Joshua 6:16 ’And it came to pass at the seventh time, when the priests blew with the trumpets, Joshua said unto the people, Shout; for the Lord hath given you the city.”

DAILY READING – Luke 12:1-31; Genesis 21; Psalm 14

Today marks the Jewish New Year!
It is the celebration of the feast of trumpets, also known in modern Israel as ‘Rosh Hashanah’.
Rosh Hashanah means the ‘’head of the year”.
Today, every Jew will wish each other “Shana tova!”[Happy new year] and they will customarily exchange gifts with each other for a sweet new year.
In biblical terms, Rosh Hashanah is known as Yom Teruah, which means “day of blasting or shouting”.
In Leviticus 23:23-27 God commanded the Israelites to keep the memorial of the Feast of Trumpets and one of the traditions associated with the celebration is the blowing of the ram’s horn, known as a “shofar” to “raise a noise,”. And particularly during this year’s celebrations, starting from sundown today, 18th September, at least over 100 shofar blowers will be sounding their ram’s horns at predetermined spots all around Israel. The loud blowing of the shofar signifies the shout of victory.
In ancient Israel the shofar was blown for various reasons, including as praise to God and a shout of victory. In the book of Joshua, when the priests marched around Jericho on the 7th day and blew the trumpets Joshua told the people to shout; for The Lord hath given them the city. As they shouted, the thick walls of the city came tumbling down.

As spiritual Israelites, we join the celebration today and connect to the spiritual significance of this season. We also shout, for indeed the Lord has given us the city. It doesn’t matter what the past months, may have been like, starting from this ‘New Year’, our victory is indeed established.
Just like the Israelites walked around the walls, perhaps for the past few months, you may have sometimes felt as if you are walking around in circles. But Just as they shouted on the 7th day, as you lift up a shout of praise today, every wall and barricade in your life will come tumbling down.
It doesn’t matter how tall or thick any wall standing against you, at the shout of praise, they will come crashing down. That negative medical report, that discouraging financial situation, that relationship issue etc, they are all coming down today.
When we praise, God inhabits our praises; and when God be for us, what or who can be against us?!
It doesn’t matter what setbacks you may have experienced, now is your time to win. Perhaps in the past months you have tried to rise, only to hit the lid and fall back, and as a result your mind has become conditioned to think, you can never achieve your goals this year.
But today, every lid of limitation is coming off. Indeed God will surprise you with His surpassing grace. You will not only be victorious but there will be restoration of lost ground. It doesn’t matter how the year may have started, be assured that God is bringing it to a beautiful conclusion for you.

In this ‘New Year’, we shall be experiencing a fresh start. God will make all things new for us. As we stay full of faith, giving glory to God, He will turn things around in our favor. We are indeed about to step into overflow.
Therefore no matter what the circumstances may look like, let nothing stop your praise today. Don’t ever lose your shout. Our shout of praise, is our battle cry! And as we praise God today, He will go before us to break every barrier and cause every wall of Jericho to fall flat before us in Jesus Name.

PRAYER: Lord, I thank You for the great and amazing things You have lined up for me in this new season. As I praise You today, I know that You will arise for me and grant me the victory in every battle in Jesus Name. ..

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God’s promises in Christ in your life may appear delayed, but never forget that delays are not denials. WORDBITE 222

Exodus 23:25-26 “And ye shall serve the Lord your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee. There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfil.”

