BE THANKFUL

READ: PSALM 100:1-5

Many Christian find it difficult to thank God for anything because of the difficulties and problems surrounding them. This is very wrong. Refusing to thank God for whatever he has done for you in the past can keep you perpetually in that state of siege. Look at your life. You have many reasons to thank God. A saying goes, ‘I was complaining I had no food to eat when I saw someone without hands.’ ‘I was grumbling I had no shoes until I saw someone without legs.’
In the story of the siege of Samaria, they were really in dire straits: a situation where they began to eat their children for food. Thank God that whatever situation is presently confronting you, it is not bad as to make you eat your children and it will never get to that extent, in Jesus’ Name. David encountered great agonies and difficulties in life, yet in Psalm 42:9-11, he resolved still to praise the Rock of his salvation. The truth is that whatever situation you may find yourself, things could be worse. The widow, with just one more metal left for her and her son in 1 Kings 17:8-16, was in tight corner, yet it was not as bad as to make her to eat her son. So thank God things are not as bad in your life as it could have been.
Another lesson we learn from the siege in Samaria is that even when parental love fails, divine love does not fail. “Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you.” (Isaiah 49:15). 
No matter how much your parents love you, they may face a situation where the limit of that love is shown. A man went fishing with his wife and daughter one day and the boat capsized. The man, being the only one who knew how to swim, held the wife with one hand and the daughter with the other, as he swam to the shore. By and by his hands became weak and to prevent all of them from drowning, he had to decide whom to leave behind. Finally, he left his daughter and took his wife. Her screams haunted him for life. That is the limitation of a man. Jesus will never leave anyone, since he has the whole world in his hands. The battle is hottest just before it’s over. It’s always darkest before dawn. If your situation is bad, be prepared for a glorious change. Stick to Jesus. Never give up.

MEMORIZE: PSALM 106:1 –Praise the LORD! Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. 

LOOK UP

READ: PSALM 121:1-2

The siege that enveloped Samaria, recorded in 2 Kings 6:24-30, left the city completely surrounded on all sides, except from above. A woman who was affected to the point of eating her son cried to the king, who was the best person, humanly speaking, who could offer some help. But the king himself was under siege – he told her his power as king was equally reduced by the siege and asked her to look up to the only possible place for help remaining, that is God! “I will lift up my eyes to the hills – form whence comes my help? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.” (Psalm 121:1-2).
Man is limited but thank God the One we serve is unlimited. In Mark 2:1-12, a paralysed man was brought by his friends to Jesus. On reaching the house where Jesus was, they could not enter because the crowd had surrounded it completely. There seemed to be no way in until they looked up and saw the roof and climbed in and got his attention.
Have you felt caged in? Have you seen yourself in a very tight corner? Are you faced with temptation to sin? Simply look up to him and he will make a way for you. Your help is in God’s custody: go to him and receive it. You are not stranded.  You will come out of that tight corner! Look up! “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13)    
Do not yield to the pressure of that temptation. God is the haven of rest for those who are tempted – run to him and be safe. Just look up to him and ask him to show you the way out. Then listen to your spirit. After all, he is the very present help in times of trouble. Your enemies may surround you, but God will surround them, thereby making them a sitting target for his missiles. The enemies surrounding you are standing on God’s own soil and therefore, just as it happened to Korah, Dathan and Abiram in Numbers 16:23-33, the ground will open and swallow them. Only look up to God for help.

MEMORIZE: PSALM 121:1-2 –I will lift up my eyes to the hills – form whence comes my help? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.

