WAITING PATIENTLY
Psalm 40

In every decision to wait on God there should be no backup plans. Also, it is not possible to wait on God and waste. He is the Father God and not a god father. Waiting patiently on God is taking a position to receive from God. It is not enough to call on God when there is no waiting that will bring forth the purpose of waiting. The Psalmist encouraged, “Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord! (Psalm 27:14) When there is knowledge of the awesomeness of who He is, there will always be a persistency in place to replace the failure of waiting. As a believer, many times you ask and miss the response because of the inability to wait for a response. Trusting in God is ignoring negativity around you while focusing on all the positives that are evident as the work and power of God goes forward. Trust is what will enable waiting and when trust is not in place; waiting will not have its way. King David testified in Psalm 40:1, “I waited patiently for the LORD; And He inclined to me, and heard my cry”. King David knew that in his waiting God had given him a response because he was brought up out of a horrible pit; out of the miry clay. His feet were set upon a rock and his steps were established (Psalm 40:2). In waiting on God, instruction and teaching will come to lead and guide the waiter into the manifestation of the waiter’s request. This is what happened to King David. His situation was turned around because he received a leading and guidance from where he was to where he wanted to be. Have you been asking for a long time without any result or the result has been a negative one that could not turn your situation around into a new page? God is a faithful God. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. The same God that did it in the life of King David will not fail in doing it for you. Ask God for the grace of waiting whenever you request or call on Him for His deliverance. Waiting on God will no doubt turn around the page that is not working in your life to a working page for His name to be glorified. Wait on Him and wait patiently. Your waiting on God will never be waste. 

Prayer for today: The ancient of days, the King of kings I ask for the grace and enablement to know to wait when there is a need for waiting on You.

SALT OR LOST?
Matthew 5:1-15

In every command of God, there is no place for middle ground. A believer is either cold or hot. This is what the Book of Revelation has to say about middle ground: “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.” (Revelation 3:15-16) How clear can this come to us to understand that there is no middle ground? As a believer, you are either one who contributes to the earth as a preserver or one who contributes as a non-preserver (destroyer). In the Bible days, there was no refrigerator that could be used for preserving food. Preservation of food was only done by the use of salt. When Jesus said that you are the salt of the earth, He spoke in reference to what the life of a believer should be all about. A believer should be the one bringing impacting changes to his or her environment such as their workplace, neighborhood and family gatherings. Salt, as a preserver, means believers should be agents of preserving the decaying world of sin and iniquity that is around them. Instead, the world is the one that is changing believers lately. We are not to be changed by the affairs of this world if we cannot at least change the world. It is not enough to be fluent in Bible verses if our character does not support the fluency of the word in our mouth. Most believers today want to be quiet in their walk and the excuse that is used is that they don’t want to offend anyone by what they believe in. Imagine this, in the world of a kitchen where there is salt, how can it be that every food that is coming out is tasteless and unacceptable? Jesus said in Matthew 5:13, “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men”. The salt in the kitchen that is producing a tasteless and unacceptable food has no effect because it is not being used or it has lost its flavor. The salt that is not effective has lost its purpose. It becomes a waste and it is to be thrown away. According to Jesus, that salt becomes an underfoot material. What kind of salt are you? Boldness in quoting the Word without Godly character to back it up will continue to make you a powerless believer. You are to be a salt that seasons your world with good and acceptable contributions.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace to be a preserving agent in Your world.

LORD’S WAY
Exodus 13:17-22, Mark 1:1-20

Wilderness is a passage where the enemy has planted all kinds of mine to derail the transportation that will bring transformation to the life of all believers. Also, it is a passage that cannot be avoided. The children of Israel passed through it to get to their Promised Land. A journey through the wilderness is a process where character is built up to maintain life at the Promised Land. Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, could not enter into His full assignment on earth until He was led into the wilderness. When the children of Israel were coming out into the journey from the bondage of Egypt, the best and most available route for them was through the wilderness. The fact the Lord led them through the wilderness was evident that it was the best available route. “Then it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, ‘Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.’ So God led the people around by way of the wilderness of the Red Sea. And the children of Israel went up in orderly ranks out of the land of Egypt” (Exodus 13:17-18). The wilderness was the best available route and yet it appeared the worst and the most challenging to the children of Israel. The journey through the wilderness is the way that will carry you through to where God has a plan for you. In your journey, it could be that you are yet to face challenges or you are already facing challenges. Do not complain; turn your face to the grace and mercy of God that will carry you through. Without a doubt and in reality, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” (2 Timothy 3:16)Jesus, our Lord and Savior, went through the wilderness and for us to go through the same path should not be an exception. Mark 1:12, “Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness. 13 And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the beasts; and the angel ministered to Him.” Jesus went through the wilderness because He knew that we would have to go through it. Jesus’ going through the wilderness was to leave behind a footstep for each and every one who answers His call to follow through. The same wild beasts are still there, but the good news is that the ministering angels who saw Jesus through are waiting to see us through.

