For Better, for Worse

 STRENGTH FOR MY DAYS 
A Daily Devotional by Bishop David Bakare

For Better, for Worse

Tuesday, 10 September

 

A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. Proverbs 17:17

SCRIPTURE FOR TODAY: Ezekiel 37:1-12 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, 2 And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. 3 And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest. 4 Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. 5 Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: 6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD. 7 So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. 8 And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them. 9 Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army. 11 Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. 12 Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.

 

MORE LESSON: Proverbs 24:10 If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.

 

In today’s text, the first marriage I instituted by the Almighty Himself was attacked. The enemy had deceived the woman and the couple sinned against God by eating the fruit which He commanded them not to eat. Prior to that time, everything was in order: God created a beautiful garden and placed the man and his wife there. Adam loved Eve so much: the first time he saw her, he exclaimed, as recorded in Genesis 2:33: …This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.

God's plan was that marriage should be forever since man was also created to live forever. However, things suddenly changed and the sweet life they enjoyed in the garden suddenly went sour. But Adam did what every married couple should learn from. Genesis 4:1 records, And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD. Even though His wife was the cause of their ordeal, Adam did not send her away. He acknowledged the fact that marriage is for better for worse.

Marriage is for a life-time and this is why every unmarried person must prayerfully trust God to find a godly man or woman. Friend, pray that you do not miss your way into the wrong man's life. There are many great men who are married to violent ladies and are always afraid to take guests home. Many pretty, born again women, who are serving the Lord have to hide their Bible from their husbands when going to Church. This is regardless of the fact that it is in church the women pray for the family increase, fruit of the womb, protection and their husbands' promotion. The worst part of it is that marriage is for life. To be a roommate of a terrible young man is an evil that can change at the end of the session or course, but when you are married to an evil man or woman you can't change, or pray that he or she should die. Some children even wish they were not born to their parents and are sad at the thought of going on holiday to meet their fighting Mummy and Daddy.

If done according to God's plan, marriage is designed to be heaven on earth and it is to last a life-time. It is not a testing ground where you pick and drop. So every unmarried man or lady should trust God to choose carefully because marriage is ‘for better for worse’. Similarly, if you are married and the storm is raging against your home, trust God to restore peace.

 

Prayer/Action

* Pray that your children will not marry outside of God's will.

* Pray for fresh wine in home so to access God's blessings.

* Pray that your home will a model to others.

 

TODAY’S PROPHETIC PRAYER: This month, I will not labour in vain or bring forth trouble, in the wonderful name of Jesus.

Interdependence II

 STRENGTH FOR MY DAYS 
A Daily Devotional by Bishop David Bakare

Interdependence II

Monday, 9 September

 

For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up. Ecclesiastes 4:10

SCRIPTURE FOR TODAY: Colossians 3:18-23 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them. 20 Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. 21 Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. 22 Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God: 23 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;

 

MORE LESSON: Ephesians 4:16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

 

When you support your partner in accomplishing anything, you are not doing anything special. You are only living your essence in the marriage; and that makes you relevant in the home. God instituted marriage as a means to help man and if a man or woman is not being helpful in a marriage, he or she is 'useless' to God's purpose for introducing marriage in the first place. I still see men who brag about taking care of their wife when they are only doing what is expected. The point I'm raising is, that you support your partner to get something done, you are not doing anything extra ordinary. In fact, you should call yourself an unprofitable servant.

This means that you should remain committed to doing that which you were designed to do even if you are not being clapped for. You should not say because you are not appreciated, you will stop doing what you are supposed to do as a wife or husband. The sun rises and sets every day, and for some of us, it is just normal and we do not even thank God for it; yet, the sun has never stopped shining because men do not show appreciation. In fact, the Bible says that God makes the sun to shine on both the good and the bad. So, you must remain committed to doing your duty as a wife or husband even if it seems you are not being praised.

However, this is not to say that spouses should not be appreciative of each other. Ingratitude is one of the evils of the end time and we must not be caught in its web. The Bible says that it is a good thing to give thanks to the Lord. In other words, it is a bad thing to be ungrateful. And if you are ungrateful to your partner whom you can see, how can you claim to be grateful to God whom you do not see? It is wisdom to appreciate your partner when they do something for you because what you compliment appreciates in your life.

Interdependence in a family also includes children. There are certain things that children depend on their parents for and parents also at some point depend on their children for some things. For instance, when children are much younger, they depend on their parents for virtually everything and when parents are older, they depend on their children's support. When they no longer have the strength to do all that they want to, it is a beautiful and honourable thing when children can rise to the occasion and be a blessing to their parents. So, let no child say, now they have more money but mummy and daddy should stop disturbing them. Your parents’ money made you, whatever you have today is because of what they did yesterday. And it is only a privilege to be able to give back to your parents. When this is properly done, it attracts the blessing of God. Paul urged us in Ephesians 6:2-3, Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;)That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.