DAILY READING; • Luke 11:29-54; Genesis 20; Psalm 13

The book, ‘Tortured for Christ’ written by Pastor Richard Wurmbrand is the story of his ordeal in the hands of the communist Romanian government. The book details his months of solitary confinement, years of periodic physical torture, and the mental cruelty he suffered during his years in Communist prisons. His only crime was his fervent belief in Jesus Christ and his public witness concerning His faith.
As part of the underground Church, Pastor Richard and other believers would meet secretly in homes, basements, and in the woods. These faithful Christians persisted in their Christian witness knowing full well the ultimate cost of their actions. Oftentimes, the police would drag them from their homes, throw them into concentration camps, torture, and even kill some of them.
In a section of the book, titled, “We Made a Deal,” Pastor Richard, talked about the ironic joy Christian prisoners experienced when they decided to suffer beatings in order to preach the Gospel. In the prison, it was strictly forbidden to preach to other prisoners and whoever was caught preaching would receive a severe beating.
Pastor Richard wrote ‘A number of us decided to pay the price for the privilege of preaching, so we accepted their terms. It was a deal: we preached and they beat us. We were happy preaching; they were happy beating us—so everyone was happy.’
One of the scenes he described that commonly took place, was when the guards would suddenly burst into their prison cells and catch a believer preaching to the other prisoners. They would haul him down the corridor to their ‘beating room.’ After what seemed an endless beating, they brought him back and threw him—bloody and bruised—on the prison floor. Slowly, this brother would pick up his battered body, painfully straightened his clothing and say to the others ‘Now, brethren, where did I leave off when I was interrupted?’ And he would continue his gospel message, as if nothing had happened.
In this Book, Pastor Richard, gave a classic account of the courage, tenacious faith, and unbelievable endurance of these believers in their quest to preach the Gospel to the lost. Pastor Richard, after 14 years of imprisonment was finally released under miraculous circumstances and he would travel around the world preaching the Gospel.

It is truly amazing to see the kind of persecutions believers often face in countries that are hostile to the Gospel.
The harvest of souls is the primary assignment God has given the Church. And likewise, no matter the cost, our focus should be on bringing many souls into God’s Kingdom.
There are multitudes in the valley of decision and it is a divine mandate to every believer to reach these lost souls. Thousands are going to hell fire every day, and we must stand at the crossroad and redirect this traffic. We must aim to populate Heaven and de-populate hell.
If there are believers who are willing to be tortured or even killed, just to preach the Gospel, shouldn’t those of us who live in less restrictive countries be doing more?
The truth is that the very last days are now upon us, the coming of Christ is nearer that ever before. Our focus now should be more on laying up eternal treasures. And in Heaven’s estimate, the value of one soul is worth more than all the wealth of the world put together (Matthew 16:26).

Let us therefore by God’s grace, continually sow the seed of God’s Word into the lives of people wherever we go. As we do, we are preparing the ground for a grand harvest. There is joy in Heaven over one sinner that repents, therefore as we bring souls into God’s kingdom, we are causing a harvest of rejoicing in Heaven. And because what we sow is what we reap, as we give joy to heaven, we also reap a harvest of joy on the earth. And let’s also remember that joy is the sickle for every harvest we need.

God honors those that honor Him and every investment we make towards His Kingdom in terms of time, energy and resources, He gives back to us a hundred-fold more (Luke 18:28-30].
The harvests we need in this season will come to us when we focus on harvest of souls into God’s Kingdom. While on their preaching assignment, the disciples told Jesus that the devils were subject unto them through His Name [Luke 10:17]. In other words, soul wining puts us in dominion over the enemy and over every demonic affliction.
Also when we focus on serving God, He blesses our bread and water, He removes from us barrenness and every form of unfruitfulness and fulfills the number of our days. [Exodus 23:25-26]

Therefore as we seek the harvest of souls into God’s kingdom in this season, surely every other thing shall be added unto us.

PRAYER: Lord, please enable me to focus on the most important harvest of all, which is bringing souls into Your kingdom. Please grant me the grace to preach the Gospel wherever I go, and as I do, I thank You for the speedy release of my own harvests in Jesus’ Name.

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When you obey God’s instruction, you are delivered from destruction. WORDBITE 222

Hebrews 10:35-37 ‘Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.’

DAILY READING; Luke 11:1-28; Genesis 19; Psalm 12

At the beginning of the gulf war, after the initiation of hostilities in 1990, Iraq’s leader Saddam Hussein made it very clear he was going to fire chemical-armed missiles against America, Britain and Israel. However the response that he got from these nations became a huge deterrent to his threat.

