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DAY 5
The need to change

You know these things – now do them. That is the path of blessing’ John 13:17 TLB

THERE’S AN OLD IRISH PROVERB that says, ‘A bad habit’s like a warm bed; easy to get into, but hard to get out of.’ What are the habits you need to get into or out of? If you want to know where you’ll be a year from now, check your daily routine. Change doesn’t happen because of what you know; it happens because of what you do daily. James writes, ‘Don’t fool yourself … letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear … whoever catches a glimpse of the revealed counsel of God … and sticks with it … will find delight’ (James 1:22–25 TM). What do you want at this time? Better health? A better marriage? A better prayer life? A better income? Unless a rich relative dies or you get an email from like work’; and e) submit ‘all of the above’ to God for His approval, then make a start. Otherwise we’ll be having this same conversation at this time next year. Jesus said, ‘You know these things – now do them. That is the path of blessing’ (John 13:17 TLB).



Prayer Point

I pray today, Lord, that You highlight the areas of my life that need to be brought in line with Your will. I desire to live a life of purpose and a life of complete fulfilment in You and pray that I can, with Your help, achieve all You have promised for me. Help me to be determined and focused to fulfil Your high calling for my life. Amen

[ebankole]

DAY 6
Don’t look back
‘Remember Lot’s wife!’
Luke 17:32 NIV

THE SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER told her class, ‘Lot’s wife looked back and turned into a pillar of salt.’ One child responded, ‘That’s nothing; my Mum was driving home yesterday, and she looked back and that it doesn’t even worry you … You pass it off as a small thing, but it’s anything but that. turned into a telegraph pole!’ Lot’s wife only appears briefly in one Scripture, so why did Jesus tell us to remember her? Two reasons: 1) She invested her life in something that had no future. John writes, ‘The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever (1 John 2:17 NIV). God tried to get Lot’s wife out of Sodom, but He couldn’t get Sodom out of her. When she thought of what she was leaving, she looked back and turned into a cold, unresponsive monument. When God says it’s time to move, don’t hesitate! Don’t become like those who once walked with Him, witnessed on the job, were shining lights in their communities, but now are cold and unresponsive. 2) Your decisions have consequences. If only she’d kept moving forward so that when her daughters got to the cave, she’d have been there to protect them. Instead, they became victims of abuse and incest. Before you lose your children, poison your marriage and tear up your life by refusing to break with your past, ‘Remember Lot’s wife.’ She didn’t make it to safety, but she did make it into Scripture long enough to warn us about three things: a) complacency, b) involvement with the wrong things, and c) a divided heart!

[ebankole]

DAY 7
The God of second chances
'...We worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing'

Luke 5:5 NLT

WHENPETERSAYS: ‘We worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing,’ you can hear the discouragement in his voice. In spite of his skill as a fisherman, he keeps coming up empty. But all that changes when Jesus enters the picture and says, ‘Go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets’ (v4). The result? The Bible says: ‘this time their nets were so full they began to tear!’ (v6). Maybe you are sitting where Peter sat; the outlook is bleak, your nets are empty, you have tried everything and nothing’s working. Now you are ready to give up. One Christian leader writes: ‘Some people have simply stopped expecting. They have accumulated so many of life’s disappointments that they are afraid to dream, reach, stretch, or broaden their horizons. But God wants us to take hold of tomorrow; He will not allow us to live in yesterday, or cast blame on anything or anybody that restricts our tomorrows.’ God knows how hard you have worked. He sees your discouragement and today He is inviting you to go fishing again; this time with Him. If you have been wrestling with addiction, depression, tormenting memories, financial failure, or sickness, do not jump ship! The Lord of new beginnings wants to come on board. He knows exactly where the fish are biting. He should; He put them there! So before you fold up your nets and dock the boat, look up and say, ‘I’ll do as you say, Lord, and let down the nets.’ Go ahead; you will be glad you did!

