DAILY REFLECTION

MONDAY 30TH OCTOBER, 2017

THEME: TOMORROW IS NOT IN YOUR HANDS
TEXT: JAMES 4:13-17

James 4:13 Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:
James 4:14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
James 4:15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.
James 4:16 But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.
James 4:17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

HYMN: EMHB 504 – Leave God to order all thy ways

Often, we live our lives as if we are accountable to no one. We think we own our lives. We leave our homes without telling God, our keeper. We often forget that our very existence is not our doing and what would happen in the future is not controlled by us but by God Almighty.

Yes, you might be the richest in your community or society; you might even be the greatest philosopher that has ever lived, yet you cannot predict accurately what your future will be. Only God has the authority and final say on what the future of a person will be without making a single mistake.

If this is the case, why live your life as if you own it? Why make decisions without consulting God? Why plan your future without involving God? Proverbs 27:1 warns “Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.'' Give your tomorrow to God and He will direct and lead you safely. Do not rely on your own understanding or wisdom. Let God be your Master Planner. He knows the way; let Him lead you.

Always remember, dear brothers and sisters, that your tomorrow is not in your hands. Can you, for instance, predict what will happen this evening or tomorrow morning? Do you know when and where you will die? Therefore involve God in every decision of your life.

MEMORY VERSE: Proverbs 27:1 “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.”

PRAYER: The All-knowing God, teach me to acknowledge Your Lordship in every area of my life in Jesus' name.

READ - DAY: John 13; Night: Jer 7-8

DAILY REFLECTION

TUESDAY 31ST OCTOBER, 2017

THEME: A GOOD REQUEST
TEXT: PROVERBS 30:7-9

Proverbs 30:7 Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die:
Proverbs 30:8 Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:
Proverbs 30:9 Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.

HYMN: EMHB 538 – What a friend we have in Jesus.

God has given us the privilege of bringing our requests to Him through prayer. This was confirmed by our Lord Jesus Christ in Matt 7:7 “ASK, and it will be given you, SEEK and you will find, KNOCK and the door will be opened to you.” However, we need to be mindful of the type, motive and manner of presenting our request(s) to God. “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures” (James 4:3). Do you talk to God at all? Do you talk only to satisfy your desires? Do you seek God's approval for what you plan to do? Your prayer request(s) will become powerful when you allow God to change your desires so that they perfectly correspond to His will for you (I John 3:21-22).

From the passage before us today, it can be pointed out that having too much money or being very poor can be dangerous. Being poor can, in fact, be hazardous to spiritual as well as physical health. This made the writer (Agur) of Proverbs Chapter 30 to table some good requests before God “Two things I ask of You, O Lord, Do not refuse me before I die: keep falsehood and lies far from me, give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, 'who is the Lord?' Or if I become poor and steal, and so dishonour the Name of my God" (Proverb 30:7-9). What a good and balanced request!

We also need to learn from King Solomon: When God asked him to ask what he needed, he made a request that brought blessing to the people and glory to God. Pleased at Solomon's selfless request, God gave Solomon even more. So, when we make good request, God is always ready to even do more than our good request. (Eph. 3:20).

Now that we have known that a good request is that which is neither self-centered, nor self-seeking and the ultimate goal is to glorify God, the question is: What can I do to be able to make good request? The answer can be found in Rom. 12:1-2 Read and memorize.

MEMORY VERSE: Psalm 2:8 “Ask of Me, and I will give you the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession.”

PRAYER: Ever faithful God, teach me to always ask that which pleases and glorifies You in Jesus' name. Amen.

READ - DAY: John 14; Night: Jer 9-11

PRAISE GOD FOR GOOD ENDING OF OCTOBER!

DAILY REFLECTION

THURSDAY 9TH NOVEMBER, 2017

THEME: CONSEQUENCES OF MURMURING
TEXT: NUMBERS 21: 4 – 9
Numbers 21:4 And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way.
Numbers 21:5 And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.
Numbers 21:6 And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.
Numbers 21:7 Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.
Numbers 21:8 And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.
Numbers 21:9 And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.

HYMN: EMHB 319 - Weary soul that wander wide

If you ever come in contact with people who complain about the grace of God, they are the most ungrateful people. They cannot perceive God's mercy in the provision of daily bread and safety from all dangers. Murmuring is act of ingratitude to God.

