IDOLS FRUSTRATE EXPECTATIONS

Monday 27 August                         Bible in one year : Obadiah 1, John 1-4

Memorise: The hope of the righteous shall be gladness:but the expectation of the wicked shall perish.Proverbs 10:28

Read: Isaiah 44:10-18

Before you receive a prophetic declaration, check out the the fruit of the vessel-the prophet,pastor,or servant of God, whether the fellow is still in league with God. Some people say, “thus says the Lord, “but the Lord did not say anything to them. Some of them heard from themselves and spoke. Be careful of what you accept as being from God. In Jeremiah 28:1-4, Hananiah  a prophet prophesied that in two years God was going to set Israel free from the yoke of the King of Babylon, but it was all a lie! Imagine  the joy of the people when they heard that. But after two years, and the prophecy did not come to pass,all the expectations of the people failed.Instead of two years, they spent 70 years . In other words, the prophetic lies of prophets cannot change what God wants to do or alter its timing.Stick with genuine men of God and particularly the Word of God i.e. the Bible.

Apart from lies,expectations that are based on the support of an idol , another power or spirit will definitely be disappointed. Sincere Idol worshipers and cultist know that there are severe manipulations and falsehood regarding the predictions of their idols or deities.They also know that promises of fame, power and wealth made to them are actually in return for long life,health,the lives of their loved ones,etc.being taken from them. Satan does not offer any free gift but at the time of offer, he will make everything appear as if it’s free. The recipient of such offers would have been trapped before there is a realisation of what the devil would have in return ( Isaiah 40:19-20,24). The expectations of the wicked including idol worshipers shall fail (Proverbs 10:28). This involves confidence in local deities,charms,amulets,magic rings,love portions,anything and anyone you love to a point of taking the place of God in your hear. According to Psalms 92:7 and Isaiah 45:16, Idol worshippers with their hopes shall be dissapointed because they to share what God cannot with anyone - His glory. The prophets of Ball who contested with Elijah on Mount Carmel were disappointed and lost their lives (1 Kings 18:17-40). Are you using evil powers or contesting with a bona fide child of God? Your expectations shall fail and you may even lose your life. Repent today, and apologise to the child of God you are fighting before the Lord faces you.

ACTION POINT: Make this confession: Every idol taking God’s place in my hear, i tear you down and enthrone the Lord Jesus Christ at the centre of my life.

Excerpts from open Heavens by Pastor E.A Adeboye.

Among the dead?

Saturday 26 August                     Bible in one year: Amos 7-9

Memorise: The man  that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead. Proverbs 21:16

Read: Ephesians 2:1-3

Knowing your spiritual standing is very important at any point in time. But one challenge is how to judge where you are,whether you are dead, sleeping, sitting, standing, running or flying.Who is a dead fellow? A dead man is one that has no feelings. If your conscience is hardened,you are spiritually dead. There are some pastors who are dead. No matter what they hear like: stop stealing,falsifying church records,committing adultery, etc they will say, Amen; but when they return to their parishes, they will continue with their evil deeds. This they do because they are dead spiritually . Ephesians 2:1-3 speaks of those who are dead in sins and trespasses.  The dead are those who sin and take pleasure in it. They enjoy living in sin which makes no different from unbelievers.

It is a sport to a fool to do mischief: but a man of understanding hath wisdom. Proverbs 10:23

The pastor who verbally runs down his senior pastor and sees nothing wrong with it is dead.It is a dead fellow who will witch-hunt other believers with the motive of replacing them.There is a growing congregation of dead people in the church today. If you want to stay alive, you must avoid them  like a plague.Avoid any group in your church that promotes rebellion, gossiping, backbiting,segregation and any other evil. The day God’s wrath will fall on them, if you are with them, you will not be excluded.

If you have no feeling for your brother or sister ,your conscience is dead. if you sin or do anything wrong and you do not feel anything,you are probably not only dead but buried in sin.If you oppress others,particularly your brethren that you were asked to do good to ,it is because your conscience is dead or seared with a hot iron. Jesus says let the dead bury their dead. if you are dead,it is people like yourself that will finally nail your spiritual coffin-that is they will ensure you never rise again spiritually. This means if you  are part of the congregation of the dead,in order not to be buried by them,run back to Jesus today. Cry out to God to change your heart. Ask for a heart of flesh and make all necessary restitution. Are you dead? The Lord says to you arise and He will heal your backsliding(Jeremiah 3:22)

PRAYER POINT:  Father in any way i have become insentitive to your pricks,cause me to arise today.

Excerpts from open heavens by Pastor E.A Adeboye.