[ebankole]

DAY 8
Need more self-discipline?
‘If you’re serious about living this new resurrection life … act like it’ Colossians 3:1 TM

WHENASKED by a reporter who gave him the most trouble, DL Moody replied, ‘I’ve more trouble with DL Moody than any man alive.’ Sound familiar? Consider these words: ‘An enemy I had, whose face I strove to know, for hard he dogged my tracks unseen wherever I did go. My plans he balked, my aims he foiled and blocked my onward way; when for some lofty goal I toiled, he grimly told me ‘nay.’ One night I seized and held him fast, from him the veil did draw; I looked upon his face at last and lo – myself I saw!’ Paul writes, ‘I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified’ (1 Corinthians 9:27 NKJ). In reading the lives of great people, you’ll discover that the first victory they won was always over themselves. They understood that their first responsibility was their own discipline and personal growth because you can’t take others further than you yourself have gone. Stephen Covey says, ‘If I try to use strategies and tactics to get people to do what I want – while my character is fundamentally flawed – in the long run I won’t succeed. My duplicity will breed distrust. Everything I do – even good human relationship techniques – will be perceived as manipulative. It makes no difference how good the rhetoric or the intentions; if there’s no trust, there’s no foundation for permanent success. Only integrity gives life to technique.’ That just about says it all, doesn’t it!

[ebankole]

DAY 9
Hey! Wise Up
Make no provision for the flesh, to fulfil its lusts’ Romans 13:!4 NKJ

JOHNNYCASHSANG ‘I keep a close watch on this heart of mine; I keep my eyes wide open all the time’. Good song; even better theology! Insanity is doing the crazy stuff others do, hoping for a better result. Wise up! David messed around with another man’s wife and ended up with a blighted conscience, a ruined reputation, and two shattered families. Run while you still can! Sound old fashioned? Try talking to some of the folks you thought ‘got away with it’. They paid in ways they don’t like to talk about. Such as: 1) Fear: ‘What the wicked dreads will overtake him’ (Proverbs 10:24 NIV). 2) Lack of confidence: ‘If our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God’ (1 John 3:21 NIV)
3) Regret: ‘I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly’ (1 Samuel 26:21). Solomon had it all; a home that took 13 years to build, 40,000 stables for his horses, a fleet of ships, a thousand beautiful women and more money than he could spend in ten lifetimes. Yet he ended up turning his back on God and on the very advice he gave others. Why? Because he lacked personal discipline! Here’s how he sums up his life in the book of Ecclesiastes: a) ‘I denied myself nothing ...’ (2:10 NIV), b) ‘I hated all the things I had toiled for ...’ (2:18), c) ‘Better a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer knows how to take warning’ (4:13). Hey, wise up.

Prayer Point :

Lord, help me to be more disciplined in my Christian walk. Forgive me, Lord, when things are busy and I haven’t prayed or read Your Word. Let that be what I cling to in the busy times to find strength and fulfilment. Help me realise, Lord, that I don’t know best; You do. In my times with You, let me hear Your still small voice and not dismiss it but act upon it, in Jesus’ name. Amen!

[gracefilled]

Sins, sexual sin especially, drains. Not only spiritually but physically as well. It puts fear, confusion and unnecessary distractions in ones life.
Lord, am not only confused and tired but feeling useless and not capable as well! I know you're here right now and always, help me! I want to have a detest of this sin just because you love me.

[ebankole]

And, may the lord answer your prayers..grant your request, in jesus name!





