IGNORANCE
1 Samuel 16: 14-23

It is possible for a man to remain at God’s appointed ground while the Spirit of God has departed him. King Saul was appointed by God and not by man to be the first king over His people. During the course of his reign, disobedient on his part set him apart from God. During a long and reasonable time, he remained, reigned and was at the ground of God’s appointment for his life but the Spirit of God was not there in him. 1 Samuel 16:14-15, “But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and a distressing spirit from the LORD troubled him. 15 And Saul’s servants said to him, “Surely, a distressing spirit from God is troubling you.” In your God appointed position, have you lost the presence of God? In Saul, it was evident that he was at the seat of power but power had left him. Does that sound like you? It is possible for any man to have lost it with God and not know. In the case of Saul, after he had lost the presence of God, he became exposed to acute mental suffering, affliction and trouble called distress. Are you experiencing any of King Saul’s symptoms? It is never too late to get back on kneel and seek God’s face for repentance especially now that Jesus has paid it on the cross. Today, unlike the days of the Old Testament, there is a pre paid package to bail a believer that is willing or that understands the reason for the need to be bailed out on to salvation. When God’s presence is withdrawn there cannot be any makeup that will work in His place. Saul could not make up or fill the vacuum but attempted to come up with a solution, “Then one of the servants answered and said, “Look, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a mighty man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a handsome person; and the LORD is with him.” 19 Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse, and said, “Send me your son David, who is with the sheep.” (1 Samuel 16:18-19) David playing an instrument was only instrumental for temporary solution; God cannot be substituted in any situation or under no circumstances. As the time goes by for Saul distress grows and his distress spirit could not depart. If your situation continues to demonstrate symptoms like that of King Saul just as mentioned above, there is a need to seek the face of the Lord. Ignorance is what makes destitute of a believer or an unbeliever that choose not learn and act against any confronting situation.
Prayer for today: I ask today O Lord; deliver me from every act of ignorance that has taken a place of garment in my life.

EXTRAORDINARY SLAVE
Genesis 39

“The LORD was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. 3 And his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD made all he did to prosper in his hand. 4 So Joseph found favor in his sight, and served him. Then he made him overseer of his house, and all that he had he put under his authority.”(Genesis 39:2- 4) The statement, “the Lord was with Joseph” is repeated two other times in the same chapter. The Lord was with him because the enemies choose to be against him. The enemies choose to be against him because the Lord was set to build him up for His divine agenda. As an acclaimed believer, every time you are set to live for the glory of Lord, the enemy will set to offset what the Lord wants to do in your life. In the case of Joseph, the enemy cannot be more powerful because the enemy’s choice to be against Joseph is what provoked the Lord to be for Joseph. The Lord was with Joseph and it was not hidden but visible enough for all who were around him to see it. Joseph became a light that could not be hidden but made to shine. Is the Lord with you in all that you are doing? All three times that it is mentioned that the Lord was with Joseph, there was mercy, favor, prosperity, success and authority in place in the life of Joseph. When God is for you, no man can be against you except you being against yourself by walking outside of His Word. It is important for believers of the Word to know that the Word of God is forever true and He will not fail to perform His Word. God is the only One God who turns around the evil intent of the enemy to come out for good. As a worshiper and obedient child of the Most High God who is faithful in walking the walk, you can be assured that all the wicked plans that have been set up against you for years, months or weeks, by your closest ones are what God will use to turn around your stagnation into motion. God is waiting and all that He did not allow will not be allowed in your life. Indeed it does not matter where the enemy has set you up to be. When the Lord is with you, His presence will raise you up.
Prayer for today: Lord my God I ask today that You endue me with the grace to be a true worshiper and obedient child of God.

NOTHING PREVAILS
2 Samuel 12: 1-23

David’s emergence was not an accident. David was sought out for greatness and God’s glory by God Himself. 1 Samuel 13:14, “…The LORD has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the LORD has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you.” One man’s failure in the area of God’s calling is another man’s promotion by the hand of God. Saul’s failure to live according to his divine appointment gave David a passage to God’s appointment. God does not need man for His attainment but rather man needs God for attainment. That was the case of Saul as he failed to attain a glorious destiny. As much as David was sought out by God, it was not a liberty for abuse of power neither was it a liberty to escape consequence of sin or sinning. Just like Saul, David committed an evil act and God sent His Prophet Nathan to address it. “Why have you despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in His sight? You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon. 10 Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ 11 Thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. 12 For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun.’” (2 Samuel 12:9-12) To despise the commandment of God is an act of evil. An act of evil is giving a great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme. Are you an acclaimed believer of the Word? It is a serious matter to gain an understanding that, as much as God is a God of goodness, mercy, and forgiveness, it is certain that no prayer will prevail in stopping or erasing the consequences of evil acts. David sinned and repented of his sin and God did put away his sin but the consequence could not be removed. 2 Samuel 12:15-16, “…And the LORD struck the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, and it became ill. 16 David therefore pleaded with God for the child, and David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground.” David went into fasting and praying, but there was not enough prayer that could rectify the consequences of his evil.

