BLESS WITH PRAISE
Psalm 103

God is worthy of our praises at all time. The Psalmist declared, “For God is the King of all the earth;sing praises with understanding.” (Psalm 47:7) Praise from the root of your heart and not the root of your mouth. With sincere honesty to God, when was the last time that you have taken a timeout to bless the name of the Lord despite all forms of confrontations before you? When was the last time? It is not a question of blessing His name inside the church or among the gathering of believers. It is a question of when was the last time that you, yourself have actually blessed His name not because of what is at hand but when what is expected to be at hand is not at hand. David, the writer of Psalm 103, exhorted himself to give praise to the Lord with his whole being. Will you learn from David today by meditating on some of his words as recorded in Psalm 103:1-5, “Bless the LORD, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, Who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” If you can testify to any of the above pronouncement in your life, God is due for another round of praising His name regardless of where you are. Being in an office setting cannot stop you because it will not take a noise making for you to get into praising Him. Believe it that if you are able to read through by yourself then you are a testimony of the fact that God has done great things. He is still doing great things and He will do greater things. Bless the name of God. Before this day, do you know that you have been crowned? Let it be registered in you that having been redeemed from destruction, having been forgiven is evidence to the fact that He crowns us with loving-kindness and tender mercies. God is constantly and consistently worthy of our praise. He alone is faithful and worth to be worship. Do not delay but deliver unto Him praise because He alone is worthy to be praised. Bless the Lord with all your heart for He is the King of all the earth so let your praises be with understanding.

Prayer for today: Ask that the crown that He has placed upon your life will not fall off. Ask Him to keep you in keeping His testimonies so that you will seek Him more for His name to be glorified in your life.

HE WILL BACK YOU UP
1 Samuel 16:1-13

God does not and will not run out of mercy except that man will run out of His mercy. God is a faithful God and does nothing by accident. After Saul had run out of God’s mercy by virtue of disobedience, God called on Samuel to go and anoint one of the sons of Jesse, the Bethlehemite, as king for the children of Israel. At the arrival of Samuel, he wanted to determine by sight the one that was to be ordained by calling for all the children of Jesse. “So it was, when they came, that he looked at Eliab and said, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before Him!”” (1 Samuel 16:6) When God sends you, He will select for you. Samuel attempted to make a selection for God but he missed it when he moved by sight. “…The LORD told Samuel not to look at appearance or physical stature…” (1 Samuel 16:7). Let God take you through because He is the one that called you and you do not call yourself. After Samuel had failed by looking at the physical appearance, he now responded to God by not looking but listening for whom God will announce. After Samuel had seen all the children of Jesse he could not complete God’s assignment because the one God had anointed before sending out Samuel was not on location. Samuel knowing that God did not make any selection among the children of Jesse that was on location, he now said to Jesse, “Are all the young men here?” Then he said, “There remains yet the youngest, and there he is, keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and bring him. For we will not sit down till he comes here.” (1 Samuel 16: 11) Despite the fact that David was not on location, that which belongs onto him could not elude him. In their waiting for his arrival, they could not sit; they were all standing. Today, all that belongs to you will not elude you in the name of Jesus. Where ever you are or whatever the situation on the ground is, they will always wait for you to receive all that God has ordained for you in Jesus name. Anointing is not what is to be struggled for it is for the one that God has called to be. David the last of the children of Jesse did not struggle but in his absence his presence was called for.

Prayer for today: Ask God to make you to become what He has called you to be. Every agent of denial or disruption will not have their way in your life and you will live to the fulfillment of God’s glory in Jesus name.

TORN?
Genesis 44:18-34

“And he recognized it and said it is my son’s tunic. A wild beast has devoured him. Without doubt Joseph is torn into pieces.”(Genesis 37:33)  When Joseph’s brother took back his cloth with goat’s blood it was to serve as a deception unto their father that Joseph had been killed by a wild animal. Jacob’s response that Joseph has been torn into pieces was not an understatement neither was it an over statement. Jacob was giving an unconscious, precise and accurate statement of what it takes to become whole and serve to the glory of God. Indeed, in the journey of Joseph, he was torn into pieces. Joseph life was one that was torn apart into pieces in order for him to be made whole for God’s assignment in his life. From the time Joseph’s brothers set eyes on him he became a victim of being torn and set apart into pieces. After he was stripped of his tunic of many colors, “Then they took him and cast him into a pit. And the pit was empty; there was no water in it.” (Genesis 37:24) The “tearing apart process” can be grueling and painful but God is gracious. While he was in an empty pit the brothers were feeding themselves by sitting down for a meal. One would have assumed that the “process” was over when he was brought out of the pit but it was just the beginning of his process that would make him for the future preservation to generations. Are you going through a tearing apart process or you can see it taking shape before you? Be rest assured and hope in God. Hope in God cannot be ashamed. Get equipped with the word of God, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2Timothy 3:16) The Word of God will be your major companion. Joseph was sold to slavery. He then became a confidant in the hand of Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard and was later torn apart by false accusation for sexual harassment; he was sent into prison. Joseph, in his journey was torn into pieces and finally was made whole as the head (next to Pharaoh) for the whole land of Egypt. Joseph was torn but became whole to the glory of God. You will be whole if your focus on God is not shifted.

