THE RIGHT SIDE.

MEMORISE : “And Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said who is on the Lord’s side? Let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him.” EXODUS 32 : 36.
READ : JOHN 21 : 1 - 6 :
1 After these things Jesus shewed himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias; and on this wise shewed he himself.
2 There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples.
3 Simon Peter saith unto them, I go fishing. They say unto him, we also go with thee. They went forth, and entered into a ship immediately; and that night they caught nothing.
4 But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore: but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus
5 Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, No.
6 And He said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes.”
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR : Deuteronomy 12 - 13, JOB 4 : 7 - 21.
Being on the wrong side of life is very dangerous. Many things go wrong when you are not in the right place. My prayer for someone using this devotional is that you will never be on the wrong side of life in Jesus’ name. And if you are on the wrong side already, may the Lord move you to the right side of life in Jesus’ name.
In the Bible reading for today, we read about the disciples’ encounter with the resurrected Jesus at the sea of Tiberias. They toiled throughout the night and caught nothing. When Jesus came to them, they did not recognize Him. Jesus teased them and asked “Children, have ye any meat?” The answer was obviously negative. When you are not where you should be, you are on the wrong side and this can bring untold sorrow and lack. The compassionate Jesus then issued a directive that they should throw their net on the “right side” of the ship for a catch. Amazingly, they caught a multitude of fishes.
One lesson we must learn from this story is that every child of God must find out which is the right side to be. In Genesis, we read about the wrong side Lot went to when he separated himself from Abraham.
“And Lot lifted his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord, like that land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar. Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other.” Genesis 13 : 10 - 11.
Lot greedily chose the land that seemed good for his flock without considering his elder uncle who gave him the option to choose first. Unfortunately, it was the wrong side; it was a place that was marked for destruction after lot had become “successful”, the iniquity of the land brought total destruction upon it and Lot took nothing out of the land. As a matter of fact, he lost his wife in the land.
“Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the lord out of heaven; And he overthrew those cities and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. But his wife looked back from behind, and she became a pillar of salt.” Genesis 19 : 24 - 26.
Beloved, the side of the Lord is the right side. Jesus said: “come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
Come to the Lord’s side today if you are yet to answer His call. Repent and accept Him as your Lord and Saviour. He will prosper you and give you all-round rest as He has promised.
PRAYER POINT :
Father, please take me away from the wrong side of life and bring me to the right side.
AUTHOR : PASTOR E. A ADEBOYE.
HYMN 4. (TAKE MY LIFE AND LET IT BE)
Take my life, and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
Take my moments and my days; let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Take my hands, and let them move at the impulse of Thy love.
Take my feet, and let them be swift and beautiful for Thee.
Take my voice, and let me sing always, only, for my King.
Take my lips, and let them be filled with messages from Thee.
Take my silver and my gold; not a mite would I withhold.
Take my intellect, and use every power as Thou shalt choose.
Take my will, and make it Thine; it shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart, it is Thinev now it shall be Thy royal throne.
Take my love, my Lord, I pour at Thy feet its treasure store.

THAT I MAY KNOW HIM

Memorise:
If any man will do His will, He shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself. John 7:17
Read: Philippians 4:7-10
7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
9 Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.
10 But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity.”
Message
Being with Jesus brings about knowing Him as we ought to. Many blessings await the one who knows Jesus correctly. Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ prayed he might know Him, because he knew the attendant blessings of knowing the Author of life. The question is what does it entail to know Jesus Christ? It takes staying with Him, learning from Him, doing His bidding and loving the brethren. He said:
“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me…” Matthew 11:28-29
There are lots of things we must learn from Jesus if we really want to know Him as He is. For example, in the three great temptations that confronted Him in the wilderness, He proved true and faithful to His Father in Heaven. He did not misuse His power, authority and privilege of being the son of the God with whom there is no impossibility. So, He refused to turn stone to bread. He also turned down the offer of being the richest man on earth when the condition was to worship the devil. Jesus Christ was confronted with the pride of life when He was prodded by the devil to engage in a show of power but He refused to jump from the pinnacle of the temple.
It is interesting to note that these were the three main temptations that rocked the human race in the Garden of Eden, and our first parents fell headlong into them. The lust of flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life (Genesis 3:6, 1 John 2:16). As we know Jesus Christ, we learn to do His bidding and when we do His bidding we are blessed. Our lack of the knowledge of Him makes us alien to God and we short-change ourselves by this. The Bible says: “And such as do wickedly, against covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries; but the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits.” Daniel 11:32
The apostles of old knew the importance of knowing the true God and one of them said: ‘…shew us the father, and it sufficeth us.” (John 14:8). Brethren, we must know Jesus through and through.
Action Point:
Using Phillipians 3:10 (That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death), pray earnestly to God that He may reveal Himself to you.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Deuteronomy 9:13-11:32, Job 3:20-4:6

BEING WITH JESUS.

