PROVISION PROVIDER
1 Kings 17:1-16

In every area of breakthrough, allowing fear can possibly be a hindering factor. The case of the woman of Zarephath demands close attention in order to gain understanding of how fear can deny a breakthrough. The Zarephath woman was approached by Elijah. At the time she was approached, there was no indication of any prior knowledge of this Zarephath woman to Elijah. He approached her requesting, “’…Please bring me a little water in a cup that I may drink.’ And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, ‘Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.’” (1 Kings 17:10-11) Evidently, the woman of Zarephath only had just enough for herself and her son to eat because it was a time of famine in the whole land. In her sincerity and honesty, she responded to Elijah’s demand by stating that she only had enough for herself and son to eat and die; meaning that after they ate, there would be nothing coming forth. Elijah did not hesitate when he responded to her. “Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to me; and afterward make some for yourself and your son. For thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the day the LORD sends rain on the earth.’”(1 Kings 17:13-14) The encouraging word of Elijah was not to allow fear to deny her from obeying the word of God. Fear would have provoked doubt and doubt is the agent of denial. The woman of Zarephath responded well to the word of Elijah. How often have you unconsciously allowed fear to give way to doubt and doubt to deny your obedience? The Zarephath woman had no good reason to trust or respond to a stranger in the name of God. Just like the Zarephath woman, you also do not have any reason responding to a stranger in the name of God. However, we do have evidence that when means of provision seem to be over, He gives provision in a new and meaningful way. In response and full compliance to Elijah, the Zarephath woman, “…Went away and did according to the word of Elijah; and she and he and her household ate for many days. The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the LORD which He spoke by Elijah.” God is beautiful for situation. Trust in Him that nothing forms against you, not even a deceiver, shall prosper. In time of lack, do all that is within you in the name of God for your neighbor and God will not overlook you.

Prayer for today: O Lord my God, only you can help me to increase in love offering to others. 

SERVE OTHERS
John 13:1-20

Jesus is the Master of masters who washed feet. As the feet washing Master, He passed it down to those who would follow Him; not just those who wanted to be a member of the multitudes. To learn and become a master feet washer, one has to be sitting at the feet of the Master at times without number. It is at the feet of Jesus where every believer will have to sit before learning to become a true follower of Jesus. Jesus confirmed in Luke 10:42, “But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” Jesus was letting Martha know that it was not all about the work of service alone. At the feet of Jesus, a believer will get what cannot be taken away. Also, it is at the feet of Jesus that a believer can sit and learn all that it takes to become a master feet washer. Jesus preached by example and was demonstrating by example when He offered to wash His disciples’ feet. Peter attempted to deny Jesus from washing his feet. John 13:8-9, “Peter said to Him, ‘You shall never wash my feet!’ Jesus answered him, ‘If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.’ 9 Simon Peter said to Him, ‘Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!’” As a believer who has answered the call of salvation without being schooled at the school of washing feet, there will be no other way to having a part with the Lord. Jesus has delivered all the lessons that it takes for a man to be a feet washing master. If a believer will learn to constantly go to the feet of Jesus that is entrenched in the pages of Bible, they will become a master feet washer just as Jesus expects from us. Have you been called to be a master who washes feet? Any struggle with self in getting down and washing the feet of those who the Lord has placed under your calling is a demonstration of emptiness. Jesus is the Word of God and the Word that He spoke to them in the Bible days is still speaking to all who have been called to follow today. To know how to wash feet is all it will take for pride not to prevail over humility. To become a master who serves is to be a serving master. Jesus dispatched services to His followers and that registered Him as the Master. Spend time in the Word of God and you will discover that it is all about humility and not about pride that amounts to nothing good but rather permanent destruction.

Prayer for today: Let not arrogance, pride and every other self-designed way for self-destruction have its way in my life in Jesus name.

