KNOW IT
Haggai 2

Do you know that He is with you? Do you know it clearly that He is always with you and He will never forsake you? When you lack the understanding that God is with you, the power of Him being there for you will not be activated. There has to be a conscious and deliberate tapping into what He has available for you. It is written in Hosea 4:6 that the lack of knowledge is what destroyed the people of God. It is important to constantly keep in mind that He is with us just as we walk in line with His word. Do you know that He can always be with His children?  The completion of the latter temple was nothing to be compared with the one that was built by Solomon. For those who lived to witness both temples that could be enough to create in them a sense of discouragement. There was a need for them to be encouraged and move forward and not dwell on the past but to continue in their work for the Lord. God spoke the word of encouragement through Haggai in Haggai 2:4, “Yet now be strong, Zerubbabel, says the LORD; and be strong, Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; and be strong, all you people of the land, says the LORD, and work; for I am with you, says the LORD of hosts”. Are you experiencing any form of slowing down or discouragement? Take to the living Word of God that was and that will always be. The Word is speaking encouragement and power to you. Disallow the past from counting you out but continue to count on Him that is abundantly able to accept you from where you stand in Him. God’s words, “I am with you” (Exodus 3:12) was the same that was spoken to encourage Moses in the assignment for bringing the children of Israel out of Egypt. God has not ceased from being in the position of backing His children up with His word. Above all, are you living the word of God? This is what it takes to have the word answer on our behalf, “Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”(Hebrews 13:5) To be living according to His command and to know that He is true to His word is encouraging. With our knowing, “…we can boldly say: “The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:6) Know that the Lord is with you. Live with this understanding and you shall have the edge over the challenges in your way. Be encouraged by the Word of God today and He will see you through in all your confrontations.

Prayer for today: Ask Him to help and keep you not to depart from all His ways in every step of life.

SEARCH YOURSELF
1 Samuel 15

The spirit of rebellion and disobedience can be likened to bread and butter. Wherever rebellion lodges in, disobedience will also come aboard. After Saul had taken a step of rejection by God as a result of his disobedience, Samuel approached Saul in 1 Samuel 15:22-23, “So Samuel said: ‘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’”. It is clear in the words of Samuel that rebellion and disobeying the Word of God lines up together. It is a way of destruction that causes man to be rejected by God. As a believer who fears the wrath of God, are you paying attention to yourself? Will you be willing to search your heart and see if any of the two are actually having its way in your life? To be rejected by God is a termination in the line of salvation and not living up to the final destination. The children of Israel were rebellious in their journey of life. God rejected all the population from ages twenty and above and they could not get to their final destination in the journey of life. Rebellion and disobedience are bonafide partners and if there is a trace of one in you, there must be a line of the other one in you as well. In reference to Jerusalem, it was written in Zephaniah 3:1-2 “Woe to her who is rebellious and polluted, to the oppressing city! 2 She has not obeyed His voice, She has not received correction; She has not trusted in the LORD, She has not drawn near to her God.” Rebellion is a demonstration of not obeying His voice (word of God). To be disobedient to the word of God is a way of not receiving correction. Constant denial of correction is a connection with disability in listening to what God has to say or what God is saying. A believer who refuses to be corrected is showing lack of trust in God and such believer is not considering God in the making of his decisions. To be rebellious, disobedient, not taken to correction and not trusting God are all in the same line. The bottom line of it is drawing away from God and being far from God. Search yourself and seek Him for readjustment in your journey of life. To be far from God should be exceedingly avoided by all man.

Prayer for today: Ask God to take your days and your moments and be concentrated onto Him.

ENTER HIS REST
Matthew 11:25-30

Labor is inevitable or else stealing will be come acceptable to you. It is written in Ephesians 4:28 “Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.” However, as a believer who confesses Christ, when your labor continuously and consistently becomes too heavy and backed with struggle, there is a need for check up. Laboring is of God but laboring that inhabits heavy laden is not of God. The word of God commands in Exodus 20:9, “Six days you shall labor and do all your work.” Apparently, any labor that is outside of God’s command becomes labor and heavy laden. Why are you allowing labor to take away your serving Him? God encourages us to labor but not to allow labor to overtake us from serving Him. In your labor, how long do you have to wait before entering into His rest? Claiming to have known Him is not enough until you begin to lay hold on the promises that He has in place for you. You have been laboring long enough and yet your burden continues to be heavy. What is it that could have gone wrong? Why does your burden remain heavy when it is supposed to be light? Jesus has not spoken and failed to do what He says He will do. There is a message of invitation in His communication when He said in Matthew 11:28, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” There is a place of rest in your labor and that place is inside of your deliberate response to His call and going to Him to let out your heavy laden. In the letting out of your heavy laden, you will exchange it for His yoke. He said it in Matthew 11:29 “Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” His yoke is not heavy, but it is demanding. Jesus’ yoke requires you to learn and when you are able to learn, you will live by what you have learned from Him. A failure to live with a gentle and lowly heart is evidence that you have not learn from Him. As a claimed believer, examine yourself; look at the source of all your labor that is accompanied by heavy laden and no rest. You will found out that you have not been operating what you claim to have learned. Take to the Word of God and He will take up your heavy laden. He said it all in Matthew 11:30, “For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Do not rust out; rest in Him.
 
