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.

WORK THE WORK
John 6:22-29

Luke 4:32, “And they were astonished at His teaching, for His word was with authority.” As an acclaimed follower of Jesus Christ, are you teaching or ministering the word of God in your daily walk? A Christian does not necessarily have to be an ordained pastor or bishop before going about and ministering the word. However, it is important that the word that is being ministered is backed with the power of God. In most cases, ministering the word no longer have the backing of power that is enough to set a captive free and the sick comes into church and leave to go back home still sick. You wonder what is going on with the Word of God. The Word of God is still the same and it has not change, it is the world that is changing from the Word. Also, a believer that does not work for the Word, the Word will not work for such believer. Jesus’ disciples once asked Him, John 6:28, “What shall we do, that we may work the work of God?” Have you ever figured out what has to be done to work the work? John 6:29, “Jesus answered and said to them, this is the work of God that you believe in Him whom He sent.” When there is no trust, there will be no obedience to the Word. Without obedience, faith is absent and belief does not have a place to reside. It is not possible to pick and choose the work that is convenient for us and get the result that is inhabited in working the word of God. To see the word backed with power requires a full commitment to working the work of God which is in following Him fully. While Jesus was on the face of earth many came to Jesus, but very few followed Him. Today, many claim to know about Him but few actually know Him. Can you locate where you are in your faith? Are you following Him or are you flowing with those that are actually following Him? The price is too costly to follow. Christianity today is convenience, not commitment from the heart. The most glaring identity of Christians, the self-acclaimed born again today is: lying, manipulation and deception. Among the believers, the sign does not follow any more because lifestyles do not reflect and character can not carry the one that is following the Master. Many acclaimed believers are very much conversant to the Word of God, but they no longer let the Word convert and use them. Billy Graham once said that, if the Holy Spirit is taken out of the church, 95% of church activities would be going on without any noticeable change. God, however, in His infinite mercy, continues to be patient with His children. Today is a day of self-examination; to work the work is to be-living (believe) the word of God. Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” In the same book of Romans, it is also stated, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? ( Romans 6:1) Let us ask Him for enablement to follow Him fully.

COURAGE AND CHARACTER
Daniel 1

It is written in John 10:10, “…I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” He has already come that we may have life and that we may have it more abundantly. It is not a command to have life, but it is rather of choice to take what He has made available for us. He has spoken and He will not increase or lower His standard if we make the right choice to do what it takes to have the life He brought for us. How are you taking to the word of His provision? Are you positioning yourself in the word of God so as to pass into His promise or are you positioning yourself outside of His word so as to miss it diligently? The grace to take the life that Jesus brought is not just by memorizing the word of God because memorization without meditation will not bring forth any result. However, having been able to meditate is what will make us to be able to observe and do the word that will bring forth the result of His promise. 2 Timothy 1:7, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” Without the operation of courage and character that is in the word of God, it will be absolutely impossible to take the life that Jesus has made available for us. It only takes courage and character to live the life of abundance. Life of abundance is a life that is full of the power of God, love and of a sound mind. Daniel lived a life of abundance. He was unshakeable in all decision-making and that obedience set him up to be in the center of his divine assignment. Daniel, when he was to be down in self-pity after having become a captive at a young age, rather encouraged himself by trusting God enough to reject what does not glorify God. Daniel 1:8, “But Daniel 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.” After this response of Daniel, his story changed for good because he provoked the hand of God and while in captivity, lack could not have a way in his life; only abundance could. Daniel 1:9, “Now God had brought Daniel into the favor and goodwill of the chief of the eunuchs.” How could life be more abundant than to have favor and goodwill while in captivity? Daniel had the courage and the character that is rooted in trust in God and as a result, nothing could have possibly brought him down. Do you lack the courage and character that is rooted in the word of God? Is it a desire for you to have a life of abundance? Ask God today for He alone can deposit your desire in you.