NEEDS NOT WANTS
Exodus 16

What the Lord wants for you is to meet your needs. When a believer begins to seek after wants, such a believer will definitely end up being in want always. The Psalmist confessed that, “The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want” (Psalm 23:1). All of the wanting zone is a dangerous zone for any believer who wants to avoid temptation. During the wilderness journey, the children of Israel wanted what they left behind in Egypt instead of trusting God to meet their needs. This eventually led them into a death trap. The death trap was rooted in complaint that eventually led to doubt and lack of trust in the One who brought them out of the bondage of over four hundred years. The children of Israel’s remembrance of what they were eating in Egypt (fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic – Numbers 11:5) was a clear demonstration of the fact that their wants were overriding the Lord’s provision of their need for the journey. Are you placing more focus on what you want more than how the Lord has been providing for your needs? In the case of the children of Israel, wanting what was not at hand landed them into a state of complaining. Complaining, which is an act of rebellion, is an every journey-terminator from getting to the Promised Land. God’s provision is always on time and is always meeting needs. Paul, the apostle, confirmed it when he prayed in Philippians 4:19, “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” After their desire for a pot of meat and bread, God provided for the needs of the children of Israel. In God’s provision for them, God gave instruction to make them have enough according to their need. “…Let every man gather it according to each one’s need, one omer for each person, according to the number of persons; let every man take for those who are in his tent.” (Exodus 16:16)  Despite God’s instruction that was enough for meeting needs, some went above and beyond God’s instruction by taking more than needed. As a result of not following instruction, all the children who took more lost all that was taken (Exodus 16:18-21). The children of Israel were lost in their desire for wants and they could not recognize when their needs were enough. God is a faithful God. Are you experiencing a wilderness journey? Rest assured that God will not fail in supplying your needs. God is interested in meeting your needs if you will allow your want to rest for now until you get to the Promised Land. It is all about needs and the Lord God Almighty has everything we need.

Prayer for today: Ask God to keep you and deliver you from the spirit that makes man to fail and not recognize the provision of God.

TIME TO MOVE
Deuteronomy 1:1-19

God had a plan for the children of Israel when He took them out of the bondage of over four hundred years. God was taking them to the Promised Land while they were taking their time away from getting to the Promised Land. In Horeb, they dwelt longer than they should have. Dwelling in Horeb took away from moving forward in direction of the promise, plan and purpose of God. As a result of dwelling when they were suppose to be moving in the direction of God’s plan, God spoke to them concerning their stagnation. Deuteronomy 1:6, “The LORD our God spoke to us in Horeb, saying: ‘You have dwelt long enough at this mountain.’” Are you experiencing any stagnation in the journey that is before you? As a believer you know that the hand of God has come into place to move you forward, but you are just like the children of Israel at Horeb. What is causing you not to move forward? Have you been staying so long that you do not recognize the fact that you are not moving forward? When Terah, the father of Abram, left the land of Ur, it was with the desire to go to Canaan. Upon his arrival at Haran, he dwelt so long that he never made it to Canaan. (Genesis 11:31-32) Are you on any journey whereby your stopover area has become a dwelling place? The God who called you out of bondage did not design your stopover area to become your dwelling place. God said to the children of Israel in Deuteronomy 1:7-8, “Turn and take your journey, and go to the mountains of the Amorites, to all the neighboring places in the plain, in the mountains and in the lowland, in the South and on the seacoast, to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the River Euphrates. See, I have set the land before you; go in and possess the land which the LORD swore to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—to give to them and their descendants after them.” God told them to turn and take their journey which they had left behind. He also asked them to see what was in place for them. Faith demands that you turn while trusting in God for the move of His hand concerning your stagnation. Faith also demands that you see the promise of God when it is yet to be unfolded. Ask God for the grace to be able to turn and to see based on your faith in Him. Today, take the Word that moved the children of Israel and let it move you forward.

Prayer for today: O Lord my God, I ask for Your Word that moves the unmovable to sound in my direction. Let it move me in direction of Your divine location for my life.