Rejecting Jubilee

Saturday 25 August                                    Bible in one year: Amos 4-6

Memorise: Our soul waiteth for the Lord:He is our help and shield. Psalms 33:20

Read: Psalms 33:13-22

What is Jubilee? Jubilee is a new beginning where the fellow who was once rich but lost his wealth gets it back;where the house that was filled with empty vessels begins to have those vessels filled (2 Kings 4:1-7). What makes jubilee beautiful is the fact that it is by divine decree. It is not as if the slave owner really wants the slave to go, but because God has decreed it, the slave must go. Nobody can stand in His way. God does not need to take permission or plead with your captors to release you on the day of your jubilee. Has God decreed your release? Then you must be freed! He decreed light and light came into existence ( Genesis 1:3). Psalms 33:8-9 says God should be feared because when He speaks, it is done. Your release is settled because God has said it.

Moreover, when you talk of the year of Jubilee, people generally think it must be every 50 years. But when i studied the Bible, I discovered that people experience Jubilee at different times.For example , the man at the pool of Bethesda was in captivity but got his Jubilee after 38 years (John 5:2-9). Also , for the man born blind recorded in John 9:1-7, his jubilee dawned and he regained his sight after 40 years. In Luke 13:10-17, the woman was bent got her jubilee after 18 years.According to Exodus 21:1-6, the year of Jubilee could come to some after 7 years because God is the One who controls times and seasons, and He is the One who will decide when He wants to intervene in a matter ( Daniel 2:20-21). Your age will not stop your Jubilee. Our God is the God of Jubilee and He loves to set the captives free although He will never violate  your will. In Exodus 21:1-6, when Jubilee is offered, captives are free to void it and remain as captives. In a town in Osun State (South West Nigeria), there was a very wealthy man who amasssed much wealth through evil means. One day, out of mercy , God wanted to save him so He sent a preacher to tell him about salvation. After listening for some time,he thanked the preacher and asked him to lead all his children to Christ , but as for him he had gone too far with the devil that he had chosen to end up with him. Even when he was told it was not too late for him, the man resisted. He turned down his jubilee. Will you accept or turn down your jubilee?

PRAYER POINT: Pray that God will open the eyes of all those who are rejecting jubilee to see things from God’s perspective and accept His salvation.

Excerpts from Open Heavens by Pastor E.A Adeboye.

Transition before Tribulation

Friday 24 August                              Bible in one year :Amos 1-3

Read:The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations,and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgement for punishments.2Peter 2:9

Read :2 Peter 2:4-9
There are three school of thoughts on the subject of the timing of the great tribulation.The first school of thought say born again christians  will be on the earth and will go through the Great Tribulation.The second say the believers will be on the earth for three and half years of the tribulation  period before being taken away ;while the third school of thought says believers will not be here when the tribulations begins. I strongly share the view of the third school of thought based on scriptural evidences of God’s past dealings with His people.

First, According to Revelations 3:10, if you keep His word, you will be out of the way of trouble i.e.Jacob’s trouble (Jeremiah 30:7)starts. Similarly God does not destroy the righteous with the wicked except if the righteous had dumped righteousness for evil.That was the basis for the intercession of Abraham for the righteous in the Sodom and Gomorrah and God spared Lot and his family (Genesis 18:22-33). We learn from that account that one major reason God has not overthrown our cities today is because of the righteous living in them;after all the world is far more corrupt now than the days of Noah or Sodom and Gomorrah. Also, during the deluge,God spared Noah and his family before flooding the whole earth. Fear not! As you serve the Lord faithfully, He will take you away before He brings judgment up on where you are. However, the church in Philadelphia  was advised to hold fast what they have lest another fellow take their crown. Some years ago, in a communist enclave, 50 Christians were being tortured for their faith in Christ. Soldiers moved them to the lake of freezing water, stripped and put them there. At another spot was a huge bonfire so that if they denounced Jesus they could warm themselves and be set free.Unknown to them God had opened the eyes of one of the soldiers who saw each of the believers who endured been tortured to death,  receive a crown from an angel. As this continued, one of the christian who could no longer bear the pain started stepping out. Disappointed, his angel was about to take his crown back to Heaven when this soldier suddenly stripped himself and ran to replace the believer that he could take his crown. Hold fast to what you have or you will lose your crown and other rewards to others!

PRAYER POINT: Father, help to endure to the end so that no one will take my crown

Excerpts fro Open Heavens by Pastor E.A Adeboye.

