RUN, DON'T REST

Memorise:

For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.
Hebrews 13:14
Read: 1 Kings 13:7-14
7 And the king said unto the man of God, Come home with me, and refresh thyself, and I will give thee a reward.
8 And the man of God said unto the king, If thou wilt give me half thine house, I will not go in with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place:
9 For so was it charged me by the word of the LORD, saying, Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way that thou camest.
10 So he went another way, and returned not by the way that he came to Bethel.
11 Now there dwelt an old prophet in Bethel; and his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel: the words which he had spoken unto the king, them they told also to their father.
12 And their father said unto them, What way went he? For his sons had seen what way the man of God went, which came from Judah.
13 And he said unto his sons, Saddle me the ass. So they saddled him the ass: and he rode thereon,
14 And went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak: and he said unto him, Art thou the man of God that camest from Judah? And he said, I am.
Message
In today's Bible reading, we have a very sad story of a young prophet sent by God to the city of Bethel with strict instructions. After he delivered the message, he took a different route homewards as instructed by God. But along the way, he felt danger had passed and so he decided to take a rest. While taking his rest, an old prophet came by, lied to him and convinced him to return with him. He obeyed this old prophet and eventually met his death. If only he had delayed his rest, the false prophet would have come looking for him without finding him. Just as it happened to this young prophet, resting too soon has terminated the Christian race of so many believers. In some races, we sometimes see a contestant that is running so fast, leaving other contestants far behind. For the contestant ahead, there is always the temptation to relax, reduce speed and to take the rest of the journey easy, due to a false sense of having won the race already. Many a contestant has yielded to such temptations and got the shock of a lifetime. You will do yourself a lot of good to know that on earth, while on our way to Heaven, we have no resting place. For this reason, Hebrews 4:9 says:
"There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God."
What the devil or your flesh is suggesting to you as a rest is actually meant to activate your spiritual death warrant. Our rest in Heaven is eternal, and this is partly to compensate us for the no-rest race we have to run on earth. If you want rest, wait until you get to Heaven.
Sometime ago, I visited Australia. While there, a brother shared a testimony that made me weep inside. This old man testified that some time ago, a particular man of God who was highly anointed came to Australia. People brought their dead and they were raised back to life. Within one week, there were ambulances bringing in dead people to the crusade. I could recall this particular man of God. He started very well and was mightily used of God, but along the line, he began to bring in some strange doctrines. He said all that was needed now was only faith; there was no more need for fasting, holiness, etc. He did not end up very well. Beloved, since you have started the race, focus on it and continue to run. Receive all the grace that you can muster from the Lord and continue running the race. Refuse any proposal to slow down or rest, as this is meant to terminate your race.

Prayer Point:
Father, let me never encounter the rest that would terminate my race to Heaven, in Jesus' Name.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR : LEVITICUS 17:10-19:18 and 1 CORINTHIANS 11:17-12:11

CHILDREN ARE YOUR TOMORROW.

MEMORISE : Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. PROVERBS 22 : 6.

READ : GENESIS 18 : 17 - 19.
17 And the Lord said, Shall I hide from
Abraham that thing which I do;
18 Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?
19 For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR : LEVITICUS 14 : 33 - 15 : 33 AND 1 CORINTHIANS 9 : 24 - 10 : 22.
It is great to experience deliverance from demons, but it is better to never be repossessed by them after being delivered. A better option than these is not to have being possessed by demons at all. If you have never been possessed by demons all your life, you do not know what God has done for you. These two things are common to all those who have been possessed before: they suffered great losses and went through hell. Take for instance the Gadarene demoniac in our Bible reading: what he would never do to himself in his right senses, he did while demons were inside him. He cut his body with sharp stones, bled and felt the pain, and yet he compulsively repeated this often. In other words, the demons in him told him to hurt his own body as if it was the body of an enemy, and he obeyed even though he felt the pain. The demons tried to use him to destroy himself. Do you know that even today, demonic spirits still compel their victims to destroy themselves? We should not be surprised of this, as Jesus in John 10 : 10a already revealed their mission to us :
"The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy:"
All over the world today, demons of addiction gradually lure people into taking degenerative substances such as cocaine, heroin, Indian hemp, cigarettes, tobacco powder (snuff), etc. After a while, such people discover that they are unable to break away from these substances. The aim of these demonic spirits of addiction is to destroy their bodies. In the same manner, these spirits get people into drinking alcohol, and before long, they become alcoholics. The operations of the demons of lust follow the same pattern. They get their victims into immorality, sodomy, lesbianism, and other sexual sins, so as to make them destroy themselves. 1 Corinthians 6 : 19 says :
"What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?"
The objective of these demons is to make their victims destroy their bodies to the extent that the Holy Spirit will not come near it, not to talk of entering in. Unfortunately, do you know that some people are happy to harbour demons because of certain benefits they derive from them; for example, practitioners of witchcraft? The pigs that were at the receiving end of the demons cast out of the Gadarene demoniac were more sensible than such people. They preferred to drown rather than to allow demons inhabit them. Are you as wise as these pigs? If you have any spirit other than the Holy Spirit inside you, you need help through deliverance.

