wise investor? -Daily devotional by Pastor E.A Adeboye

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Eccles 4-6
WISE INVESTOR? Friday, March 26, 2010
MEMORIZE: “Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it” ((Matt. 13:46) READ: Matthew 13:44-46 It is amazing that people derive different results from investments. It is not enough to invest. Many have invested without getting their desired expectations. Some even lost all that they invested. Yet, there are some who almost always obtain their desired expectations from their investments. Wisdom is required whenever you invest. I once had contact with a wise investor sometime ago. This young man walked into my office and said, “Daddy, I have a house for you”.  I rejected his offer saying that since I already had one at the Redemption Camp, I did not need one in the city.  When I would not yield to pressure, he told me he had two houses and was satisfied giving me one. Then I told him I knew some pastors who would jump at that offer and if he did not mind, I could give him their names; he refused saying that house was for me alone. When neither of us was stepping down for the other, I asked him to go home and pray about it for three months before seeing me again. When he returned after that period, he was even more determined. He said he was more than convinced so he handed the keys of the house to me. I asked God what to do and He asked me to accept the gift and I did. About that time, I enquired and was told that one of our parishes needed an accommodation for church services within the same location of the building; so I gave it to them. Not long afterwards, the brother came to me requesting me to accompany him to a very large estate. When we got there, he told me it was what the Lord did for him and he asked me to dedicate it. Realizing what had happened, I humorously said, “Young man, you must be very smart. You gave God a house and got an estate in return”.  If he had held fast to his house like many do today, he would be miles away from becoming an estate owner.  You use what you have, link it with faith to get what you desire.  There are certain things you already have that could fetch you those bigger dreams. But until you part with your last meal and invest it on the right soil, you may not get to where you wish to go. Acquiring knowledge about spiritual investments is one thing; Applying it is another.  Are you a wise investor? ACTION POINT: Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you on what you have that you should trade for something you desire.

NOTHING FOR LAZY BONES -Daily devotional by Pastor E.A Adeboye

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Eccles 1-3
NOTHING FOR LAZY BONES Thursday, March 25, 2010
MEMORIZE: “As the door turneth upon his hinges, so doth the slothful upon his bed” (Prov. 26:14) READ: 1 Kings 19:19-21 Exodus 3:1-4 relates Moses’ encounter with God at the backside of the desert. He was busy minding his father-in-law’s sheep when he stumbled on the sight that changed his life. The busy can encounter God. Some people think that if you are too busy, you would miss out from  divine visitations. But it really depends on what you are busy doing. If your time is occupied in an activity that glorifies God, no matter how busy you are, you can encounter the Most High. If you are lazy however, that vice is sufficient to prevent a divine visitation. In Judges 6:11-24, Gideon was very busy threshing wheat at a hidden wine press when he was visited by an angel and was commissioned on a divine assignment. Similarly, when God called Elisha through the national prophet in 1 Kings 19:19-21, he was very busy farming. If you look through Scriptures, it appears God always selects the hardworking to work for Him. As long as you remain lazy, you may never encounter a divine touch.  God has nothing for lazy bones except they first quit from laziness. Although some people fail to realize it, laziness is one reason God bypasses some believers while appointing others for serious ministerial assignments. You have to prove to God that you are capable of doing what He wants done before you are chosen for that particular assignment. “As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison” (Acts 8:3). One trait in Saul which attracted him to God was hardwork. He was very busy for the devil. He spearheaded the persecution of the Early Church. A doctor at law, yet he despised his excellent credentials and went on house to house evangelism for Satan. While he was busy doing this, God saw in him a vessel He could use. There are some people even as unbelievers, that were lazy.  Such people never amount to anything substantial in God’s Kingdom.   As long as you keep deferring the work on your table till tomorrow, sleeping when you have work to do, or handling God’s work shoddily, you may not attract a divine visitation. Why?  If God visits the lazy, He knows He won’t be entertained like industrious Abraham. Hard working unbelievers are candidates for Salvation. Pray that God will bring about a change in them for good. ACTION POINT: Ministry is not for the lazy.  If you are lazy and you are in ministry, think twice: you may be in the wrong place.

SATISFIED? -Daily devotional by Pastor E.A Adeboye

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Num 34-36
JOSIAH MADE A DIFFERENCE Wednesday, March 24, 2010
MEMORIZE: “Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds” (Prov. 27:23) READ: 2 Kings 23:24-25 There have been a few people who made a difference in their generation. In fact, some were so outstanding that their achievements are still challenging us today even though they lived several hundreds or thousands of years ago. One of such Bible characters was Josiah. He was a child who rebelled against his antecedents and strove to become a child of destiny.  He was born and raised up by his wicked father -king Amon (2 Kings 21:19-23). Amon was an epitome of wickedness: With no regards for God, he established idolatry in Jerusalem. His-two year reign was so evil that his servants could not stand it anymore; they conspired and assassinated him. His undoing was his wicked and idolatrous father Manasseh ( Kings 21:1-15). The Bible says he followed every evil path of his father and perfected his wickedness. It was right within this evil background that Josiah was born. Since his father filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, one would have expected that Josiah would be a super devil. But right from age eight when he started ruling, he started to follow God’s right path (2 Kings 22:1-6). He began to pull down the idolatrous shrines his father and grand father had erected. From this we learn that any bonafide child of destiny would make a difference irrespective of his or her antecedents. Today, children are blaming their parents for their inabilities, shortcomings and mediocrity.  You would hear them say, ‘I am not spiritually strong because of my fetish background’. Or, ‘I have weaknesses in these areas because I inherited them from my father’. Not Josiah! He had a very fetish background worse than any of us today but he chose to make a difference, and he did. In that idolatrous setting you come from, you can make a difference.  Similarly, he pulled down the idols and shrines his fathers had set up. He was violently on the Lord’s side.  He compelled the entire nation to return to God. All idolatrous formation of your fathers must be prayerfully pulled down. Every evil covenant made by your ancestors that is attacking your lineage must be destroyed so as to save your entire lineage. As a leader, you must be violently repentant.  You must not tolerate anything evil in the lives of your members (Proverb 27:23). You must be spiritually up and doing. You must be violent against every satanic formation against the lives of your members. Like Paul of Tarsus, you must violently take sinners from the kingdom of darkness and ensure they are in the light. Are you like Josiah? Are you making a difference? ACTION POINT: Father, today, I rebel against every evil covenant, agreement or curse emanating from my ancestors or my past in Jesus’ Name.

