LET THY HEAD LACK NO OINTMENT

MEMORY VERSE: Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment. Ecclesiastes 9:8

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Psalm 108-110

The bible uses seven symbols to describe the person and work of the Holy Spirit. These symbols show the nature, character and the work of the Holy Spirit. Today, we will talk about the Holy Spirit as oil. The oil serves several purposes. For instance, it helps to keep components in an engine working smoothly together. What the engine oil does in the engine is exactly the same thing the ‘anointing of the Holy Ghost’ does in the life of the believer. In other words, the ‘anointing of the Holy Ghost’ is to the believer what the engine oil is to the engine. Just as it is literally impossible to run an engine without the oil, it is impossible to do God’s work, run a ministry or occupy a ministerial post, without the anointing of the Holy Ghost. As such, whenever God calls people into ministry or gives them an assignment, the first thing He does is anoint them with the Holy Spirit. The ‘anointing of the Holy Spirit’, which is known as the ‘oil’ on a minister’s head makes it easy for the minister to do God’s work or run a ministry. We are able to write this daily devotional because of the ‘oil’ on our head. That sister or brother who led praise and worship in church last Sunday is able to do that because of the oil on their head.

The Engine oil also serves as a lubricant. It lubricates the moving
parts of an engine. It keeps them cool by lowering friction and carrying the heat away. After a while, the heat in the engine causes the oil to become gummy so that it doesn’t lubricate properly again. The longer it is in the engine, the dirtier and drier it gets. If the oil is not changed in time, the engine may develop problems or ‘knock’. Therefore, the engine oil needs to be changed from time to time. The fresh oil lubricates and cools better. The same thing with the ‘oil’ on a minister’s head, it helps him manage the pressures involved in ministry. It helps him bear the heat, pressure and meet the demands of the ministry. However, there is a need for spiritual servicing and the Most High God is the one who does the servicing. In other to start and finish well in ministry, one’s head must never lack oil. Ecclesiastes 9:8 says, “Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment.” In other to run this Christian race, one must ensure that his or her head does not lack oil. As such, one must always visit the holy hill of God regularly to get one’s head oiled. These are some of the few signs that your head may be lacking ‘oil’, firstly sweating. The moment you begin to find the work of God tedious, difficult and unbearable, it is a sign that your head is lacking oil. Another sign you need to watch out for is dryness in the spirit. For instance, you read the bible but you don’t get any revelation or insight. Anytime you lead prayers it is very dry. Your ministry is no longer impacting lives any more. These are some signs that you need oil. Another sign is the lack of ‘flow’. Maybe songs don’t flow as they normal do when you lead praise and worship. Or you observe that preparing sermons is becoming a burden. Ideas and points no longer flows as it used to. It is an indicator that your head is lacking oil. Instead of trying to make it work or forcing it, please return to the holy hill for some fresh oil.

PRAYER POINT: Father, pour your fresh oil upon me.

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Bro Samuel | Reaching the world

NO VESSEL, NO OIL

MEMORY VERSE: and it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, there is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed, 2 Kings 4:6

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 2 Sam 18, 2 Cor 11, Ezek 25, Ps 9

BIBLE STUDY: 2 Kings 4:1-7

The oil in our bible study represents God’s blessing and anointing. The borrowing of vessels represents tasks or divine assignments. As long as the widow kept on borrowing vessels, the oil kept flowing. The moment the empty vessels ceased, the oil stayed. 

The task of borrowing empty vessels was not an easy one for the sons of the widow. The task involved taking actions and obeying divine instructions from the prophet. They had to leave their comfort zone (home) to go and knock at the door of their neighbors and strangers. At first they started with nearby neighbors (those on the same streets) and later moved on to the next street. The farther they traveled to borrow empty vessels, the more effort was required to bring these empty vessels back home. In the process of going from house to house to borrow empty vessels, the boys experienced abuse, rejection , some even harassed them but these boys ignored all these and kept on making efforts to borrow empty vessels. At a point, these boys became satisfied with the number of empty vessels they had borrowed and went back home. Sadly their oil stayed when their vessels ceased.

