GAINING ENTRANCE
2Chronicles 32

Whatever is gaining entrance into the life of a believer will either make or break that believer. If the Word of God enters, it will make such a believer and if the enemy finds a means of gaining entrance, it will break such a believer. What is entering into you? When the enemy wants to break down the life of a believer, he will have to gain entrance. Without the enemy gaining entrance, it will be almost impossible to break the believer from the outside. The same applies to the Word of God. For the Word to make a believer, the Word will have to gain entrance. Psalm 119:130, “The entrance of the words gives light; it gives understanding unto the simple.” The Word of God that enters will make the life that it enters and that life will never be of darkness or of defeat. Gaining entrance either in a person or territory is important because it will deliver victory or defeat. Once in the attempt of attacking Judah, Sennacherib King of Assyria entered Judah. 2 Chronicles 32:1-3, “After these deeds of faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and entered Judah; he encamped against the fortified cities, thinking to win them over to himself.  And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come, and that his purpose was to make war against Jerusalem, he consulted with his leaders and commander to stop the water from the springs which were outside the city; and they helped him.” The purpose of Sennacherib’s entering into Judah was to make an effective war against Judah. It was left for Judah to reverse the negligence of allowing the enemy to gain entrance. As a believer, we do have a choice in the Word of God not to allow the enemy to gain entrance. When an enemy is within, a believer can be redeemed by allowing the Word to work as a weapon of defense. The Word of God will work a great deal especially when time is constantly being given to the Word and not waiting until the enemy gains entrance. As a believer, will you be willing to build yourself up against the enemy? The apostle Paul stated in Acts 20:32, “So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” Victory is also one of your inheritances that are available if the Word of grace is constantly gaining entrance into your life. Jesus, the Word of God has come to give life while the devil has come to take life. Only one of the two can have a place and operate at a time. Allow the Word to gain its entrance into your life today.

Prayer for today: Enable me O Lord and let your word have its rightful place in me in Jesus name.

POWER
Mark 6: 7-13

In the days of Jesus, crowds followed, multitudes thronged Him, but only twelve were actually called.Mark 6:7-9, “And He called the twelve to Himself, and began to send them out two by two, and gave them power over unclean spirits. 8 He commanded them to take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bag, no bread, no copper in their money belts— 9 but to wear sandals, and not to put on two tunics.” Before He called them to Himself, they left all they had behind; unlike some who were following without being able to leave it all behind. Have you been called and yet fail to drop off or part with all that does not count in His calling? A call to serve the Lord is a call to stand out of the affairs of the world. Jesus called them in order to send them out to serve. Jesus did not call His disciples so that people could serve the disciples. Jesus’ calling is for serving others and not for His followers to remain being served. In His calling for your life, are you serving or are you being served? If Jesus has called you to Himself, He will deposit power in you. If in your acclaimed calling, power is not being demonstrated you are either being served or have yet to receive being called to Jesus Himself. Did He call you or you have called yourself? The twelve were called and power was deposited in them over unclean spirits. The twelve that were called left under the command that was given to them by Jesus. The command of Jesus is power to heal, power to deliver, power to preserve and power to create. Are you operating in the calling of Jesus based on His command? The disciples took commands from Jesus and went further in their assignment. Mark 6:12-13, “So they went out and preached that people should repent. 13 And they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick, and healed them.” The disciples that were called by Jesus went and came back with testimony of miracles. The word stated that many who were sick were anointed with oil and got healed. Could the power given to the disciples be the oil in their hands? Isaiah 10:27, “It shall come to pass in that day that his burden will be taken away from your shoulder, And his yoke from your neck, And the yoke will be destroyed because of the anointing oil.” Jesus, the Anointed One gave His word and all that come from Him are inhabited by power to heal and to deliver. In all your assignments, are you having testimony?  In Jesus’ calling, there is power when the response to serve is glaring.

Prayer for today: Ask God, the only distributor of grace, to deposit in your life all that it takes to answer the call of serving others.