ACTION POINT :
Ask God to deliver anyone under the manipulative influence of demons in your local church

BEWARE OF MANIPULATORS

Memorise: A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished. Proverbs 22:3

Read: Proverbs 22:1-5, 22 A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold.

2 The rich and poor meet together: the Lord
is the maker of them all.

3 A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.

4 By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and honour, and life.

5 Thorns and snares are in the way of the froward: he that doth keep his soul shall be far from them.

Bible in one year: Leviticus 13:45-14:32; 1stCorinthians 9:8-23

MESSAGE

When you are popular and celebrated on account of your position or service in the kingdom of God, beware and avoid every temptation to use what you have received against the will of God. If you are not careful, you may fall into a trap and become another example, like the 250 princes who were destroyed in Numbers 16. That shall not be your portion in Jesus’ Name! However, you need to know that if you are in a position of power or you are very famous and highly respected by people, you will be a target of manipulators. If you are not extremely careful, you will fall into traps you never thought could ensnare you. After Korah, Dathan and Abiram orchestrated an evil plan and they wanted the children of Israel to buy into it, who did they contact? They deliberately chose the most popular 250 princes in the assembly of God’s people and carefully sold the idea to them (Numbers 16:2). Once that was done, convincing the people under these princes was a walk in the park.

Believe it or not, just as these princes were tempted, you too will be tempted. People who have goods and services for sale will come to you because they want to reach your members or those under your sphere of influence. Some of these may be beneficial to your people and some may not. Some people may even ask you to come and support a cause that is contrary to scriptures. Be very careful! Be watchful and prayerful. When they come to make such proposals, place them side-by-side with the word. Any proposition that violates the word of God must be rejected without fear or favour. Those borderline issues which are not out-rightly wrong or sinful should be presented to God, asking for His direction. Never allow yourself to be used by manipulators! If you lead the people under you astray, not only will their blood be upon your head, you may lose your integrity, position, power and honour. Also, carefully watch out for sycophants who will sing your praise so high that you will not know when they begin to lead you astray. Sycophants are “loyal” to you for very wrong reasons – reasons they may never tell you. They will always want you to see what they do, because they do their service to impress the leader and not God. Ask God to weed off from you anyone who appears close to you but want to mislead you.

Action Point

Pray that God will weed off sycophants and those with a wrong motive hanging around leaders in the Body of Christ, your family, place of work and the government.

INSTRUCTION RESCUES

Memorise: He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions. Psalm 107:20

Read: Proverbs 19:20-21, 20 Hear counsel, and receive
instruction, that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end.
21 There are many devices in a man's heart; nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand.

Bible in one year: Leviticus 12:1-13:44, 1stCorinthians 8:1-9:7

MESSAGE

If you experience a loss at any point in life, know that it’s a time to stay calm and not a time to lose heart. If you can wait to receive specific instructions from the Lord, it will expedite the recovery of your loss. The reason why many losses of God’s children have not been recovered is because they have not found time to seek the face of God on the matter. As you seek God’s face concerning those good things you have lost, the Lord will give you a word that will lead to their recovery.

