BEAUTY OR SHAME?
Psalm 90, 97

Which God are you serving? To serve God is to love God and loving Him is serving Him. Talking love is cheap and not enough but working love is real and complete. How do we love God? Deuteronomy made it clear, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” (Deuteronomy 6:5) Evidently, to love God is to know God. Do you know if you know Him? 1 John 2:3-5, “Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” Love God, serve Him and do not end up in shame. The Psalmist wrote in Psalm 97:7 “Let all be put to shame who serve carved images, who boast of idols. Worship Him, all you gods.” Shame belongs to those who serve outside of the living God. Being put to shame or living in shame is not a life for the children of God. Shame is a direct result of failure, destruction, deprivation, degradation and every humiliating situation that one can think or imagine. The Psalmist was requesting that all be put to shame who serve carved images and who boast of idols. Serving outside of the One and Only Creator, the Most High God is not an option but a command. As shame belongs to those who are serving idols, so beauty is what belongs to those who are serving the Most High God. The Psalmist also pointed out in Psalm 90:17, “And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands for us; yes, establish the work of our hands.” The difference is clear. Beauty of God is blessing of God. When you serve Him in deed and in truth, His beauty will be the end result. It is clearly spelled out by the Psalmist that when the beauty of the Lord comes upon a believer, that believer is set to be established for His glory. How are you serving Him? It is one thing to claim serving Him and it is another thing to be serving Him in truth. The words of the Bible are neither fairy tale nor fiction. The purpose of the word is stated in 2Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” If you will be purposeful by taking the word of God as a living oracle, you will not end up in shame, but rather you will end up under the beauty of the Lord while overcoming the challenges that come your way.

Prayer for today: O Lord my God, I ask in Jesus name that you cause your word to have its rightful place in me.

UNLIMITED GOD
Esther 5-7

He alone is God. Isaiah described Him as, “…Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength.” (Isaiah 40:28-29) He is the mighty God that was, that is and that will be forever. Have you tried Him and see that He is not true? God is true to His word and His work testifies all about Him. Jeremiah testifies, “He has made the earth by His power; He has established the world by His wisdom, and stretched out the heaven by His understanding.” (Jeremiah 51:15) It is worthy to taste and see that the Lord is good. Have you tried Him and not have Him work on your behalf? God cannot fail and He will never fail.  Knowing about God will get man to nowhere and neither is it enough to know the true power in the Word of God.  However, to be known in the Word of God is the real deal. To be known is to be living the Word. Also, to be known in the word of God is to become one that is behaving the Word of God.  Those that work the works of God are those that believe in Him. The ones that believe in God are the ones that wait on Him. Isaiah 40: 31 states, “But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” Amazingly, God is a great deliverer if you will trust in Him. Inside Harman’s plot was the attempt to terminate Mordecai but in the kindness of God there was a place for Mordecai to be honored. God is a faithful God. The end of the matter was that, Harman ended up in the wicked plan that was set for Mordecai because God that sees all could not sleep nor slumber. God has not forgotten you but He does have a time set for your situation if you can know it that He is beautiful for the situation. What else can we say about the Ancient of Days, the Great I Am the I Am? God has never lost any battle.  He is a Mighty Warrior. The God who made a dry land in the middle of the Red Sea for His children to pass through will not forsake you. The move of God’s hand is unlimited just as it was testified in Job 11:7-8, “…Can you find out the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than heaven- what can you do? Deeper than the Sheol- what can you know?” Indeed what can you do or what can you know but to give it all unto Him. Meditate on the question; it will eliminate your concerns.

Prayer for today: The grace that it takes to give it all unto You let it be added unto me O Lord.

GAINING ENTRANCE
2Chronicles 32

Whatever is gaining entrance into the life of a believer will either make or break that believer. If the Word of God enters, it will make such a believer and if the enemy finds a means of gaining entrance, it will break such a believer. What is entering into you? When the enemy wants to break down the life of a believer, he will have to gain entrance. Without the enemy gaining entrance, it will be almost impossible to break the believer from the outside. The same applies to the Word of God. For the Word to make a believer, the Word will have to gain entrance. Psalm 119:130, “The entrance of the words gives light; it gives understanding unto the simple.” The Word of God that enters will make the life that it enters and that life will never be of darkness or of defeat. Gaining entrance either in a person or territory is important because it will deliver victory or defeat. Once in the attempt of attacking Judah, Sennacherib King of Assyria entered Judah. 2 Chronicles 32:1-3, “After these deeds of faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and entered Judah; he encamped against the fortified cities, thinking to win them over to himself.  And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come, and that his purpose was to make war against Jerusalem, he consulted with his leaders and commander to stop the water from the springs which were outside the city; and they helped him.” The purpose of Sennacherib’s entering into Judah was to make an effective war against Judah. It was left for Judah to reverse the negligence of allowing the enemy to gain entrance. As a believer, we do have a choice in the Word of God not to allow the enemy to gain entrance. When an enemy is within, a believer can be redeemed by allowing the Word to work as a weapon of defense. The Word of God will work a great deal especially when time is constantly being given to the Word and not waiting until the enemy gains entrance. As a believer, will you be willing to build yourself up against the enemy? The apostle Paul stated in Acts 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.” Victory is also one of your inheritances that are available if the Word of grace is constantly gaining entrance into your life. Jesus, the Word of God has come to give life while the devil has come to take life. Only one of the two can have a place and operate at a time. Allow the Word to gain its entrance into your life today.