Prayer for today: I ask that You alone take the leadership of my life O Lord my God and my King. Let me not take to any way that seems right to me.

GO ABOVE CROWD
Mark 2:1-12

It was recorded about Jesus in Mark 2:1-4, “…He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house. Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them. Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying. The paralytic man that was brought to Jesus had no room to be received. Also, they could not get near the door. The paralyzed man must have heard about the news of Jesus in town very late so he arrived late at his healing ground. However, it is clear that the major hindrance was the crowd that received and resisted his getting on to the healing ground. What is it that is complicating your breakthrough? Is it your self-created crowd or the religious crowd that is waiting at the entrance of your breakthrough to deny you? It is not time for you to give up but rather time for you to take it up to another level that is not common. Zacchaeus was described as a short man in stature. He wanted to see Jesus while in the midst of a thronging crowd. He did not wait for Jesus to pass him by. He took it up to another level by running ahead of the crowd and climbing on a sycamore tree (Luke 19:1-10). Bartimaeus, the blind man, needed to gain his sight when he recognized the passing of Jesus. He called out for Jesus but the crowd calmed down his calling when they asked him to be quiet. He, however, rather increased in his calling until he got the full attention of Jesus (Mark 10:46-52). In every drive to purpose in life, there is no giving up. The four men with the paralytic man took their faith up to another level. Mark 2:4, “And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.” There is so much to learn from the Word of God in regard to getting above and leaving the crowd behind. Crowds are a major force that will discolor your destiny if you get mixed up with them. Avoid all kinds of crowds and most especially the religious crowd. Jesus will surely notice you when you take it up to another level.

Prayer for today: O Lord my God and my Father, add to me this day the grace of persistency where there is a need to be persistent.

HEARING AND HEARING
Joshua 3: 9-17

It is written in Hosea 4:6, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…” Isaiah 5:13 also mentions, “Therefore my people have gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge; their honorable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.” Manifestly, lack of knowledge sent the people of God into captivity. Knowledge has its source in the hearing and understanding of the word of God. When hearing of His word is backed with obedience, it becomes impossible for failure to have a place concerning what is heard from Him. Whatever is being heard clearly, constantly and consistently will determine how you get over forces of destruction. Also, it will circumvent one from getting into captivity and it will create a way of escape from captivity. Indeed, hearing and hearing of the word of God is by every means a great asset to growing in knowledge. (Romans 10:17) The word of God is true and when a believer is true in his or her walk in the word of God then the word will work. What are you constantly hearing? After the journey of about forty years and having heard so many times from God through Moses, the children of Israel had to continue to hear in order to be able to continue in their journey. For every believer to arrive safely at their final destination on the journey of life, to be absent or to take vacation from hearing the word is a valid route to termination. At the point of crossing the Jordan River, God gave Joshua directions that the children of Israel had a need to hear. Joshua called them in Joshua 3:9, “So Joshua said to the children of Israel, ‘Come here, and hear the words of the LORD your God.’” A clear and compelling direction was laid down for the children of Israel when Joshua stated, “Come here and hear”. It is important to always go to where God’s direction is, but it is even more important to also hear. If you have been going and not hearing it is incomplete. In the next verse, Joshua pointed out to them that it is what they heard that will give them the knowledge of what God was about to do. Joshua 3:10, “And Joshua said, ‘By this you shall know that the living God is among you, and that He will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Hivites and the Perizzites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Jebusites.’” Begin to spend more time in the word of God. Make hearing from Him your music day and night. 

Prayer for today: Father I ask for your deliverance over every agent or forces of distraction that has been coming in the way of my hearing from You.