Friend, I want you to know that life is a continuous motion. You are either moving forward or going backward, there is nothing like been stagnant. The moment these boys stopped borrowing vessels, they began to go backwards. They frustrated the agenda of God for their family and threw away the opportunity to become a blessing to their nation. This is the exact thing that happens in the life of many believers today. They get satisfied with the little things the Lord has done for them and stop pushing themselves. The reason why many are not experiencing God the way they should experience Him is because they have either stopped pushing themselves or they don’t want to be pushed anymore. Many only want to fast once or twice in a week; nobody wants to wait before God in fasting and praying for seven days. Many of us do not want to memories bible verses anymore, we want to depend on Google. Many of us are satisfied with functioning in one department of the church, we do not want to join any other departments. The moment we stop pushing ourselves to be better in the Lord, the oil dries. Many are satisfied with the one or two gifts of the Holy Spirit they have. As far as they can speak in tongues or dream once in a while they are satisfied. We no longer covet other gifts like interpretation of tongues or word of wisdom.

REMEMBER: The moment we stop pushing ourselves to be better in the Lord, the oil dries.

AND THE OIL STAYED

MEMORY VERSE: and it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, there is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed. 2 Kings 4:6

 BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 2 Sam 17, 2 Cor 10, Ezek 24, Ps 7-8

 BIBLE STUDIES: 2 Kings 4:1-7

 A particular widow in the bible owed some money. As she was unable to pay, the creditors decided to take her two sons as slaves. She ran to the prophet of God who then gave her three instructions. He told her to go and borrow as many empty vessels as possible, shut the door and pour the little oil she had at home into the empty vessels. She and her son got some vessels, shut the door and poured the oil in the vessels. After they had filled all the available vessels and there was none left, the oil stopped following. 

 The oil in the passage represents the anointing of the Holy Spirit and the borrowing of vessels represents God given task. As long as they kept borrowing empty vessels, the oil kept on flowing. The moment the empty vessels ceased, the oil stayed. As long as you keep making yourself available for God to use, He will continue to release His anointing on upon you. The moment one stops, the pouring of anointing too stops.

 The anointing of the Holy Spirit can turn a debt-ridden man to a debt free man (2 Kings 4:1-7). The anointing of the Holy Spirit on a fellow can turn him into an agent of joy. Jesus was able to impact many lives because of the anointing on Him (Acts 10:38). That widow could not take advantage of the flowing oil because of lack of vessels. She had the opportunity to borrow all the vessels in the neighborhood, but she brought only a few. The task of borrowing vessels was not an easy one as it involves a lot. For example it involves leaving one’s comfort zone (home). It involves carrying of heavy empty vessels around. If care is not taken it  may lead to embarrassment from rude and unwelcoming neighbors. These boys didn't want to go through all that so they brought the few they could lay their hands on thereby missing the opportunity to keep the oil flowing. Working for God or serving in the vineyard of God may be boring and tedious but guess what,  the reward is trans- generational.  As the Lord begins to pour His oil on you, you will begin to experience turn around in all spheres of your life. There is enough anointing of the Holy Spirit to make you outstanding in that endeavor, are you ready to undertake God’s tasks?

 PRAYER POINT: Father, as I begin to make myself available for your use, pour your anointing upon me.

Bro Samuel - Reaching the world for Jesus 

LAY HANDS NO SUDDENLY

MEMORY VERSE: lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men’s sins: keep thyself pure, 1 Timothy 5:22

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 2 Sam 2, 1 Cor 13, Ezek 11, John 12

Timothy was a young evangelist full of zeal. One thing with zeal is that it needs to be accompanied with knowledge. Proverbs 19:2 says zeal without knowledge is not good; a person who moves too quickly may go the wrong way. Paul (Timothy’s mentor) noticed that this young man was full of zeal. He observed that the young and inexperienced Timothy wanted to touch the world for Jesus; he observed that Timothy wanted to excel in the ministry; he noticed that this young man wanted to be a force to reckon with in his career so he wrote to him to warn him of certain things.

