WORD POWER< ?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>

Mark 2:1-12

ÒAnd again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house. 2 Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them.Ó (Mark 2:1-2) There was no need for any publications, news coverage or telemarketing before it was known that Jesus was in town. His testimony was the announcer and His work followed Him everywhere He went. It was immediate and there was no delay before the whole ground was covered by the needy. Bishop Oyedepo of the Winners Chapel once said, ÒIf the grass is green, the sheep will comeÓ As an acclaimed carrier of the word of God, how is the word declaring your presence everywhere you go? The people gathered because Jesus was preaching the word and also reaching the people by His word. It is not enough to preach and not reach the people. The preaching that reaches the people is the one that brings forth healing, deliverance, provision and above all, it provokes undeniable miracles like the ones that Jesus did. In that trip to Capernaum because of the word that He preached and that reached the people, some sick were not able to reach Him where He was. ÒAnd when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.5 When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, ÒSon, your sins are forgiven you.Ó(Mark 2:4-5) What Jesus saw was faith in operation. Jesus did not ask what the sin was, but rather He pronounced forgiveness upon the paralytic man. Ask Him for the kind of forgiveness that delivers man from every ground of stagnation just like that of paralytic man. After forgiveness, the word of authority and healing followed through when He said, ÒI say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.Ó 12 Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, ÒWe never saw anything like this!Ó(Mark 2:11-12) As a carrier of the word, what do you desire in the business of the Lord? Is it carrying the word around with no proof or nothing to account for? It does not matter how long you have been born again, but it does matter for you to become His agent; that is His ambassador in deed and in truth. A word says, ÒWhat is worth doing is worth doing wellÓ Are you not tired of being His ambassador without His identity? Do you not know that is identity is power? God is willing to use us mightily for His name to be glorified and for the unbelievers to know to believe Him. 

YOU CAN PRAY IT< ?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>

Mark 1:40-45

Jesus said in Matthew 7:7, ÒAsk, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.Ó If you will ask today, He will hear you. Ask Him to speak to everything that is representing shame in your life. Ask Him to speak to all that has been reduced or to the ones that are condemning you. Let Him know that you have come before His gracious and precious holy name to lie all before Him. Remind Him that His word says, ÒFor 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.Ó (Jeremiah 29:11). Ask for His will to be done in your life. A leper came to Jesus asking to be cleansed from all that was reducing him; all that had kept him grounded and all that kept him to live in shame. ÒThen Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, ÔI am willing; be cleansed.Õ 42 As soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed.Ó (Mark 1:41-42) Just at the word of Jesus, the representatives of shame and condemnation gave up in the life of the man with the leprosy. He is a compassionate God and He will have compassion today by letting His word go to every area of your life that is down and will bring them back up for His name to be glorified. He alone is the ultimate healer and whenever He steps in, He heals instantly and permanently. Jesus had compassion on the man with leprosy, ÒAs soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed.Ó (Mark 1:42) The word of God is power and it is healing and deliverance.  Jesus spoke to the leprosy and the man regained his whole self. At every one of His healing miracles, there were no documentations of Him asking for the reason or the cause of sickness or disease, but He only spoke to whatever needed to be addressed. Will you be playing your part in receiving your own miracle just like the man with leprosy did? He went with faith knowing that Jesus was going to answer him. He went imploring and kneeling down while lifting his voice unto Him. The same Jesus that healed the lepers is still the same today. Do not hesitate go to Jesus with faith.  Remove fear or doubt and He will do all that you put before Him.

FAITH RACE< ?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>

Hebrews 12:1-24

The journey of life is a race of life. A race is often run under a cloud of witnesses and a great cloud of witnesses surrounds the one who is running for life. The race is not run-able by strength or by determination, but only by the grace of God. Hebrews 12:1, ÒTherefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.Ó The race is already set and as a result, we have no choice but to run and to run requires endurance that cannot be generated by anything or anyone but by the grace of God. The race will not identify the first, second or third but it will identify those who run it from the beginning to the finish line. In the running of this race, every baggage weight should be laid aside because too much weight will slow any runner down. Slowing down will bring forth the temptation of abandoning the race. Abandoning the race will lead to eternal damnation which is eternal abandonment from Heaven. What kinds of weight are you carrying in your race? Unforgiveness, lying, deception, manipulation, keeping malice, fornication, adultery, stealing and all kinds of evil devices that frequents the baggage of believers are weights that will no doubt lead to termination in the race to the expected end. We do have a need for endurance to run the race knowing fully well that the race is not of determination. It is not of carrying any kind of baggage along that will build up the understanding in us for the need not to finish the race right. Running the race with endurance can only be set up by looking up unto Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior who came to supply us the fuel that is the Blood, for effective running. The Blood of Jesus (fuel) never runs out neither would it ever be short supply and not be enough for all who are in the race. ÒLooking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2) In the race of life, it is not affordable to look or attempt to look outside of the One who has been at the beginning of the race and will be waiting for us at the end of the race. It is only the one who you look up to that you can take all concerns and cares up to. When there is a failure to look up to Him, you will end up taking it up wrongly and it will turn around and become labor or a heavy laden upon you. Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, petitions us Himself to, ÒCome to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.Ó (Matthew 11:28) Be encouraged and donÕt be discouraged in this race of life. Hold on to Him by keeping your eyes on Him and He will see you through. It is only with Jesus that this race can be run while still being at rest and peace.

