SOW RIGHT AND REAP RIGHT
2 Chronicles 24

It is written in 2Chronicles 24:1-3, “Joash was seven years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah of Beersheba. 2 Joash did what was right in the sight of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada the priest. 3 And Jehoiada took two wives for him, and he had sons and daughters.” Obviously the young king Joash had all the support for his right doing in the sight of the Lord through Jehoiada. Jehoiada was upholding him in every department of his functioning. Right after the death of Jehoiada the story changed and things were no longer the way they were supposed to be. The Bible recorded, “Now after the death of Jehoiada the leaders of Judah came and bowed down to the king. And the king listened to them. 18 Therefore they left the house of the LORD God of their fathers, and served wooden images and idols; and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem because of their trespass.” (2 Chronicles 24:17-18) Jehoiada’s pass onto death was Joash’s pass into failure before the Lord God. Joash rejected God’s warning when he killed Zechariah. Zechariah was the son of Jehoiada that built up and establish Joash’s reign as King. In this world, it is possible for wickedness to persist but it will not prevail. Wickedness can last but it will never outlast righteousness. Indeed, there is none that will sow orange seed and reap from a mango tree. Joash forgot all that Jehoiada did for him and could not restrain himself from killing Zechariah the son of Jehoiada, when God sent a warning to him through Zechariah. 2 Chronicles 24:22, “Thus Joash the king did not remember the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but killed his son; and as he died, he said, “The LORD look on it, and repay!” As mentioned above, whatever a man sows he will reap it in due time. Joash sowed a wrong seed by killing one that had served him successfully and he reaped from the same plot when, “…His own servants “And when they had withdrawn from him (for they left him severely wounded), his own servants conspired against him because of the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and killed him on his bed. So he died. And they buried him in the City of David, but they did not bury him in the tombs of the kings.” (2 Chronicles 24:25) In this world, there is no minor or major act of wickedness, wickedness is wickedness and the fruit of it is bitter and it could lead to eternal termination. How are you living life? Consider the command of God, pray for your heart to retain it that you may do what is right and live.

Prayer for today: Ask our Lord God for His enablement to live life according to His commands.

PURPOSE OF COMMANDMENT
Deuteronomy 6

The fear of God is the reason and the purpose of God’s commandment. Deuteronomy 6:1-3, “Now this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the LORD your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess, 2 that you may fear the LORD your God…” God wants to be feared. Fearing God is to love Him. Inhabited in loving Him is obeying all His commands. Failure to obey God is a failure to fear Him and not to love Him. God expects us to love Him just as it is recorded in His word, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” (Deuteronomy 6:5) God is not a slave master, He is Almighty Saving Creator and He does not demand what cannot be done in all of His word. Root of sin simply came from His command not to eat of one tree out of numerous varieties of trees. Again, man continues to eat from the “do not eat” tree so sin continues to prevail since the time of Adam to present day. God simply demands for us to love Him with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our strength. Abraham loved the Lord God as it was commanded by God. It takes loving God with all to rise and depart to a strange land without holding you back. At age seventy five, in a comfort environment, with no child, packing and moving to a strange land by virtue of God’s command, requires a true loving of Him in all as commanded. God testified about Abraham in Genesis 22:12 when he fully complied with God’s command for using Isaac as a burnt offering. At the time Abraham was about to slaughter Isaac for the offering, it was evident that Abraham complied with the command of God. As a result of his obedience, the Angel of the Lord called on Abraham stating, “And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” (Genesis 22:12) God declared and decorated Abraham when He pointed it out that Abraham feared Him by not withholding his only son from Him. The ability of not withholding from God is in the grace of full obedience and compliance unto God’s command. Abraham demonstrated it by the grace of God and we are also expected to be able to demonstrate such love by His grace. Seriously, how are you serving Him with all your love? True love for God is to truthfully fear Him by knowing that nothing; absolutely nothing should ever be held back from Him. 

Prayer for today: O Lord my God, let my heart retain Your words; that I may keep Your commands and live. (Proverbs 4:4)  

EXPECTATION
Acts 3:1-11

At the time Elijah took his stand and prayed for rain to cease, it was with expectation and indeed there was a manifestation when rain ceased to fall for three and a half years. Elijah said to King Ahab, “As the LORD God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word.” (1 Kings 17:1) Elijah was full of expectation by his declaration that there would be no rain except at his word. Indeed and in truth, God honored Himself in the declaration of Elijah that stated “as the Lord lives” (a power provocation in the move of God’s hand) When it was time for rain to fall, the same Elijah prayed again with expectation and there was manifestation as the rainfall. The persistency in the prayer for rain to fall was demonstrated in the period of going back and forth of Elijah’s servant, under the command of Elijah to check on the cloud of rain, “Then it came to pass the seventh time, that he said, “There is a cloud, as small as a man’s hand, rising out of the sea!” So he said, “Go up, say to Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot, and go down before the rain stops you.’” (1 Kings 18:44) Manifestly, rain fell because the man of God operated with a doubtless expectation that brought forth undeniable manifestation. The same God in the Old Testament and the New Testament is still in the business of answering prayer. Are you seriously expecting Him to do His miracle in your situation or you are only respecting when you see what He is doing in other peoples’ situation? There have to be a conscious and deliberate expectation to come out of deliberate exploitation of the wicked one. A certain lame man, satisfied with small alms, condemned to the gate of the temple, had an expectation before his story was changed for good. The Bible recorded that this certain lame man at the juncture of his miracle; saw Peter and John on their way going into the temple but without expectation for healing he asked for alms as usual. What you have been asking is the evidence of your level of faith that is directly relevant to your limitation in life. The certain lame man was redirected from just receiving alms, “…Look at us.” (Acts 3:4) When you ask without looking you have lock out of your miracle while opened to just alms. As a result of the redirection of his attention, “…He gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them.” (Acts 3:5) Asking without looking up to Him is asking with no attention for expectation. The certain lame turned around to look in his asking by giving attention, expecting to receive. Choose His precepts, practice the word you will prevail in the world of challenges.

