Prodigal Ones

Sunday 29th October
READ: Luke 15:11-23 
MORE LESSONS: I Sam 2:12-17, 22-25

A man had two children and the younger one demanded for his part of  the inheritance from the father. The son was, more or less, telling the father that if he was not ready to die, he should at least give him (the son) his share of inheritance. The father let the son have his way because he realized that nothing could dissuade him from the path he was bent on taking. The only thing that can make some people to repent of their adamant choices is the repercussion of their wrong direction. It is right to continue to pray for them while you allow them to face the consequence of their willful wrong decision.

The prodigal son, who had been raised by a righteous father went parting and carousing with strange women until he was reduced to nothing. It was while living with pigs in a pen and scrambling with them for food that he realized that all his father has been telling him was right. He repented and came home. The father sighted him from afar on his return journey, which shows that the father was daily looking across the road, expecting and praying for the son to come back home.

Eli, the priest of God, also had two children - Hophni and Phinehas. They ministered with him in the temple but deliberately chose the way of destruction. They defiled God’s offerings and the women in the temple. They obstinately rebelled against the law of God and refused their father’s correction. Eventually the father gave up on them and left them for destruction.

When God told Samuel the judgment that would fall on Eli’s family, Eli replied, ‘He is God, let him do whatever he pleases’
(I Sam. 3:18). If Eli knew the anguish that awaited him, he would have cried to the Lord for mercy and raise his children with a strong hand to get them back to the Lord in repentance.

There are times you allow prodigal ones have their way because when the repercussion comes, it will come on everybody. When the judgment of the Lord came on Eli’s family, his children were destroyed and Israel lost a battle where more than 4,000 men died. Eli broke his neck and died. His daughter-in-law heard the sad news and had induced birth-pangs which resulted in her death. After giving birth to a son-who she named Ichabod because the glory of the Lord departed from the whole land of Israel and the ark of the covenant was ceased by the enemy. All these happened in one day.

There is mercy for prodigal children but the choice is theirs whether they will end up restored like the younger son or they will be destroyed like Eli’s children. You will not suffer destruction, in Jesus name. Just like the father of the prodigal son, God is still waiting and hoping that every lost child will return because He is willing to take them back.

Prayer/Action
• Ask God to restore those who have left the faith and turned to the world
• Ask God not to allow you go your own way but guide you in His will by His mercy.
• Pray that you will not be lost forever.

TODAY’S PROPHETIC PRAYER
King Saul made a mistake that destroyed his throne, Esau made a mistake that took away his father’s blessing, I shall escape every moment of error and mistake, in the name of Jesus.

Unlimited God

Saturday 28 October
READ: Mark 11:22-23    
MORE LESSONS: Jer. 32:27

Our God is an unlimited God. His ability and power are unlimited and therefore His promises are unlimited. There is no other person that can make unlimited promises. If he risks it people will keep asking him what he cannot give them. Even the richest person on the earth cannot say, ‘Ask me anything’, Because he might be asked what he has no capacity to give, and he will be put to shame. Only God is unlimited.

Isa. 7:11 says, Ask me a sign of the LORD thy God; ask it either in the depth, or the height above. Only God can make such a bold declaration; He says to ask Him anything, in the deepest deep or in the highest heaven; He can give it to you. God is unlimited and wants you to be unlimited like He is.

God’s desire is not for only Him to be unlimited but for you to also be unlimited. You become unlimited when you connect with God’s ‘unlimitedness’. Luke 1:37 says, For with God nothing shall be impossible. That is being unlimited; God is unlimited because nothing is impossible with Him. Nothing, in this context, means nothing. In Mathew 17:20, Jesus was speaking to His disciples and He told them… for verily I say unto you, if ye have faith as a gain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Jesus let the disciples know that when they exercise faith in God, they have God’s ‘unlimitedness’ and nothing can be impossible unto them.

Nothing is impossible with God and nothing is impossible with the believers. The believer rises into the God-class when he exercises faith in God. Therefore, by believing in the unlimited God, you equally become as unlimited as He is.

Jesus is saying to you today,… Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith: Mark 11:22-23. You can have all that you want. All it takes is to become unlimited by connecting in faith with the Unlimited One.

Prayer/Action
*Praise the All Sufficient God, and give thanks for His great deeds in your life.
* Pray that as you connect your faith with God, His unlimited resources shall be made available unto you.
* Declare that you shall be as unlimited as God.

TODAY’S PROPHETIC PRAYER
From today, I shall go from strength to strength, no weakness, no downward trend, in the name of Jesus.