Prayer for today: Ask God to keep you and help you that your faith will not fail in your challenging journey.

UNSTOPABLE DREAM
Genesis 43

“And they answered, “Your servant our father is in good health; he is still alive.” And they bowed their heads down and prostrated themselves.”” (Genesis 43:28) Joseph’s brothers responded to Joseph’s question about their father, Jacob, during their second journey back to Egypt by bowing and prostrating. The dream that got Joseph to Egypt was that the brothers would bow down to the earth before Joseph. As a result of the dream he was sold to Egypt. As it is clearly mentioned above, the brothers did not only bow but they ended up in a prostrate position. You can be rest assured today, as a child of God, every situation that has been ordained to bow but remain forceful against bowing to you will end up bowing and prostrating for you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. They were only to bow but ended up in a prostrate position because they forced too much as a result they paid more than the dream called for. In your situation, the more they force the more God would take away from them. The brothers did not just want to see the dream terminated but they wanted to stop Joseph by all means possible. At his appearance to them at Dothan, they said to each other, “Come therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit; and we shall say, ‘Some wild beast has devoured him.’ We shall see what will become of his dreams!” (Genesis 37:20) The brothers thought they had a good plan to terminate the dream; they also ridicule the plan of God by claiming, “We shall see what will become of his dreams!” Your testimony will be sweet. God in His goodness and mercy will allow all of your adversaries that are mocking you, to be a witness of His miracle just like Joseph and his brothers. Joseph’s brothers did not only see what God did for Joseph but they were dumbfounded, silent and ridiculously embarrassed by their wickedness. Man often forgets that when God was in the business of creating us, it was Him alone that did his job and by that virtue, no man has the power to terminate if God did not terminate. In the race of life, let your enemies run or walk they will not catch up with you, but they will be weary and faint in Jesus name. Concerning your situation, He will respond at his appointed time, He will not be late neither will he be too early.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace to keep your eyes on Him. Only God will convert every mockery into miracle on your behalf in Jesus name.

WAIT
Psalm 25

The way into God’s rest is in waiting on Him and not to wait on Him is the way to go astray. Going astray is rooted in the heart. Manifestly, any heart that goes astray will miss His way. God is a good God and to end in a bad way is not of God. This is to say what is not good is not God. God is a God of time and process. His time is not like man’s time; likewise His process is not any man’s process. God’s timing is perfect and His process is a preparation for where He has timed for every man to be. Waiting on God can be defined as: to remain unmoving, inactive or in a state of repose, as until something expected happens; to look onward to expectation eagerly. Waiting on God is also putting off further activity until later. Waiting on God usually entails staying for a short or long time and for a definite purpose, that is, for something expected. Without absolute trust in waiting on God there will be no absolute result emerging from waiting on God. The Psalmist testifies, “O my God, I trust in You; let me not be ashamed; let not my enemies triumph over me. Indeed, let no one who waits on You be ashamed; let those be ashamed who deal treacherously without cause.” (Psalm 25:2-3) Trusting in God is what energizes waiting on Him. Trusting in God does have blessings and not to trust in Him will also generate curses. God spoke in Jeremiah 17:5, “…Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord.”  As regard to blessing, the same word of God stated in Jeremiah 17:7, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord.” How can you wait on whom you do not trust? Evidently, having trust in place will enable waiting on Him. To wait on God is to gain rest in Him and not waiting on God is to waste. The children of Israel, when they failed to wait on God they wasted away in the wilderness. Psalm 106:13, “They soon forgot His works; they did not wait for His counsel but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tested God in the desert.” There are so much to gain in waiting and nothing to lose from waiting on God’s timing. It is knowledge to wait on God. Understand the fear of God, find the knowledge of God and know to wait on the Lord because, “… those who wait on the LORD, they shall inherit the earth.” (Psalm 37:9)

Prayer for today: Ask God to direct your heart that you may know when and how to wait on Him constantly.