 BEING WITH JESUS.
MEMORISE : Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. MATTHEW 11 : 29.
READ : ACTS 4 : 13 - 14 :
13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.
14 And beholding the man which was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: DEUTERONOMY 7 : 1 - 9 : 12, JOB 3 : 3 - 19.
It is one thing to answer the call of Jesus Christ, and it is another thing to stay put with Him after we answer the call. There are casual followers of Jesus Christ and there are die-hard followers as well. The casual followers of Jesus Christ have their reasons for casually following Him. One of it may be because they cannot live by the ideals that Jesus teaches in His gospel. Being with Jesus means living by His teachings, He once lamented:
"And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? Luke 6 : 46.
Many call Jesus “Lord” with their mouth but indeed, they do not regard Him as the Lord of their lives. This is why, for the avoidance of doubt, Jesus said :
“…If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed: And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8 : 31 - 32.
Two things are clear from our Bible reading for today; the first is, if you have been with Jesus indeed, boldness will be your trademark. The Bible says :
“For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.” Romans 8 : 15.
When a so-called child of God is living in fear, we must check out whether indeed he has been with Jesus. Secondly; someone who has been with Jesus lives a daily miraculous life, this is another trademark of genuine followers of Jesus Christ. The Bible says :
“And beholding the man which was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.” Acts 4 : 14.
I have taught my children in the School of Disciples that we can do more than Jesus did according to His promise. When we believe this, we stop being caricatures of His Ambassadors on earth. Then, we shall bring the whole world to their knees, when we confidently tell them that Jesus is Lord. We are indeed the light and salt of the world if we chose to be with Jesus, living according to His ideals. Two great blessings of being with Jesus are: we shall learn of Him and when we learn of Him, we shall find rest for our souls. Come to Jesus today and decide to stay put. Don’t be a casual or temporary follower of Jesus Christ.
ACTION POINT :
Make up your mind to live the rest of your life for and with Jesus today and you will be a blessed person.
AUTHOR : PASTOR E. A. ADEBOYE.
HYMN: DEEPER, DEEPER.
Deeper, deeper in the love of Jesus
Daily let me go;
Higher, higher in the school of wisdom,
More of grace to know.
Refrain:
O deeper yet, I pray,
And higher every day,
And wiser, blessed Lord,
In Thy precious, holy Word.
Deeper, deeper, blessed Holy Spirit,
Take me deeper still,
Till my life is wholly lost in Jesus,
And His perfect will.
Deeper, deeper! though it cost hard trials,
Deeper let me go!
Rooted in the holy love of Jesus,
Let me fruitful grow.
Deeper, higher, every day in Jesus,
Till all conflict past,
Finds me conqu'ror, and in His own image
Perfected at last.
Deeper, deeper in the faith of Jesus,
Holy faith and true;
In His pow'r and soul exulting wisdom
Let me peace Pursue