Steal No More

Friday 27th October
READ: Eph. 4:28
MORE LESSONS: I Tim. 6:6-11

There was a man who took his son to farm to gather their harvest. The son duly followed as the man walked to another man’s farm; he looked left and right, front and back to see if anyone was coming. When he realized that no one was watching, he quickly dug some yams, put them in a basket and told the son to carry them and follow him. The son said, ‘Daddy, you looked left and right, front and back, but didn’t you look up? Why didn’t you check if God was looking?’

We cannot make it in live by taking things that do not belong to us. No one ever amount to anything great in destiny and eternity through stealing. This is the reason the Bible says, He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hand, that he may have something to share with those in need; Eph. 4:28 (NIV). A scriptural antidote to stealing is hard work. Since you don’t want to steal, you must decide to work with your hands for all that you need. When you are very productive, you rise above stealing. People only steal what they believe they are incapable of producing. Even big time thieves who steal public funds do because they believe they will never be able to make those billions by their own productivity and ingenuity. So they steal as the easy way out. The world respect productive people but despises thieves.

Greed and lust for things cause steeling. This is why we must learn to be contented with everything we have. Some people have so much but still continue stealing;  their end is destruction unless they repent. Stealing is like accusing God of unfaithfulness. It is like saying God has not done enough for you so you take advantage of people or your position to get what you want. All thieves are liars and liars will have their portion in the lake of fire (Rev. 21:8).

Steal is not limited to taking material things. A person who is seeking to reap what he did not sow is attempting to steal. It is only a thief that expects a harvest where he did not sow any seed. Therefore, Clamouring for a harvest without sowing the necessary spiritual and physical seed is trying to steal. A man who refuses to give offering and tithe and is looking for prosperity is trying to steal. God told the children of Israel that they were stealing from Him when they refused to pay their tithes (Mal. 3:3-9).

One of the injunction of the Lord in the Ten Commandments is ‘Thou shall not steal’. Exo. 20:15. This command stands till date.

Prayer/Action
• Pray against the spirit of covetousness
• Ask for grace to be content with what He blesses you with.
• Prayer that God will make you a channel of addition and not subtraction.

TODAY’S PROPHETIC PRAYER
I announce the next venue and address for celebration and sound of testimony in my house, in the name of Jesus.

Living Above Offence

Thursday 26 October
READ: Col. 3:13-14
MORE LESSON: 1Cor. 10:32

You cannot go to play at the river and then complain when someone splashes water on you. It is impossible to play at the river and not get splashed with water. In relating with people in any community, one of the things that we cannot avoid is being offended. Whether at home, school, work or church, people will do things that we do not like. The reason is that everybody cannot behave the same way in a community. Offences result from differences in behaviour. Has someone ever done things and you wonder how on earth anyone could behave like that? Well, the reason is because he is not you; if he were you, he would never behave like that. People are different and so they will behave differently.

The Lord Jesus Himself in Luke 17:1, unto His disciples, …It is impossible but offences will come… He realized that there will always be people who will offend us. Therefore our quest is not to look for a place where we will not be offended but to seek to live above offences. Do you know that one cannot be offended until he decides to take offence? You can refuse to take offence when it is offered to you. The New Living Translation of Col. 3:13 says, Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.

We must learn to make allowance for people around us. Give room to people when they do things that you don’t like. Probably you like quietness while he likes noise and turbulence wherever he is: you have to learn to make room now that both of you are roommates or else you will fight every day. Life is a about recognizing people for who they are and learning to overlook their faults.

Everyone loves to hear that he is a gem who is unique and uncommon in every way. It is pleasing to know that no other person in the whole earth has the same finger print as yours; you are specially and wonderfully made. The other side of this pleasant news is that no one else is like you so they will not behave like you. Therefore, grow out of complaining that the person behaved in such and such a way. If you insist on relating with only people that are like you, then you will relate only with yourself.

On the other hand, there are people who delight in causing offence and then claim, “that is who I am; you must learn to live with me.” The truth is that no one causes offence anyhow and goes scot-free. People around may be spiritually mature enough to overlook it but the one involved will suffer the consequence ahead. We should not take offence and we should not cause offence.

Pray/Action
• Ask God for grace to live above offence and to forgive those who offend you.
• Pray that you will not be an agent of offence to others.
• Ask God for grace to always make room for others and be an agent of peace.

TODAY’S PROPHETIC PRAYER
By divine favour, I shall no more be tolerated but celebrated in life and destiny, in the name of Jesus.