TRYING TO CORNER GOD?

But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year. Genesis 17:21

Read: Genesis 17:15-21

17:15 And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be.

17:16 And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.

17:17 Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?

17:18 And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!

17:19 And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.

17:20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.

17:21 But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.

Message:

After Abraham and Sarah used their own alternative means to attempt to solve their problem of childlessness, and Hagar delivered Ishmael to Abraham, they thought that God’s plan for their lives would change to accommodate Ishmael. They were wrong! In fact, in Genesis 17:18, Abraham made a passionate plea to God to recognize Ishmael as his covenant heir, but God insisted on His original plan. In Genesis 17:19, God said this to Abraham:
“…Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.”

A crucial lesson here is that we cannot force, deceive, manipulate or corner God into doing what He did not plan to do. Isaac is a product of the Spirit while Ishmael is the product of the flesh (Galatians 4:23-29). Never expect God to dump the Spirit for the flesh. Do you know that some Christians go against God’s word and will by marrying an unbeliever and then later pretend to be sorry by feigning tears, whereas inside them they are rejoicing that they have married their chosen heartthrob and have thus outsmart God? Such Christians would try to justify themselves by asking you whether God would expect them to divorce their unsaved spouses when God Himself says He hates divorce. Oh how smart they think they are! Unfortunately for them though, they will later realize how foolish they really are, when faced with the consequences of their choice.

If you go against God’s word and choose an unbeliever as your marriage or business partner, it is your choice. You will have to live with the repercussions of that choice. You may have 100 “Ishmaels”, but God’s covenant can only be established with “Isaac” (Genesis 17:21). Isaac is a product of God’s blessings, while Ishmael is the product of man’s lust, impatient, and self-government. Do not expect God to legitimize your Ishmael! Some people acquire wealth through illegitimate means and later expect God to sanctify it for them. They are only deceiving themselves. Anything you add to yourself that God has not added to you will ultimately be a curse that will haunt you. This is why it is better to wait on God to receive the blessing that comes from Him and not fall for cheap alternatives. Have you devised alternatives to God’s original plan for your life? Repent and dump them today! Go back to God and ask him to continue from where He stopped in your life.

Action Point:

Have you ever tried to outsmart God? Go on your knees and confess how foolish you have been, and ask for His mercy today.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:
Acts 7
Jeremiah 34:17-35:11

BE FULL OF FAITH

But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, Jude1:20

Read: Acts 6:3-10

6:3 Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business;

6:4 But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

6:5 And the saying pleased the whole multitude. And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch,

6:6 Whom they set before the apostles; and when they had prayed, they laid hands on them.

6:7 Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith.

6:8 And Stephen, full of faithand power, did great wonders and miracles among the people.

6:9 Then there arose some from what is called the Synagogue of the Freedmen (Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and those from Cilicia and Asia), disputing with Stephen.

6:10 And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke.

Message:

According to Mark 16:17-18, the ability to demonstrate faith in God is very necessary in the ministry of signs and wonders. Hebrew 11:6 also says without faith you cannot please God. So how do we recognize someone with faith? A look at the life of someone in the Bible declared was full of faith should be able to provide us some answers. Acts 6:8 says,

“And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people.”

Stephen was only a deacon in the early church. He was chosen as an usher to join the others in serving food, and yet because he was full of faith, he performed great signs and wonders, even more that some apostles. From the example of Stephen, it therefore means that you can be a worker in the church and God could still use you to perform mighty signs and miracles even more than a pastor. This simply tells us that walking in the miraculous is not about titles but about faith. You can be full of position or titles but empty of faith and therefore of little or no use to God in the ministry of signs and wonders. Some senior pastors cannot mention just one miracle the Lord has performed through them in the last two or more years, and yet God is doing wonders through their subordinates. It is doubtful that such pastors are full of faith. Are you full of faith or doubt? There is no way God will be among His people and His supernatural touch will not be visible for all to see.

Instead of building up their faith until it is full, some people choose to use everything at their disposal to secure position or an ordination in the Body of Christ, believing that the higher their position, the greater the anointing at their disposal. Unfortunately, they fail to realize that those who pursue position or ordination may get the title but not the power that backs it up. What is important is to build up your faith. After you are saved, do not keep your faith stagnant; grow it. Feed your faith by meditating regularly on God’s word, praying in the Holy Spirit, reading sound Christian literature and texts, and by listening to good Christian music and testimonies. You also need to fellowship regularly in a Bible-believing Church, so that you are constantly exposed to the truth. When you are full of faith, fear will have no place to hibernate inside you. This makes you a sure candidate for God to work with. May God work with you! Do all you can to build up your faith.