America’s Defense Secretary, Dick Cheney warned Iraq, that a chemical weapon attack against America, would attract an absolutely overwhelming and devastating counter attack.
British Foreign Minister Douglas Hurd stated that an Iraqi chemical attack would provoke a response from Britain that would completely destroy Iraq.
When Saddam Hussein further threatened to “burn half of Israel” with chemical weapons, in response, Israel’s Prime Minister Yitzak Shamir responded that “whoever will dare to attack Israel will be attacked seven times more.”
In another response, the Commander of Israeli Air Force, General Avihu Ben-Nun, said Iraq would not dare such an attack against Israel because it would be tantamount to suicide. Speaking to ABC News, he said ‘Even if Saddam Hussein is crazy, he’s still not going to commit suicide.”

The confident response from these nations was not just empty talk. Each of them had enough chemical stockpile to wipe out a whole nation . They were rebuffing Saddam’s threat with confident knowledge of their own military might.
Eventually Iraq, failed to follow up with its threat, despite the earlier propaganda. A senior Iraqi official, who was Saddam’s son-in-law, after defecting to Jordan in 1995, confirmed to the US intelligence community, that indeed Saddam had been afraid of the massive retaliation that would follow from the coalition forces, that was why he had failed to use the threatened chemical-armed rockets in the war.

Indeed winning in life’s battles is a result of the power back-up you have.
As believers, when we know our God and are confident in His power, no matter how the enemy roars, we will always overcome,
In the battle of life, our confidence is often the enemy’s first target. In Isaiah 36, before coming to battle, the king of Assyria first sent Rabshakeh to speak great words to intimidate the men of Israel and instill fear into them. But when king Hezekiah and the Israelites maintained their confidence in God and refused to fear, God arose to humiliate and destroy their enemies.
In life’s battles, the enemy would often bring fearsome thoughts and speak words to intimidate you. He shows you medical reports, financial statements and negative conditions to shake your faith. But no matter what you hear or see, don’t ever give in to fear. Always remember whose you are and whom you serve. Like Paul, you must be able to say: ‘But none of these things move me…[Acts 20:24]
Lack of confidence is what makes victims of men. A man becomes a victim of what he fears, because the fear of man brings him into a snare. But when your trust and confidence is in God, you will remain immovable.
Psalm 125:1 says ‘ They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever.’
When you refuse to be moved, your obstacles will move. If you refuse to be terrified, your enemies are bound to be petrified.
Philippians 1:28 says ‘And in nothing terrified by your adversaries…’
Indeed when you refuse to be intimidated, you will be vindicated. The battles of life are primarily a battle of confidence. And those who know their God shall be strong and do exploits,
Our confidence in Christ has its root in righteousness. Proverbs 28:1 says: The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion.
And just like the lion does not turn away for any, we must not turn away for any situation. Jesus paid the ultimate price at Calvary to make available to us the greatest power in the universe, which is His Blood. Anytime, the enemy threatens you, as you invoke the power in the Blood, you will completely devastate and defeat him.
The power in the Blood becomes effective when invoked in faith, therefore we must continually fill our heart with God’s Word so that as we speak our words will be backed with faith and power. And especially in this season, as we begin to engage the weapon of the Blood, the breakers anointing will be ignited to go forth to destroy every barrier to our fruitfulness and establish an overflowing harvest from all our endeavors.

PRAYER, Father I thank You for the ultimate Power You have given me In Christ Jesus. And as I engage the power in the Blood of Jesus today, I thank You for total victory over every enemy of my fruitfulness in Jesus Name.
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The battle you are faced with today is a good warfare because God has already foreordained victorious end for you.- WORDBITE 222.

Ephesians 3:20 ‘Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us..’

DAILY READING; Luke 10:21-42; Genesis 18; Psalm 11

Mary Bethune was the youngest of 17 children, born to parents who were black slaves, in South Carolina in the early 1800s. From the time she was a little girl, Mary had always dreamed about teaching. But her parents had no money to educate her. Mary’s life changed when a local missionary woman offered to pay for her education. Mary became the first African-American student to attend Moody Bible Institute, graduating in 1895. At 20 years old, she applied for missionary service to Africa, but it was declined. As Mary sought God’s will for her future, she had the leading to start a school for black children. In 1904, with only $1.65, she rented a broken-down cottage for the school. She found old cardboard boxes and used them for desks. She would get red berries each day, drained the juice out of them so her students could use that for ink in their pens. She made pencils from charred wood.
As she pursued her dream, in less than two years, her school grew to 250 students and four teachers.
A few years later, a local college noticed what was happening and asked her to join forces with them. It became known as the Bethune-Cookman college. Many years later, it would become Bethune-Cookman University.
Mary’s work on behalf of African Americans received attention from the White House. In 1934, President Franklin Roosevelt appointed her as an adviser to his cabinet, making her the first African American woman ever to become a presidential adviser! In 1953, she was invited to travel to Africa as part of a special team of United States representatives. Where once she had been turned away, Mary now went with great honor.
As she neared her final years, and as president emeritus of Bethune-Cookman university, Mary remained ever thankful to God and continually marveled at how He had turned the little seed of her dream into a great harvest.