The Israelites in the wilderness did not farm nor trade. As a result, they had no money to buy food stuff. They had no permanent abode for them to have a kitchen to cook in. Yet they were not hungry because God supplied them manna. They compared manna to the food they ate in Egypt and concluded that the heavenly provision was substandard to that of the Egyptian meal. They murmured against God, blasphemed His Name and scorned the leadership of Moses, His servant. Their action was rejection of the grace of God. God sent the fiery serpent to bite them as the consequence of their murmuring. This was the most bitter of their several attacks on the manna. There is no motive of our heart that God does not understand.

Why do you murmur against daily provision of God in your life and family? Are you in the habit of comparing the revelry you lived before your conversion with what you do now? Do you compare the wife or husband you married with your women or men friends you once enjoyed living in sin? Do you know there are several people that do not have the kind of grace which God gives you? Brother and sister, cultivate the habit of giving thanks to God for His providence in all the ways you can think of.

The consequences of murmuring are grave as you can see from what God did to the Israelites. It leads to spiritual death; it causes dew and rain to cease from heaven. Stop murmuring and be grateful to God Almighty.

MEMORY VERSE: Num. 21: 6 “Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, so that many people died.”

PRAYER: Jehovah Jireh, give me a heart of gratitude for Your daily provision for my family. May I never allow murmuring nor express ingratitude to provoke You to anger against me and my family in Jesus' name. Amen.

READ - DAY: Heb 3-4; Night: Jer 32-33

DAILY REFLECTION

MONDAY 20TH NOVEMBER, 2017

THEME: DON'T BE BLINDFOLDED

MEMORY VERSE: Prov. 29:1 “He who is often reproved, yet stiffens his neck, will suddenly be broken beyond healing.”

TEXT: ISAIAH 6: 9 – 12
6:9 And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. 6:10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed. 6:11 Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, 6:12 And the Lord have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land. (KJV).

MESSAGE
A person who is blindfolded is not actually a blind person but his/her eyes are covered deliberately for a space of time so that he/she cannot see. A blindfolded person, in the understanding of the Bible, is the one who deliberately closes his or her inner mind in order not to perceive the good works of God in his/her life and the community.

Isaiah was called by God to declare the message of the holiness and righteousness of God and to call the attention of the wayward people of Judah to return to God. God said the prophet would declare the Word but majority would be blindfolded with sin, thereby refusing to understand and perceive the holiness and righteousness of God which Isaiah preached to them. The Word was to expose the hard hearted resistance of many to God's warning and appeal for repentance from sin.

The message of repentance is constantly being preached on the pulpit, in the print and electronic media and through gospel songs. But it is disheartening that majority are blindfolded with materialism, revelry, fashion, power, positions, entertainment, sports, home video, drinking of both the cup of mammon and the cup of God. They attempt to adorn all these in worship. They are blindfolded to perceive and understand the truth and they take God as a comedian whose words are laughable and for the moment.

The Word of God is a double-edged sword: it both saves and destroys. Do not be blindfolded with circumstances and situations around you to the extent of compromising and rejecting the Word of truth and life. Being blindfolded will surely end one in perdition.

HYMN: EMHB 308 -
1. LORD, Thy word abideth,
And our footsteps guideth :
Who its truth belIeveth
Light and Joy recelveth.

2.When our foes are near us,
Then Thy word doth cheer us,
Word of consolation,
Message of salvation.

3.When the storms are o'er us,
And dark clouds before us,
Then its light dlrecteth,
And our way protecteth.

4.Who can tell the pleasure,
Who recount the treasure,
By Thy word Imparted
To the simple-hearted?

5. Word of mercy, giving
Succour to the living;
Word of life, supplying
Comfort to the dying!

6. O that we, discerning
Its most holy learning,
Lord, may love and fear Thee,
Evermore be near Thee
Amen.

PRAYER: Father, open my inner eyes and ears daily, so that I will perceive Your holiness and righteousness and guide my daily activities with Thy Word through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.

READ - DAY: 1 Peter 2-3; Night: Ezk 1-3

Good morning! Do have a Splendid new week. God bless you

Worthy is the Lamb of God