THE ONLY TICKET
1John 3:13-24, 4

This is what Paul had to say to every Bible-believing, born again Christian: “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3) Clearly the only ticket to Heaven is love. Ask God to make you what takes for you not to miss the calling that He has placed upon your life and to live to the fulfillment of your destiny. We are the clay and He is the Potter. Isaiah 64:8, “But now, O Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You our potter; and all we are the work of your hand.” As people who have accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior, it might be challenging to be able to identify why or what we need Him to make us for. Among an area that we certainly need to request for is the area to love one another. Paul prayed it in 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13, “And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you, so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.” This prayer of Paul is pointing out that it is not until we increase and abound in love to one another that our hearts will be established blameless in holiness before God. A failure to love is absence from God. Also, it could be impossible to be right with God if we are not right with man. If we fail in loving each other, the chances of loving God, who made man in His own image, could be impossible. Paul’s prayer is a serious prayer that needs to be taken to the heart. Love is what fulfills the whole law of God.  John mentioned in 1 John 4:8, “He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” As a believer, is there any suggestion of shortcut in your life to get to Him by not forgiving and moving forward in love with those who fault you? This is what Peter had to say to us in 1 Peter 4:8, “And above all things have fervent love for one another, for love will cover a multitude of sins.”  

Prayer for today: Let God know that you want to be a vessel of honor. Ask Him to make you because determination to make yourself will not prevail.

GOD’S SHOWCASE
Genesis 26

“There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, in Gerar. Then the LORD appeared to him and said: “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land of which I shall tell you. Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you…”” (Genesis 26:1-2) In time of famine when all was down and lack was in place, frustration and absolute stagnation must have been evident. God told Isaac not to move away to a land that could be more hospitable. It is one thing to hear God speak but it is absolutely another thing to actually respond to what the Lord is saying. Are you wondering if you have been hearing God speak to you lately? If you are a Bible-reading believer, evidently you are hearing from God as often as you read from the Bible. God’s command for Isaac was enough to expect easy and unchallenging provision. However, when God commands, there is always the devil at hand. As Isaac continued to dwell in the land, the forces of opposition continued to show up in attempt to make Isaac a failure. It was God who commanded Isaac to stay and as long as he remained in the land, nothing formed against him prospered. Isaac’s attempted to protect his wife from the men of the land when he lied by stating, ““She is my sister”; for he was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” because he thought, “lest the men of the place kill me for Rebekah, because she is beautiful to behold.”” (Genesis 26:7) Evidently, the truth came up when Abimelech, the king of the land, saw Isaac showing endearment to Rebekah his wife. By virtue of the king’s discovery, a command was put in place that no one should touch Isaac. In the land that God commanded for Isaac, the challenging situation of protecting Rebekah was not the only one Isaac had to face. Isaac was also unable to lay claim of every well of running water that was found by his servant because the men of the land repeatedly took over the wells. In the land where God commanded Isaac to dwell, denial, distraction and discouragement stood up against Isaac, but yet Isaac could not be moved. Isaac remained obedient to God’s command by dwelling in the land and God made a showcase of him in the midst of his enemies. Isaac’s enemy could not withhold and had to rightfully state, “…We have certainly seen that the Lord is with you…” (Genesis 26:28) Indeed, God is true to His Word that states, “When a man’s ways please the LORD, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.” (Proverbs 16:7) Isaac pleased the Lord so his enemies had to be at peace with him.

Prayer for today: Let Your way be my way eternal King of glory, so that I may please You all the days of my life.

WORSHIP PRAYER
Matthew 8:1-4

It does not matter how ugly our confronting situation could be in the physical. If it is the will of God, no other situation could be better than the confronting one. Jesus, before going to the cross, could not settle for any solution than His request for the will of God. “…Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.”(Mark 14:36) Jesus taught us how to pray when He stated, “Your Kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10) Asking for God’s will is not to eliminate us from presenting our petition before God. Above all, it is important for us to know that there is nothing better than His will in every given situation. Matthew 8:1-2, “When He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him. And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, ‘Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.’”The leper brought his request to Jesus in worship. When he came to worship, he acknowledged that being in God’s will is the best place to be. Despite his leprosy and regardless of his healing desire, he called for the Lord’s will to be done. The leper was not ignorant of the fact that Jesus could make him clean when he called for the will of God to be done. It is very important to learn from this approach of the leper in order to properly approach the throne of grace. You know what has kept you away from where you want to be and you have the clear understanding of what has been a representative of leprosy in your life. All your prayers have centered on the changes that you want to see in regard to your situation. Now it is time to begin to redirect your prayer point like that of the man with leprosy. Let the healing Healer know that He is more than capable to intervene in your situation and that His will is what you want for your life. When the leper prayed a prayer of worship, Jesus was provoked and He moved His hand. The Bible records in Matthew 8:3, “Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, ‘I am willing; be cleansed.’ Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.” His hand is healing deliverance and preservation. Concerning your need, worship Him in prayer and provoke His hand for your blessing.

Prayer for today: I pray just like Daniel’s three friend prayed in the face of death by fiery fire. Let all that is militating against my destiny be terminated. “But if not…” (Daniel 3:18) I will not stop to worship You as my Lord and my God.