FOREVER HE IS GOD
1 Samuel 3

God is the God who returns. He is the God that remembers and also the God that visits. King David stated, “Return, O Lord, deliver me! Oh, save me for your mercies’ sake!” (Psalm 6:4) Meditating on these words of David will lead to different questions with answers in the Word of God. One question to ponder on is the request of David, “Return O Lord”. Could it have been a cry at a time when God had departed from him? It is clear that when God departs all that is of God and from God ceases to manifest itself. It is a dangerous ground to be where revelation from God desists. At a point in time in Shiloh when Eli was the priest, we are made to understand that, “…the word of Lord was rare in those days; there was no widespread revelation.” (1 Samuel 3:1) God’s communication is His revelation and where there is no revelation, transformation ceases. The journey of life without transformation will lead to termination. David’s asking for the Lord to return for him to be delivered is evidence to the testimony that without revelation every struggle of life reigns. It is only the one who has the understanding for the need of God’s revelation which will always not want for His revelation to cease. How is your revelation experience? Just like David said, revelation from God will bring forth deliverance and salvation will reign. The situation of no revelation in Shiloh called for the return of God. The Lord’s return is His appearance and it took the coming to life of Samuel for revelation to come back to Shiloh. 1 Samuel 3:21, “Then the LORD appeared again in Shiloh. For the LORD revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the LORD.”God, who appeared again in Shiloh, will also appear again (return) to visit you if you have lost contact with Him or if you have limited His appearance. He is the same yesterday and today. Evidently, where His Word becomes rare, widespread revelation will cease. Psalm 106:4, “Remember me, O LORD, with the favor You have toward Your people. Oh, visit me with Your salvation.” What are you looking up to Him for? Is it for Him to return, to remember or to visit? He is a faithful God! Call on Him and state your request to Him. The Psalmist wanted Him to remember and to visit him because when God remembers or visits, you will be enabled to see the benefit of His chosen ones. You will be able to rejoice in the gladness of His nation and will be able to glory with His inheritance. (Psalm 106:5) God is forever consistent. He is God that returns to reveal. He is the God that remembers to favor and God that visits with salvation.

Prayer for today: Preserve me, O God, for in You I put my trust.

KORAH AND COMPANY
Numbers 16

Those who are called unto God, which are separated unto Him are not for you to disparage or demean in any form or approach. When God places His call on His children by separating them for His assignment, they are regarded as anointed. God takes His Word serious and His word will not fail. Psalm 105: 15 testifies to the Word of God, “Do not touch My anointed ones, And do My prophets no harm.” God meant what He said and He will do what is right. Have you been part of a disparaging group that takes a stand against whom the Lord has placed upon their life? The Bible talked about how Korah the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben led a rebellious act against Moses the anointed of God. Numbers 16:2-3, “…they rose up before Moses with some of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty leaders of the congregation, representatives of the congregation, men of renown. They gathered together against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, ‘You take too much upon yourselves, for all the congregation is holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?’” In any form or approach, avoid being a part of group like that of Korah and his company. Such company is a rebellious company and they are partners positioned for self destruction. God is serious about His word then, now and forever. In the case of Moses, he did not fight back for himself and there is no need for any anointed to fight back; rather let the Lord fight the fight. Moses took his case up to God. Certainly, without any doubt at every confrontation, allowing God to fight on our behalf will bring a total victory and a permanent termination against agents of the wicked. However, fighting our battle cannot bring forth the same result like when He fights for us. In the case of Moses, the Bible records, “So when Moses heard it, he fell on his face; and he spoke to Korah and all his company, saying, “Tomorrow morning the LORD will show who is His and who is holy, and will cause him to come near to Him. That one whom He chooses He will cause to come near to Him.” (Numbers 16:4-5)  Have you been chosen by God? It is time to let the Lord do the battle on your behalf. Are you one of the disparaging groups? It is time you stay away from operating with such group. To Korah and his company, they all went down alive into the pit. The earth closed over them and they perished from among the assembly.

Prayer for today: Deliver me O Lord from taking a part in any conscious and unconscious rebellious act.

EXPOSING FEAR
Genesis 13

At anytime a mentally, maladjusted man knows and understands the state of his condition, such a man is bound and set to come out of his situation. When there is understanding, knowledge, which is the application of wisdom, will be found. Understanding and knowing that fear is the only weapon that the devil relies on calls for a need to actually want to understand and know how to put it into subjection by the grace of God. First of all, fear can be defined as: a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, pain, and all sort of confronting challenges. In the case of fear, whether the threat is real or imagined, the feeling or condition of being afraid often takes over. The devil has been very successful in this department ever since. He knows to always choose the opposite of God to fight the children of God. He knows quite well that the opposite of fear is faith. The devil knows that every where faith is steadfast and well grounded is a no-go area for him. By this virtue, it is important for us to now turn to the source of faith and begin to make it our day and night dwelling place. When the source of faith becomes our dwelling place, fear will not have a place in us. So where does faith come from? The Bible states, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:17) To just hear the Word is not adequate. Walking out of Sunday service and waiting until the following Sunday service is like hearing but not hearing and hearing. Hearing and hearing is taking the extra mile by studying and finding multiple ways of listening. Evidently, fear is an evidence of not hearing and hearing adequately enough. The Word of God is God. At every time man is able to hear from God, doubt cannot have its place because no man can clearly hear from God and doubt Him. When God speaks, He wants us to see what He says with the eyes of our heart. God promised Abraham when there was nothing on the ground. “And the LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: ‘Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are—northward, southward, eastward, and westward; 15 for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever.’” (Genesis 13:14-15)  God’s command is His Word. He gave it to Abraham to lift his eyes to see and Abraham heard God because he saw the Word of God as being there when it was not actually there yet. Seeing the Word that he heard from God made it impossible for him to doubt and he could not yield to fear. By the grace of God, put the devil where it belongs. Meditate daily on the Word both day and night.