Prayer for today: Cause me O Lord to be fully obedient in all of Your command. 

KNOWN IN HIM?
Daniel 1

When you sit on the past, you will not be able to stand for the present that will enable your move into the future. Daniel, despite being a young man who had entered into captivity, refused to take a sit on the past. Daniel could have entered into complaining and questioning of why God allowed him to be in such a situation. Daniel, however, chose to remain focus on God and did not allow captivity to captivate him. He took a stand and, “…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) Daniel’s situation could have become more of convenient by virtue of the king’s delicacies that were assigned to him, but he rather made the decision to continue in his commitment unto God. Daniel’s focus on his purpose of his heart for God is an example of the way to seek God diligently. God responded to Daniel with favor right after his rejection of the king’s delicacies. “Now God had brought Daniel into the favor and goodwill of the chief of the eunuchs.” (Daniel 1:9) God’s favor unto Daniel was not limited only to the chief eunuchs, but it lasted all through the days of Daniel’s life. Daniel demonstrated time and time again that his focus was only on God. In the midst of all wicked plots and activities of the darkness, Daniel was a light that no darkness could bring down. He was favored of God and Godly wisdom was his compass. Daniel’s life in captivity was a testimony to the word of God as stated in Daniel 12:3, “Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament…” What do you purpose in your heart as you journey through the walks of life? When the situations of the past begin to overwhelm your present, the storms of the present and future could cause you not to stand. It is time to know that He that has brought you this far will see you through. Also, it should be considered that situations could have been worst than what it is today but the grace of God still prevails and will always prevail. Daniel lived his life as one who knows his God. Do you know your God? The truth is that Daniel knew his God and God knew him. It was evident in the life of Daniel that, “…The people who know their God shall be strong and carry out great exploits.” (Daniel 11:32) Indeed and in truth, Daniel knew his God, demonstrated great trust in Him and was able to carry out great exploits to the glory of God.
 
Prayer for today: Ask God, the enabler of man, to enable you to live faithfully for His name to be glorified in your life. 

NO FOOLISHNESS
JOSHUA 6

During the coming out of the bondage of over four hundred years, the children of Israel were bewildered by the land and were also closed in by the wilderness. As they looked back, Pharaoh drew near with his men of war. Clearly their life was in danger of dying or being taken back to bondage. At that juncture, going forward was not foreseeable and turning back could end up worst more than living. By virtue of the fear generated, they could not see deliverance in any way. It was a grave situation that demanded divine intervention of God. Moses received an order for deliverance: “But lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.” (Exodus 14:16) The order appeared too ordinary and probably sounded foolish in the ears of the children of Israel. Have you been in any predicament whereby the way of escape did not sound legit but rather sounded foolish? Among other challenges that confronted the children of Israel on their way to their Promised Land was the wall of Jericho. Having gone far in a number of years, Jericho needed to fall for their crossing over. The Bible records, “…Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel; none went out, and none came in.” (Joshua 6:1) Just as divine intervention was needed at the Red Sea, so it was needed in crossing over Jericho. Joshua, the new leader, received the order of command from the Lord. “You shall march around the city, all you men of war; you shall go all around the city once. This you shall do six days. 4 And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. 5 It shall come to pass, when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, that all the people shall shout with a great shout; then the wall of the city will fall down flat. And the people shall go up every man straight before him.” (Joshua 6:3-5) The command to victory at the crossing of the Red Sea and the wall of Jericho may have sounded foolish, but the Commander who gave out the command is the only Commander of commanders. It is written in 1 Corinthians 1:25, “The foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” Have you received any word of command that seems foolish or too easy to deliver you into your breakthrough? Stop being wise in your own eyes; take a dive into the word of God and your world will become victorious.

Prayer for today: O Lord, cause me not to despise the word of victory, deliverance and preservation when it sounds in my direction.