One of the things he warned him of is recorded in 1 Timothy 5:22 - lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men’s sins; keep thyself pure. Paul was warning Timothy to desist from acting on impulse. He was encouraging him to reflect on decisions before taking them. He was telling him to think twice before taking an action. Some mistakes define one’s life; some are almost impossible to correct; some can do damage to one’s career so he was telling this young man to think before acting or think before speaking. I pray you will never make such mistake in your life in Jesus name.

A wise man once said a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. A team is as strong as its weakest member. What Paul meant by lay hands no suddenly was know the people you put into positions in the church. Study people before considering them for any position within the ministry. Ask questions about them before ordaining them. Don’t just ordain a brother because of his zeal or a sister because of her gifts. Before ordaining people ensure they have integrity. How faithful are they in the payment of their tithes and vows. A fellow who can rob God of tithes can do and undo. What is their church attendance like? Not only that, how do they relate with other members of the church? Is the fellow a friendly person? Is he approachable? Is he discreet? What Paul was also telling his mentee his don’t form an opinion about people you have not met. Don’t judge people before personally meeting them. Don’t see sister A has a bad person because Sister B said so. Sister B could be saying Sister A is bad because she tried to borrow some money from her and Sister A refused because she is yet to pay the ones she borrowed in the past. Lastly Paul was telling his mentee to desist from making hasty judgment about people. Hear what people have to say first before making your mind on them.

ACTION POINT: Don’t ordain strangers

ANOINTING VS SKILLS

MEMORY VERSE: And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing. Isaiah 10:27.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Lev 11-12, Ps 13-14, Prov 26, 1 Thes 5

BIBLE STUDY: Luke 5:1-7

In our bible studies, we read the story of Peter who fished all night and caught nothing. He was a skilled fisherman. Not only that, he was very experienced and to add this he was a hardworking man. Despite all these he still failed.

There are one or two points I will like to highlight from this story. Point 1 - skills and experience can fail you. You can be an expert in your field, it does not guarantee anything. Plans can fail you. I don’t believe that Peter left home that day without a plan or strategy . He must have planned his day, where he was going to start and all that. I also believed that he had contingency plans too i.e. what to do if plan A fails. Support networks do fail. That night Peter had a companion with him and their combined experience could not produce result. Hard work guarantees nothing. A fellow who decides to put in extra effort by working when others are sleeping is not a lazy man. That was Peter's intention , at the end he had nothing to show for all the effort. Everything can fail ; Jesus cannot fail. Immediately Jesus came into the scene, the man who had failed repeatedly made only an effort and results began to flow in.

Point 2 – To become what God has created you to be, you need the anointing of the Holy Spirit. What is anointing? Anointing is what makes an ordinary man do the supernatural or extra ordinary. You cannot fulfill God’s destiny for your life through skills alone. You cannot win souls for Jesus through skills or experience. I remembered the times when I will search on the internet for questions people ask during evangelism. I will get all the answers, prepare myself and go and witness. I found out that you can answer all the questions people ask you and they still would not give their life to Christ. I know how many religious arguments I have won based on knowledge, there are even times when the other party will agree with me and at the end still say 'I don’t want to give my life to Christ.' I remembered the case of a particular fervent sister who backslidded for one reason or the other. She had an answer to all the bible verse I gave to her. At a point I gave up because I was exhausted. Then a day came we were just discussing over the phone over a matter and she began to cry. I asked her if she wanted to give her life to Christ and she said yes! All this while I had been using skills and experience but that day I allowed the Holy Spirit to do His work and within two minutes she returned to Christ. Point 3 – anointing produces more results than skills. Jesus who was anointed with the Holy Ghost (Acts 10:38), gave a simple instruction and Peter caught so much fish that two boats began to sink.