Prayer for today: Teach me Your way O Lord, and lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies.

NO TO OUTSIDERS
Luke 8: 49-56

Jesus, our Lord and Savior, is our all in all. He came to make us if we choose to follow Him. He lived an exemplary life for us to see that with Him, in Him and through Him, all things are possible. Jesus is our Advocate, our representative before the Father. All things that do not represent you, that are not the things of God, that are outside of your beliefs are outsiders to you and they should all be considered and treated as outsiders. Do not allow outsiders inside and neither should you inhabit any outsider. Let the outsiders be on the outside and by denying outsiders, doubt will die, mockery will be denied and above all, ridicule will not locate you. Jesus, with all the power in Him, in His attempt to bring forth Jairus’ daughter back from death to life, made some moves before He did. The first thing that Jesus did was to encourage the family not to be afraid but believe with a positive statement saying, “it is well.” Secondly, He told them that their daughter had only went to sleep and not unto death so that they should stop weeping. The first and second moves were to address the family from the inside because when the inside was settled, then the outside could be dealt with by being put out on the outside. Jesus did not address the outside until He had taken care of the inside. While Jesus was taking care of the inside, the outside was in operation. Luke 8: 53, “And they ridiculed Him, knowing that she was dead.”  The outsiders ridiculed Jesus thinking it would be impossible for Him to raise Jairus’ daughter back to life. Ridicule is from the outside; it is an agent of discouragement. As an agent of discouragement, ridicule will bring forth discouragement to stop exercising faith, which would cause the loss of faith. Jesus did not hesitate; He needed to settle the outside since the inside had been addressed. The Bible records in Luke 8:54-55, “…He put them all outside, took her by the hand and called, saying, ‘Little girl, arise,’ Then her spirit returned, and she arose immediately. And He commanded that she be given something to eat.” Jesus did not allow the surrounding people or the outsiders to deny the miracle for Jairus’ daughter. Just as Jesus put all agents of mockery and ridicule out in the case of Jairus’ daughter, so He will do on your behalf. This New Year, all that belongs unto you will return to you and your testimony will glorify God.

Prayer for today: Uphold me O Lord in Your way that my faith will not fail. 

PRAY THE WORD IN A NEW YEAR
2 Samuel 5:17-25, Joshua 10:1-27

"For the Lord will rise up as at Mount Perazim, He will be angry as in the Valley of Gibeon—That He may do His work, His awesome work, And bring to pass His act, His unusual act." (Isaiah 28:21) God is in the business of answering payer. Pray the Word of God and prevail in the world of challenges as you have been privilege by the grace of God to see a new beginning. At Mount Perazim, after the Philistines heard that David was anointed king over Israel they pitched a battle against David. David inquired from the Lord whether to go up against the Philistines and the Lord gave him a go ahead victory promise. David took to the battle, destroyed the Philistine as the Lord promised. With victory, David testified, “The LORD has broken through my enemies before me, like a breakthrough of water.” Therefore he called the name of that place Baal Perazim.” (2 Samuel 5:20) David did not only defeat them once but twice and he drove them back beyond their territory. Would this be your wish over your enemy in a new beginning? Pray it and it will be so. In the Valley of Gibeon the children of Israel went to war against the five kings of the Amorites. It was a war that was set up against Gibeon by the five kings because the men of Gibeon became an ally with Israel. With war looming the men of Gibeon sent to Joshua and it became the war of the children of Israel. Just like David, Joshua turned to God for God’s permission and leadership. Any challenge that is taken up to God before any move on our side is a done deal with awesome victory and unusual act of God. Will you consider taking up yours to the Lord first? God responded to Joshua, “…I have delivered them into your hand; but not a man shall stand before you.” (Joshua 10:8) Joshua got a go ahead from God; he descended heavily and inflicted great damage on the enemy. In the battle, the ones that were not within the reach of Joshua’s force were dealt with by God. The Bible made us to realize that, “…There were more who died from the hailstones than the children of Israel killed with the sword.” God is not a man that He should not honor His word and neither shall there be any doubt of what He can do. He is a mighty warrior and great in battle. God is a jealous God and attention is the antidote for jealousy. Before attempting your challenge attend to Him for His direction. Give all your attention to Him and He will attend to you in all your challenge.

Prayer for today:Deliver me O Lord. Breakthrough my enemies before me, like a breakthrough of water.