BOREDOM AND SLOTHFULNESS

READ: PROVERBS 6:6-11

Besides spiritual causes of sleep, there several physical causes. One of these is boredom. In John 21:2-3, boredom made Peter to return to where he was called from. Jesus called him from fishing to win souls. After the death and burial of Jesus, he became so bored that he returned to his vomit. When you no longer have something to fast about or aim at accomplishing, you will become bored. When there are no new challenges and you have remained in the same place, doing the same thing, you will become bored. Are you presently in that situation? Go to the Lord with the problem as He will create fresh challenges that will stir up excitement in you. Reject boredom!
“Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep; and an idle soul shall suffer huger” (Proverbs 19:15).
Slothfulness, according to this passage, is another physical cause of spiritual slumber. The slothful is one who is idle or lazy. If you are idle in God’s house, you will fall prey to spiritual sleep. As the adage goes, ‘The idle mind is the devil’s workshop.’ If you are busy working for God, you will be very working against Satan. You cannot do both at the same time. If you do not actively and regularly occupy your heart with God’s word, Satan will fill up your heart with dirty and evil thoughts. If you are busy working for God, Satan will find no vacancy in you. Those who are gossiping, backbiting and peddling rumours are employed by Satan because they are idle.
The lazy are those who hate work. They like leisure. They like to enjoy the good things of life. They desire promotion and success but they never like to work for it. God hates lazy and idle people. How can you identify a lazy believer? He keeps company of directionless people (Proverbs 28:19). By doing, he accumulates years without something to show for it. According to Proverbs 24:30-34, he has accumulation of jobs. In his office, there is a heap of untreated files on his desk. In his parish, there is a list of converts and visitors that have not been followed up. Instead of working, he loves sleeping. He uses the slightest shower of rain or discomfort as excuse for not going to church. He boasts and makes idle threats and promises. He is never bound by his word (Proverbs 14:23). Search yourself!

MEMORIZE: PROVERBS 19:15 -Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep; and an idle soul shall suffer huger.

DISCERNING YOUR MIRACLE

READ: MATTHEW 16:1-14

“And it came to pass in the meanwhile, that the heaven was black with clouds and winds, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode and went to Jezreel” (1 Kings 18:45). After three and a half years of drought, the rains fell. After your years of dryness, your rains will fall. Have you been barren? Your rain of fruitfulness has just begun. Have you been meeting with failure and disappointments? Your rain of continuous success has just started in Jesus name.
The preceding verse before this could be deceptive. Having prayed seven times for rain, Elijah’s servant came to tell him he saw a cloud as big as a man’s hand. Yet a heavy down pour was imminent. You need to be very sensitive to the Holy Spirit. Sometimes, the greatest down pour is heralded by an insignificant cloud. Looking at the physical signs, we can mistake the preliminaries of God’s blessings of storms. Sometimes when blessings come, you may think they are problems. This is why you need to be able to discern the spiritual skyline as Jesus told us in our reading today. Jehoshaphat had this encounter in 2 Chronicles 20. When confronted by three powerful kings, Jehoshaphat thought he faced extinction. By the time he called on God, the kings killed themselves, leaving behind a heap of spoils which took Jehoshaphat’s army three days to gather. Many blessings come disguised as trouble.
A young man once met me and offered to be one of those to sponsor our Annual Convention. He asked me to pray with him. I did and two weeks later, he was sacked. He ran to me with the ‘sad’ news but I told him I had expected it because there was no way he could sponsor the Convention with a salary of seven hundred naira. God has to close one door before opening another. The following year, he came with ten thousand naira from a new opening. To see the blessing in the storm, calls for a closer walk with God and sensitivity to the Spirit. It also calls for concerted prayer and heartfelt praise and worship. See events from the eyes of the Holy Spirit. In that sack lies your promotion. In that test lies your testimony.

MEMORIZE: 1 KINGS 18:45 –And it came to pass in the meanwhile, that the heaven was black with clouds and winds, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode and went to Jezreel.