 

Prayer/Action

* Pray that you will be a source of encouragement to your spouse.

* Declare that nothing will come in between you and your spouse.

* Declare that your home will be a model to many around you.

 

TODAY’S PROPHETIC PRAYER: Father, my season of uncommon favour, to do extraordinary exploits takes off now, in the mighty name of Jesus.

Interdependence I

STRENGTH FOR MY DAYS 
A Daily Devotional by Bishop David Bakare

Interdependence I

Sunday, 8 September

 

For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up. Ecclesiastes 4:10

SCRIPTURE FOR TODAY: Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. 10 For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up. 11 Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone? 12 And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

 

MORE LESSON: I Samuel 25:2-35 And there was a man in Maon, whose possessions were in Carmel; and the man was very great, and he had three thousand sheep, and a thousand goats: and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel. 3 Now the name of the man was Nabal; and the name of his wife Abigail: and she was a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance: but the man was churlish and evil in his doings; and he was of the house of Caleb. 4 And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal did shear his sheep. 5 And David sent out ten young men, and David said unto the young men, Get you up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name: 6 And thus shall ye say to him that liveth in prosperity, Peace be both to thee, and peace be to thine house, and peace be unto all that thou hast. 7 And now I have heard that thou hast shearers: now thy shepherds which were with us, we hurt them not, neither was there ought missing unto them, all the while they were in Carmel. 8 Ask thy young men, and they will shew thee. Wherefore let the young men find favour in thine eyes: for we come in a good day: give, I pray thee, whatsoever cometh to thine hand unto thy servants, and to thy son David. 9 And when David's young men came, they spake to Nabal according to all those words in the name of David, and ceased. 10 And Nabal answered David's servants, and said, Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? there be many servants now a days that break away every man from his master. 11 Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men, whom I know not whence they be? 12 So David's young men turned their way, and went again, and came and told him all those sayings. 13 And David said unto his men, Gird ye on every man his sword. And they girded on every man his sword; and David also girded on his sword: and there went up after David about four hundred men; and two hundred abode by the stuff. 14 But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master; and he railed on them. 15 But the men were very good unto us, and we were not hurt, neither missed we any thing, as long as we were conversant with them, when we were in the fields: 16 They were a wall unto us both by night and day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep. 17 Now therefore know and consider what thou wilt do; for evil is determined against our master, and against all his household: for he is such a son of Belial, that a man cannot speak to him. 18 Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched corn, and an hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on asses. 19 And she said unto her servants, Go on before me; behold, I come after you. But she told not her husband Nabal. 20 And it was so, as she rode on the ass, that she came down by the covert of the hill, and, behold, David and his men came down against her; and she met them. 21 Now David had said, Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow hath in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained unto him: and he hath requited me evil for good. 22 So and more also do God unto the enemies of David, if I leave of all that pertain to him by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall. 23 And when Abigail saw David, she hasted, and lighted off the ass, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, 24 And fell at his feet, and said, Upon me, my lord, upon me let this iniquity be: and let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine audience, and hear the words of thine handmaid. 25 Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this man of Belial, even Nabal: for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him: but I thine handmaid saw not the young men of my lord, whom thou didst send. 26 Now therefore, my lord, as the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, seeing the LORD hath withholden thee from coming to shed blood, and from avenging thyself with thine own hand, now let thine enemies, and they that seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal. 27 And now this blessing which thine handmaid hath brought unto my lord, let it even be given unto the young men that follow my lord. 28 I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid: for the LORD will certainly make my lord a sure house; because my lord fighteth the battles of the LORD, and evil hath not been found in thee all thy days. 29 Yet a man is risen to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul: but the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the LORD thy God; and the souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling out, as out of the middle of a sling. 30 And it shall come to pass, when the LORD shall have done to my lord according to all the good that he hath spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed thee ruler over Israel; 31 That this shall be no grief unto thee, nor offence of heart unto my lord, either that thou hast shed blood causeless, or that my lord hath avenged himself: but when the LORD shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember thine handmaid. 32 And David said to Abigail, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet me: 33 And blessed be thy advice, and blessed be thou, which hast kept me this day from coming to shed blood, and from avenging myself with mine own hand. 34 For in very deed, as the LORD God of Israel liveth, which hath kept me back from hurting thee, except thou hadst hasted and come to meet me, surely there had not been left unto Nabal by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall. 35 So David received of her hand that which she had brought him, and said unto her, Go up in peace to thine house; see, I have hearkened to thy voice, and have accepted thy person.