Bless u

[ebankole]

DAY 9
Hey,Wise Up!
Make no provision for the flesh, to fulfil its lusts’ Romans 13:!4 NKJ

JOHNNY CASH SANG ‘I keep a close watch on this heart of mine; I keep my eyes wide open all the time’. Good song; even better theology! Insanity is doing the crazy stuff others do, hoping for a better result. Wise up! David messed around with another man’s wife and ended up with a blighted conscience, a ruined reputation, and two shattered families. Run while you still can! Sound old fashioned? Try talking to some of the folks you thought ‘got away with it’. They paid in ways they don’t like to talk about. Such as: 1) Fear: ‘What the wicked dreads will overtake him’ (Proverbs 10:24 NIV). 2) Lack of confidence: ‘If our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God’ (1 John 3:21 NIV).3) Regret: ‘I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly’ (1 Samuel 26:21). Solomon had it all; a home that took 13 years to build, 40,000 stables for his horses, a fleet of ships, a thousand beautiful women and more money than he could spend in ten lifetimes. Yet he ended up turning his back on God and on the very advice he gave others. Why? Because he lacked personal discipline! Here’s how he sums up his life in the book of Ecclesiastes: a) ‘I denied myself nothing ...’ (2:10 NIV), b) ‘I hated all the things I had toiled for ...’ (2:18), c) ‘Better a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer knows how to take warning’ (4:13). Hey, wise up.


Prayer Point ;

Lord, help me to be more disciplined in my Christian walk. Forgive me, Lord, when things are busy and I haven’t prayed or read Your Word. Let that be what I cling to in the busy times to find strength and fulfilment. Help me realise, Lord, that I don’t know best; You do. In my times with You, let me hear Your still small voice and not dismiss it but act upon it, in Jesus’ name. Amen

[ebankole]

DAY 10
'said I wouldn’t, but I did'

I decide one way, but then I act another’ Romans 7:15 TM


ARE YOU FEELING DISCOURAGED, even disgusted with yourself? You said you wouldn’t, but then the enemy put the pressure on and you folded like a house of cards. You’re not alone. Paul writes, ‘...I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway ... Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real question? The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does’ (Romans 7:19–25 TM). Why do we keep failing? Because flesh will always act like flesh! After a season of doing everything right, you can fall flat on your face because you ‘give place to the devil’ (Ephesians 4:27 KJV), or ‘[give] occasion to the flesh’ (Galatians 5:13 KJV). The story is told of an old Native American who, a few months after his conversion, came back to his pastor and said, ‘It’s as if I have two big dogs constantly fighting inside me.’ ‘Which one of them wins?’ the pastor asked. After thinking about it, the old Indian replied, ‘I guess the one I feed the most.’ The power to live victoriously comes from feeding your spirit and disciplining your flesh. Listen: ‘His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness ... He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires’ (2 Peter 1:3–4 NIV). Spiritual growth doesn’t just happen; you have to work at it daily

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Be Careful What You Watch
‘Make a parapet around your roof to make it safe.’

Deuteronomy 22:8
Hundreds of pornography sites are being introduced to the Internet. The idea is to have you accidentally exposed to them through clever marketing. This helps explain how children as young as eight become addicted to pornography and to the websites that feed it in the middle of the night when parents are sleeping. But these websites are also visited by teenagers and adults. So protection isn’t just called for on the part of parents, but by all those on the front line in the battle for moral purity. In his book Getting Through the Tough Stuff, Chuck Swindoll writes: ‘One in every two churchgoers is actively involved with Internet porn. (Are you shocked?) Nine out of ten children have been exposed to it - most of them accidentally while doing homework online. Thirty-seven percent of pastors say Internet porn is a current struggle in their lives. Most are exposed to it through … computer screen pop-ups, unsolicited email, and links to websites with innocent-sounding names. When an enticing image flashes, temptation is hard to overcome, especially for males. The Internet has become an integral part of our lives. There’s much that’s good, but there’s just as much that’s deadly. It is therefore our responsibility as Christians to protect ourselves from the dangers that are part of Internet usage!’ God commanded the Israelites: ‘Make a parapet around your roof to make it safe so … someone doesn’t fall off.’ Even the apostle Paul recognised that he was capable of being ‘disqualified’ as a leader in God’s work (see 1 Corinthians 9:27). So the word for you today is: Be careful what you watch.
Lam 3-5, Heb 4