Many years ago, while we were building the first big auditorium at the Redemption Camp, we needed a lot of wood. We paid the government board in charge of sawmills in Edo state, Nigeria, to have this wood supplied to us. A few weeks to our convention, this government board decided to shut down all sawmills in the state. While pacing up and down asking God what to do, the Lord asked me what I knew about theKingdom of God. To me, this question was irrelevant and I wanted to say so, but I cautioned myself and began to say that I knew about the Kingdom of God”. He concurred. Then I said “The Kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.” He agreed. This continued until I exhausted all I could remember on the subject matter. Eventually, I said “Since the days of John the Baptist, the Kingdom of God suffereth violence, and the violent taketh it by force.” Then He replied, “That is where we are going. Do you want your wood? Give me a violent offering.” That was on a Saturday; on Sunday, I shared this with my children and we gave a violent offering. On Monday, the governor of Edostate dissolved this government Board and reconstituted another one, which immediately reopened all sawmills. On Tuesday, someone who had no money to give brought his trailer for us to use as long as we wanted. On Wednesday, someone came to give us bags of nails. Several other people also brought materials for the building. Within two weeks, the auditorium was ready; all because I received an instruction from the Lord. The instruction that will lead to a full recovery of your losses shall be given to you this season. When you seek God’s face and He tell you what to do, don’t argue with Him; go ahead and obey the Lord and you will recover your losses. It is your recovery period this season!

Key Point

For every loss, there is a recovery strategy which can be found with the Great Restorer – Jesus Christ

WHEN PIGS ARE WISER

Memorise:

And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.
Mark 5:5
Read: Mark 5:1-13
1 And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes.
2 And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit,
3 Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains:
4 Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him.
5 And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.
6 But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him,
7 And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.
8 For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.
9 And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.
10 And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country.
11 Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding.
12 And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them.
13 And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea.
Message
It is great to experience deliverance from demons, but it is better to never be repossessed by them after being delivered. A better option than these is not to have being possessed by demons at all. If you have never been possessed by demons all your life, you do not know what God has done for you. These two things are common to all those who have been possessed before: they suffered great losses and went through hell. Take for instance the Gadarene demoniac in our Bible reading: what he would never do to himself in his right senses, he did while demons were inside him. He cut his body with sharp stones, bled and felt the pain, and yet he compulsively repeated this often. In other words, the demons in him told him to hurt his own body as if it was the body of an enemy, and he obeyed even though he felt the pain. The demons tried to use him to destroy himself. Do you know that even today, demonic spirits still compel their victims to destroy themselves? We should not be surprised of this, as Jesus in John 10:10a already revealed their mission to us:
"The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy:"
All over the world today, demons of addiction gradually lure people into taking degenerative substances such as cocaine, heroin, Indian hemp, cigarettes, tobacco powder (snuff), etc. After a while, such people discover that they are unable to break away from these substances. The aim of these demonic spirits of addiction is to destroy their bodies. In the same manner, these spirits get people into drinking alcohol, and before long, they become alcoholics. The operations of the demons of lust follow the same pattern. They get their victims into immorality, sodomy, lesbianism, and other sexual sins, so as to make them destroy themselves. 1 Corinthians 6:19 says:
"What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?"
The objective of these demons is to make their victims destroy their bodies to the extent that the Holy Spirit will not come near it, not to talk of entering in. Unfortunately, do you know that some people are happy to harbour demons because of certain benefits they derive from them; for example, practitioners of witchcraft? The pigs that were at the receiving end of the demons cast out of the Gadarene demoniac were more sensible than such people. They preferred to drown rather than to allow demons inhabit them. Are you as wise as these pigs? If you have any spirit other than the Holy Spirit inside you, you need help through deliverance.

Action Point:
Ask God to deliver anyone under the manipulative influence of demons in your local church.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR : LEVITICUS 8-9

THE REAL FIX YOU NEED!