CELEBRATED EXIT

READ: 1 SAMUEL 25:1

“And Samuel died; and all the Israelites were gathered together, and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah. And David arose, and went down to the wilderness of Paran.” (1 Samuel 25:1).
When some people die, there is celebration because that is minus one trouble maker. The exit of transfer of some pastors equally makes a great number of congregation to celebrate. It is obvious such have been wicked leaders. If you travel and nobody notices you, it is a proof that nobody will miss you when you die. If you are using your position, power and resources to terrorize or oppress others, you can be sure your demise will be celebrated. If you have been leading a revolt or spear-heading gossip, backbiting and rumour peddling in a church, your exit will bring great respite to that church. It will be celebrated. Are you an unwanted neighbour? “And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like to Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face” (Deuteronomy 34:10).
In Deuteronomy 34:5-8, when Moses died, the people mourned him for thirty days. Why? According to the above passage, the vacuum he left behind was difficult to fill. He had touched so many lives to a point that only God and His angels conducted his burial ceremony. If some of the Israelites had seen his corpse, it would have become another idol. When great men die, people always mourn because the vacuum they leave behind is difficult to fill. You have a short time to stay on earth. If you cannot positively touch lives now, when would you ever touch lives?
To David, the demise of Samuel was a monumental loss. Besides God, his great supporter and vessel used in lifting him from the miry clay upon the Solid Rock, had gone. After his burial, David left because there was no use crying over split milk. Some people pray for the dead. It is already late. Any prayer you want to pray for your loved ones, do so now that they are alive. The exit of Samuel began a new chapter in the life of David. He had to move forward. Have you lost a beloved one and you are still grieving? Take heart, dry your tears and move forward. If you are always looking behind (the past), you will stumble as you head for the future. Resolve to make your life a blessing today.

MEMORIZE: DEUTERONOMY 34:10 –And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like to Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face.

SLEEP-EVOKING PROPHETS

READ: MATTHEW 24:23-25

Worshipping in assemblies of false prophets can tune off your spiritual sensitivity to the Holy Spirit and make you sleep and slumber spiritually. Today’s reading warns us to beware of false prophets. They abound even among Pentecostal Churches. Jesus says you shall know them by their fruit. Mark 13:5-6 says, “And Jesus answering them began to say, Take heed lest any man deceive you: For many shall come in My name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.”
The Lord is warning us of anyone who will preach the word of God in truth but at the end tell you to violate it. Such is a false prophet sent to lure you into spiritual sleep. It is not enough for the pastor to preach the truth of God’s word. If his lifestyle contradicts his message, run for your life. Any preacher or pastor who rightly divides the word of God, but secretly attributes you inability to conceive to your husband, and then invites you to sleep with him promising God will give you a child through this, is a false prophet. Run far from him. Any deliverance minister who asks you to strip naked so that he can anoint your private parts and cast out devil from there is the one having devil in him. He needs deliverance from his god –the spirit of lust. You are the one to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. If you yield to such satanic prophets, you will begin to sleep. May you never fall victim of these agents of darkness in Jesus name.
Spiritual prostitutes are potential victims of false prophets. Those in an assembly where the whole counsel of God is preached in a balance way, yet jump from church to church in search of miracles, rather than growing their faith in God to obtain their victory, may not know when they fall prey to satanic traps. 1 Corinthians 11:27-30 says living in sin and yet going to the communion table is another major cause of slumber and sleep. You desecrate God’s table when you go there with any sin in your heart. Repent and live right. Do not kill yourself before your time. Live in harmony with the word of God.

MEMORIZE: MARK 13:5-6 –And Jesus answering them began to say, Take heed lest any man deceive you: For many shall come in My name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.

DELAYABLE BUT UNDENIABLE

READ: ISAIAH 55:10-11

Satan can delay but not prevent your blessing, except you let him. In Daniel 10, Daniel fasted and prayed for twenty-one days. God heard and released the answer right from the first day. But a demon accosted it on the way and delayed it for three weeks. God had to send another angel before Daniel could receive his answer. This tells us to persist in prayer. If your blessing is yet to come, persist in prayer. It will surely come. If Daniel had stopped praying midway, he might not have had the opportunity of a second angel being dispatched over the same matter.
Another vital lesson in that passage is that anything that has to do with the destiny of God’s children, Satan is keenly interested. He wants to hinder you from fulfilling your destiny (Daniel 10:14). All Satan’s plot to scuttle your destiny shall be destroyed. Satan is limited concerning your life. For every demon he assigns to hinder you, God has at least two angels to support you and ensure fulfillment of His promises in your life.
One way you can keep Satan in the dark concerning your prayer point is by praying in the spirit (tongues). He understands human languages. Each time you pray in understanding-English, French, or local language or dialects, he understands and will try to counter the prayer. But when you speak in tongues of the Spirit, he is confused. All he can do is take a wild guess at what you are saying. It does not matter if it is a common language of the Spirit and Satan will be unable to block the answers. He cannot decode the language of the Spirit.
Are you born again? Have you being baptized in the Holy Spirit? If not, ask the Lord to baptize you today. Prayers made through the language of the Spirit are actually done by the Holy Spirit using the human vocal cords. This is very crucial if your prayers are to be effective. Also, it facilitates your ability to live in the Spirit. It opens doors to the gifts of the Spirit. Pray at least one hour daily in tongues.

MEMORIZE: LUKE 18:7 –And shall not God avenge His own elect, which cry day and night to Him, though He bear long with them?