Your Name is on your Flame

Thursday 7 December
READ: Acts 2:1-4  
MORE LESSON: Heb. 10:25

Your name is the signpost to your identity; who you are, your current reality; what is going on in your life right now and ultimately your destiny. The first introduction about who you are is in your name. When your name is called, prophetic power is released in the direction of the fulfilment of your name. From the beginning of time, everything God makes, He names! Your parents might have given you a good name and people may name you according to how they meet you, but before you became a clot of blood in your mother's womb, the God who made you already named you. One of the most powerful revelations you will ever discover about yourself is the name God calls you.  Ask Simon Peter, the day Jesus called him by another name different from his common name, a new consciousness, anointing and authority fell on him: he stepped into the fulfilment of destiny.

Everyone wants to know his purpose but not everyone is listening to the name God calls him. I wish we know that all of God's purpose for us is wrapped up in the name Heaven knows us by. Moses was known as a stutterer – God called him a deliverer; Gideon thought he was disadvantaged – God called him a mighty warrior. Everyone thought Deborah was a simple wife - God called her a prophetess and warlord. Jesus was called the ordinary carpenter’s son – but Heaven knew Him as the Son of God. The twelve disciples thought they were finished in the hands of Roman tyranny after Jesus ascended, but God called them the apostles of the Lamb and foundations of the most powerful spiritual institution today - The Church. But the switch never happened until Fire fell.

There were 120 frightened people gathered at the upper room  over2000 years ago, waiting for what they did not know. What they were about to receive had no antecedence in history. But when The Holy Spirit of promise came, it was with visible tongues of fire. The fascinating part is that there were 120 fiery tongues for 120 heads in the room; a flame for every name and a name on every flame. There is always the meeting where God puts a flame on your name. They may have called you sick but God has a healing name for you. People may think you're poor but there's another name on your flame. You may have even given up on yourself, but wait until God calls your true name out of the burning bush!  You may ask; how do I position myself for the flame unique to my name? A flawless example is found in the early Christians; they met in one place and in one accord, ministering to the Lord and suddenly, the Fire fell  (Acts 2:1). Are you filled with the Holy Ghost? Do you belong to a Bible believing assembly of Christians? The  environment of Fire is your local assembly. Don't skip meetings, or be a Sunday-Sunday believer. The Fire can fall anytime without warning and only those present in the room get a flame! 

Prayer/Action
*  Ask God for a revelation of your truest identity in purpose and calling.
*  Declare that you are what God says you are.

TODAY’S PROPHETIC PRAYER
I command every lost and stolen glory in 2017 to be restored this twelveth month, in the name of Jesus.

Religion or Relationship

Wednesday 6 December
READ:  Mk.7:13  
MORE LESSON: Jn. 5:39-47

All religions of the world have one thing in common; a special book considered to be holy and containing instructions  from a 'divine deity'. This special book is seen to impact the culture and even determine the entire lifestyle of devotees. They are required to diligently study and sometimes memorize portions of these instructions until the words become part and parcel of their lives.

In  today’s text, we see that this is not the case in Christianity. Christianity is not a religion; it is the way of life. The pages of the Bible are not given to us to  flip back and forth as religious requirement for spiritual accreditation by an impossible to please deity or anything of that sort. The scriptures are carefully scripted and crafted by the inspiration of Almighty God. The Living Book is a love letter from God  to us His kids, the sons of God; for ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Gal.3:26

It is the Creator's manual for effective living. In it are spiritual lively capsules for living above the circumstances and forces of life. The Bible is God's given manual for unending victories and success. As an anchor is to a ship, so is the Word of God to our souls. Those who hold on to the Word of God are the most successful people alive.

Unfortunately, a lot of unbelievers  practice some teachings of the Bible more than some of us who are saved and profess to be Christians. The Word of God works any day, any time and God did not give His Word to only a group of people  but to the whole wide world (Jn3:16). Anybody who believes the Word and practices it will find the favour and successes that it provides. A good example is the act of giving as taught by the scriptures. I see Muslims who pay tithes and heathens who give offerings to help the needy. In fact, only recently, ten of the richest men alive, most of who are unbelievers, met at a round-table and decided that they would spend half of their wealth on the orphans, widows and the needy. This is because they discovered that giving is one secret of wealth that they all share. Simply put, they discovered that God's Word on giving and finances works!

Take up the challenge today. Those of us who have Christ living inside us should not live less than the Bible speaks of us. If you will dare to act on the words of the Living Book today, the skies are only a run-way. Like the noble man in Jn. 5:39-40, when everything else fails, go for God's Word. It never, ever fails because it surpasses religion; it creates relationship with God.

Prayer/Action
*  Rebuke the spirit of religion from your heart and soul. 
*  Declare a season of deeper intimacy with the Holy Ghost from today.
*  Confess your favourite scriptures into the atmosphere over your life and prophesy unending victories in the battles of life.

TODAY’S PROPHETIC PRAYER
Every evil circle of lack, debt, begging, loss and inadequacy that has persisted since January, I break your yoke off me this month, in the name of Jesus.