Memorise:

Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. Isaiah 45:22

Read: Isaiah 45:20-25
20 Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save.
21 Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the Lord? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me.
22 Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.
23 I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.
24 Surely, shall one say, in the Lord have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed.
25 In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.
MESSAGE
In an attempt to fill the void created by the absence of God in some people’s lives, they find themselves using mind-bending substances. This is very rampant in societies that have replaced God with government. In admission of their failure to achieve this folly in the lives of men, some of them now allow the free use of these substances. What they fail to realise is that without Jesus Christ, you can never be complete (Colossians 2:10). Nothing else can take His place. The effects of mind-bending drugs such as marijuana or cocaine can never fill His space in the heart. If you take any of these, it will only take you “high” into a world of hallucination: an unreal world that Satan creates for you while the effects of these drugs last, but afterwards, he drops you far below where he took you from, leaving you feeling deeply depressed, dissatisfied, empty and naked.
Any person who uses mind-bending substances will always want to experience the “high” feeling again and again in a vicious cycle. It is ironic that there is never a feeling of satisfaction derived from the use of these substances. Rather, one wrap becomes too small and the fellow moves on to two, three, four or even five in order to experience the effect that used to be derived from just a single wrap or shot. It gets to a stage where they now live for hard drugs. At this point, nothing else matters to them but another wrap or shot All along, each use of those substances lead the user into madness.
No hard drug satisfies, but Jesus Christ does. He is the “hard drug” that can fix your life once and for all. Take one shot of Jesus Christ and He will take you truly high and keep you there. One wrap of Jesus will give you a bit of the heavenly experience that will increase every passing day as you fellowship with Him. Have you received Jesus into your life? Are you a drug addict? Do you need a fix every now and then? All you need is Jesus! He satisfies. He will quench your thirst for inordinate things. Receive Him into your heart and it shall be well with you. Your life will receive the transformation you need. Are you addicted to drugs and other mind-bending substances? Have you made effort to stop their use but could not stop? In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, you are set free today! That habit holding you bound is broken now! I command every demon of addiction to release you now! You are liberated from their grip in Jesus’ Name. Submit yourself to the environment of accountability in a church to strengthen your resolve never to go back.

Action point
Reach out to drug addicts for Christ or lend a helping hand to ministers dedicated to their salvation and rehabilitation.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR : EXODUS 35-36 and ROMANS 16

RECEIVE DIVINE INSTRUCTIONS

Memorise:

Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart.
Job 22:22

Read: Job 22:21-24
21 Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.
22 Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart.
23 If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles.
24 Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust, and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks.

Message
Due to the advent of sin and the activities of our adversary, we are faced with different challenges of life from day to day. The loss of assets and of persons dear to us is one of those challenges which our adversary, the devil, throws at us to destabilise us and ultimately make us lose our faith. But thank God that provision has been made in the package of salvation for the recovery of those things which we may have lost. Do you desire to recover what you have lost? Stop crying about it and encourage yourself in the Lord.
A time of loss is a time to seek the face of God in prayer. After David and his men suffered a major loss, he wept, but he didn't stop there. He encouraged himself in the Lord and sought God's face in prayer (1 Samuel 29:3-8). Although God is a very present help in the time of trouble, it is only those who seek Him that will find Him (Proverbs 8:17). Based on his life experiences, the Psalmist confirms this in Psalm 34:10:
"The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing."
Have you lost any good thing? Seek God's face from today. Separate yourself to spend time with God alone. For the duration of that period, let God be your only focus. Pour out your heart to Him and meditate on His word. Praise and worship Him in spirit and in truth. Be quiet in His presence to hear what He has to say to you. Have you been seeking God's face after suffering a loss?
It is important to receive instructions from God after suffering a loss. He alone can fully tell how a loss occurred, where what was lost can be found and how best to recover it. Unfortunately, people seldom follow God's instructions. Many people adhere to traffic rules, especially in developed countries, because they do not want sanctions. Similarly, most people follow the instructions in the user's manual of their gadgets; but when it comes to God's instructions, people take what appeals to them and discard the rest.
Beloved, receive ALL of God's instructions because they will lead you to the path of success, victory and joy. Instructions from God can come to you through a variety of ways. God can instruct you by directly speaking to you. He can also do so through His servants, especially through the word of knowledge in programmes such as our monthly Holy Ghost Service. God can send you instructions while you fellowship with other brethren in church. It could be during praise and worship, the choir ministration, prayer time or through the sermon. This is why it is important not to neglect fellowshipping with the brethren. How attentive are you to receive instructions from God while in His presence?

Prayer Point:
Father, my heart is open to receive Your instructions that will turn my life around for good.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR : EXODUS 37-38 and 1 CORINTHIANS 1