HOW DO YOU FOLLOW HIM?
Matthew 15:1-20

Have you actually denied yourself for the Lord’s service? Man can be deceived, but God see the heart and cannot be deceived. Is there anyway for you to hear it better so that you can understand and know that in serving Him, you have to follow Him? John 12:26, “If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me: and where I am, there my servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.” That [verse] is clear enough for those that have a hearing ear. To serve the Lord, you have to follow Him. Ignorance is not an excuse. Ignorance will only make a destitute out of a believer. It will ridicule your journey if you fail to master what it takes to follow the Master. Some went to Him voluntarily and ended up with excuses. He called some, but they could not handle the weight of the cross. Being half obedient makes hypocrites out of those that come to the Lord, and they do not follow him to serve Him. Jesus identified hypocrites when he was debating the Scribes and the Pharisees in Matthew15: 7-9, “Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me, and in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” Do you consider yourself a hypocrite? A hypocrite is a pretender. A hypocrite is one whose walk and talk do not match. A hypocrite is a person that acts it but does not practice it. If what you possess is not what you profess, you have failed in doing what you say, and you are a son of the wicked; in vain you worship Him. There is a need to serve God in deed and in truth. You cannot serve in deed and in truth, and live in wickedness. Do you sincerely desire to deny hypocrisy and wickednessin your life? Determination will fail because it is not by might or by power. By His grace, all you have to do is to observe the word of God. In your following there is no excuse; there is no distraction. When you follow Him, there has to be consistency. Consistency will build up to commitment, and then continuity will have its place. When you follow Him, you do not have to walk how others walk, you do not have to see like they see, and you do not have to hear what they hear. Keep focus on the leading Master.

Awesome And Unusual Act
Joshua 10:1-21, Samuel 5:6-10

Against every situation that is mocking and denying you from possessing what the Lord has promised you, against those that have gathered against you indirectly, pray this prayer, today, “For the LORD will rise up as at Mount Perazim, He will be angry as in the Valley of Gibeon— That He may do His work, His awesome work, and bring to pass His act, His unusual act.”(Isaiah 28:21) At Mount Perazim David in his attempt to claim Jerusalem from the Jebusites as part of the land that the Lord had given the children of Israel, he encountered a mockery rebuke, “And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who spoke to David, saying, “You shall not come in here; but the blind and the lame will repel you,” thinking, “David cannot come in here.” (2 Samuel 5:6) David went against the Jebusites and no one could stop him because the Lord God was with him. It happened to be that, “…When Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem heard how Joshua had taken Ai and had utterly destroyed it—as he had done to Jericho and its king, so he had done to Ai and its king—and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were among them, 2 that they feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city, like one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all its men were mighty.” (Joshua 10:1-2) As a result of the conquering power of Joshua and the fact that Gibeon had become Joshua’s interest, Adoni-Zedek, king of Jerusalem, was moved by fear and went and gathered other kings of Amorites against Gibeon. This was an indirect attack by Adoni-Zedek against Joshua because Gibeon was among the children of Israel and they had a peace treaty with Joshua. By virtue of this confrontation, the men of Gibeon sent for Joshua’s help and the war became that of Joshua. It was a war that God took over and fought for Joshua unlike any other war. It was the war where “…Sun stood sill over Gibeon and Moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.” (Joshua 10:12) Would you not want to see God move on your behalf against every direct and indirect operation of the enemies against your life? Ask God because He has spoken that we should ask, seek and knock. He is not a partial God and He is still in the business of awesome works and unusual acts against all that stands against us.

HOW DO YOU FOLLOW HIM?
Matthew 15:1-20

Have you actually denied yourself for the Lord’s service? It is not only when you see believers around you that you should be acting unselfishly. You know it is not true and it is false humility. Man can be deceived but God see the heart and cannot be deceived. Is there anyway for you to hear it better so that you can understand and know that in serving Him, you have to follow Him? John 12:26, “If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me: and where I am, there my servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.” That is clear enough for those that have a hearing ear. To serve the Lord you have to follow Him. Ignorance is not an excuse. Ignorance will only make a destitute out of a believer; it will ridicule your journey if you fail to master what it takes to follow the Master. Some went to Him voluntarily and ended up with excuses. He called some, but they could not handle the weight of the cross. Half obedient makes hypocrites out of those that come to the Lord, and do not follow him to serve Him. Jesus identified hypocrites when he was debating the Scribes and the Pharisees in Matthew15: 7-9, “Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me, and in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” Do you consider yourself as a hypocrite? A hypocrite is a pretender. A hypocrite is one whose walk and talk do not match. A hypocrite is also a person that acts it but does not practice it. If what you possess is not what you profess, you have failed in doing what you say, and you are a son of the wicked; in vain you worship Him. There is a need to serve God in deed and in truth. You cannot serve in deed and in truth, and be living in wickedness. Do you sincerely desire to deny hypocrisy and wickedness in your life? Determination will fail because it is not by might or by power. By His grace, all you have to do is to observe the word of God. In your following there is no excuse; there is no distraction. When you follow Him, there have to be consistency. Consistency will build up to commitment, and then continuity will have its place. When you follow Him, you do not have to walk how others walk, you do not have to see like they see, and you do not have to hear what they hear. Keep focus on the leading Master.