SATISFIED? -Daily devotional by Pastor E.A Adeboye

BIBLE IN A YEAR: NUM 31-33
SATISFIED? Tuesday, March 23, 2010
MEMORIZE: “He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity” (Eccl. 5:10) READ: Proverbs 30:7-9 Wealth is a blessing but if taken out of the context of holiness and the fear of God, it can become a curse. In today’s reading, having seen the danger of being on any extreme in the wealth continuum, Agur made a strange request to God.  He told God, ‘Lord, I do not want riches or poverty for two reasons: I do not want to be in lack so that I am not tempted to steal and bring your Name to shame. I also do not want to be rich so that I do not become so comfortable that I fall into the trap of thinking you do not exist’. God will not give you the wealth that can destroy you in Jesus’ Name. Becoming very rich can be a dangerous thing. The rich believes everything has a price. He believes he can always buy anything with his money.  On the other hand, this man is ignorant of what to do with wealth. However, it all depends on what you want the wealth for.  Many people want to be wealthy for the wrong reasons. If you want to be rich just to belong, it is a trap. That kind of wealth does not have God’s blessing in it. If it is to show off, that’s another wrong motive.  Satan will always exploit your wrong motives for wealth to push you into amassing wealth through the back door.  Such wealth does not come from God. The wealth of many people has excluded God from it. Is God behind yours? “He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity” (Eccl. 5:10). Wealth has its attendant problems. One of such problems is lack of satisfaction. Those who love money would never be satisfied with what they have; no matter how much they have they will continue to desire for more. I once had a friend who is now late. At the age of 70, he had so much money that he could not exhaust for another 200 years in one of his bank accounts. Yet, he had money in about 100 banks.  Whenever you visit him, he will be planning how to invest some more. The rich are ever struggling with themselves. They would say, ‘So and so has just built another house or bought another car, and I must follow suit’. They are never satisfied. Satisfaction is a precious virtue that every believer must have. Are you caught in the rat race for earthly possessions? Ask God to give you satisfaction or contentment without which that wealth will be another trap. ACTION POINT: Father, as you increase me financially and materially, give me a corresponding increase in godliness and contentment.

STOP THE MASTER'S TEARS- Openheavensdevotional by PAstor E.A Adeboye

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Num 28-30
STOP THE MASTER’S TEARS! Monday, March 22, 2010
MEMORIZE: “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;” (1 Tim. 2:5)    READ: Hebrews 5:5-10 Apart from weeping because He was a man of sorrow, and was obeying God’s command, Jesus also wept because He empathized with us. There was a single brother who took married people on marriage lessons. Eventually he got married, and his wife became pregnant. When it was time for his wife to deliver, he prayed, fasted, bound and loosed, praised and danced for several hours, but when the baby delayed in coming, he went to meet his General Overseer and sought permission never to counsel married people again. It takes the poor to appreciate poverty.  The rich who never tasted poverty do not know what you are talking about when you say you are poor.  Jesus Christ wept because He was a combination of God and man. “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim 2:5).  According to Hebrews 5:5-10, Jesus as the High priest weeps because He intercedes for us. When you sin, you make Him weep. But for His intercession, none of us would still be in the faith. If you are a true priest of Jesus the High Priest, you will stand in the place of intercession. You will bear the burden of the people and weep before God in order to bring in Heaven’s intervention.  When burdened with people’s problems, with heart-felt compassion, you will not know when you will begin to weep. When last did you engage in intercession and weep in the process? In Luke 19:41-42, Jesus wept over Jerusalem because they did not realize that their day of visitation had come. The long expected day of change came but they were too blinded by activity and spiritual complacency to know.  Whenever you fail to recognize your day of divine visitation, you make Jesus to weep. When Heaven comes down so as to turn your hellish state into Heaven-on-earth, but because of activities, distractions, and other things, you fail to receive your blessing, then Jesus weeps. When He sends the Word that should turn around your situation at a church service or Holy Ghost service but you are either sleeping, joking and jesting or eating and as a result the Word  returns to God void, you make Him weep. In what ways are you making the Lord to weep today? Repent. Stop the Master’s tears! ACTION POINT: Whenever you make Jesus to weep, your Heavenly deficit increases