Many of us are not even aware of the tremendous treasure lying within us. While looking for the big breakthroughs we sometimes underrate the value of the little seed God has put in our hearts.
There is a seed already in your hands. It could be a talent, idea, skill, or dream. The Almighty has endowed you with the seed for your harvest. There is something crying within you for expression. Don’t underestimate it, though it may look small and insignificant. All you need is to fervently seek God and connect to His wisdom and guidance. With that small seed, God is indeed able to do exceeding, abundantly above all that we ask, think or imagine. [Ephesians 3:20].

All David had was a slingshot and a stone. It looked insignificant and ordinary, but when God breathed on it, David defeated Goliath with the stone and became the King of Israel.
All Moses had was a rod, but when God breathed on it, that rod supernaturally parted the Red Sea and God did great signs and wonders with it.
There is something right now within you, it may seem small, but it is the seed of the great harvest you are looking for. When Prophet Elisha asked the widow what she had, she underrated her jar of oil. She felt she had nothing.
But when God breathed on that jar of oil, it multiplied to pay off all her debts. [2 Kings 4:1-7].

The disciples also neglected what was available when they said ‘we have nothing but five loaves and two fishes’. But Jesus understood the principle of the seed, and multiplied the little they had to feed the multitude.
The harvest you want will always be inside something you already have. You don’t need to look too far for your breakthrough. In God’s principle of growth, the available will always produce the desirable. Inside the seed of an acorn is a great oak tree. Inside everyone is the seed of great talents and abilities.
Many times what people have are not money problems but idea problems. Every great business started with a little idea. There is an idea God has planted in your mind. And in this season of supernatural harvest, as your eyes are opened to see them, the Lord of Increase will indeed multiply those little seeds into a bountiful harvest for you.

PRAYER: Lord, please in this season of supernatural harvest, open my eyes to see the hidden potentials within me that I may have been neglecting. By Your grace, these seeds of divine ideas will manifest into a great harvest for me in Jesus Name.

QUOTE :
To get into the next level of your life, God will always give a specific instruction. – WORDBITE 222

Joel 2:25-27 ‘And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you. And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God’

DAILY READING – • Luke 10:1-20; Genesis 17; Psalm 10

Jack Coe was one of the pioneers of the Voice of Healing Revival that swept through America during the 1930’s to the 50’s. His name stands out among all the great ministers of that day because of the extra-ordinary healing anointing on his life. Jack conducted open-air healing and miracle revivals underneath the largest gospel tent in the world and his ministry made a great international impact. However, humanly speaking, looking at the beginning of Jack Coe’s life, no one could have predicted all these outcome.
Jack’s youth was not a happy one. His father was a gambler and alcoholic leaving his mother to single-handedly raise their seven children. When Jack was nine years old, the burden proved too much for his mother and she sent Jack and his older brother to live at an orphanage. To make things worse, Jack’s brother was hit by a car and killed while trying to run away from the orphanage. When Jack was seventeen, feeling aimless and alone, he left the orphanage and took up a life of drinking and carousing. He drank so much that his health soon began to suffer and his doctor told him that his next drink could kill him.
One day, he attended a party, and was brought home in a drunken stupor. By the next evening Jack felt he was dying and had to be rushed by an ambulance to a hospital. While there, he cried out to God to give him just one more chance. God answered his prayer, his symptoms disappeared and he went home fully recovered.
However he still went on another drinking binge, where his heart virtually stopped. After that Jack Coe was done with drinking and running from God. When the next Sunday came, he arbitrarily chose a church out of the phonebook, went there and gave his life to Christ.
After his conversion, Jack Coe served God with relentless passion. He was ordained a minister in 1944, when he was 26 years old, and within a short time God granted him supernatural recovery of the lost years of his youth. While still in his 30’s God used his ministry to mightily impact the world. His crusades were unprecedented as his tent revivals grew to become the largest in history. He was one of the first evangelist to host a regular television program, a daily radio broadcast and produce its’ own magazine. Coe also opened a massive children’s orphanage and erected a large church building known as the Dallas Revival Center.

