CHANGE YOUR WORLD
1 Chronicles 4:1-12

A change that you need is a change that will meet your need. It is recorded in I Chronicles 4:9, “Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, “Because I bore him in pain.” How else can the Bible describe a man better than being referred to as honorable? Throughout the Bible very few individuals were singled out with great identification like that of Jabez. Job was referred to as, “…Blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil.” (Job 1:1) Also, Samuel noted David in 1 Samuel 13:14, “…The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart…” King David was a man after God’s heart. Jabez had every reason to make it in life but then there was a need for a change somewhere in his life. Jabez was an honorable man living a degenerated life; not living up to his potential and what the Lord had called him to be. Jabez recognized the meaning of his name as what needed to change. The Bible recorded, “And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!” So God granted him what he requested. ” (1 Chronicles 4:10) God is the only Unchanging changer. Jabez (meaning sorrow) called on God and specifically requested for what could be his blessings as one that is identified honorable by the word of God. Jabez prayed a specific and direct prayer. Jabez wanted to be blessed, he did not pray “bless me Lord” but he specified the kind of blessing that he wanted. An honorable man deserves a large territory and he asked for the blessing of a large territory. Above that, he prayed for the hand of God to be with him just in case the evil one went after him. He called on God to have himself changed from being a vessel of pain to a vessel of gain. What area of your life needs to be changed for you to enter into what the Lord has called you to be? All it took for change to have its way in the life of Jabez was the ability to ask, and he did not ask a miss. Jesus encouraged us in Luke 11:9, “…Ask and it will be given to you: seek, and you will find; Knock and it will be opened to you.” Is it your name that needs to be changed for changes to be able to locate you? It is never too late and when the wind of change blows from the Lord nothing can stand against you.
 
Prayer for today: Lord my God, open my eyes to everything or situation that is representing a trap in my life let me not miss your blessing of change.

NO MORE STAGNATION
Acts 3:1-9

“Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.” (Acts 3:1) In the going up of Peter and John to the temple there was togetherness. It is always important that in going up to the temple togetherness should always be in place, especially when it is the hour of prayer because Jesus emphasized, “…If two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 18:19) Today, many are going up to the temple without the spirit of togetherness. The absence of togetherness is the absence of the manifestation of power. Another power generator for Peter and John was the importance of time consistency with God. There going was at the hour of prayer and not after the hour of prayer. Today, believers walk late into temple without paying attention to the importance of promptness. All of these count before God and they are among what moves the hand of God. All of these are demonstrations of the fear of God and the evidence of a sense of order. Remember, God is a God of order. There was power in the going of Peter and John because they were together and on time with the business of their God. At the gate of the temple, a man lame from his mother’s womb was waiting for the unexpected to happen. Peter and John, the agents of expectation for manifestation were also on time to the ground of their business. Just as Peter and John came in contact with the lame man, all that needed to get the lame out from his years of stagnation was the ability to get the lame man’s attention. The lame man seeing, “…Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms. 4 And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, “Look at us.” 5 So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them.” (Acts 3:3-5) Peter and John had all that the lame man needed to get out of stagnation into motion. Without attention there will be no expectation and when expectation is not in place there will be no manifestation. Peter and John called for the lame man’s attention and he responded to the calling of Peter and John expecting to receive. The obedience of the lame man got him more than he expected because his stagnation was transformed to motion. All the people that knew him to be a lame man and the ones that knew him to be a beggar saw the glory of God in his life and, “…They were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.” (Acts 3:10) The lame man gave attention, he had expectation and in his life manifestation had its way.
 
Prayer for today: Ask God to bring forth your miracle that will fill people with wonder and amazement of God’s miracle in your life.

EAT AND DRINK HIM
John 6:22-59

Jesus made a statement, “I am the bread of life.” (John 6:48) Evidently, we are what we eat and what we eat becomes us. What are you eating and drinking in these challenging days? In other words what are you feeding on? As an acclaimed believer, are you feeding yourself enough of Jesus? Jesus is the bread of life. He said in John 6:57, “… So he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.” He alone is the bread of life and feeding on Him is the only way of having His word abiding in you. The evidence of believing is the word abiding in you. John 5:38, “But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe.” Many went after Jesus just to eat and be filled. Today, many are still going after Him just to be filled. After a number of miracles and the feeding of the five thousand, many went after Him just to look for more bread to eat. Jesus, knowing the reason for their coming, responded to them and said, “…Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. 27 Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.” (John 6:26-27) They are going around because of the world they want to have in the name of the Word. Jesus’ reality is not about worldly gain,but about the Word of God gaining entrance in us. His message for you today is, “…Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. 56 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.” (John 6:53-57) Loaves will only fill you and get digested but the bread of life will abide in you forever. Change your appetite, get into Jesus’ reality and begin to seek, eat and drink of life that is in Jesus. Once you taste the bread of life, there will be no turning back but you will always want more.

