YOUR SUN WILL RISE AGAIN

READ: JUDGES 16:16-22

Samson was a very special person before God. His coming was announced to his mother by an angel. Right from the womb he was filled with the Holy Spirit. At birth, he became a powerhouse who could do practically anything normally humanly impossible. He was an achiever.
However, Samson had a problem. He could not abide by rules. He broke all the rules that surrounded his Nazarite consecration. He was not to touch a corpse, but he took and ate honey from the carcass of a lion. He was to abstain from wine but he refused. He was expected to be pure but he slept with harlots.
God was watching him. Then God became dangerously silent until Samson married Delilah, who discovered his source of strength and revealed it to his enemies. They caught him and shaved his hair and plucked out his eyes. Israel’s deliverer and hero became a fool in the company of his enemies. God could have left him like that. But through his mercy, Samson’s hair began to grow again. His sun began to rise again.
Are you sick? Your sun will rise again. You will be healed and restored to good health, because 1 Peter 2:24 says you were healed by his stripes 2000 years ago. I am reliably informed that there are 39 classes of illness all over the world. Jesus received 40 lashes, one for each class of disease and an extra one to cover any other new classification that might evolve.
Have you been in captivity? Isaiah 49:24-26 says the captives of the mighty will be taken away and where you were preyed upon, you will be delivered. That sad news will turn to joy. Your account will be full again. Your business will thrive again. It will be well with your family. Your country will boom again. Come to God and make your crooked ways straight.

MEMORIZE: JEREMIAH 31:17 –And there is hope in your end, says the LORD, that your children shall come again to their own border.  

WINNING BY FOOLISH MEANS

READ: 1 CORINTHIANS 1:18-29

In 2 Kings 13:15-18, Elisha, on his sick bed, asked king Joash to take up his bow and arrow. He then put his hand upon the king’s and asked him to shoot into victory. This appeared to the king to be foolish, so he shot thrice only and stopped. But it was a symbolic act of faith.
In Exodus 14:21, God asked Moses to stretch out his rod for the Red Sea to part before the Israelites. As Moses obeyed, God made a way in the midst of the sea for them to go through. In Joshua 6:1-20, Joshua and the Israelites were instructed by God to march round the city of Jericho seven times. Of course it sounded foolish, yet as they obeyed, the wall fell flat.
A barren woman once attended a meeting. The minister was led of the Spirit to tell those trusting God for the fruit of the womb to go home and start preparing clothes for the expected babies. The woman obeyed and sewed a dress for a boy. When her relatives saw her, they though her barrenness had made her crazy. But nine months later, she gave birth to a baby boy.
The widow of Zerephath in 1 Kings 17:8-16 had only one meal left. The man of God met her and told her to give him her last meal. This did not make sense to her but she simply obeyed, and after that act of faith she never lacked food again.
With God nothing is impossible. It takes an act of faith to receive from him, for without faith no man can please the Lord. It also takes obedience – simple unsullied obedience. A brother prayed and trusted God for several months over a certain issues, but did not receive answer. When God finally spoke, he instructed the man to go to a widow to sow a seed. The man had very little but he obeyed, although he wondered how that trip was connected to the answer he was seeking. Reaching his destination, he met a man of God who was visiting the widow at the same time. Through him, the answers he sought were given and that was how he entered his breakthrough. Through faith and obedience, you, too, can be victorious.

MEMORIZE: PSALM 104:24 –O Lord, how manifold are Your work! In wisdom have You made them all: the earth is full of Your riches.  