Not a cliché: Jesus is Alive

Tuesday 5 December
READ: Acts 25:13-19 
MORE LESSON: Rom. 8: 9-11

In the anchor text, Apostle Paul got into protracted trouble with the law of the land as was common among all other apostles and followers of Jesus in His days. Extra biblical facts show us how that all the apostles of Jesus were prosecuted and executed because of the havoc and destruction that their ministries caused the kingdom of darkness. Paul was jailed and had the opportunity to defend himself before the king and in the presence of his accusers – the elders, chief priests, prominent men in the city, king Agrippa , Bernice and Festus. The accusation levelled against him by the chief priests leading to his arrest was that his words and works affirmed to the presence and power of “a certain Jesus, who was dead and is now affirmed to be alive”.

Apostle Paul was not guilty of the hideous things people do in the name of the Lord today, No! In fact, his crime was a total shock to Festus when he said, When the accusers stood up, they brought no accusation against him of such things as I supposed; Act 25:18. His crime was that – although Jesus had gone to the Father, Paul’s works made the presence of Jesus whom they condemned to death, so real and compelling that it felt like Jesus was with them. Paul was guilty of doing the works of Jesus. He lived his life as a testimony that Jesus is alive. Whenever they saw or heard him, it was as though they were face to face with Jesus whom they crucified. Nothing made them more agitated than that; they wanted Paul dead.

This is our calling. It is our heritage. This is what we live for, to make Jesus known until the world thinks He still walks the earth because His works through us are evident to all. That's the reason the Holy Ghost is given to us without measure; it's something to celebrate. The highest honour any believer in Jesus can attract is to be queried for putting the power and glory of Jesus on display. this is especially so when  it becomes evident, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that Jesus is indeed alive. This is the Christian life at its best. Nobody who meets you should ever have a doubt about the life and presence of Jesus.

That's how I know that a believer in Jesus should not be poor, because Jesus provides his needs and  those of the people around him. Your prosperity not poverty is the proof that Jesus is alive. Oh, glory! When you get  hold of this truth, you will never be sick or oppressed of the devil any more. Jesus was never sickly; so, your divine health  is the evidence that Jesus is alive. Get this revelation today and speak to your situation, commanding it to conform to the reality that Jesus is alive. Paul's 'holy crime' is the proof that it's “not a  cliché; Jesus is alive’’.

Prayer/Action
* Thank You Holy Spirit, the Power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead.
* I confess that You are at work in me, producing the same incredible results you did through Jesus. 
* I declare that my life is pregnant with undeniable proofs that Jesus is Alive. Hallelujah!

TODAY’S PROPHETIC PRAYER
I open floodgates of testimony for December and no demon shall be able to close it, in the mighty name of Jesus.

Commanded Help for your Journey

Monday 4 December
READ: Ezra 1:  2 – 7 
MORE LESSON:  Psa. 133: 3

King Cyrus of Persia was ordained by God to ensure that His Temple in Jerusalem was rebuilt. Therefore, the king issued a decree throughout the realms of all the kingdoms under his domain that all Israelites who wanted to go home to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple were permitted to do so. King Cyrus ordered that the vessels that Nebuchadnezzar had seized from the Temple of God when he invaded Jerusalem be returned to the leaders of Israel who would take them back to Jerusalem. The Israelites had been brought as slaves into Babylon but Cyrus made them return with wealth and abundance as he charged all the  Babylonians to make freewill offerings to the exiles returning home to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem.  King Cyrus also decreed that the people who wouldn't go to Jerusalem should help those that went to build the Temple with gold, goods, food and all other necessities for the journey.   

When the king commands a people to be helped with all they needed for the success of their journey and venture, then success is guaranteed. The building of the temple was successful because there was commanded help for the journey. It is God's command that the people doing His work be helped with all they need for the work and for their personal needs so that they can be comfortable doing the work of the Lord. The work of the Lord prospers when there is commanded help from people towards the work. 

Conversely, in the journey of life there are people that God commands to help you with what you need for your journey. The journey of life is difficult without help; it is when men are commanded to help you that you fulfil your destiny with ease. You may want to go to school to fulfil your purpose in life but you cannot afford the school fees; what you need is commanded help. Commanded help for your academic journey may come in form of scholarship, awards, grants or even people who take it upon themselves to support you through school.

Ezra 1: 4 says, Wherever this Jewish remnant is found, let their neighbors contribute toward their expenses by giving them silver and gold, supplies for the journey, and livestock, as well as a voluntary offering for the Temple of God in Jerusalem (NLT). Men will contribute towards your expenses and make supplies available for the journey of your life and you will be built up and become a builder of God's Kingdom, in Jesus’ name.

Prayer/Action
* Ask God to command help for you as you go out today.
* Pray that you will be an instrument of God’s help to many, in Jesus’ name.
* Pray that you will not make a waste of God's help over your life.

TODAY’S PROPHETIC PRAYER
I seal December with the blood of Jesus, and I declare it totally defended, in the mighty name of Jesus.