BUILD RIGHT
Luke 6:46-49

Going to church, knowing how to use the words from the Bible in every area of your life, or situations, is not enough. Also, being eloquently versed in the word will not prevail, until doing the word of God is in place in the life of a believer. The whole Bible can be memorized, but it will not work until the one that memorizes the word begins to observe, and do what the word calls for. Jesus emphasized it in all His teachings, “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say? 47 Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like.” (Luke 6:46-47,) Jesus is more interested in those that hear and do what He says, more than those following and not doing what he says. Are you a follower that does what He says, or are you a follower that does the interpretation of what others have said He says? It is important to take time in studying and doing what He says. Jesus mentioned what becomes of anyone that hears and does what He says in when He stated, Luke 6:48, “He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock.” There is nothing like becoming a house that stands, a house that is on rock solid. Becoming a solid house only happens when putting the word into action is a reality in the life of a believer. A solid house will stand when confronting any challenge. Doing the word is likened to a house that flood cannot bring down. In life, the coming of a flood is inevitable, and any believer that has yet to start living the word, storms are on the way, and they will come. Just as hearing and doing the word of God does have its blessing, so is hearing and not doing the word has its own consequence. Jesus stated in Luke 6: 49, “But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great.” Are you one that has been hearing the word and not doing the word of God? It does not matter how long it takes for the flood to reach you, but it is very sure and certain that a flood will come. The word of God is not to be toyed with, but to be taken with seriousness. As a believer, build a building that will not fall to the flood of life by living and behaving the word of God.
Prayer for today: My Lord and my God, give me a hearing ear, enable me to live by Your word indeed and in truth.

FOLLOW FULLY
Luke 5:27-32

Whatever you cannot forsake for the sake of the Kingdom’s business, will forsake you from going for the sake of the Kingdom’s business. Going for the sake of the Kingdom’s business requires one to faithfully follow the Lord, Jesus Christ. After one of the miracles of Jesus, in His passing, “…saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” 28 So he left all, rose up, and followed Him. 29 Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house. And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them.” (Luke 5:27-29) So many claim to be following Jesus, but very few are actually the followers of Jesus. Levi left everything and rose in following Jesus. Until all has been left behind, it will not be possible to rise and follow Him. By virtue of his leaving the past, and moving into a new beginning, the Bible recorded that Levi gave a great feast. Just like Levi, Elisha did the same thing when he answered God’s call through Elijah. At the time of the calling of Elisha, “…He left the oxen and ran after Elijah, and said, “Please let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.” And he said to him, “Go back again, for what have I done to you?” 21 So Elisha turned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen and slaughtered them and boiled their flesh, using the oxen’s equipment, and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and followed Elijah, and became his servant.”” (1Kings 19:20-21) Elisha left all behind when he answered his call. In answering, Elisha demonstrated a total commitment of following by getting rid of everything that could have held him back. Elisha also used his oxen’s equipment as a boiler, to boil the slaughtered oxen. When you are leaving everything behind to follow Him, the heart will wholly follow Him. Any following that is short of following Him wholly will not get to the Promised Land. Remember Joshua and Caleb? After the ten other spies had given a bad report of the land, they went to spy Caleb and Joshua insisted on following the promise of God that the Land was good. The whole population rebelled and did not follow the word of God. As a result, God responded, “Except Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him and his children I am giving the land on which he walked, because he wholly followed the LORD.” (Deuteronomy 1:36) Follow Him fully, and you will arrive full and well to where
He is taking you.
Prayer for today: Father I pray that You will give me a different spirit to follow you fully, just like Caleb and Joshua.