KNOW NOW
1 Kings 17

Jesus our Lord and savior quoted from Deuteronomy 8:3 when he responded to Satan’s temptation in the wilderness, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’” (Luke 4:4) In truth God is a God of provision and He made provision possible for the woman of Zarephath through Prophet Elijah. Elijah commanded the Zarephath woman, “And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to me; and afterward make some for yourself and your son. 14 For thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the day the LORD sends rain on the earth.’” (1 Kings 17:13-14) In the whole land it was the woman of Zarephath that the Lord visited with abundance of the source of bread when she responded to God’s command. Many gather to Him as God of provision but they need to begin to stand in Him to know Him as God of deliverance and preservation. He is a complete God. Despite the miracle of provision for the woman of Zarephath there was a need for her to know God personally as God that is Lord of all. Miraculously, He has provided for you in some least expected area. God has made a way for you in situations and circumstances where there was no way out. Have you at any point in time acknowledged and testified to your knowledge of Him? The Zarephath woman had a great deliverance unto abundance but yet she needed to testify her knowledge of God. With no account of the cause of her son’s sickness, it was recorded that her son died while Elijah was there. The Zarephath woman turned to Elijah for help and Elijah took the son, cried out to the Lord in prayer, “…O LORD my God, I pray, let this child’s soul come back to him.” 22 Then the LORD heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came back to him, and he revived.” (1 Kings 17:21-22) The Lord God that sent Elijah confirmed Himself as God of deliverance and preservation not just God of provision. In God’s confirmation the woman of Zarephath had a transformation as she testified; “Now by this I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is the truth.” (1 Kings 17:24) The woman of Zarephath saw her son that was dead come back to life before her testimony of transformation. Can you confirm in your heart that you now know that He is God? God is the same God yesterday, today and tomorrow. He has the first and the last say over every confronting situation. God will not fail to deliver and preserve His own.

Prayer for today: Ask God to visit you with a miracle of transformation.  

REBELLION
Psalm 95:1-11

God commanded King Saul to go and attack the Amalekites with a specific command that stated, “…Utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, and camel and donkey.” (1 Samuel 15:3) God’s command is God’s command and it cannot be diluted. God knows better than the one who delivers the message. King Saul went and destroy all but sparred the best sheep and oxen. Saul committed an act of incomplete obedience. Incomplete obedience is also a failure to obey God. In response to King Saul’s act of disobedience, the word of God came for him in through Samuel, “…Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He also has rejected you from being king.”” (1 Samuel 15:22-23) Rebellion has its root in rejecting the word of God. Is it possible, in any way that you are having a trace of rebellion in your approach to the word of God? Rebellion is in line with witchcraft and it is a serious sin that causes rejection in the life of anyone that is rebellious. There is a way out of rebellion and that way is in hearing the voice of God; that is hearing what the word has to say or what the word of God is saying, “For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture, And the sheep of His hand. Today, if you will hear His voice: 8 “Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion,As in the day of trialin the wilderness.” (Psalm 95:7-8) It is clear that worshiping God will always bring forth His voice in our direction. With the Word of God entering and us being able to hear His voice, hardness of the heart will not have its place. The children of Israel began to lose it because there was a failure to hear His voice. The devil is a liar that has been around for long and he knows what to take away so he can give what will take man away from God. Rebellion will not announce itself when it begins to solidify its footing in your life. When rebellion sets into a man, there will be a loss of the ways of God. Despite all that the Lord God did in bringing them out of the bondage in Egypt, the children of Israel entered into rebellion and became lost in the ways of God. To be lost in His ways is to gain an exit out of His rest.

Prayer for today: Ask God to enable you not to work the work of a rebellious one.

JOURNEY OF LIFE
Genesis 19

Journey of life is about moving forward and not about getting stranded in the past. Whatever you cannot fix in the past do not fixate on it in the present. It is always better to allow the past be in the past. While in captivity of Babylon, Daniel moved forward by not allowing captivity to captivate him. Daniel a young man that loves the Lord, refrained from questioning God for the reason of being in captivity, “But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.” (Daniel 1:8) He refused to be trapped in the past but to move forward and not get terminated. Daniel’s response gave him an instant blessing when the favor of God responded instantly, “Now God had brought Daniel into the favor and goodwill of the chief of the eunuchs.” (Daniel 1:9) The word of God is written for our learning and it is the source of getting the right instruction. As a believer, have you ever thought about the fact that hanging on to the past only drags you from moving into the future? Can you imagine one receiving a direct instruction from God and yet not moving forward with such a direction? Lot and his wife were in the position to let the past be past by moving to a new land and avoiding destructive destruction. The message that went forth for Lot and his wife was, “…Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed.” (Genesis 19:17) The promise in the message was ‘escape’ and the condition was ‘do not look back’. God shows He always wants the best for His children by providing a way of escape from past to present or from destruction to deliverance. He gives us His best when loving Him is in place as a measure unto obedience. In this call of escape, Lot’s wife could not help but disobey when she, “…Looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.” (Genesis 19:26) To love God is to fear Him and to fear Him is to obey Him. Lot’s wife made a difficult choice by disobeying and looked back at what was in the past. In her looking back, she became history of permanent termination. Daniel’s love for the Lord could not allow him to dwell on the past but to move forward; to put the past behind and become a vessel that was greatly favored by God throughout his life. Where are you on your journey? Are you stepping forward or stepping backward? 

Prayer for today: Ask God to enable you not to dwell on any way of the past but to keep you in your going forward.