WHERE MUST YOU KEEP THE WORD?

 Where Must You Keep the Word? 

“Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” Psalms 119:11 (KJV)

The Holy Scriptures have told us where to keep the Word. The best place to keep the Word of God is in your heart. That is where God dwells and has the tendency to keep the Word for a lifetime (2 Corinthians 6:16). Beloved, when you keep the Word of God in your mind, you can easily forget it. Now the Word of God in your heart keeps your heart pure and protects you from sin. Sin is a door the enemy uses to gain entrance to your heart to pollute and destroy it. Since the Word of God is God, when you keep the Holy Scriptures in your heart, you carry God inside you, and He will ensure that the Word produces what it talks about in you (Philippians 2:13). The Word in your heart will produce good health, peace, joy, and prosperity in you. Keep as much of the Word in you as possible through meditation so that you can enrich your life with all goodness. When the Word of God dwells in you richly in all wisdom, you will be amazed at what God will do through you (Colossians 3:16). Hallelujah! God bless you!

Prayer Point: Dear heavenly Father, I’m grateful for Your making Your Word available to me. I have decided to meditate on it day and night to enrich my heart with Your Word. Please help me schedule time to study and meditate on Your Word, so that You can do greater works in me and through me in Jesus’ name. Amen!

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DO YOU KNOW THE MIND OF THE WICKED?

 Do You Know the Mind of the Wicked? 

“For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall.” Proverbs 4:16 (KJV)

Knowing the mind of the wicked puts you in a position to have dominance over them. The opening scripture has revealed to us the mind of the wicked against the children of God. As a believer in Christ Jesus, it is important to know your enemy so that you can guard yourself against his attacks (John 8:44). Beloved, since your enemy’s mindset is to make you fall, and he is capable of staying awake to accomplish his purpose, you as a believer in Christ should also be on the alert. Do not sleep too much; spend time to pray and fortify yourself. Sometimes you have to pray at midnight hours to get the right kind of results you need (Psalms 119:62). The enemy through his demons may not want you to pray; giving you all the excuses for avoiding prayer sections in the church and the prayer schedule you have designed for yourself. Be steadfast to pray even when you don’t feel like it, and you will be positioning yourself to defeat all the strategies of the wicked against your life (1 Timothy 2:8). Hallelujah! Pray without ceasing!

Prayer Point: Gracious Father, thank You for showing me the mindset of the wicked. Please help me schedule time to pray during the day and during the night. Let me prioritize prayer without making excuses, thereby keeping the enemy under my feet; so I am able to receive all the blessings You have in store for me in Jesus’ name. Amen!

Were you blessed by today's message? Kindly go to the comment section and share your comments, and testimonies. Let's also know your challenges so that we can pray for you.

BE CANDID IN YOUR PRAYERS!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

MONDAY MARCH 15, 2021.

SUBJECT: BE CANDID IN YOUR PRAYERS! 

Memory verse: "But Hannah answered and said, “No , my lord, I am a woman of sorrowful spirit I have drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink, but have poured out my soul before the LORD." (First Samuel 1 vs 15.)

READ: First Samuel 1 vs 10 - 11; 15 - 16:

1:10: And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the LORD and wept in anguish.

1:11: Then she made a vow and said, “O LORD of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, But will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head.

1:15: But Hannah answered and said, “No , my lord, I am a woman of sorrowful spirit I have drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink, but have poured out my soul before the LORD. 

1:16: Do not consider your maidservant a wicked woman, for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief I have spoken until now.

INTIMATION:

Knowing that God is an All-knowing God, go to Him in prayers with total sincerity of heart, and frankness in all intents and purposes. Don't keep anything back. Don't ask for what you really don't want, or promise to do something you can't or won't do. Remember He already knows your heart. 

In the passage we read today, the Scripture tells us the story of Hannah. She had no child for her husband who really loved her. She was greatly discouraged and bitter because the husband's other wife had children and ridiculed her. Her loving husband could not solve her problem. She then turned in prayer to the Provider of solutions to all problems. Eventually, Hannah discovered that an honest and fervent prayer opens the way for God to work. Hannah made a vow in return for having a mail child, to dedicate him to God for a lifetime service. God gave her a son named Samuel. She lived up to her promise, and God even blessed her with five more children excluding Samuel. 

Each of us may face times of barrenness when nothing seems to work in our life—our work, service, or even relationships. It is difficult to pray in faith when we feel so ineffective, but Hannah did. Hannah so desperately wanted a child that she was willing to strike a bargain with God. God took her up on her promise, and to her credit, she did her part, even though it was painful. We should always be careful what we promise in prayer because God may take you up on it. 