Key Point:

Your spiritual growth is your personal responsibility, and not that of your pastor.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:
Acts 5-6
Jeremiah 34:1-16

AUTHOR: PASTOR E. A. ADEBOYE

SAUL BROKE THE PRIDE BARRIER

The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts. Psalm10:4 

 READ: Acts 9:1-11

1 And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,

2 And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.

3 And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:

4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

6 And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.

7 And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.

8 And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus.

9 And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink.

10 And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord.

11 And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:
Acts 1-2 & Jeremiah 33:1-11

MESSAGE:

Yesterday, we considered the need to fast often in order to maintain the Spirit’s control over the desires of the body. Today, let’s consider another reason why we need to fast often, which is, to submit ourselves to God in humility (James 4:6-7). David had this understanding and that was why in Psalm 35:13 he said,
“But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth: I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into mine own bosom.”

Whenever you find yourself becoming haughty, too full of yourself or looking down on others, you need to declare a fast so as to subdue the rise of pride in your life. Those who live in pride are distant from God. Even when He makes attempt to reach such people, it will be very difficult because they have built a fence of pride round themselves. One major reason why some people don’t accept the gospel of Jesus Christ, even after witnessing His power and miracles, is pride. This is why you need to pray against the spirit of pride hindering the salvation of your loved ones.

Let us take a look at the life of Saul of Tarsus and learn some lessons from him. He was a very zealous and intelligent young man who wanted to please God, but he was proud. Meanwhile, God had been trying to reach out to him, but the fence of pride he had around him kept God out. Do you know that pride directs? If you are proud, it will direct you in the way you go about things, in what you do and what you don’t do. Whenever faith is combined with pride, at best you will get religion. As Saul tried to serve and please God in the atmosphere of pride, he drifted further away from the One he thought he was pleasing, to the point where he began to fight the One he was supposed to satisfy. Pride blindfolds its victims. It makes a person work against what he or she is originally set out to do or stand up for. It wasn’t until Jesus manifested Himself to Saul that he realized he had been working against the God he thought he was serving. Nevertheless, after he humbled himself with fasting and prayer for three days, he received salvation, healing of his blind eyes, baptism of the Holy Spirit, and a divine call of God to minister the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the gentiles. If only you can submit yourself to God in humility through prayer and fasting, you can connect with God’s purpose for your life.

PRAYER POINT :
Father, let all my loved ones who are separated from you through pride, overcome this barrier and yield completely to your will today.

AUTHOR: PASTOR E. A. ADEBOYE

HOW OFTEN DO YOU FAST?

In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and unclothedness. 2 Corinthians 11:27

Read: Matthew 6:16-18

16:16 Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

16:17 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;

16:18 That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.

Message:

One of my sons was travelling with me for the very first time sometime ago, and after we had been together for two days he asked me, “Daddy, why do you pray so much?” he said he observed that before we left the room, we prayed; when we got into the car, we prayed; on arrival at our destination, we prayed; when we entered the venue of the programme, we prayed; on arrival at the lodging place, we prayed; also when he peeped to check on me, he still saw me on my knees. Well, I pray a lot because prayer is an activity we are commanded to always engage in (1 Thessalonians 5:17). How often do you pray? Do you use every available opportunity to pray?

Apart from prayer, another spiritual activity you should regularly engage in to keep you spiritually fit and growing is fasting. Some people believe that doing a long fast for 30days or 100days is sufficient for a year. While this is a good spiritual exercise, there is still the need to continue fasting in the course of the year. When the Lord addressed the question of why His disciples were not fasting often like those of John the Baptist, here is what He said in Luke 5:34:

“And he said unto them, Can ye make the children of the bride chamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them?”