A Path to Prosperity

 Genuine Praise and Worship: 
Memorise:
“The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he
addeth no sorrow with it.” Proverbs 10:22
Read: 2Chronicles 20: 24-26
24 And when Judah came toward the watch
tower in the wilderness, they looked unto the
multitude, and, behold, they were dead bodies
fallen to the earth, and none escaped.
25 And when Jehoshaphat and his people came
to take away the spoil of them, they found
among them in abundance both riches with the
dead bodies, and precious jewels, which they
stripped off for themselves, more than they could
carry away: and they were three days in
gathering of the spoil, it was so much.
26 And on the fourth day they assembled
themselves in the valley of Berachah; for there
they blessed the Lord: therefore the name of the
same place was called, The valley of Berachah,
unto this day.
Message:
Yesterday, we considered genuine praise and
worship as a path to victory, today we want to
consider prosperity: the genuine praise and
worship.
“And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to
take away the spoil of them, they found among
them in abundance both riches with the dead
bodies and precious jewels, which they stripped
off for themselves, more than they could carry
away; and they were three days in gathering of
the spoil, it was so much.”
2 Chronicles 20:25
When God tells you that He would prosper you,
don’t insult Him by asking “how?” This is because
while you do not have one way that can lead you
to your prosperity, God has uncountable ways. All
you need is to believe and obey Him (John
11:40). Is it not amazing, if not unusual, for the
soldiers in our bible reading to go to battle with
precious jewels and costly outfits as if they were
going for wedding ceremonies? The reason for
this was that God had determined to bless His
people, because He knew from onset that His
people would praise and bless the beauty of His
holiness, so He prepared their compensation
beforehand! Another lesson we must learn from
this story is that our praise and worship must be
Holy Spirit inspired; it must not be offered from
our carnal man. The way we sometimes sing
God’s praise confirms that these songs are
carnally motivated: not seasoned with grace. It
would have been acceptable if we were singing it
to praise men like secular musicians do.
Unfortunately, the One we claim to be praising is
a spirit; He knows everything.
“ But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true
worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and
in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship
Him. God is a spirit: and they that worship Him
must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” John
4:23-24
Moreover, the Almighty demands our praise and
worship of Him. He is also prepared to bless our
obedience to this divine mandate. In other words,
if we deny Him the praise that He is worthy of,
He will also deny us the prosperity that we can
so easily get. I once visited a relation with the
aim of blessing him with a certain amount of
money, but changed my mind because he failed
to give me a modest hospitality according to our
custom. When I left his house, I used about 5%
of the money I should have given him to buy the
soft drink he should have entertained me with. He
lost 100% because he did not host me with 5%.
Let us cultivate the habit of giving God abundant
praise and worship and He will bless us with
abundant prosperity.
Action Point:
Throughout today, worship God in truth, in spirit
and in holiness as you go about your daily
buisiness.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Deuteronomy 4:32-6:25,
Job2:7-3:2
AUTHOR : Pst E.A. ADEBOYE

A PATH TO VICTORY

GENUINE PRAISE AND WORSHIP:
MEMORISE:
And when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten. 2 Chronicles 20:22
Read: 2 Chronicles 20: 21-23
21 And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the Lord; for his mercy endureth for ever.
22 And when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten.
23 For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another.
Message:
The issue of praise and worship cannot be overemphasized. As a matter of fact, the primary reason God created man was that man should praise and worship Him.
“The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” Revelations 4:10-11
Despite the fact that we are created for the purpose of praising and worshipping God, the Lord still provides great benefits for us as we go about doing what we must do to fulfil the purpose of our creation. One of these benefits is the victory that God gives to us when we sing His praises, as is recorded in our Bible reading for today. When Judah began to sing the praise of God, the Lord arose and fought on their behalf. We have read this passage so often that we seem to have lost both its significance and implication. Ordinarily, the people of Judah would have found it difficult to do what their king asked them to do considering the impending doom of war. How many of us can sing the praises of God in the presence of danger or attack? At such times, instead of singing the praises of God we begin to query God, as if our righteousness is good enough to make us immune to the attacks of both spiritual and physical enemies. It is easier read than practiced, but only its practice can bring us blessings, not our reading about it.
Another thing we must learn in today’s reading is that the Bible says, ”he appointed singers unto the Lord, and that should praise the beauty of holiness…” It is not all praise and worship that is genuine and acceptable unto the Lord; some are unto the flesh. I have often told my children in the faith that they should be mindful of the type of songs they sing in the name of praise or worship. Some of these songs are from the pit of hell, coated in Christian lyrics. Any song, dance, drama or general work of art that promotes promiscuity is abominable in the sight of God and will do the opposite of genuine songs of praise and worship. Our songs should come from a pure heart; its presentation should also be void of pride and ulterior motive. It is unfortunate that some so-called songs of praise and worship are the importation of songs from idol worship. They are melodious, so we embrace them without knowing the implication. From today, let us allow the Holy Spirit to give us songs that the Trinity will appreciate, and let us sing to the beauty of God’s holiness for irreversible victory over our adversaries.
Action Point:
Pray that the Holy Spirit should give you angelic songs from God’s throne so that when you sing here on earth, they will join you to sing “holy, holy, holy” unto the captain of life.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Deuteronomy 2:26-4:31, Job 1:20-2:6

