Forgive and Rise Again

Saturday 16 June
READ: Matthew 26:31-35, 69-75
MORE LESSON: Acts 1:15-23

Peter was an influential figure in Jesus' team. When Jesus predicted His suffering and death, Peter boasted and vowed that he was going to die with Jesus. However, all it took was a little damsel to question him; he swore and denied ever knowing Jesus. He fulfilled what Jesus had prophesied: Before the cock crows thou shalt deny me thrice . . .and he went out and wept bitterly: Matt 26: 75. However, he did what needed to be done: he wept bitterly in repentance. After crying, Peter forgave himself and continued with God; and later in the book of Acts we saw the same Peter become a great preacher.
Peter was not the only one who missed it during the trial and suffering of Jesus. Another person was Judas Iscariot who led soldiers to arrest Jesus. He sold Jesus for thirty shekels of silver; he allowed Satan to rule him from within. A theologian suggested that maybe Judas thought that after betraying Jesus into the hands of His enemies, Jesus would be too powerful to be arrested, and thereafter, he would have made away with the money without any guilty conscience. This still shows that Judas was ruled by the love of money. However, he must have been disappointed when Jesus allowed Himself to be taken. Destiny had already determined for the Son of man to go as it is written concerning Him but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed (Matt 26: 24). After Jesus was crucified, Judas also repented: “I have sinned, I have betrayed the innocent blood” (Matt 27: 4). He refused to spend the money and went to buy a plot of land: …and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out: Acts 1: 18. He committed suicide.
It was Peter who stood up and selected a replacement for Judas: read Acts 1:15-20. Was Peter not also guilty? Yes, he was, but he accepted forgiveness; and rose again. What about Judas; would God have forgiven him? Yes, but he didn't accept the forgiveness; he killed himself. The difference between the two of them is that one forgave himself while the other one refused to forgive himself. When a man refuses to forgive himself in destiny, he is digging a grave for himself. Learn to forgive yourself so that you will not go the way of Judas. It's time to forgive and rise again. If you can just forgive the mistakes of yesterday and face tomorrow, there is hope for you. If your destiny is cut down, don't just sit down weeping; don't commit suicide. Begin the process of healing by first forgiving yourself like Peter did. That's what the Word of the Lord says-Forgive.

Prayer/Action
* Rebuke the forces of guilt and condemnation over your life.
* Receive the forgiveness that Christ has given you and declare your rising.
* Receive by faith courage and power to rise above your past, in Jesus name.

TODAY’S PROPHETIC PRAYER: Today, I renew my commitment to the God who answers prayer; I shall never have to see another god, in the mighty name of Jesus.

Fool for Christ

Thursday 14 June
READ: Genesis 12: 1 – 4
MORE LESSON: 1 Corinthians 3: 18- 20

Abraham was seventy-five years when the Lord called him to leave his father's house. One may not easily understand the depth of sacrifice it took for a 75 year-old man to leave home and start a journey when his mates were enjoying retirement. The most astonishing thing about Abraham's journey is that people asked him where he was going as he set out of the house and the only answer he had was that he didn't know where. What Abraham did looked very foolish in the natural but he became great for it. Abraham was the seventy-five year old man who decided to be a ‘fool’ if that is what it takes to obey Jehovah. It is bad enough to be the 'fool at forty' as in the popular adage, but a fool at seventy-five is something else altogether. However, when we remember that God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, we will gladly choose to be fools for Christ at any age.
When Abraham left home at seventy-five with Sarah, his wife, they had no child. They waited on the Lord for twenty-five years before they had the promised son. Then the Lord demanded for the son to be laid down on the altar of sacrifice, and he acted the ‘fool’ again as he obediently followed God even to the point of laying down ‘his only son’. It is difficult to imagine what he would have told his wife, son and servants as he packed and headed to the Mountain of Moriah to make the ultimate sacrifice. Abraham was 'foolish' enough to take Isaac to the mountain, and lay him down to be sacrificed. The Lord had to quickly call him to stop at the verge of making the sacrifice; it was a test of faith.
There are realms of power and grace that a man can never attain in God until he is willing to be a seen as a fool in order to please God. Obedience to God is never convenient and the instructions of God are not always sensible to the natural mind. We must choose to walk with God and obey Him whatever the cost so that He can showcase our lives as the masterpiece of His grace. If you choose to be a fool for the course of the Lord to flow freely, the Lord will come forth for you; your 'foolishness' will eventually come out as wisdom. Thereafter, you will have results beyond your human thinking, in Jesus name.

Prayer/Action
* Ask God to make His wisdom and power known in your life as you act in obedience to divine instructions.
* Pray that you will be sensitive to divine instruction as it comes to you.

TODAY’S PROPHETIC PRAYER: This year, this month, even this week, I turn every bitter experience to testimony, in the name of Jesus.

