FLOWING OR FOLLOWING
John 12:23-32

“If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.”(John 12:26) Serving God is the ultimate job, and there is no other way to obey Him, but to serve Him. Serving Him is a sacrifice, and it requires giving up everything for Him. It is not possible to serve Him when there is no love in place for Him. Likewise it is not possible to love Him and not serve Him. Loving God requires giving up everything for Him, for His glory. Deuteronomy 6:5, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” To love God is to serve God, and to serve God is to love God. Are you serving Him, or you are servicing your pocket or wallet? Is your service reasonable and acceptable before God? Romans 12:1, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” Serving God is not just a thing of the mouth; it is what takes everything away for the purpose of His calling. Jesus did not only ask for us to serve Him, but he also declared what it is to serve Him when he stated that, “If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me…” Following Jesus means putting all possession away to following Him. Following Him is stepping after Him in the same way He walked His walk on the face of earth. Jesus gave His disciples His own expectation of how to follow Him, “When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” (Mark 8:34) Jesus in His calling for Him to be followed also made it clear that the need for His disciples to follow Him was to make them fishers of men. Matthew 4:19, “Then He said to them, “Follow me and I will male you fishers of men.” It is clear that serving Him is a part of following Him. Following Him is giving up everything for Him to be able to carry us. We are to follow not as a spectator, but to learn and to become fishers of men. Jesus is not a slave master, He has rewards for all that follows Him, “…Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” (Matthew 19:28) In serving Him, by following Him, there are so many blessings to be had. The main purpose of serving Him is to follow Him.
Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace that will enable you to serve Him by following Him, and not to follow the crowd.

FAITHFULL GOD
Luke 23:39-49

God is a faithful God, and He has never promised something and not seen it through. What He says He would do, is done before He says it. God is not a man that would lie; neither is He a slave master that He would force His commands on His creation. When God gives His word or commands it is left for His children to follow or not to follow. The consequences of following or not following will catch up with His children. Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” This is a testimony of the One and only living God, the God that cares for His children. The statement is not a command, neither is it a law. The statement is information that will bring transformation into the life of any believer in the word of His grace. If any should get connected in understanding, and have knowledge of the One that knows the future from today, then the promise becomes an expectation for the deliverance onto the salvation of God. However, if there is any that lack knowledge, or choose not to know God, there is so much to lose. Proverbs 4:7, “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding.” How are you taking, or treating, the word of God that constantly comes in your direction? Remember, the word will not force itself on you, but you are to let the word have its way so it may deliver lead you into God’s purpose for your life. Here is the scenario of two that responded by what they know of the One that knows what the future holds for every man under heaven, “Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, “If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.” 40 But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? (Luke 23:39-40) The one that knows how to seriously take what he knows about the One, that knows all things conversed with Jesus, “Then he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”” (Luke 39:42) Having knowledge of information that is of peace, and not of evil, will generate expectations that bring forth manifestation. It is also a demonstration of understanding the God that is all-powerful, that holds the future in His hands. Jesus responded to the man that knows what Jesus knows about the future, “And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:43) Do you know that He knows about your future, and the goods that the future holds for His children? Be ready at all times, every day, and moment, and live life as one that knows that is worth living for His knowing.
Prayer for today: Fill me O Lord with the knowledge of your word in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.

PRIME TARGET
Luke 22:1-23

Betrayal, rebellion, and every other wicked act, operates from the heart, because the heart has always been the prime target for the devil. Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? Ecclesiastes 9:3, “This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: that one thing happens to all. Truly the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil; madness is in their hearts while they live, and after they go to dead.” Throughout the Bible it is clearly demonstrated that the heart is where the rise and fall of man begins. Most of the time, what flows through the heart of a believer is what makes the believer, or breaks the believer. The heart is the prime target for the devil to bring down the children of God. Judas Iscariot ate and drank with Jesus, and saw all, or most, of the miracles that Jesus did. Judas spent time with Jesus and went to places with Him. Despite all of his exposure to Christ his heart could not held up against the devises of the devil. Luke 22:3-4, “Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve. 4 So he went his way and conferred with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray Him to them.” Satan went after the heart of Judas, and he was able to establish his plan and purpose of betraying Jesus. Faith fails when the enemy attacks the heart. Peter, as close as he was to Jesus, could also have been a victim of the devil on a number of occasions. Once Jesus said to him, “…Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. “But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.” (Luke 22:31-32) The only proven target for the enemy to strike is the heart. Ananias and Sapphira, his wife, were not forced to voluntarily sell their possession to buttress the fellowship of others, but they came up lying about the proceedings, “But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep part of the price of the land for yourself? (Acts 5:3). Hearts need to be constantly prayed for, because determination to keep focus from letting Satan have its way, will fail. Determination failed Peter when he was determined not to deny Christ, but eventually denied Him three times. Thank God that Jesus had already prayed for Peter’s faith not to fail. King David prayed in Psalm 51:10, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” It is only the grace of God that can keep hearts from the Satan operation. What is the state of your heart? It is always good to be sensitive to the move of the Spirit of God, for the avoidance of Satan’s manifestation in the heart.

Prayer for today: Ask God to take over your days and your moments, so your heart will be consecrated unto Him.

PRAISE HIM
Psalm 150

“Seven times a day I praise You, because of Your righteous judgments.” (Psalm 119:164) The Psalmist’s declaration of praising Him seven times a day is enough to appropriate it, to declaring your seventh month to be a month of “praise”. In your new month, you should praise God with an understanding, “For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with understanding.” (Psalm 47:7) There is power when praising Him with understanding is rooted in the truth that God is the king of all the earth, and the Lord sits as king forever. King David declared in 2 Samuel 22:4, “I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised; So shall I be saved from my enemies.” To king David, it became an understanding of what praise could do, and that made David declare that, there is none that is worthy to be praised as God. In times of challenges, in times that enemies are mounting their offense from all avenues of life such as financial and health, praising Him in this new month, like never before, will provoke the hand of God for your deliverance and progress. Praise Him constantly and consistently and see what the Lord will do. What, or who else, deserves more praise than God? The Psalmist also declared in Psalm 48:1, “Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised In the city of our God, In His holy mountain.2 Beautiful in elevation, The joy of the whole earth, Is Mount Zion on the sides of the north, The city of the great King.” In this new month let praising Him be continually found in your whole being. Understanding praise is not the “mouthful praise”, but praising Him with a whole heart. Also, it is not possible to praise Him without joy, or to have joy in Him without praising Him. Praising God always in joy, will always lead to the path of life. Praising God will bring us to the presence of God, because joy is what give access to God just as the psalmist testified in Psalm 16:11, “You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Can you think of any name for your seventh month of the year that is worth more, than naming it the month of “praise”? This month, be in constant praise and that will bring consistency in His presence. It is more important to praise Him with understanding, than shouting with no understanding. In this month, praise Him with new songs, praise Him with what you have, praise Him where you are. Praise how you are, praise Him for where He has brought you, praise Him for where He is taking you. Do you have the breath? Psalm 150:6 “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord”.

Prayer for today: Father enable me to remain in constant and consistent praise worship all the days, weeks, months, and years ahead, because it is good to praise your gracious and Holy name.