Prayer for today: Lord my God and Father take my days and my moments that I should not despise Your commandment to do evil.

CLOSEST EVIL
Genesis 37:18-36

“Now when they saw him afar off, even before he came near them, they conspired against him to kill him. 19 Then they said to one another, ‘Look, this dreamer is coming! 20 Come therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit; and we shall say, ‘Some wild beast has devoured him.’ We shall see what will become of his dreams!’
21 But Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands, and said, ‘Let us not kill him.’ (Genesis 37:18-21) The brothers of Joseph were born-breed, raised under the same roof and received training from the same father. They played, ate and drank together but yet worked together to conspire against their younger brother because of his dreams. In their wicked and evil plan, they forget that God was not sleep. He is God who never sleeps neither does He slumber. Just as it happened to Joseph, the one who want to bring you down the most is the one you consider as the closest one. Also, the one who is set to terminate or derail your dream is not the one who is far from you but rather the closest one. Most times, when you are operating with a true and clear mind, the enemy’s attempt in getting you down will be the avenue for getting you up. Joseph came to his brother with a clear mind that harbored no evil. “…When Joseph had come to his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him. 24 Then they took him and cast him into a pit. And the pit was empty; there was no water in it” (Genesis 37: 23-24) Joseph story presents itself as if God was not watching over Joseph but God was actually guiding Joseph’s step because he had no evil agenda. As a claimed believer, if doing evil is your set agenda, God does have His way to offset your evil agenda. Are you in Joseph’s shoes? Are you on a ground where the closest to you is having a set agenda to set you back in every area of life? God is not a failure. Rest assured that your dream will come to be and the wicked ones will live and bow to see you shine for the glory of God. Joseph could not be terminated by the dry pit in which he was condemned to by his brother. Just as Joseph’s dream could not be terminated by an evil agenda of his closest ones, so yours will not be terminated. You will laugh last and the enemy will not last. Keep in mind: the enemy cannot be more powerful than God.

Prayer for the day: My Daddy and my God, just as you delivered Joseph from the wickedness of his brother I ask that you deliver me this day for Your kingdom’s glory.

BE WARNED
Job 2, Luke 7:37-42

Job was a man of great integrity and richly blessed with wealth. The Word of God describes him as, “…Blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil.” (Job 1:1) Gaining understanding of the character of Job at the beginning of his story makes it easier to read through the story of Job without taking a position of judging him to be a sinner. In this life, it is easier to take a position of a judge when tragedies like that of Job manifests in life. The beginning of Job’s story took away what could have granted us the sentencing of Job’s adversity to be the result of sin and iniquity that he must have committed. Job was a man testified of by the Creator Himself as a man of great integrity,  but the adversity presented a picture of someone who must have sinned somewhere unto God. If not for the description of Job’s integrity at the beginning there would have been all kinds of judgments passed on him. The Word of God strictly warns us to stay away from making judgment regardless of how bad the picture looks bad. Judgment is not ours. “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. 3 And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:1-3) Concluding or assuming on others’ situation could be an indirect way of making a judgment on others’ in our heart. It is only God that knows the reason for every occurrence that is not clear in the physical and not for us to find out or take a position of a judge. Job’s situation was not clear to Job what was going on in the spiritual realm. All he knew about was his empire, wealth and all the blessings of God were collapsing. It was a difficult situation to pass through but an interesting one for a believer to read through. However, it is not a situation that any acclaimed believer wants to live or experience. The bottom line of this for every believer is to learn and know that in the midst of painful and agonizing challenges, it could be very wrong for anyone to conclude that the result of sin is being unfolded. Are you facing an unexplainable, disruptive challenge? It is not for you to judge yourself but to reflect on the goodness and mercy of God. Search in your heart if you have missed it somewhere or the other and let men make their judgment and be wrong. God is the only judge. Above all, remember that, “…Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.” (Job 2:10)
Prayer for today: In this challenging time of mine, help me to be focus and obedient to your Word my Father and my God.