Prayer for today: Enable me O Lord and let your word have its rightful place in me in Jesus name.

POWER
Mark 6: 7-13

In the days of Jesus, crowds followed, multitudes thronged Him, but only twelve were actually called.Mark 6:7-9, “And He called the twelve to Himself, and began to send them out two by two, and gave them power over unclean spirits. 8 He commanded them to take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bag, no bread, no copper in their money belts— 9 but to wear sandals, and not to put on two tunics.” Before He called them to Himself, they left all they had behind; unlike some who were following without being able to leave it all behind. Have you been called and yet fail to drop off or part with all that does not count in His calling? A call to serve the Lord is a call to stand out of the affairs of the world. Jesus called them in order to send them out to serve. Jesus did not call His disciples so that people could serve the disciples. Jesus’ calling is for serving others and not for His followers to remain being served. In His calling for your life, are you serving or are you being served? If Jesus has called you to Himself, He will deposit power in you. If in your acclaimed calling, power is not being demonstrated you are either being served or have yet to receive being called to Jesus Himself. Did He call you or you have called yourself? The twelve were called and power was deposited in them over unclean spirits. The twelve that were called left under the command that was given to them by Jesus. The command of Jesus is power to heal, power to deliver, power to preserve and power to create. Are you operating in the calling of Jesus based on His command? The disciples took commands from Jesus and went further in their assignment. Mark 6:12-13, “So they went out and preached that people should repent. 13 And they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick, and healed them.” The disciples that were called by Jesus went and came back with testimony of miracles. The word stated that many who were sick were anointed with oil and got healed. Could the power given to the disciples be the oil in their hands? Isaiah 10:27, “It shall come to pass in that day that his burden will be taken away from your shoulder, And his yoke from your neck, And the yoke will be destroyed because of the anointing oil.” Jesus, the Anointed One gave His word and all that come from Him are inhabited by power to heal and to deliver. In all your assignments, are you having testimony?  In Jesus’ calling, there is power when the response to serve is glaring.

Prayer for today: Ask God, the only distributor of grace, to deposit in your life all that it takes to answer the call of serving others.

KNOW NOW
1 Kings 17

Jesus our Lord and savior quoted from Deuteronomy 8:3 when he responded to Satan’s temptation in the wilderness, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’” (Luke 4:4) In truth God is a God of provision and He made provision possible for the woman of Zarephath through Prophet Elijah. Elijah commanded the Zarephath woman, “And Elijah said 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. 14 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) In the whole land it was the woman of Zarephath that the Lord visited with abundance of the source of bread when she responded to God’s command. Many gather to Him as God of provision but they need to begin to stand in Him to know Him as God of deliverance and preservation. He is a complete God. Despite the miracle of provision for the woman of Zarephath there was a need for her to know God personally as God that is Lord of all. Miraculously, He has provided for you in some least expected area. God has made a way for you in situations and circumstances where there was no way out. Have you at any point in time acknowledged and testified to your knowledge of Him? The Zarephath woman had a great deliverance unto abundance but yet she needed to testify her knowledge of God. With no account of the cause of her son’s sickness, it was recorded that her son died while Elijah was there. The Zarephath woman turned to Elijah for help and Elijah took the son, cried out to the Lord in prayer, “…O LORD my God, I pray, let this child’s soul come back to him.” 22 Then the LORD heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came back to him, and he revived.” (1 Kings 17:21-22) The Lord God that sent Elijah confirmed Himself as God of deliverance and preservation not just God of provision. In God’s confirmation the woman of Zarephath had a transformation as she testified; “Now by this I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is the truth.” (1 Kings 17:24) The woman of Zarephath saw her son that was dead come back to life before her testimony of transformation. Can you confirm in your heart that you now know that He is God? God is the same God yesterday, today and tomorrow. He has the first and the last say over every confronting situation. God will not fail to deliver and preserve His own.

Prayer for today: Ask God to visit you with a miracle of transformation.