Prayer for today: Let Your hand become my help, for I have chosen Your precepts (Psalm 119:173)

ABOUT THE THIRD
Exodus 2:1-10

Something about the third has to do with redemption, breakthrough and resurrection. The life of Moses, Nehemiah and the life Jesus Christ of Nazareth testifies to the miracle of the third. At the time Moses was born, the death sentence of Pharaoh for every son born by Hebrew women was in effect. As a result Moses, mother decided to hide him. Moses mother, “…Hid him for three months.” (Exodus 2:2) On the third month of hiding Moses from the death sentence of king Pharaoh, Moses ended up in the compassionate care of the murderer’s palace when his mother, “… Took an ark of bulrushes for him, daubed it with asphalt and pitch, put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river’s bank.” (Exodus 2:3) On the third month, Pharaoh’s daughter saw the ark of bulrushes at the bank of river and when she opened it, “…She saw the child, and behold, the baby wept. So she had compassion on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children” (Exodus 2:6) Moses came out of hiding, redeemed on the third month. Nehemiah, heard about the great distress and reproach of his people; he also heard about the breakdown of the wall of Jerusalem. By virtue of the negativity of the news, he took it upon himself to enter into prayer and fasting. As the Lord will have it on his behalf, “…It came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, that I took the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had never been sad in his presence before.” (Nehemiah 2:1). In the month of Nisan (March-April) the attention which Nehemiah gained from King Artaxerxes delivered into his hand all that was needed for him to move forward in the quest for rebuilding and redeeming the damages incurred at the hand of enemies over his land and his people. In the third month the motion to redemption was activated. Among all the number of days, it was on the third day that Jesus our Lord and savior chose to stun the devil when He resurrected. The miracle of the third cannot be undermined, God does nothing by accident. What is it that you have been gonging through in the past three days, three months, or three years that requires heaven’s attention? Do you want to consider reminding Him about the work of His hand? He stated in Isaiah 43:26, “Put me in remembrance; let us contend together; state your case that you may be acquitted.” Put Him in remembrance, He did it in the past and He is still doing it in the present. It is your third day and your miracle is here.
 
Prayer for today: Ask the Ancient of days, to let you enter your miracle of third day. Speak against the hindering mountain of three days, three months or three years that has kept you down.  

BECOME UNTOUCHABLE
Daniel 6:16-24

It is the blood of Jesus that was shed on Calvary that qualifies everyman to be blameless before God. However, the qualification does not become activated until the fear of Him is in place in man to receive and believe in He that shed His blood on Calvary. What can be a better blessing than fearing the name of the Most High God? Psalm 34:7, “The angel of the Lord encamps all around those that fear Him, and delivers them.” The word of God is true to perform. Do you consider yourself as one that is overwhelmed by His fear? Indeed, if you fear Him invincible and impenetrable hedges that no demon or force of evil can penetrate will surround you in all your going and coming. Daniel feared God and nothing that was formed against him prospered. Daniel was sentenced to death by a lion’s mouth. While he was in the den of lions, an undeniable miracle prevailed because of his fear for His Lord God. After spending all night in the den of hungry lions, he responded to his adversary. The forces of the wicked that sent him into the den of hungry lions, “My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths, so that they have not hurt me, because I was found innocent before Him; and also, O king, I have done no wrong before you.” (Daniel 6:22) The same God that shut the mouths of hungry lions (not belly-full lions) all night, was and is today. The same God was the One that sent forth horses and chariots of fire to surround Elisha and his servant as a protection against the forces of Syrian in their attempt to terminate Elisha’s life before God’s time was up for his life (2 Kings 6:17). The same God also built an invincible hedge that Satan found impenetrable around Job. The same God is still building His protection around every one of His children that fears His name. Just like Daniel, can you be found innocent before Him? Can it be that you have done no wrong to anyone in a place of authority over you? Daniel was found innocent, guiltless, and blameless before God and he did not wrong the authority over him. As a result the canopy of protection over his life could not fail. Indeed, Daniel, Elisha, and Job had the angels of the Lord encamped around them because they did not camp outside of obeying God’s command. If you will fear God, the blood that qualifies you will be activated as your shield and protection. Receive and believe in the unconditional Love that went to Calvary and you will be operating in this world of wickedness under a covering that is evidently impenetrable by the forces of the wicked.
 
Prayer for today: Ask God to overwhelm you with the fear of His gracious and holy Name.