Since the Master has been received into glory, it is clear from His words that we now are expected to fast often. Some people fast for a short period at a stretch and thereafter they want to feast for the rest of the year. This is not good enough. A better practice is to find or create some time monthly or better still weekly to engage in fasting. Fasting was not strange to the patriarchs of old. Fasting does you so much good spiritually, so it should be a part of your lifestyle. You can live a fasted life. While detailing his experience in life, Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 11:27 said that fasting was a reoccurring activity in his Christian life:
“In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and unclothedness.”

Most people who find it difficult to fast simply have a problem with discipline. They are so used to eating that they cannot sacrifice a few meals to seek God’s face. Anyone who cannot control his or her appetite may remain enslaved to the body. Fasting helps to subdue or break the controlling power that the weaknesses and desires of your body have over you.

Action Point:

Stop talking about your plan to fast, just go ahead and fast. You can start with one day per week.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:
Deuteronomy 33-34
Jeremiah 32:36-44

SACRIFICE OVERTURNS WRATH

And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. 2 Samuel 24:24

Read: 2 Samuel 24:16-25

24:16 And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough: stay now thine hand. And the angel of the Lord was by the threshingplace of Araunah the Jebusite.

24:17 And David spake unto the Lord when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly: but these sheep, what have they done? letthine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father's house.

24:18 And Gad came that day to David, and said unto him, Go up, rear an altar unto the Lord in the threshingfloor of Araunah the Jebusite.

24:19 And David, according to the saying of Gad, went up as the Lord commanded.

24:20 And Araunah looked, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him: and Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king on his face upon the ground.m

24:21 And Araunah said, Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To buy the threshingfloor of thee, to build an altar unto the Lord, that the plague may be stayed from the people.

24:22 And Araunah said unto David, Let my lord the king take and offer up what seemeth good unto him: behold, here be oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing instruments and other instruments of the oxen for wood.

24:23 All these things did Araunah, as a king, give unto the king. And Araunah said unto the king, The Lord thy God accept thee.

24:24 And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

24:25 And David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord was intreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.

MESSAGE:

Sacrificial sowing can deliver an unending harvest to you, make your harvest irreversible, make you the talk of town and even turn away God’s anger from you. In 2 Samuel 24:1-25, we read about how God was provoked to anger by King David, thereby bringing God’s judgment on the people. So many people died in the ensuing plague. After the first wave of destruction, the angel was about to effect the second phase when God stopped him, while he was on Araunah’s farmland. David’s seer, Prophet Gad, came and instructed him to raise an altar to the Lord on Araunah’s farmland, where the angel was last seen. On arrival, Araunah went to welcome King David and he offered him all he needed to make the sacrifice, but David politely decline it. Why? It is simply because he knew the importance of sacrifice and the power of sacrificial seeds.

“But the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.” 2 Samuel 24:24

When David pleaded with God to temper His justice with mercy and judge him instead of his innocent people, God said “Alright, I will do something about that. I will overlook your errors, I will forgive you and stop my judgment, but you have to first bring me a sacrifice.” David agreed to give that sacrifice, and he turned down Araunah’s offer to make the offering an easy one. He said, “This sacrifice must cost me something. It is a sacrifice in sorrow so that I can go home rejoicing”. Some of us have found ourselves in a similar situation as David, where it was required of us to make painful and costly sacrifices in order to achieve our heart desires. However, instead of going headlong into it, we rather sought and received help from the Araunahs of this world to make the task an easy one. Never accept an affordable or convenient alternative in the place of the sacrifice you need to make in order to enter into your desired breakthrough. If you can make the required sacrifice, you will receive the joy you so desire. If you can make the sacrifice, you can overturn God’s wrath from yourself or your family. If you can stand in the place of prayer long enough and pay the price the situation you are facing requires, you will return with joy. Are you ready to do this?

Action Point:

There is no alternative to a sacrifice that should be made. Just ask God for grace to do it.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:

Deuteronomy 31-32
Jeremiah 32:26-35

DEFENDING HIS NAME

Nevertheless he saved them for his name's sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known. Psalm 106:8

Read: Psalm 106:7-9

106:7 Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt; they remembered not the multitude of thy mercies; but provoked him at the sea, even at the Red sea.

106:8 Nevertheless he saved them for his name's sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known.

106:9 He rebuked the Red sea also, and it was dried up: so he led them through the depths, as through the wilderness.

