From Poverty to Wealth

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SCRIPTURE FOR TODAY: Deuteronomy 8:18

18 But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.

MORE LESSON: Amos 9:13

13 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt.

Tuesday, 14 October

Memory Verse: But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day. Deuteronomy 8:18

There is a law of cause and effect that governs everything in life. Wealth does not just happen; it is acquired as God reveals, "Thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is He that gives thee power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore unto thy fathers, as it is this day" (Deut. 8:18. Notice that this scripture does not say that God gives you wealth, but that He gives you the power to get wealth. So you cannot sit at home doing nothing and expect wealth to come. God is committed to making things happen for you when you do something.

Another principle of increase is giving. People who hate to give will be poor because God does not prosper a tight fisted man. Stinginess will activate the operation of poverty in a man's life. Equally, men who do not do anything will be poor because God does not prosper a lazy man. Laziness reduces a man to zero. The hand of the diligent shall bear rule, but the slothful shall be under tribute. Proverbs 12:24. Another harbinger of poverty is reckless spending. Some waste all the resources that God puts in their hands because they buy everything they see, whether necessary or not. The Bible says that the lazy man and the man who cannot control his spending are brothers. Their father is poverty; he is also slothful in his work, a brother to him that is a great waster: Proverbs 18:9.

However, God's covenant with you is of wealth and not poverty. So you must work by the principles of the Kingdom, and you will see that the Lord is committed to blessing you. God wants to bless you so abundantly that you will not be able to harvest it all. The time will come,” says the Lord, ”when the grain and grapes will grow faster than they can be harvested: Amos 9:13 (NLT). God intends to increase you till you become a thousand times more than you are presently. May the LORD God of your fathers make you a thousand times more numerous than you are, and bless you as He has promised you! Deuteronomy 1:11. I want you to believe this scripture so that it can impart to you the confidence to rise above poverty into prosperity. God is not satisfied with what you are now, no matter how big you think you are. He wants to make you a thousand times more. A hundred percent increase is not all that God can give; He can give you a thousand percent increase.

Break away from the habits that propagate poverty and commit to the Kingdom principles of diligence, giving, saving, investment, wisdom, and prayer. Furthermore, God will remove poverty from your generation of children and make you prosperous.

Prayer/Action

* Thank God for the level that you are now.

* Ask the Lord to reveal to you the secret of kingdom wealth.

* Pray that as God's blessing will be upon you, you will also be a channel of blessings to others.

* Pray that you will not be lazy, non-slothful in life.

TODAY’S PROPHETIC PRAYER: I command every arrow of depression and downcastness to lose its hold over me and backfire on the enemy now, in the name of Jesus.

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

Remember Lot’s Wife

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SCRIPTURE FOR TODAY: Genesis 19:15–26

15 And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. 16 And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city. 17 And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. 18 And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord: 19 Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die: 20 Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live. 21 And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken. 22 Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar. 23 The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar. 24 Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; 25 And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. 26 But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

MORE LESSON: Number 14:1-5 

1 And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. 2 And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness! 3 And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt? 4 And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt. 5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.

Monday, 13 October

Memory Verse: No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. Luke 9:62

The wickedness of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah became too much to be ignored, so God decided to destroy the city. Since God will not destroy the righteous with the wicked, He chose to spare Lot and his family. The Angel who was sent to destroy the city warned Lot and his family to escape to a nearby city without looking back. Unfortunately, there was a casualty as Lot's wife looked back and turned to a pillar of salt.

One would have thought that the account of Lot's wife turning into a pillar of salt was a coincidence of history, but Jesus' comment in Luke 17:32, 'Remember Lot's wife' reinforces the lesson of obedience to God's instructions. It may not be easy to tell the possible reason why she looked back, but the consequence is evident. It doesn't matter the motivation(s) to disobey the Lord, we cannot handle the repercussion.

In several biblical instances looking back is something that God detests. In looking back, the past is brought into focus in a way that diminishes future possibilities; that is why we are told to forget the former things and consider not the things of old, but to focus on the new thing and the new order that Jehovah is bringing to pass (Isaiah 43:18-19). No matter how good or bad the past was, we must not stay fixated on it. The past is the best place for the past and it should be left there.

Lot's wife shouldn't have had any problem if she had trusted God and entrusted her future to Him, despite the fire from Heaven that consumed whatever precious things they left behind in Sodom and Gomorrah. 'Trusting' and 'entrusting' are two key words to be mastered in our spiritual journey in order to arrive at our destination safely. Jesus says in Luke 9:62, …No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. Why was Lot's wife not struck with thunder or made to die in some other way than being turned into a pillar of salt? Turning into a pillar of salt is a symbolic preservation of her life for generations to see that when God forbids you from looking back, just set your face like a flint (Isaiah 50:7) looking onto the Almighty.