NO MORE STAGNATION
Luke 5:16-26

Paralysis is stagnation, and stagnation can be the result of sinning. Jesus was in a place where the power of the Lord was present to heal. “Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him. 19 And when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus.” (Luke 5:18-19) The paralyzed man was being taken from one place to another. Without anyone moving him there would have been no motion, and he would have remained in a stagnant position. In his stagnant position, nothing moved and nothing change. In stagnant positions, motion is an enemy to the man. As a believer or non-believer, what has kept you grounded in the same position, and location, for so long? What is it that has been denying every kind of promotion in all, or some, areas of your life? God is a good God, He is a God of multiplication. With stagnation, gaining the motion to multiply is not a reality. The paralyzed man that was brought to Jesus had so much faith in the power of God that led to the tearing of a roof. The roof was torn on his behalf so he could be let down to Jesus for healing purposes. If not for this faith, he should have been taken back to where he was coming from. The crowd could not deny him, neither could the ability not to gain entrance was enough to send him back. The Bible mentioned that he was taken through the top of the house. When his bed landed through the tiling, into the midst of Jesus, it was recorded that Jesus saw their faith. Luke 5:20, “When He saw their faith, He said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” The paralyzed man had faith, but was still in the state of stagnation. As a believer, you have faith, you are eloquent in the word, yet you are motionless and stagnation is ruling. Just like the paralyzed man, sin could be the cause of stagnation. Sin from earlier generations or “self sin”. Jesus, having seen it, that he had faith, did not command healing first, but forgave him his sin. The point here is, Jesus spoke no healing to the paralyzed man, until after forgiveness was spoken into his life. What could be the root of your stagnation with all your faith demonstrations? Could it be, it is time to call on Him for forgiveness that will bring forth motion in all areas of stagnation? With the sound of forgiveness, and healing sound from the Word of God, paralysis the agent of stagnation, will loose its grip.
Prayer for today: My Lord and my God, this day I ask for forgiveness from my sin, and let me be delivered from every stagnating agent, in the name of Jesus.

STRIPER
Genesis 3

Sin and sinning will cause everyone that engages in it to be naked. Sin is a striper, and it has no exemption of whom to approach. Sin is disobeying the word of God, and means living according to the way that seems right to man. Sin is of the wicked one, it does not give life, and it only takes away life. Sin has its root in temptation; it will entice to entrap any of its victims. Genesis 2:15-17, “Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” God’s placement and provision for His children is a covering that surpasses man’s personal ability. When God put man in the Garden of Eden, there were no needs, and it was a place of abundance. God’s placement and provision upon Adam and Eve was a covering where nakedness had no place. God gave them the land to tend and keep, but not to trample on and violate. It was a blessing. Has the Lord placed any covering of blessings upon you lately? Adam and Eve failed to tend the land, and did not to keep what the Lord put in their care because they choose the way that seemed right to them. Both Adam and Eve ate from the tree they were not supposed to eat from, as commanded by God. Adam and Eve violated God’s command. “And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”” Adam and Eve’s disobedience, to eat from the tree against the word of God, did nothing, but remove the covering of God upon the life of Adam and Eve. Nakedness became their portion because they had withdrawn from obeying God. Nakedness is being on your own. Any man without the covering of God is on his own. Adam and Eve were sent out of the garden and they were marked with death.
Prayer for today: Father, I ask that you search me and lead me to the way of life. O Lord, let me not become a vessel of failure in your calling for my life.

WATCH YOUR MOUTH
Numbers 14

Life is a journey. Everyone that has the breath of life is in the journey of life. He is a good God, not a wicked God. In the course of life’s journey, anyone that can walk in line with His commands will surely get to the final destination of life’s journey. God out of His goodness and mercy stated in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” The journey to the future is not of evil, but it is of good. For those that are willing to keep on calling on Him, and seeking Him in prayer. Of course, He is a jealous God and attention is the antidote of jealousy. Why would a creation not constantly give the Creator attention? Giving all your attention to God is denying the enemy to attend to you. When seeking Him with all of your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength (Deuteronomy 6:5) is in place in your life, anyone that seeks to destroy your life will have to seek to destroy God first, which is an absolute impossibility. Life is a journey, getting to the expected end is possible. Also, not getting to the expected end is not impossible. The major trap that can terminate any sojourner from getting to the expected end is evident in the journey to the Promise Land. The children of Israel, having been delivered from the bondage of over four hundred years, understandably had the tendency of carrying some of Egypt with them. However, for every Egypt to be flushed out for God to reign and rule overwhelmingly in their life, they saw a great move of His hand. They were able to walk on a dry land in the middle of sea, while the enemy could not. The journey to the expected end became terminated for the children of Israel because of complaints. God promised to take them to a land that flowed with milk and honey, but they failed to rest in the promise of God instead, they engaged in wrestling with His promise. God responded in Numbers 14:27, “How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who complain against Me? I have heard the complaints which the children of Israel make against Me.” Complaining is an act of rebellion unto God. Complaining terminated the journey of life when God stated, “The carcasses of you who have complained against Me shall fall in this wilderness, all of you who were numbered, according to your entire number, from twenty years old and above.” (Numbers 14:29). He hears complaints. Cease from all ways of complaining.
Prayer for today: Father I ask in Jesus name, deliver me from every spirit of complaining. Let me not be cut off from getting to the expected end.