From Darkness to Light

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From Darkness to Light

Saturday, 14 December

Memory Verse: But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: 1 Peter 2:9

SCRIPTURE FOR TODAY: Luke 24:30-35 30 And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. 31 And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight. 32 And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures? 33 And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them, 34 Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon. 35 And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread.

MORE LESSON: Acts 9:18-19 18 And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized. 19 And when he had received meat, he was strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus.

Spiritually, darkness has been the greatest challenge on earth. No wonder Jesus came as the light of the world. The Bible says the whole world lies in darkness and until Christians begin to shine their Jesus-given light, there is no hope for the world. However, no matter the intensity of light, if the eyes of people are not opened, the light is useless. As it is that people can remain in darkness no matter how wide open their eyes are if there is no light, people can also remain in darkness not because they don't have eyes; but because their eyes are not opened.

The Kingdom of God is the Kingdom of light, so everyone in it must have the power of sight. Flip Wilson said: “What you see is what you get”. Being able to see into the spiritual realm has a lot of advantages. One day God wanted to commission Jeremiah into ministry and one of the things he wanted to be sure the prophet had is the power of sight. He said, Jeremiah, what seest thou: Jer 1: 11, and until God was sure Jeremiah could see correctly, He did not perform His Word. God wants all His children to be seers. Blindness pegs a man's destiny and makes him live a beggarly life. A man with open eyes has access to divine secrets and will live a prosperous life.

Luke 24:31 says: And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight. The evidence that a man's eye is opened is that he is able to see the Lord. When you see and know Jesus as your Lord and Saviour and see God at work everyday, then your eyes are opened. Before a man can see correctly his heart must be inflamed like the disciples that Jesus talked with on the way; their hearts burned within them and their eyes were opened. Beloved, until you begin to hear the voice of Jesus and read His Word, your eye s of understanding remain closed. But when your heart burns, then your eyes will begin to see. What are indications that a man is not seeing correctly or does not see? This happens when:

i. he cannot see God's provision and plan for his life,

ii. a man does not know what to do always,

iii. a man's pathway in life is not even or is awkward all the time,

iv. one does not see beauty, good, success and victory, but evil all of the time.

v. a man does not know his true state by thinking he is what he is not.

But when a man sits, talks, eats with Jesus, his eyes will definitely open (vs. 30-31). May your eyes of understanding be opened, and may you begin to see all that is necessary for your progress, in Jesus’ mighty name.

Prayer/Action

* Ask God to open your eyes to see.

* Pray that your spiritual senses and your level of discernment, be heightened.

* Rebuke every form of darkness in and around your life, destiny and family.

TODAY’S PROPHETIC PRAYER: As it is written, “Say to the righteous it shall be well with them”; so is it with me this day, in the mighty name of Jesus.

© Strength for My Days by Bishop David Bakare - All Rights Reserved

Forgive

Forgive

Friday, 13 December

Memory Verse: And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. Mark 11:25

TODAY’S FASTING FOCUS: Insured by the blood of Jesus; Mathew 26:28; Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:20

SCRIPTURE FOR TODAY: Ephesians 4:31-32 31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: 32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

MORE LESSON: Colossians 3:12–15 12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; 13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. 14 And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. 15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.

There are many people who carry offences and bitterness around. A believer may be outwardly serving diligently and passionately and it looks as if everything is alright. However, God who searches the inward parts looks inside his heart and He is turned off. Unforgiveness turns God off a life and destiny. The reason many people do not experience miracles, lifting and breakthrough is because they abhor unforgiveness in their hearts. Until there is forgiveness, there is no answered prayer. Mark 11: 24 -25 says, Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. And when ye stand praying, forgive.... Scripture directly links answered prayers to forgiving people that have wronged us. Unforgiveness kills; many times people die suddenly and we start asking God questions. Men can only see the outside; only God sees the inside. A lot of people carry subtle killers like unforgiveness, bitterness, pride and resentment on the inside and until its result materialises, we may not know. This doesn't imply that everyone who dies suddenly carries such. The truth however is that many kill themselves and then people question God. Why give yourselves high blood pressure and mental problems because someone offended you? Unforgiveness is the reason many people do not experience break-throughs but only break-downs.

There are people in the Church who cannot speak to the person sitting next to them because of offence. Some hate others so badly that they don't look the direction of the person anymore. They are not free to look around; you can't be so offended by a person that you subject yourself to suffering. It is cheaper to forgive and live in peace and health.