Prayer for today: Eternal King of glory, I ask that you feed me with the bread of heaven till I want no more.

KNOW YOURSELF
Exodus 4

Do you know yourself in the Lord? Knowing yourself in the Lord is to know what the Lord has deposited in you. Knowing yourself will play it all in how far you will get in the calling He has placed in your life. When you do not know yourself in the Lord you will not know how to go forward in His assignment for your life. Above all, knowing yourself is to know what He has put in your hand. Do you know what is in your hand? At the time God was about to raise a giant among the giants that glorified His name, excuse was the agent of disruption. Moses was a giant among many giants that the Lord God used for His name to be glorified. In the calling of Moses, every attempt of God to get him on assignment was met by number of reasonable excuses. Moses did not know what the Lord had for him and neither does he realized what the Lord had deposited in His hand for the great assignment. When the calling of God sounds in a man’s direction, there can never be any excuse that is reasonable enough to avoid the calling of God. Also, God will not call you for assignment without empowering you. God wanted to introduce Moses to Moses so that Moses could know what was in his hand, “So the LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A rod.” 3 And He said, “Cast it on the ground.” So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. 4 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail” (and he reached out his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand),” (Exodus 4:2-4) A rod of God in hand is power of God in hand. Moses could not have been able to carry the assignment if the Lord did not show to him what He had deposited in him. If you have been called, know this day that He has put a fitting rod in your hand for the assignment. Among all the disciples that walked with Jesus while He was on the face of earth, none contributed to the assignment of the Kingdom of God like the apostle Paul. Apostle Paul did not walk with Jesus on the face of earth but he knew himself in the Lord more than any of the disciples. Paul testified, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” (1 Corinthians 15:10) Know yourself and take off into the direction of your calling.
 
Prayer for today: My Lord and my God, open my understanding let me know myself in you so that your name will be glorified in the calling of my life.

CONFIDENCE
Matthew 14:22-33

Fear in the face of trouble or fear in the face of sudden terror is the demonstration of no confidence in the Lord. Proverbs 3:25-26, “Do not be afraid of sudden terror, Nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes; 26 For the LORD will be your confidence, And will keep your foot from being caught.” It is easy to confess our hope and trust in the Lord but when trouble or sudden terror comes like a wave, our faith becomes tested. However, the more we hear and hear about how different troubles and sudden terrors were overcome by the presence of the Lord, our faith supposedly will rise. Jesus made His disciples get into a journey where there faith was tested. It was not accidental but a passage through incident that was to qualify them as ones that have seen it all, being in it all and experienced it all so that they could be our model. He sent them on a journey at a late hour to a point of no return, “…Now when evening came, He was alone there, 24 But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary. 25 Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. 26 And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear. ” (Matthew 14:23-26) Jesus’ disciples were not only afraid of the condition they were into but they were also afraid of what they saw. The waves that were tossing their boat and the misrepresentation of Jesus as Ghost generated enough fear for them to cry out in fear. The disciples have seen different miracles, they have walked with the Lord enough to know better that whenever or wherever He sends them, He would not leave them nor forsake them. Jesus, the One that sent the disciples in the boat across to the other side before Him did not forsake them despite the lost of confidence of the disciples. Has He called you and all that you are dealing with are challenges upon challenges and waves after waves? The word of God came for Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you…”  (Jeremiah 1:5) The same word is speaking to every man today. He that formed us knows our steps and He is able to guide and direct in our entire journey. It is worthy to know and be encouraged that, Jesus will not forsake us. He did not forsake the disciples because at their cry unto Him, “… immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.” (Matthew 14:27) Our God is still in the business of hearing the cry of His children and He will hear us.

Prayer for today: Ask God to enable you to operate in the spirit of power, love and sound mind.