet the man of God. There is a lesson that can be learnt from the miracle of restoration that was performed that day. God's servant took a stick and threw it into the water and as the stick went in, the iron floated to the surface. There is no natural law or science that can account for the dynamics of this miracle. How does an axe head float on water? What is the relationship between the wood that was thrown in and the iron that floated to the surface? No man can explain.
However, one thing that is obvious in this miracle is that for every expected harvest, there must be a seed. When you want a miracle, there is a seed that you need to sow. The man of God showed them that the iron would not just float, there needed to be the sowing of the seed of wood. When you look at stick and iron, you will realise that iron is heavier than
wood. So the harvest is always heavier than the seed. Therefore, “no seed, no harvest”, “seed brings heavier harvest”. The stick was the seed for the restoration of the iron.
The sons of the prophet had a role to play in the miracle of restoration that was wrought that day. They needed to throw in something no matter how small. You always have a role to play in having God break your siege and bring a restoration. They just lost the axe head and could have used that as an excuse not to sow a seed. However, the man of God cut a stick and released the stick inside the same water that swallowed the axe head and the wood brought out the iron. He must have used another axe head, probably from another of the sons of the prophet to cut the stick that he threw in. Therefore, you also should not just sit bemoaning your lost axe head, get another one and cut the stick to sow a seed. Your seed will break your siege of loss and bring the restoration of all that was lost. Sow a seed no matter your condition.

Prayer/Action
* Pray that you will end all siege in your life by your seeds, in Jesus’ name.
* Pray that your seeds shall bring mighty harvest, in Jesus’ name.
* Ask for a miracle that will defy the natural order of things in your life, in Jesus’ mighty name.

TODAY'S PROPHETIC PRAYER
Satan, I rebuke you and your force over my new month, you shall not have a memorial in it, in the mighty name of Jesus

The Seed that Breaks the Siege

Monday 7 August
READ: 1 Sam. 1: 11
MORE LESSON: 2 Kgs. 3: 21 – 27

Year after year, Hannah wept because she had no child. Her pain was heightened by the fact that Peninnah, her husband's second wife who had sons and daughters, tormented her. Each time they went to the house of God in Shiloh, Hannah’s prayer was for a child. However on the day the Lord visited her she did something that she had not done before, And she vowed a vow, and said, O LORD of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head: 1 Sam 1:11.
Hannah promised the unborn child as a seed to the Lord and the Lord heard her prayer. God needed a prophet and Hannah needed a child. So Hannah promised the Lord that if He would give her a child, she would give Him the child as a prophet. This means that Hannah gave the child as a seed to the Lord and her seed broke the siege over her womb. There are many types of seed: money, word, service, your life etc. Whatever the type of seed you want to sow, you need to know that you can break your siege with your seed.
God gave Hannah a son named Samuel and she gave him to serve in the house of the Lord. After she handed over Samuel to the priest of the Lord Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, Hannah, And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, The LORD give thee seed of this woman for the loan which is lent to the LORD. And they went unto their own home. And the LORD visited Hannah, so that she conceived, and bare three sons and two daughters. And the child Samuel grew before the LORD: 1 Sam 2: 20 – 21. The siege had been broken and the Lord gave her many more children. Moreover the child that she gave to the Lord was not lost but rather became the best of her children. The names of all the other children of Elkanah may not be known, but Samuel is remembered forever. He is the child that was sown as a seed to the Lord.
Even a non Jewish king had the knowledge of the power of seed and did not spare his first son to break the siege of Israel against him. In today’s more lesson the king of Moab sacrificed his eldest son, taking after the sacrifice of Jesus to appeal for divine intervention in a war that was ‘sore’ against him. Despite the prophecy of Elisha to the contrary(v18), when the king laid down his sacrifice the tide turned (v27) and they (Israel) departed from him. Send your seed against your siege.

Prayer/Action
* Proclaim that no siege will be able to resist the power of your seed, in Jesus’ name.
* Declare there shall be a thousand fold return for every seed you sow this year.
* Decree that you are walking in super abundance by the power of sacrificial sowing, in Jesus’ mighty name.

TODAY’S PROPHETIC PRAYER
I connect with the Spirit and blessing of Judah, my month shall flow continuously with praise, in the name of Jesus.