Prayer/Action

* Ask for grace to walk in perfect obedience.

* Pray that in whatever situation you are found you will always trust God.

TODAY’S PROPHETIC PRAYER: My father and my God, thanksgiving and praise await you in my family this month, in the precious name of Jesus.

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

The Law of Increase

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SCRIPTURE FOR TODAY: Exodus 23: 25-30

25 And ye shall serve the LORD your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee. 26 There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfil. 27 I will send my fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come, and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee. 28 And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee. 29 I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee. 30 By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land.

MORE LESSON: Proverbs 28:18-19

18 Whoso walketh uprightly shall be saved: but he that is perverse in his ways shall fall at once. 19 He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread: but he that followeth after vain persons shall have poverty enough.

Sunday, 12 October

Memory Verse: Thou shalt increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side. Psalm 71:21

God is strategic and will always bring to pass His counsel in due time. One of His strategies as recorded in our memory verse is advancing His people with incremental steps. Jehovah doesn't always make things grow over night, rather He makes room for regular increase. The law of natural increase that God has put in place is such that humans are not born as adults, but as babies who grow up to become adults little by little.

The Saviour came into the world to procure salvation for mankind but had to follow the process of nature that God put in place in the world. Jesus had to be born as a baby and grew up to become the Saviour He was meant to be. There is the process of growth that we must not circumvent. The Bible says, He that is in a hurry to be rich shall not be innocent (Proverbs 28:20). We must follow the process of wealth acquisition, which includes wisdom, hard work, dedication and patience, leading to incremental progress.

Considering today's Scripture it is clear that God promised the children of Israel the blessing for serving Him and a promise to create more space for them by dislodging their enemies in a strategic manner – little by little! God's wisdom was that if He drove all their enemies suddenly, the breakthrough could become a challenge to them. The Almighty reasoned that the beast of the field might multiply against them, if the inhabitants of the land were driven before Israel quickly and suddenly. Strong and lasting testimonies go through a full circle of process and we must learn to wait and go through the proceeding.

 In applying the above Scripture, we understand that God does not want us to be static in life. He wants us to move no matter how little the movement is, until we become a movement and a force to reckon with. In 2 Peter 1:5-9 the principle of addition is advocated, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity. By little additions here and there we become great with time.

Prayer/Action

* Thank God because your growth is sure and steady.

* Ask the Lord to ensure your greatness as you increase day by day.

* Pray that every enemy of your greatness lose their power right now

TODAY’S PROPHETIC PRAYER: I activate the force of divine covenant to take my destiny to the place of greatness and celebration today, in the wonderful name of Jesus.

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

The Shining Light

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SCRIPTURE FOR TODAY: Matthew 5:14-16 

14Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

MORE LESSON: John 5:35-37

35 He was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light. 36 But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me. 37 And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.

Saturday, 11 October

Memory Verse: Arise, shine for your light has come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. Isaiah 60:1

The moment we gave our lives to Christ, we were translated from darkness to light and so we've got the light of God in us. We can therefore arise and shine because our light has truly come. Wherever we show up light is expected to shine there. Just like the physical light is celebrated by men, so should men see a reason to celebrate our lives because of the impact we make wherever we go. As Jesus who was anointed with the Holy Ghost and power went about doing good while on earth, believers in Christ ought to go everywhere doing good and exuding the very life of Christ.

We live in a time and season characterised by 'darkness covering the earth and gross darkness the people' as prophesied in Isaiah 60:2, but there is hope in that the believer can arise and shine. The sin and sinfulness of this generation should not make us appear helpless in the face of daunting challenges. Rather, it should provide the impetus needed for us to be exemplary with our way and manner of life. The light is said to shine in darkness such that darkness cannot comprehend it (John 1:5).

Interestingly, our text does not only call us to shine, but to shine with intensity. Matthew 5:16 says, Let your light so shine that men will see your good works and glorify your father in heaven. The phrase 'so shine' needs our particular attention. Do not let your shining be mild or else your influence will be minimal. Trust the Holy Spirit to work in your life to the intent that the intensity of your shining will be effectual and far reaching. May God help us to so shine our light before men and by so doing draw them to Christ.

The Scripture says no man lights a candle and puts it under a bushel. The implication and application of this is that our Christianity must not be hidden to the world. We can't hide our identity neither should we be in obscurity. Christianity should not be practised in a way that it is not visible to those who should be attracted to it. Men are supposed to see our Christianity as manifested in our conduct and good works so that they can glorify the Father with their lives.

Prayer/Action

* Pray that you will keep burning and shining all the days of your life.

* Declare that darkness shall not comprehend your light.

* Pray that the Lord will help you to attract men to Him by your lifestyle.

TODAY’S PROPHETIC PRAYER: My destiny is moving today from obscurity to limelight in an unstoppable way, hallelujah, in Jesus' name.

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