CLOUD OF WITNESSES

READ: HEBREWS 12:1-3

Hebrews 11 catalogues men and women who at various times accomplished acts of faith and are listed in heaven’s Hall of Fame. These people withstood their evil governments and did what was right in the face of torture and death. They denied their fleshly desires to satisfy God’s desires. In the process they became heroes of faith. Hebrews 12:1 calls them a cloud of witnesses. Right now, they are with the Lord in heaven.
In today’s reading, Paul, through the Holy Spirit, tells contemporary believers to learn faith and endurance from these witnesses and run the race to the end. We need to learn from their self-denial and their demonstration of faith in God’s Word until they reached the result.
Some people think that the level of holiness God expects from us is too high. How can we live totally free from sin? The question is: How did these brethren meet up with that standard during their time? Remember Christianity, unlike today, met with serious opposition. Hebrews 11:35-39 says they were brought before panels and publicly mocked. They were scourged, imprisoned and dies by the sword. They became destitute fugitives in mountains, dens and caves. Their lives were exposed to all kinds of danger: all because they believed in Jesus.
What have you gone through? If God lowers the standard, those ancient brethren will feel cheated. If you say there is so much iniquity today that it is impossible to live a holy life, the cloud of witnesses will arise and say it is not true. They are watching us keenly from heaven. They applaud, as in a football game, every righteous move you make in faith. But whenever you compromise, they feel sad. When you eventually make it to heaven, they will know your life history, because they have been closely monitoring you. Brethren, you are not alone. You have many invisible supporters. Arise today and begin a daily life of constant holiness. Join the cloud of witnesses!

MEMORIZE: HEBREWS 11:33 –Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions.

THE GREAT BETRAYAL

READ: PSALM 41:4-10

“Yea, my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.” (Psalm 41:9).
This prophecy came through David several hundred years ago. There was no name attached, yet Judas Iscariot fulfilled it. Judas was among the twelve. He ate and slept with the Master. He went everywhere with him. He was even appointed treasurer of the ministry of Jesus. Like every other disciple, Judas had the opportunity to write a Gospel or Epistle, which today we would have been reading. Judas threw away his potential in the ministry. He was so near to the Lord, yet so far from him.
Jesus could see Judas going astray and he called him and made him realise what he was doing wrong. But Judas’ heart was set on betraying Jesus. Later on, he went to Jesus’ enemies, who sought to kill the Lord. He was not sure if they would recognise Jesus, so Judas agreed to betray him with a kiss. As he did so, Jesus was arrested. Then Satan, who had filled Judas’ heart, left him for a moment, so he could realise what he had done; returning to press Judas to commit suicide.
The great betrayal started little by little. Today many Christians are betraying Jesus in different ways. Jesus assigns you to a position of authority and expects you to lead those under you properly. But what do you do? You begin to deal ruthlessly with them and become very bossy. You are betraying the trust Jesus has put in you.
Do you bear the Name of Christ – yet you take brides, forge receipts and manipulate account figures? You are betraying Jesus. Are you going back into sin? Are people blaspheming the Name of Jesus because of you? You are betraying Jesus. Repent today.     

MEMORIZE: PSALM 41:9 –Yea, my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.

ARISE AND FIGHT

READ: JOSHUA 6:20-21

After God has delivered your enemy into your hands, what should you do? Should you shoot him from a distance, like David, or smite him under your feet? David cut off Goliath’s head. It is not enough to be delivered out the hands of Pharaoh: he must drown so you can gain complete victory.
“And when He thus had spoken, He cried with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come forth’. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus says to them, ‘Unbind, and let him go.’” (John 11:43-44).
Jesus called Lazarus back to life. Yet Lazarus could not move about freely, because he had been bound with grave clothes. If those clothes had remained, he would have been in bondage even after the great victory over death. This means that you must fight to claim your miracles fully, as well as to retain them.
A believer is a warrior because his Father is a super warrior. Exodus 15:3 calls him a man of war. According to 2 Timothy 2:4, you have been chosen to be a soldier; hence God has given you his heavenly armour. He knows that it is a battle of the fittest. The winner takes all. So if you cannot fight, there would be need to find out if you are actually born of God, as you claim.
According to our reading, after God had given Jericho to the children of Israel and the walls fell flat, it was not a time to rest. If they had rested then, the people of Jericho would have erected another wall to defend themselves. Some of you go to sleep after God has given a promise. If you do not fight to possess that promise, it may never become reality. Arise, take up arms and begin to fight to possess your Jericho and obtain your spoils today.

MEMORIZE: JOHN 11:43 –And when He thus had spoken, He cried with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come forth’.