THE ANTIDOTE

READ: JOSHUA 6:21-27

It is close to two months now since we began to examine the subject of curses. You may wonder why so much time has been devoted to such a subject. What informs such a concentration is the fact that I am aware of the fact that if we can deal with curses, our prayer efforts will yield more dividends. It is not enough to awaken people to the consciousness of the fact that curses are in place; we must go ahead to show them how such curses can be cancelled. To deal with a curse, we have to find out who placed the curse. The one who wants to cancel the curse has to be superior to the one who placed the curse. All he has to do is to make a pronouncement by breaking the curse, in the name of Jesus. If a magistrate court pronounces you guilty, it will take a High Court to nullify the pronouncement. Somebody with a higher authority has to set you free. Your pastor can cancel any curse placed on you, either by the devil or his agents. If the one who placed the curse has the same authority with the one who wants to set the curse aside, then there might be a little problem. An evil curse must be countered by an equal blessing. Joshua was a great man of God and he had the authority to curse Jericho and he did. Elisha was also a great man of God. Both of them had certain things in common. Joshua was a successor to Moses while Elisha succeeded Elijah. Hence we discover that Elisha could not have put aside the curse on Jericho easily. If it is your pastor that cursed you, it will take the General Overseer to cancel the curse, easily. If you ask another pastor to do it, he will have to do some extra work. What happens if God placed the curse on you? If this is the case, then there is a real problem. If God says that you are guilty, and you say that you want to appeal, who would be your lawyer? Who is going to be the appeal judge? However, there is a way out: to be free from a curse placed on you by God, you have to do two things. You have to repent and do restitution. You have to repent of what you did that brought the curse on you. You will then do restitution. At that point God will grant you a release. You will go from curse to blessing.

MEMORIZE: JOSHUA 6:26 –Then  Joshua charged them at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before the LORD who rises up and builds this city Jericho; he shall lay its foundation with his firstborn, and with his youngest he shall set up its gates.

PRAYING PARENTS

READ: 1 SAMUEL 2:12-25

A lot of parents are blind to the fact that the future of their children or wards rises or falls on the level of their (parent’s) prayers. You may leave a huge financial or materiel heritage to your offspring but if you do not invest prayer efforts in them you have not done them any good. Of all legacies, the “legacy” of prayer is the greatest. If you pray for your children and wards, you will secure their future. Parents should intercede for their children. I counsel you to intercede for the salvation of the souls of your children. In 1 Samuel 2:27-36, God reminded Eli that He had said his father’s house would stand before Him for ever as priests. He said because Eli had honoured his children more than Him, by the time He finished with him, there would not be any old man n his house. Many of us do not tell the truth to our children. Maybe because we are afraid of them, or because, we do not want to hurt their feelings. If you mislead your children they will blame you. They may even turn round to harm you. Pray for the salvation of the souls of your children so that they will not destroy you. I have always prayed that my children should be greater than me. This is the only way your family name can prevail. If your sons are lesser than you, their sons may also be lesser than they. Before you know it, your name will be forgotten. This may be one of the reasons why, in Africa, big names do not endure. Genesis 19:30-38 tells us one of the many stories in the Bible. There was a man called Lot whom the Bible refers to as a righteous man. When God was about to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, He rescued Lot, his two daughters and his wife. The wife, because she was more interested in material things, looked back and became a pillar of salt. This was loss number one for Lot. Apart from the loss of his property in Sodom and Gomorrah, he ad his two daughters went ahead to live in a cage. Because the two daughters were not righteous, they decided to get their father drunk so that he could have sex with them. Their plans succeeded and the first daughter gave birth to Moab while the second one gave birth to Ammon. These were sons that were cursed from the womb. The entire heritage of Lot became evil because he did not pay attention to the future of his family right from the onset. Do not rest until your children become far superior to you; spiritually. Invest in the future of your children. Spend time praying for them. You must specifically pray about the future generations. Tell God that you do not want your memory to be wiped out as a result of stubborn and ungodly offspring.

MEMORIZE: EPHESIANS 6:4 –And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.