MESSAGE:

The Bible declares that our God is a very present help in time of trouble (Psalm 46:1). This means that He is ever-present or always ready to help in the time of trouble. There are several reasons why God makes His help available to a person. Understanding these reasons and applying them to your life will go a long way in helping you experience God as an ever-present help. One of these reasons is to fulfil His promises. God is very committed to His promises; hence, Psalm 89:34 says,

“My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.”
If He has purposed to help you, he will not change His mind midway. Numbers 23:19 says,

“God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?”

God’s word has integrity. He regards His word above His name (Psalm 138:2). Every promise He has made to you shall be fulfilled speedily! God cannot violate his word, so you can be sure that He will keep His promise to help you.

Another reason why God reaches out to help a man is for the sake of His Name. if you genuinely belong to God, he will help you because you bear His Name and are called by His Name in this world (Acts 15:17). No wonder Psalm 106:8 says,

“Nevertheless he saved them for his name's sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known.”

That means His intervention goes beyond your asking. He will intervene to defend His Name and show His power. At certain bus stops in life, some people will challenge you by asking “Where is your God?” Some may even say “If your God is truly alive, He should have delivered you by now.” If you are in such situation, take heart and be unmovable. In Daniel 3:14-29, King Nebuchadnezzar initially asked the three Hebrew children “who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?” however, by the time God was through with him, he publicly confessed that there was no God like their God. Is your child in a situation that appears hopeless? Is your business or career going through some impossible storm? God will step into your situation and calm the storms! The Lord is speaking peace to every impossible situation you are up against right now. He will surely bring you out of the storm, not just because of you, but because of His Name that you bear. In that situation you are going through, the Lord will defend His Name, and He will not put you to shame. He will demonstrate His power just to give you the last laugh in Jesus’ Name.

Prayer Point:

Father, in this present situation I find myself, arise and defend your matchless Name.

BLESSINGS WITH SORROW

And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul. Psalm 106:15

Read: Genesis 16:1-5

16:1 Now Sarai Abram's wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.

16:2 And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.

16:3 And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.

16:4 And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.

16:5 And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the Lord judge between me and thee.

MESSAGE:

A lot of people have gotten their finger burnt in the place of seeking an alternative to God’s promise. When God’s promise is seemingly delayed, some Christians do not have the strength of character to keep waiting on the Lord and holding on to His promise; they therefore seek out and accept man’s alternative to God’s precious promises. Not only does man’s alternative take you off God’s course and provide you with quick fixes that cannot really fix anything, they also give you monetary joy that cannot absolve you of sorrow. This was the experience of Sarah. In today’s Bible reading, after Sarah gave her maid, Hagar, to Abraham to raise children through her, she was happy and relieved that her problem of barrenness seemed solved. But her relief soon turned into grief as her happiness became sorrow. Genesis 16:4 says,

“And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.”

Sarah took good care of Hagar, in expectation of using her as a means to an end. For the purpose of child-bearing, she exempted her from the usual chores that her fellow maids would perform. However, the moment Hagar conceived, the tables turned against Sarah. Suddenly, all attention shifted to the new queen of the house. Everyone and everything had to be at her beck and call. She no longer had regard for her mistress. Realizing she now had what Abraham earnestly wanted, she used her pregnancy as an excuse for gross misbehaviour. She took over Abraham’s attention and the poor man hardly even had time for Sarah anymore. When she was disobedient and her mistress tried to correct her, she would simply tell her, “Madam, if you were ever pregnant, you would understand what I am going through. “That was the beginning of Sarah’s sorrow”

When you are tired of waiting for God’s will, plan or timing, and you decided to follow one of the alternatives that comes your way, you will only be hurting yourself. May you not use your own hands to undo yourself! When God blesses you, he removes every form of sorrow from it (Proverb 10:22), but whatever blessing you think you can derive from substituting God’s plan with an alternative will only be short-lived and will definitely come with sorrow. Some people who knew and turned down God’s will in marriage, following the dictates of their flesh, ended up in sorrow. A good number of them are secretly weeping today. They cannot cry out because people warned them before venturing into such marriages, but their ears were deaf to those warnings. In your own interest, take time to find out God’s will for every area of your life and apparently follow it. In years to come, you will understand why that was the best decision you ever made.

Key Point:

It is better not to be blessed, than to be blessed and have sorrow with it.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:
Deuteronomy 28
Jeremiah 32:1-15