HIS PRESENCE
2 Samuel 5:6-10

The presence of God is power unto the healing and deliverance from all of our destruction. In the course of every journey that is in line with God, in the face of every challenge of the wicked ones the presence of God is all that could see us through. Without the presence of God, there was no way that Moses could have served Him by leading the children of Israel as far as he was enabled to. After the crossing of Jordan and the possession of all lands that was promised by God, “As for the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the children of Judah could not drive them out; but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Judah at Jerusalem to this day.” (Joshua 15:63) It was the same Jebusites that became so strong and very confident that nothing possible could stop them from taking hold of Jerusalem against David. The people were so sure of themselves that David would not be able to take over. Are there any of your promised possessions that are still in the hand of your enemy? Do you trust that the hand of God is not too short to deliver? This is what David experienced before he actually overcame the Jebusites at that time, “And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who spoke to David, saying, “You shall not come in here; but the blind and the lame will repel you,” thinking, “David cannot come in here.” (2 Samuel 5:6) David brought down Goliath at the early stage of his life, but different forms of Goliath continued to show up in his direction. The battle that you won the last time is the one that will lead you to a bigger one, and each and every battle will require different directions from God. Only one thing that matters in all of David’s battles was the presence of God that was always with him. David eventually took over from the Jebusites, after he had defeated them. 2 Samuel 5:10, “So David went on and became great, and the Lord God of hosts was with him.” The God of deliverance that fought for David will not fail if you do not fail in letting Him carry you along. Do you have enough of His word in you? Remember, it is the amount of the word of God in you that will determine the amount of the light of God that is inside of you. Psalm 119:130, “The entrance of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.” The word of God is God; allow the word of God to reign in you then His presence will overtake you and not depart from you in your entire walk.

Prayer for today: Let your presence overtake me O Lord in every area of my life, in Jesus name.

ASK NOT ASSUME
2 Samuel 5:17-25

If you will resume asking instead of assuming, you will cover grounds that are beyond your assumptions. It does not matter how long you have been assuming correctly, but it could take one wrong assumption for you to be terminated. Instead of assuming why not, switch to praying and asking God for directions. God will not fail, He has given us His word of grace and of power that will never fail. When He said, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7) He did not ask us to beg or guess, He has said that we should ask, seek and knock. God declared King David as one “…Who kept my commandments and who followed Me with all his heart, to do only what was right in my eyes.” (1 Kings 14:8) It is evident in the life of David that he was a man that personalized God by the testimony of his ways in asking. David would repeatedly go before God to ask the same thing before making his move. There was no demonstration or assumption in any of his operations against his enemies. In 2 Samuel 5:17-25, twice it was recorded how David was going back and forth to inquire from God before making any moves. 2 Samuel 5:18-19, “The Philistines also went and deployed themselves in the Valley of Rephaim. 19 So David inquired of the LORD, saying, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will You deliver them into my hand?” And the LORD said to David, “Go up, for I will doubtless deliver the Philistines into your hand.” God gave David the go ahead, and he went and defeated his enemies. After God had given the victory to David over the Philistines, the Philistines did not disappear, but they showed up again and repositioned themselves against David. It could have been reasonable for David to assume that the same God is still at His throne, and will move on his behalf instead, “…David inquired of the LORD, and He said, “You shall not go up; circle around behind them, and come upon them in front of the mulberry trees. 24 And it shall be, when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, then you shall advance quickly. For then the LORD will go out before you to strike the camp of the Philistines.” 25 And David did so, as the LORD commanded him; and he drove back the Philistines from Geba as far as Gezer.” The way that David took the first time to defeat the enemy was not the same way that the Lord commanded him to take the second time. If David has assumed and gone to war, it could have been a different result. Do not move to remove yourself by your assumption. God is a Changing Changer; take it all up to Him, because the anointing of yesterday will not carry you for today.

Prayer for today: Ask Him for the impartation of asking instead of assuming in your decision-making.