MAKE THE MOVE< ?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>

Genesis 6:8-22

By faith, go ahead and make your move. He has called you and you have answered, correct? If you have called on Him and laid it on Him, then you have no reason to doubt neither should there be a reason for you to exercise fear. Fear is not of God, but of the devil. Fear will sink you, but not raise you. Fear is the opposite of faith and faith is all that you need to move forward in all that you have called on God for. If God sends you, He will back you up. If God calls you to it, He will equip you through it. By faith, go ahead and make your move knowing fully well based on the understanding that you know because you know that God is more than able to see you through. If you believe that He called you and you have called on Him by laying all in His hand, ignore all the confronting situations which are surrounding the situation that is in the direction of your move. ÒBy faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.Ó (Hebrews 11:7) The catalyst in the move of direction toward God is faith and not fear. Noah could have ignored the warning and missed the vehicle of salvation. Noah had every justifiable reason not to move. There were tangible excuses for Noah to refuse and not move as commanded by God. In a region where it hardly rains in a year, how then could it flood so much that there would be a need for such a huge boat? Noah, being one who lived in that region and knew the weather pattern there, could have responded and built a smaller ark as compared to the one God called for. Noah knew the land very well and there will be no reason to move in the direction of what the Lord God called for. All obedience that is half obedience is a full failure to obey and it does not count before God. The Bible records, ÒThus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did.Ó (Genesis 6:22) Are you still considering making that move? It is no longer just of consideration, but it is of calling on Him, counting on Him, and committing it all on Him. Then and only then shall you be set to go and He will back you up if He has called you. Please God with your move because it is a demonstration of faith in Him. Hebrew 11:6, ÒBut without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.Ó Please God not just today but consistently and He will release all that it takes for you to get to the expected end in your life.

SEEK AND SET< ?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>

Colossians 3:1-17

Thank God by His grace for you have given your life to Christ as confessed by your mouth. As a believer who has accepted the grace of salvation and have died and risen in Christ, which position are you or have you taken? The apostle Paul pointed out in Colossians 3:1-2, ÒIf then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.Ó  As a believer, what you seek and set your mind on is what will make you up in the journey of life. In all your seeking, ÒSeek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.Ó  (Matthew 6:33) The word of God is true and never fails. When you seek the kingdom of heaven first, not second nor jointly with any other agenda, the result will be true to GodÕs word. When we seek Him, it should be with all diligence with all that He has given us. God did not ask for less or more and He will not accept less in our seeking Him. Further, God did not ask for what we cannot offer. He made us and knows us so He knows what we are capable of giving Him. Deuteronomy 4:29, ÒÉseek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.Ó Have you in deed and in truth given your life to Him? Seek Him with all your diligence and He will bring to pass all that He promised. What about setting your mind? Remember, it is about setting and seeking and neither can be separated from one  another. It is not possible to seek and not set; neither is it possible to set and not seek Him. A mind that is set on God will always wait and look up to Him for all answers from above. A mind that is set on Him will not be a stranger to peace. It is the setting of minds on things from above that will upset everything in the world of wickedness from having its way in the life of any believer who chooses to seek and set it all on Him. What a believer seeks or sets is where the mind is. If your mind is on the kingdom of God, you will live heaven on earth and if it is on the kingdom of this world, you will have no choice but to reap from where you seek and set. Isaiah 26:3, ÒYou will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.Ó The position of a believer is in seeking and setting of the mind in the things that are above. As a believer in the word of God, there is only one place we should constantly dwell and that is in seeking and setting our all on the Lord. Seek and set it all on Him.