Fool for Christ

Thursday 14 June
READ: Genesis 12: 1 – 4
MORE LESSON: 1 Corinthians 3: 18- 20

Abraham was seventy-five years when the Lord called him to leave his father's house. One may not easily understand the depth of sacrifice it took for a 75 year-old man to leave home and start a journey when his mates were enjoying retirement. The most astonishing thing about Abraham's journey is that people asked him where he was going as he set out of the house and the only answer he had was that he didn't know where. What Abraham did looked very foolish in the natural but he became great for it. Abraham was the seventy-five year old man who decided to be a ‘fool’ if that is what it takes to obey Jehovah. It is bad enough to be the 'fool at forty' as in the popular adage, but a fool at seventy-five is something else altogether. However, when we remember that God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, we will gladly choose to be fools for Christ at any age.
When Abraham left home at seventy-five with Sarah, his wife, they had no child. They waited on the Lord for twenty-five years before they had the promised son. Then the Lord demanded for the son to be laid down on the altar of sacrifice, and he acted the ‘fool’ again as he obediently followed God even to the point of laying down ‘his only son’. It is difficult to imagine what he would have told his wife, son and servants as he packed and headed to the Mountain of Moriah to make the ultimate sacrifice. Abraham was 'foolish' enough to take Isaac to the mountain, and lay him down to be sacrificed. The Lord had to quickly call him to stop at the verge of making the sacrifice; it was a test of faith.
There are realms of power and grace that a man can never attain in God until he is willing to be a seen as a fool in order to please God. Obedience to God is never convenient and the instructions of God are not always sensible to the natural mind. We must choose to walk with God and obey Him whatever the cost so that He can showcase our lives as the masterpiece of His grace. If you choose to be a fool for the course of the Lord to flow freely, the Lord will come forth for you; your 'foolishness' will eventually come out as wisdom. Thereafter, you will have results beyond your human thinking, in Jesus name.

Prayer/Action
* Ask God to make His wisdom and power known in your life as you act in obedience to divine instructions.
* Pray that you will be sensitive to divine instruction as it comes to you.

TODAY’S PROPHETIC PRAYER: This year, this month, even this week, I turn every bitter experience to testimony, in the name of Jesus.

There Shall Be No Loss

Wednesday 13 June
READ: Acts 17: 13 – 22
MORE LESSON: Psalm 121: 1 - 8

Paul was with some people who had taken him prisoner and were leading him to Rome. Then arose a real pandemonium of a storm on the Great Sea that overwhelmed the ship and almost sank it. It got so bad that the sailors threw their belongings into the sea so as to lighten up the ship and keep it afloat. The storm lasted for 14 days and no one ate any food nor saw the sun for days. It was in the midst of this apparent hopelessness that the Word of the Lord came forth, …Fear not…God hath given thee all them that sail with thee: Acts 27: 24. This means that there would be no loss or harm to Paul and, because of him God had also decided to secure the soul of everyone in that ship. Be it known to you as well that however gloomy the situation around you looks, there shall be no loss. Peradventure, the ship of your destiny is threatened and you are faced with a raging storm, there is good news for you: there shall be no loss.
It was the presence of Paul in the ship that provided a covenant of security for everyone else in the ship. Even though they had only a temporary association with Paul just for the duration of the journey, that association gave a cover over every one in that ship. This means that whenever you travel by road, air or sea, everyone in that vehicle automatically becomes preserved because of you. It also means that everyone living in the same environment with you begins to enjoy peace and safety because you are there. The cover of God's grace on your life through the Blood of Jesus is over you, everyone and everything around your vicinity. Indeed, you will not suffer any loss and there shall be no loss to anyone around you.
The word, ‘there shall be no loss’ is also applicable in your relationship to the Church. The cover of God over His Church extends to you as you wholeheartedly associate with the house of God. There shall be no loss of any one who sails in the ship which is the Church. This is why one of the strategies of the enemy when he wants to destroy people is to isolate and estrange them from the Church. Please, do not trade the cover of grace over your life for anything. Come with us for the Lord has written good concerning us. And Moses said unto Hobab, the son of Raguel the Midianite, Moses' father in law, We are journeying unto the place of which the LORD said, I will give it you: come thou with us, and we will do thee good: for the LORD hath spoken good concerning Israel: Num. 10:29. As you stay glued to God and to His grace, you will never know loss, in Jesus’ name.

Prayer/Action
* Declare that the cover of the Lord shall be upon you and your household.
* Declare that there shall be no loss in your year.
* Declare that God’s covenant of preservation shall be upon you.

TODAY’S PROPHETIC PRAYER: Father, I decree an opening for me in the palace of my fulfillment this month and it shall not be shut, in the name of Jesus.