In Matthew 5:23–24, Jesus admonished that if you have anything to offer to God and you know that there is someone that you have offended or has offended you, go and make peace with the person before you present that offering. We must personally make the choice to go out to forgive and ask for forgiveness. Never find it difficult to apologise and ask for forgiveness. It is unavoidable to offend and be offended while relating with people; mutual forgiveness is the way out. Living in unforgiveness is like swallowing poison; a person cannot drink poison and expect someone else to die in his stead. One can't carry bitterness, anger, unforgiveness and expect the object of his anger to be affected. We only affect ourselves with our unforgiveness; the other person is bouncing around joyfully. This is why you should set yourself free and let it go by forgiving. Receive today the grace to forgive.

Prayer/Action

* Reflect for the next few minutes: if you are still holding unto any negative event or keeping malice with anyone - let them go now. release them.

* Ask the Lord to show you mercy if you have erred in any area.

* Pray that God will flood your heart and life with His peace that passes understanding.

TODAY’S PROPHETIC PRAYER: By divine insurance of the blood of Jesus, I declare this December safe on every side, in the powerful name of Jesus.

© Strength for My Days by Bishop David Bakare - All Rights Reserved

Above Offence

Above Offence

Thursday, 12 December

Memory Verse: Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. Colossians 3:13

SCRIPTURE FOR TODAY: Colossians 3:13-14 13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. 14 And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.

MORE LESSON: 1 Corinthians 10:32

32 Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God:

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, said unto His disciples, ...It is impossible but that 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 Colossians 3:13 says, Make allowance for each other's faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. 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 do not like. Probably you like quietness while he likes noise and turbulence wherever he is; you have to learn how to make room now that both of you are roommates or else you will fight every day. Life is about recognising people for who they are and learning to overlook their faults.

Everyone loves to hear that he is a rare 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 fingerprints 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 up out of complaining that a 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.

Prayer/Action

* Pray against the spirit of offences.

* Pray that the love of God will guide you at all costs and at all times.

* Ask God for a fresh spirit of love to stay above offences.

TODAY’S PROPHETIC PRAYER: On this twelfth day of the twelfth month; I dispatch monitoring angels of the throne of heaven to supervise the rest days of this year for defence and victory, in the wonderful name of Jesus.

© Strength for My Days by Bishop David Bakare - All Rights Reserved

The two Men and their Names

The two Men and their Names

Wednesday, 11 December

Memory Verse: There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: Luke 16:19

SCRIPTURE FOR TODAY: Luke 16:19–31

19 There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: 20 And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, 21 And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; 23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. 25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. 26 And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. 27 Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: 28 For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. 29 Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. 30 And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. 31 And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.

MORE LESSON: Revelations 20:15

15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

The story in the text is about two men; a poor and a rich man. The poor man had a name that Heaven recognised; the Bible records that his name was Lazarus. The name of the rich man, on the other hand, was not recognised in Heaven; he was merely referred to as 'the rich man'. In the world today, to be called 'the rich man' seems to be a very good name. But, no matter how nice a name sounds, if the name is not recognised in Heaven, it is not yet a good name. The Bible says, a good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of one's birth: Ecclesiastes 7:1. We should pursue a good name. Really, the best name that a man can have is a name that is written in the Book of Life. It is good to do things that give you a good name on earth but beyond that, the best you can do for your name is to get it into the Book of life. The issue of your name being in the Book of life becomes more and more crucial even as the day of a man’s death approaches with every passing second. Lazarus had a good name written in Heaven while the rich man's name was unknown in Heaven. For the two men in the story, it was death that eventually revealed the true value of their names. Similarly, for every man, it is death that will reveal whether you have a good name or not.

The two men in this story died; just as everyone reading this will, if Jesus tarries. The rich man died and he was buried with fanfare with which a rich man's burial is always associated. Lazarus died and the Bible doesn't say how he was buried or not buried. But the Bible tells us that Lazarus woke up in Abraham's bosom while the rich man found himself in hell. We must never forget that, ...it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment: Hebrews 9:27 (NKJV).

There is life after death; and all that makes the difference is where your name is written. It doesn't matter the name you bear here on earth as much as where your name is written in Heaven. If a man's name is 'governor' or 'president' here on earth and the name is written in the Government House but it is not written in the Book of life, the man is in a very precarious situation. The timeless questions that you have to answer are: “Is your name known in Heaven? Is it written in the book of life?” Accept Jesus into your life today, confess your sins and receive forgiveness through His Blood. Then ask Him to write your name in the Book of Life. As you do this, your eternity is secure in Jesus.

Prayer/Action

* Pray that you will have a name before God.

* Pray for forgiveness if you have been making name only here on earth and not for eternity.

* Ask the Holy Spirit to lead, guard and teach you how to make a name in eternity.

TODAY’S PROPHETIC PRAYER: Any evil altar that dares to mention my name and family this month must catch instant fire, in the mighty name of Jesus.

© Strength for My Days by Bishop David Bakare - All Rights Reserved