THE POWER OF THE MISSIONARY MANDATE

Memorise:
But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye
shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. Acts 1:8
Read: Mark 16:15-18,
15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
Message
The power of the missionary mandate has been trivialized in many quarters of the Church. We need to constantly remind ourselves of the inevitability of this qualification. It is amazing that the letters of the New Testament have been reduced to mere words of counsel and not the law. We are so scared of the phenomenon called the “law” that we try to avoid mentioning it, not to talk of enforcing it. The “freedom gospel” that the devil preached to our first parents has become the order of the day in the Church. The effect is our not paying close attention to the inescapable instructions given to us by Jesus Christ who is Himself, Grace Personified.
“And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge… Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do those things, ye shall never fall:”
2nd Peter 1:5, 10
When our Lord Jesus Christ was going to be with His Father, He gave us a mandate to reach the world with His gospel. However, He was not presumptuous and we should not be too. We cannot afford to jump the gun. He said; “wait for the promise of the Father …” (Acts 1:4). Pursuing missionary mandate without the power of the Holy Spirit is suicidal. This is the reason why we have casualties among the modern day missionaries because some of them are not spiritually equipped. They have zeal without knowledge; the type Uzzah had when the Ark of Covenant was in transit.
“And when they came to Nachon’s threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God.”
2nd Samuel 6:6-7
Presumptuous sin killed Uzzah. This is the reason David prayed that God should deliver him from presumptuous sin (Psalms 19:13); the type that destroyed King Saul when he performed the sacrifice before the arrival of the designated priest, Samuel (1st Samuel 13:9). We need to be endued in the Holy Spirit before we can be effective missionaries. The irony of this is that the missionary mandate must be kept by genuine children of God. So, this fact leaves us without the option of whether or not to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. I pray that as many as are thirsty for the baptism of the Holy Spirit will be satisfied with it today in Jesus’ name.
Action Point:
Ensure you rid yourself of all impurities that may hinder Him from coming into your life today. The Holy Spirit is willing to baptized you if you are willing.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR : DEUTERONOMY 1:1-2:25 and JOB 1:13-19
AUTHOR : Pst E. A ADEBOYE

THE SCRET OF DIVINE BLESSINGS

Memorise :
I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. John 15:5
Read : DEUTERONOMY 7:12-18
12 Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these judgments, and keep, and do them, that the LORD thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers:
13 And he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee: he will also bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy land, thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep, in the land which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee.
14 Thou shalt be blessed above all people: there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle.
15 And the LORD will take away from thee all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowest, upon thee; but will lay them upon all them that hate thee.
16 And thou shalt consume all the people which the LORD thy God shall deliver thee; thine eye shall have no pity upon them: neither shalt thou serve their gods; for that will be a snare unto thee.
17 If thou shalt say in thine heart, These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them?
18 Thou shalt not be afraid of them: but shalt well remember what the LORD thy God did unto Pharaoh, and unto all Egypt;
Message
When God said,"Let us make man in our image, after our likeness", little could an uninformed person know that this goes with a lot of responsibilities. For instance, by this divine decision, man is made responsible for his actions and inactions because he is a god. This is the reason why man, consciously or unconsciously takes his life in his hands and works out his own well-being, even to a fault, and Jesus Christ warned us against this extremism.
"Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? Or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Mathew 6:31-33
The Scripture above reveals the secret of divine blessings. Although man is a responsible carrier of God's image, however, he is dependent on the God who image he is carrying. At the creation of man, when man lived in accordance with Gods Instruction, he lived in all-round abundance, because God bestowed His blessings upon him and his wife. With little effort, man got great harvests. Therefore, man must live according to the dictates of God to enjoy divine blessings. Jesus Christ, the incarnate of the Almighty God pointed this out in our memory verse today.
For us to be divinely blessed, we just make Jesus Christ our Lord; we must be born again; that is, we must admit what scripture says in Romans 3:23:" For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" and quickly do something about it. What we must do is to repent according to the admonition of Peter :
" Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord". Acts 3:19
It is high time all men, particularly the children of God, understood the secret of divine blessing; that is, abiding in the son of living God, the True Vine. Let us stop be anxious of what we want to become. The Bible says:
" For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich."
2nd Corinthians 8:9
With His benevolent act which was climaxed at the cross, we are abundantly blessed without any addition of sorrow ( Proverbs 10:22 ).
Prayer Point :
Father, please open my eyes to see the secret of divine blessings and let me align myself with it.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR : NUMBERS 34-36 and JOB1: 6-12