PRAYER POINT: Father, anoint me with the Holy Ghost

Service from rivers

Tuesday 21 August                              Bible in one year: Isaiah 49-51

Memorise: I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water , and the dry land springs of water. Isaiah 41:18

Read : Exodus 14:21-31

When Elisha smote the waters of River Jordan and asked for the Lord God of his spiritual father, the river parted(2 Kings 2:14). What is that river before you today? It shall part in the name of Jesus. Interestingly, River Jordan is the only river that parted three times. It parted for Joshua,then for Elijah and now for Elisha. By reason of contact with these three men of God, River Jordan had experienced the anointing on these three men of God at different times.There are a few lessons to learn from this. Water we all know can conduct electricity. In the realm of the spirit, water is also a conductor. God has used water at different times to deliver a miracle to those who need them.For instance ,in 2Kings6:1-7,God made an axe head which felt into the river to float,contrary to the law of gravity and postulations of science.Similarly where there was no road,bridge or ship , God created  a highway for the children of Israel in the Red Sea but drowned all their enemies (Exodus 14:17-31). When the water in the land of Marah was bitter,God made it sweet- that is, a river became a river of wine. Jesus also had to walk on water to get to do the Father’s assignment . The water solidified under His feet.

God can deliver your blessings to you using a river as a channel.There is this story of man who got a bottle containing the will of a very wealthy woman where she wrote that whoever found that bottle will, should inherit all she had.The man found it in a river and his life was totally transformed. Every blessings that requires the service of the river before it can get to you , will receive  the support of the waters and be delivered to you this season in Jesus name.Do you know that some people lose their goods and blessings to the river through ship wreck? Those people,who took loans to ship goods by sea, would feel terrible to hear that the ship sand or that all their goods had to be thrown into the high sea in order to save those on board. Have you suffered such fate before? The Lord will restore all you lost.River Jordan serve a number of people. Rivers shall serve you. Seas shall deliver your blessings to you in Jesus name. Every sea that has swallow your blessings shall vomit it this season in Jesus name.

PRAYER POINT:The seas and rivers are God’s creation and are meant to serve us. Father, cause the seas and waters to cooperate with my helpers to deliver my blessings to me.

Excerpts from Pastor E.A Adeboye

POWER WITHOUT CONTROL

Sunday12 August                                               Bible in one year : Joshua 19-21

Memorise: out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be . James 3:10

James 3:5-12

Elijah was one Bible character that experienced victory all the way. In 2 Kings 1:19-15 , some sets of soldiers came to arrest him but soon realised that they were the ones being arrested. Those who surrendered , he spared but those who refused to surrender, he roasted alive.He was so full of power. Power is good but very dangerous. It is commonly said that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.If you have power , you need lots of restraint less it turns your victory into defeat. With the power of God, you can easily secure victory but you need humility and the fruit of the Spirit to sustain that victory. A minister of God who uses his or her tongue unadvisedly will soon erode the gains of victory earlier obtained. What is the use of power without control? One reason God had not increase His anointing on some of His children or answered some who are petitioning Him for higher levels of anointing is because they cannot handle it , that is to say, they cannot control it.

If you are the type that easily curses your children or wards ,if God anoints you , you will not know when you will place a curse on them and it will stick. Pastors who curse members or workers are fast eroding their victories. If you have common sense, you will know that it is wrong to curse anyone who volunteers his or her service to God just because the fellow made a mistake . There are better ways of correcting the fellow but not through a curse. If you are fond of cursing those you should be protecting ,something is wrong with you; you should rather be blessing them. In addition, if God’s power in your life makes you proud, or to feel that you are better than your neighbour , you will lose your victory. One attribute God cannot stand is pride.God fights the proud because they compare themselves with Him, so He will want to prove a point that they nothing without Him. Are you proud of your achievements,You may soon lose them. To keep your victory permanent , handle with them lots of humility, thanksgiving and giving all credits to God alone. God hates the proud: are you proud? Repent today!

ACTION POINT: If you pray for power, pray doubly for the grace to control it.

Excerpts from Open Heavens Daily Devotional by Pastor E.A Adeboye