Although, we are not in a position to barter with God, He may still choose to answer a prayer that has an attached promise. When you pray, ask yourself, 'Will I follow through on any promises I make to God if He grants my request?' It is dishonest and dangerous to ignore a promise, especially to God. God keeps His promises, and He expects you to keep yours. The antidote to discouragement is telling God honestly of your problem; sincerely how you feel, and then leave your problems with Him.

God created you and knows you. All you are passing through, and the circumstances surrounding you in life are all known to Him, hence He is called “the All knowing God.” If you know this why present yourself in prayers in partial sincerity. God hate lies, and liars are of the devil—the father of it. Prayers without complete sincerity is a sin, and an abomination before God.

Prayer: Abba Father, You are the All knowing God, and Your desire is that we worship You in truth. Liars You hate and despise. I will lay myself bare before You at all times and commune with You in prayers in complete frankness, for You already know my thoughts before I say them, and is pleased with the truth. Give me the grace to be truthful in all my communion with You, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

GRACE VERSUS WORKS!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SUNDAY MARCH 14, 2021.

SUBJECT:  GRACE VERSUS WORKS!

Memory verse:  “And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work?” (Romans 11 vs 6.) 

READ:  Romans 6 vs 15 - 16:

6:15: What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law, but under grace? Certainly not! 

6:16: Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?

INTIMATION:

Grace and works are diametrically opposed to one another. They cannot fellowship or have anything to do with each other. In other words, grace and works are mutually exclusive. Where one exists, the other cannot exist. Every single activity in our lives has the required grace to empower us for its accomplishment. As your faith grows, and you put all your trust upon God; He will make all grace abound toward you, that you will always have all sufficiency in all things, and have abundance for every good work (See Second Corinthians 9 vs 8). 

If you and I wants to accomplish the tasks by our own efforts, that is, being into works, then we are out of grace. If we are in grace, then we are out of works. Any time we get into works, the grace of God ceases to operate on our behalf. God has no choice but to back off and wait until we have finished trying to handle things ourselves. As long as we continue to try to figure out our own problems, we will only get more and more frustrated and confused. The reason is because we are trying to operate without grace of God, and that is never going to be successful. 

Now, the apostle Paul stated this clearly about himself and his exploits; “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” We must know that discernment (insight, perception, understanding) does not come out of the head, but out of the heart, "out of the inner man", where the Holy Spirit dwells—the Spirit of grace. The Scripture in Ephesians 3 vs 16 says, "that He will grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through the Spirit in the inner man.”

Discernment or understanding is simply God's wisdom for any situation of life. It is a "spiritual knowing" about how to handle things. The understanding is by His grace (the power of the Holy Spirit—the Spirit of grace) indwelling your innermost being. Your own thoughts are from the head, out of the work of your head. That leads to frustration and confusion. If we have a problem, we don't need to try to figure it out, we need discernment (insight). We need to hear from God. We need God's word on our situation. We need Him to show us what to do. And we are only going to have insight when we give up reasoning. If you are frustrated and confused, it is a sure sign that you are in excess, that you are depending on works rather than on grace.

Confusion is not from God. The Bible says that God is not the author of confusion, but of peace. (First Corinthians 14 vs 33.)  As soon as you begin to feel frustrated and confused, as soon as you start to lose your sense of inner peace, you need to say to yourself, "Oh I have gone too far." You have to realize that you are out of grace and into works. You must give up your efforts and entrust yourself totally to the Lord, leaving your situation entirely in His hands.

Once you turn from your reasoning to the grace of God, you open a channel of faith through which He can begin to reveal to you what you need to know in order to handle that problem or situation. Enter God's rest, and seize from your own works; “For He who has entered His rest has Himself also ceased from His works as God did from His.” (Hebrews 4 vs 10,) And when you have done that, you will begin to hear His answers.

Prayer: Abba Father, You are my loving Father and faithful Companion. I put all my trust in You, casting all my cares upon You. O Lord make all grace abound toward me that I may be sufficient in all things and have abundance in every good work, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

JUST BELIEVE AND YOU WILL HAVE IT!

 Just Believe and You Will Have It! 

“Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.” Mark 9:23 (KJV)

The kingdom of God has a principle that operates differently from that of the world. The world states that you can only believe something after you have seen it, but the kingdom of God works the other way around. It says, believe it first and you shall see it or have it. Remember that when you believe, your spirit will be stirred up to say or declare what you want and you shall have it (Mark 11:23–24). Beloved, if you want to live an extraordinary life as a Christian, you must believe whatever the Holy Scriptures say about any subject they have discussed. Whatever you want to achieve is only possible if you believe and trust God for it. What He wants you to do is to have your belief on the basis of the His Word as evidence of your faith. In the end, God will reward your faith because He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6). Dear beloved, keep exercising your faith every day and your faith will become strong to do extraordinary and amazing things. Hallelujah! You are an overcomer!