THE CLOUD

READ: ISAIAH 59:1-5

God never intends for us to fight the battles of life or go through its struggles alone. In fact, He has promised to abide with us every moment of our earthly pilgrimage. Today, I want you to take cognisance of the fact that God is ready to remain close to you as long as you are ready to maintain closeness to Him. God will stand by you even when you go through the valley of the shadow of death: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.” (Psalm 23:4). He is ready to go with you when you have to go from this world to the next. When the time of death comes, He will still be your keeper. This is why Moses said in Exodus 33:15: “Then he said to Him, If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here.” Moses said that they would not go to the Promised Land unless God went with them. In other words, if you have just been promoted, you better talk to God that if He is not going with you to the new place, you will not move. In Joshua 1:5, God gave Joshua only one assurance: “No man shall be able to stand before all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. ”
   God told Joshua not to be afraid because He who was with Moses would support him. He said no man would be able to stand before him. Remember, if the sun refuses to shine there will no shadow. What can prevent the sun from shining? What can happen to make a man’s shadow to disappear? One, the clouds can cover the sun. Two, the sun may be shining but the man may be far from the sun. On of the ways by which you get God to stay away as your keeper is by going into sin. Our text tells us that our sins can become a cloud that will separate us from God. God is powerful and He is ready to protect you. However, if you create a cloud between you and him, there will be problems. Do not allow anything to cast a shadow between you and the sun the righteousness.

MEMORIZE: JOSHUA 1:5 –No man shall be able to stand before all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you.

PUBLIC OPINION

READ: MATTHEW 10:16-33

There is nothing as injurious as public opinion. A lot of people have missed out on the greatest blessings of their lives as a result of the fear which emanates from public opinion. A lot of people allow their minds to be bogged by public opinion. They worry about what friends or enemies say. A lot of new converts often worry about what friends will say if they hear that they have received Jesus Christ. This fear debars people from living a holy life. In John 12:42-43, the Bible gives an example of this type of fear: “Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.” There is great danger in refusing to come to Jesus Christ because of what your friends will say if you do. In Matthew 10:32-33, the Bible says, “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before my Father who is heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before my Father who is in heaven.” None of your friends will enter the grave with you on the last day. Which friend will you call upon to take you out of the suffering of hell? Many who belong to the occult are also afraid of reactions from members of their secret societies. They are therefore afraid of leaving the secret societies and accepting Jesus. Satan is the chairman of all secret cults but he is under my feet. If he is under my feet, apparently, his followers are also under my feet. If Jesus Christ is for us, who can be against us? You have no cause to be afraid of secret cults, witches and wizards. Matthew 10:28 says “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Why are you afraid? Proverbs 29:25 says: “The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD shall be safe.” I have decided to put my trust in the Lord and He shall make me safe. If you put your trust in God, He shall make you safe. Bid fear farewell today. Trust in the Lord. Throw public opinion into the trash-bin. Repose your faith and confidence in the only One who can keep you in time and eternity.

MEMORIZE: PROVERBS 29:25 –The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD shall be safe.

BORN OF GOD

READ: 1 JOHN 3:3-9

God will never lower His standard in order to accommodate what He has condemned out-rightly in His word. You must be holy through and through and constantly lead a lifestyle of holiness in order to obtain a pass mark which will qualify you for the heavenly Kingdom. Suppose a man lived an upright life for heavenly Kingdom seventy years, and then suddenly commits a crime, would government not condemn him to prison even though he had been a law-abiding citizen for seven decades? All his good deeds would be forgotten and he would only be remembered as a criminal. A Christian is not a criminal. We are children of God. God wants us to live lives free of sin and shame. He wants us to be pure and holy. He expects us to be perfect, even as He is perfect. God is not saying we should be as perfect as our pastor, or as our Sunday school teacher. He wants us to be as perfect as He Himself is. God expects us to be spotless. Anyone who claims to be a child of God must be exactly like his Holy Heavenly Father. God has no illegitimate children. It is either a person is a child of the devil or he is a child of the true and living God; the Creator of heaven and Earth. Therefore, as His child, you must be like Him: pure, holy, perfect and sinless. “Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.”(1 John 3:6-7). If a person is not free from sin, then he is not a child of God. In that case, you know who his real father is. 1 John 3:9 tells us that a child of God cannot sin. Just as a dog does not reproduce a cat, or a sheep reproduce a goat, so the Spirit of God does not reproduce sinner, who are children of the devil. The offspring of a lion must be lion. A lion produces lion cubs and not goat kids. Lions eat meat and not grass. It is either a lion feeds on meat or it starves to death. The lion cannot survive on grass. In the same manner, the offspring of God feeds on the “meat” of the word of God, not on the fleshpots of Egypt. Are you a true child of God?

MEMORIZE: 1 JOHN 3:9 –Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.