 

God instituted marriage and in His original design, marriage will work effectively only when there is perfect interdependence. In other words, independence in a marriage is a mirage. A person seeking independence need not marry because the roles of a man and a woman as designed by God are such that one will have to depend on the other for something. For instance, in child bearing, even though the man is the one who gives the seed, He has no womb and so will have to depend on his wife to incubate and nurture his seed so they can both rejoice when the baby arrives. Thus, interdependence in marriage is an advantage rather than a disadvantage. It is a beautiful thing when everyone understands their role and work accordingly. This is the Master's original design. The reason why there is a lot of chaos today is because many are no longer comfortable in their traditional roles as husband and wife and there is this role reversal that is destroying the essence of marriage today.

As a result of interdependence, there is a particular help that comes in a home that does not allow one to stay down financially, materially, spiritually, physically and otherwise. MARRIAGE IS HELP; MARRIAGE BRINGS HELP. The foundation of God for a home is built on the need for help. Take help out of marriage and it loses its value. The moment the partners in a marriage are not getting help from their union, they have lost the essence of that union. If I could do everything for myself, why do I need another person in the first instance? There is no need to get married and give an impression that I'm all alone and have everything. The day you start feeling you have everything/are sufficient in yourself in your marriage, that marriage has ended. If you are sufficient in yourself you don't need anybody to do anything else for you so don't get married.

Today's text says when one falls, the other will raise him up. So, the fact that the wife brings more money home than the man is not strange. That's why they got married so that when the finance of one is down, the finance of the other will raise him/her up. There's no big deal, the woman should not brag about making more money than the man. That's why you got married; that's why all your money belongs to your husband. Besides, you have given your husband your body which is more precious, so why not your money? Conversely, a man should not also go around bragging that he is the bread winner of the family. If you are not the bread winner, what would you be? Bread loser or bread eater? That's why you came, so that you can provide for the lady, her children and her parents. Friend, pick up the bills and stop making noise around the house.

 

Prayer/Action

* Ask God to change any negative perspective you have about being dependent on others.

* Pray for wisdom to live with your spouse, family, and relatives, so that you will enjoy the benefits of interdependence.

* Pray for better understanding of your family roles.

 

TODAY’S PROPHETIC PRAYER: By the power of the Holy Spirit, concerning this new month, I declare that those who proclaimed me irrelevant in destiny will attend my celebration parade, in the awesome name of Jesus. 

Marriage, God's Help to Man II

 STRENGTH FOR MY DAYS 
A Daily Devotional by Bishop David Bakare

Marriage, God's Help to Man II

Saturday, 7 September

 

And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. Genesis 2:18

SCRIPTURE FOR TODAY: Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. 10 For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up. 11 Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone? 12 And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

 

MORE LESSON: Deuteronomy 28:1-2 And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: 2 And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.

 

Today, we would continue to look at the different aspects of help available to partners in marriage.

2. Help in adversity: Ecclesiastes 4:10 says, For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up. This verse confirms that marriage is for HELP. You need somebody to help you and that's why God cannot leave you without a spouse. This verse says, …if they fall…. This means that both husband and wife are not infallible; so if one falls, they can access their partner's help to rise again. We live in turbulent times and one of God's support systems is Christian marriage. Hardly do you see both partners down at the same time. But even if they do, the encouragement provided by each partner will become a strength and anchor for them to rise again. If your partner falls, do not trample upon him/her; rather, help him/her to rise again.

God loves you and it is His desire to bless you with a godly marriage. If you are believing God for a life partner, use the Scripture because God answers prayers when they are scriptural. Answer comes faster when you back up your prayers with scriptures. You don't cry to prayers and expect an answer. Tell God what He said and ask Him to perform His word. Marriage is for help, God is interested in helping you. So if marriage is one of the ways by which God provides help for a man, then He is interested in getting you get married.

3. Emotional help: The Bible records that when one is down, he needs another person to help him. Now there are times that in marriage it's not only financial problems that come, you can have some emotional problems, and you need your partner to quickly get back on your feet. Sometimes, there are issues that you can't discuss with anybody but your spouse will help you. May be because of the flesh, we can fall sick and many things can happen in the course of the sickness and nobody can help you, but having a supportive partner will help you heal faster. There are times you need someone you can tell both the good and the ugly and it is a beautiful thing if that person is your spouse. Spouses should not be judgmental or critical of their partners but should be apt to provide the necessary emotional support during difficult times.

The beauty of marriage comes alive when men and women access the help God provides through the union. But in order to access this help, you must do what God has said to do husbands must love their wives and wives must be submissive to their own husbands. Every piece of equipment will only function at its best to the degree to which people adhere to the instructions in the user's manual. In the same way, we can only get God's help when we handle marriage the way He designed it to be.

 

Prayer/Action

* Declare that your home is blessed while singles should pray for a God-ordained helpmate.

* Pray for help in marriages.

* Ask God for help not to miss your helpmate.

 

TODAY’S PROPHETIC PRAYER: No room for limitation or stagnancy this month, in the powerful name of Jesus.