NEEDS NOT WANTS
Exodus 16

What the Lord wants for you is to meet your needs. When a believer begins to seek after wants, such a believer will definitely end up being in want always. The Psalmist confessed that, “The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want” (Psalm 23:1). All of the wanting zone is a dangerous zone for any believer who wants to avoid temptation. During the wilderness journey, the children of Israel wanted what they left behind in Egypt instead of trusting God to meet their needs. This eventually led them into a death trap. The death trap was rooted in complaint that eventually led to doubt and lack of trust in the One who brought them out of the bondage of over four hundred years. The children of Israel’s remembrance of what they were eating in Egypt (fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic – Numbers 11:5) was a clear demonstration of the fact that their wants were overriding the Lord’s provision of their need for the journey. Are you placing more focus on what you want more than how the Lord has been providing for your needs? In the case of the children of Israel, wanting what was not at hand landed them into a state of complaining. Complaining, which is an act of rebellion, is an every journey-terminator from getting to the Promised Land. God’s provision is always on time and is always meeting needs. Paul, the apostle, confirmed it when he prayed in Philippians 4:19, “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” After their desire for a pot of meat and bread, God provided for the needs of the children of Israel. In God’s provision for them, God gave instruction to make them have enough according to their need. “…Let every man gather it according to each one’s need, one omer for each person, according to the number of persons; let every man take for those who are in his tent.” (Exodus 16:16)  Despite God’s instruction that was enough for meeting needs, some went above and beyond God’s instruction by taking more than needed. As a result of not following instruction, all the children who took more lost all that was taken (Exodus 16:18-21). The children of Israel were lost in their desire for wants and they could not recognize when their needs were enough. God is a faithful God. Are you experiencing a wilderness journey? Rest assured that God will not fail in supplying your needs. God is interested in meeting your needs if you will allow your want to rest for now until you get to the Promised Land. It is all about needs and the Lord God Almighty has everything we need.

Prayer for today: Ask God to keep you and deliver you from the spirit that makes man to fail and not recognize the provision of God.

TIME TO MOVE
Deuteronomy 1:1-19

God had a plan for the children of Israel when He took them out of the bondage of over four hundred years. God was taking them to the Promised Land while they were taking their time away from getting to the Promised Land. In Horeb, they dwelt longer than they should have. Dwelling in Horeb took away from moving forward in direction of the promise, plan and purpose of God. As a result of dwelling when they were suppose to be moving in the direction of God’s plan, God spoke to them concerning their stagnation. Deuteronomy 1:6, “The LORD our God spoke to us in Horeb, saying: ‘You have dwelt long enough at this mountain.’” Are you experiencing any stagnation in the journey that is before you? As a believer you know that the hand of God has come into place to move you forward, but you are just like the children of Israel at Horeb. What is causing you not to move forward? Have you been staying so long that you do not recognize the fact that you are not moving forward? When Terah, the father of Abram, left the land of Ur, it was with the desire to go to Canaan. Upon his arrival at Haran, he dwelt so long that he never made it to Canaan. (Genesis 11:31-32) Are you on any journey whereby your stopover area has become a dwelling place? The God who called you out of bondage did not design your stopover area to become your dwelling place. God said to the children of Israel in Deuteronomy 1:7-8, “Turn and take your journey, and go to the mountains of the Amorites, to all the neighboring places in the plain, in the mountains and in the lowland, in the South and on the seacoast, to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the River Euphrates. See, I have set the land before you; go in and possess the land which the LORD swore to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—to give to them and their descendants after them.” God told them to turn and take their journey which they had left behind. He also asked them to see what was in place for them. Faith demands that you turn while trusting in God for the move of His hand concerning your stagnation. Faith also demands that you see the promise of God when it is yet to be unfolded. Ask God for the grace to be able to turn and to see based on your faith in Him. Today, take the Word that moved the children of Israel and let it move you forward.

Prayer for today: O Lord my God, I ask for Your Word that moves the unmovable to sound in my direction. Let it move me in direction of Your divine location for my life.

THE ONLY TICKET
1John 3:13-24, 4

This is what Paul had to say to every Bible-believing, born again Christian: “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3) Clearly the only ticket to Heaven is love. Ask God to make you what takes for you not to miss the calling that He has placed upon your life and to live to the fulfillment of your destiny. We are the clay and He is the Potter. Isaiah 64:8, “But now, O Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You our potter; and all we are the work of your hand.” As people who have accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior, it might be challenging to be able to identify why or what we need Him to make us for. Among an area that we certainly need to request for is the area to love one another. Paul prayed it in 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13, “And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you, so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.” This prayer of Paul is pointing out that it is not until we increase and abound in love to one another that our hearts will be established blameless in holiness before God. A failure to love is absence from God. Also, it could be impossible to be right with God if we are not right with man. If we fail in loving each other, the chances of loving God, who made man in His own image, could be impossible. Paul’s prayer is a serious prayer that needs to be taken to the heart. Love is what fulfills the whole law of God.  John mentioned in 1 John 4:8, “He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” As a believer, is there any suggestion of shortcut in your life to get to Him by not forgiving and moving forward in love with those who fault you? This is what Peter had to say to us in 1 Peter 4:8, “And above all things have fervent love for one another, for love will cover a multitude of sins.”  

Prayer for today: Let God know that you want to be a vessel of honor. Ask Him to make you because determination to make yourself will not prevail.