Prayer Point: My dear heavenly Father, thank You for educating me on how to grow my faith in order to do the impossible things. I put Your Word to use now and exercise my faith each day—to have a strong enough faith to live an extraordinary life, to your glory in Jesus’ name. Amen!

Were you blessed by today's message? Kindly go to the comment section and share your comments, and testimonies. Let's also know your challenges so that we can pray for you.

WALK IN NEWNES5 OF LIFE!

 Walk in Newness of Life! 

“Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” Romans 6:4 (KJV)

It is a good thing for the child of God to be baptized by immersion. This is a demonstration of being a partaker of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. It is one of the sacraments given to the church by our Lord Jesus Christ. Beloved, it is a good experience and you don’t have to be left out. If you are not baptized, call on the leaders of the church to help you. When you go through the baptism with understanding, you will realize the significance of walking in the newness of life. As a child of God, you are the light of God (1 Thessalonians 5:5). Hence, there must be a difference between you and the child of the world. Righteousness, holiness, peace, love, joy, and the like, which are the nature of new life, must be seen in your life. Walk in this newness of life and see how good your life will turn out—as it did for Apostle Paul (1 Timothy 1:13–17). Living the new life attracts blessings from God. It also enhances your propagation of the gospel; thus, people see the new life of Christ in you and glorify God, and some are drawn to Jesus Christ. Hallelujah! God bless you!

Prayer Point: My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, thank You for dying for my sins and saving me from eternal damnation. I submit myself to baptism and encourage my brethren to partake of it. Please remind us to be conscious of our new nature and live the new life of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Amen!

Were you blessed by today's message? Kindly go to the comment section and share your comments, and testimonies. Let's also know your challenges so that we can pray for you.

THE SOURCE OF GOD’S GRACE!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SATURDAY MARCH 13,2021.

SUBJECT:  THE SOURCE OF GOD’S GRACE!

Memory verse:  "Finally my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.” (Ephesians 6 vs 10.) 

READ:  Acts 20 vs 32:

20:32: So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. 

INTIMATION:

God is the custodian and source of all powers, peace and victory. And it is in fellowshipping with God, that is, the things we do in fellowship with God, that plugs us into the source of His power. If there is anything the devil tries to do, is to keep people out of fellowship with the Lord. Satan knows that once you are connected to the source of divine power, it is finished for Him.

Fellowship with the Lord is what ensures a victorious and peaceful Christian life. It is noteworthy that your salvation (which is a gift from God) is not based on your fellowship, rather it is based on the blood of Jesus, shed on the cross for our sins, and your believe in what He wrought for us in redemption, and confession of Christ Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior. But without fellowship with Him, you will struggle the entire time you are here on this earth as a Christian, even though you will be saved because your name is in the Book of life.

Do you know what happens when you are in fellowship with God—spending quality time with Him? You become a custodian of His grace—the power of God to help you meet your needs and solve your problems. You begin to act like David when he faced the giant Goliath. You begin to take a stand and demand of the enemy, "Who do you think you are to defy the army of the living God?" (First Samuel 17 vs 26.) 

As soldiers of the Cross, you and I are not supposed to be afraid of our enemy—the devil. Instead, we are to ..”be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might—His grace.” When the spirit of fear comes along, rather than shaking like a leaf, we are to be bold as a lion, and remind the devil that "God has not given us the spirit if fear but of power, love and a sound mind" (Second Timothy 1 vs 7).

The devil comes against those who are doing damage to his kingdom, those who are doing something for God as His ambassadors. How then do we withstand the devil? By girding on the full armor of God, taking the shield of faith, by which we can quench his fiery darts, and by wielding the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. (Ephesians 6 vs 13 - 17.) But all of that armor and all of those weapons come from spending time in fellowship with the Lord.

Being strong in the Lord, in my considered opinion, is being strong in fellowship with God. And it’s only after being strengthened in fellowship that you can properly wear the whole armor of God. The necessary, and needed knowledge of the whole armor can only be acquired in fellowship with the Owner of the armor—God Himself!

Being in fellowship with the Lord does not mean that you will be in a room with God all the time. If you will give twenty or thirty minutes of sleep in the morning in order to get up early and seek His face, God will honor that sacrifice. It you are willing to turn off the television for thirty minutes in the evening and spend some time in fellowship with the Lord, you will be richly rewarded. 

However, God is a Loving Father, He will not require more of you than what you are able to give Him. He is not an ogre who is out to make you miserable. He just knows what you need in order to have that abundant, enjoyable, victorious life. He also knows that it doesn't come from methods, but from Him?

When you fellowship with the Lord, you learn to quickly follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit. However, you should come apart with the Lord (fellowship with the Lord) privately before you come apart publicly. Spend time with God so you can remain stable as you deal with the daily affairs of life.

Prayer: Abba Father, You are my all in all. I thirst to be in Your presence at all times. Give me the grace and enablement of being in fellowship with You at all times, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!