CAUSELESS CURSE

READ: 1 SAMUEL 17:41-43

A curse is an invitation to supernatural forces to fight against one’s enemy. Curses can be very powerful. From our reading, when David came to fight Goliath, the latter cursed him by his gods. In other words, Goliath invited his gods to assist him in destroying David. This is not strange. In Numbers 22:2-6, king Balak invited the prophet Balaam to curse the children of Israel.
As a child of the Most High who is living righteously before God, you need not fear anyone who rises up to curse you, because a curse cannot take effect unless it is lawfully warranted. “Like a flitting sparrow, like a flying swallow, so a curse without cause shall not alight.” (Proverbs 26:2). If you have not offended and someone curses you, it will be like water poured on the rock. Also, as long as you are on the Lord’s side, you are insured against the generation of curses in your life. “For there is no sorcery against Jacob, nor is there divination against Israel. It now must be said of Jacob and of Israel, ‘Oh, what God has done!’” (Numbers 23:23).
This means that if you are on God’s side, any curse pronounced on you will become a blessing; the person God has blessed cannot be cursed by anyone (Numbers 22:12). In fact, God takes it upon himself to curse those who curse his children (Genesis 12:1-3). Any curse the enemy has pronounced upon your life will return to sender! Many people, including believers, are labouring under the bondage of generational curses. Someone, somewhere, several tens, hundreds or thousands of years ago has put a curse on a family and familiar spirits ensured this has affected every generation until you. Every generational curse placed on your life and family is hereby broken in the mighty Name of Jesus. All the effects of such curses upon your destiny are hereby neutralised by the blood of Jesus.
Beloved, stay on in Christ, for only in him will you find true security. Jesus Christ has set you free. Remain in that liberty. Confess what God says about you. You will make it  to your goal. 

MEMORIZE: PROVERBS 26:2 –Like a flitting sparrow, like a flying swallow, so a curse without cause shall not alight.

GOD’S CHOICE

READ: GENESIS 12:1-3

When God called Abraham, there was nothing unique about him. His choice must have been due to divine compassion. Even today, God is calling you to be his. Jesus says: “Come to Me, all you who labor and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30).
In our reading, God gave Abraham seven great promises which are: “I will make a great nation… I will bless you… make your name great… you shall be a blessing… I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” God fulfilled all his promises to Abraham. At the time God promised to make him a great nation, Abraham did not even have a child of his own, and age was not in his favour either. Yet God did as he said. Many times we get into trouble trying to analyse and understand how God will do what he says he will do for us. Do not waste your time trying to understand the nitty gritty of God fulfilling his promise. Has God given you a promise? Rejoice and hold on to it because in due season, it must surely come to past.
To fulfil the above seven promises, God gave Abraham three conditions: “Get out of your country… from your kindred… and for your father’s house.” Without Abraham meeting these conditions, God would not be bound by his promises. At the time Abraham lived among idol worshippers and God cannot and will not share his glory with Satan so he asked for a clean break. The unbelievers you are in league with could be the hindrance to your prosperity. Break away from them and from every defiling matter.
As God‘s chosen, you are special to him. Your place is not with idols, false prophets and anything evil. These will break your link with God. So separate yourself from them. God chose you just how you are. He saw several others whom he had endowed far better than you, yet he left them and chose you. You are very fortunate. Do not abuse this privilege.

MEMORIZE: 1 PETER 2:11 –Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul ….

WHY THIS SIEGE?

READ: DEUTERONOMY 28:15, 49-53

The principal reason for allowing a siege in the life of a believer, a family, a community or even a nation is sin. The Scripture says: “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” From our reading, God is warning his children that if they do not completely obey him, he will permit the enemy to put them under siege. If you can listen, you will hear God warning. He hardly does anything unpleasant without first warning the person affected. Many times, we are too pre-occupied to hear him. We either operate on a different frequency or we do not consider his voice worthy of urgent attention. “Fools, because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, were afflicted.” (Psalm 107:17)
Romans 1 speaks of some people who willingly allowed themselves to drift from the truth into error. They began to worship images and animals as God. At a point, God gave them up to vice and in the process they brought a siege upon their health. Verse 27 says: “Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.” 
What the Scripture is saying here is that HIV/AIDS is a siege on the health of homosexuals which will force them to live constrained until, except by God’s intervention, they die prematurely and destroy God’s plan for their lives on earth. Many people think they can disobey or rebel against God’s Word and go scot-free. What a deception! Anyone who breaks God’s Word will sooner or later be broken by the same Word. The Scripture calls Jesus the rock of offence – and when the rock fall upon anyone he or she is ground into powder!
Thank God for the blood of Jesus, which is still flowing today. Has your life been caged? Has your progress been retarded due to sin? Fall on your face now and repent and reconcile with God. Make the necessary restitution so that the negative effect of your sin can be removed.

MEMORIZE: PSALM 107:17 –Fools, because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, were afflicted.