Perpetual servant

Thursday 23 August                          Bible in one year: Joel 1-3

Memorise: Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?Be not deceived : neither fornicators,nor idolaters,nor adulterers, nor effeminate,nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 1 Corinthians 6:9

Read: Exodus 21:2-6

It is love that can make a man to wait for fourteen years to get married to the lady of his choice like Jacob did for Rachel( Genesis 29:18-28). A lady once told me that nobody was asking for her hand in marriage. We prayed and few months  later, she had six suitors on line. Then she came to me to ask how she will know the one that is her husband. I asked her to tell them that they should wait for fourteen years, by that time she would be through with her PhD programme and would have worked for some years. Not one of them stayed after hearing that.If there is love, there is strength to wait. Love can be very costly. It can cost a man his freedom.From Exodus 21:2-6 we understand that any servant that is Hebrew is expected to serve for six years and on the seventh, he should be freed.If however he marries and because of love he refuses to go, he would receive a mark so that anybody who sees him will know that he is a slave forever. Occasionally , i hear some people give God conditions before complying with certain divine requests or instructions. This shows that they do not love God, or that they have forgotten they were supposed to be His servant forever.

True love gives you super human strength. When somebody is truly in love, he could survive any adversity for the sake of that love( Romans 8:35-37). Being more than conquerors is a height in love which many do not yet know. If you are truly in love with God,you will gladly die for Him like Stephen( Acts 7:54-60). Today , because many church leaders are afraid for their lives, they cannot go to certain countries or certain parts with their native land to preach Christ. Death is no big deal  but the big deal is what you go through before you die. In the days of communism , it was the torture that a Christian went through that gave him pleasure; today , the reverse is the case. A Christian was arrested and thrown into prison. He began to witness Christ to the inmates so they took him  and gave him the beating of his life until he was bleeding all over. By the time he was returned he asked those he was preaching to , “where did i stop before the interruption?” Loving God can be expensive. How cheap or otherwise is your love for God?

ACTION POINT: Take this confession: Lord Jesus, I confess and acknowledge you as my Lord. I am your servant. You own all i have. And I will worship you with all that You have me until you take me to glory.
Excerpts from Open Heavens by Pastor E.A Adeboye

DROP THOSE EXCUSES

Wednesday 22 August                  Bible in one year : Acts 25-28

Memorise: Therefore thou are inexcusable, O man , whatsoever thou art that judgest : for wherein thou judgest another,thou condemnest thyself;for thou that judgest doest the same things. Romans 2:1

Read: Exodus:10-16

After his experience of the supernatural and God introducing Himself to  Moses, he was given specific assignment.He objected with reasons but they were not accepted.From this we learn that when God has decided to send you on an assignment, no excuse is good enough. You will notice that the more Moses excused himself from embarking on the assignment,the angrier God became (Exodus 4:13-14). Making excuses to avoid doing what God has assigned to you  will easily put you on the wrong side of God’s judgement. Excuses can move you from God’s right hand to His left,from favor to disfavor, from blessings to curses. Has the Lord giving you an assignment and you are piling up reasons for not obeying? You are toying with fire.After Moses saw “God’s red eyes”, he dumped his excuses. Drop those excuses and comply with your divine mandate.

When you look at the excuses people give for not ob
eying God, they can be classified as feelings of inadequacy,ignorance ,pride,fear, unbelief ,etc. For instances,Moses felt inadequate in himself to go before Pharaoh but God told him, “I will go with you” (Exodus 3:10-12). Whenever God gives you assignment, He does not leave you alone to do it. He is there with you to supply what you lack.So ideally,every assignment is a joint venture between God and the one assigned to do it. Do you feel inadequate? The One who is assigning you will back you up.If it bothers on ignorance that means there is something you don’t know that will be required of you in performing  that assignment.In Moses’s case, he did not know how to introduce God to the elders of Israel but God told him how to go about it.If only you ask the Lord, He will give you the knowledge you require or direct you to where to get it.Don’t say , “I can’t go because i am not educated” because the Greatest Teacher is ready to supply all you need to know if only you can ask Him, and sit at His feet to be taught.If you feel too big for the assignment,that is pride, and that can easily bring judgement on you. Nobody is bigger than the assignment God gives to him or her.How can a national elder or provincial pastor be sent to pastor a parish of 50 people? If that is what God is saying, run immediately to do it. The most unattractive assignment gets the biggest pay form God. If your refusal is out of fear and unbelief,examine the attributes and abilities of the One sending you. It will strengthen your faith.

KEY POINT: Many people struggle for Kingdom assignments that feed their ego while they run away from some other tasks.Neglected assignments such as sanitation and washing of toilets enjoy Heavens greater rewards.

Excerpts form Open Heavens by Pastor E.A Adeboye

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