Indeed it looked like Jack Coe was headed towards a wasted life, but through salvation, God arrested the process of deterioration and granted him supernatural speed and restoration.
Truly, there is no destiny so battered that God cannot recover it. God is in the business of second chances. And God has ways of creating shortcuts in destiny’s road map and compressing time, to enable us to still arrive at our preordained place despite the wasted years.
In Joel 2:25-27 God promises ‘And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you. And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed’
From scriptures we find that every move of God is accompanied by waves of recovery. And part of our supernatural harvest is recovery of lost time.
We’ve all been through seasons where it feels like we’ve lost time and had years eaten away from us. Perhaps it’s the years we spent in frivolous pursuits or the years we let fear hold us back from pursuing our dreams.
Though outwardly it may seem like it’s too late, or you have missed your season, never forget that God alone has the final say over your life. He is able to send a harvest so bountiful that it will cover up for the lost years. All those years you worked without tangible rewards or labored without results, indeed God is able to restore them back.
We serve a supernatural God who knows how to make up for lost time. He’s not going to just restore the years you lost, He is going to make the rest of your life the best years of your life..
However, Revelation is our access to manifold restoration and recovery. In Luke 15, when the woman who had lost her silver coin lit a candle and went on a diligent search she was able to recover it. The Spirit of a man is the candle of the Lord. Therefore as we light up our spirit man through prayer and search diligently in the Scriptures, we will find the revelation that will lead to our recovery.
And when you find it there shall be a reward and your expectations shall not be cut short. Indeed as we continually praise God in this season, we going to recover all lost ground and experience overflow of blessings, joy and favor.

PRAYER: Lord, I thank You for supernatural speed and restoration in this season. Please enable me to meditate constantly on your Word so that I can receive the revelation to recover all lost ground in Jesus Name.
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God knows how to work everything together in your life for your own good. WORDBITE 222

Psalm 124:7 says ‘Our soul has escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers; The snare is broken, and we have escaped.’

DAILY READING – – Luke 9:28-62; Genesis 16; Psalm 9

In June 2019, Semion Rosenfeld – the last known survivor of the uprising at the death camp at Sobibor died in Israel aged 96.
Rosenfeld was captured by the Germans while serving in the Soviet Army in 1941 and sent to the camp in Nazi-occupied Poland because he was Jewish.
During World war II, Adolf Hitler had set up some prisons as death camps for the extermination of the Jews. A camp at Sobibor, in Poland, was one of these.
In October 1943, Rosenfeld managed to escape together with some 300 prisoners.
The Jewish prisoners at the camp had realized that once they outlived their usefulness, they would be executed by the Germans. So the prisoners began to work on a plan of escape.
On 14 October 1943, the escape plan went into action. The prisoners revolted and began to flee the camp. Most of the 600 prisoners stampeded for the perimeter fences, while some of the Jews using captured rifles began to shoot their way through the Ukrainian guards. Though the guards opened fire with heavy machine guns from observation towers, still over 300 Jews reached the forest and escaped.
The uprising became the largest escape from a prison camp of any kind in Europe during World War II. The German officers who were sure no prisoner could ever escape from Sobibor were totally embarrassed. As a result of this escape, Sobibor was immediately closed. Its structures were bulldozed to the ground, and trees were planted on the site to remove any sign of its existence. However in later years, Archaeologists discovered the foundations of the gas chambers and other evidences of the existence of the death camp.

Psalm 124:7 says ‘Our soul has escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers; The snare is broken, and we have escaped.’

It doesn’t matter how the enemy has sworn never to let you go, or where he may have tried to lock up your destiny, you have to know that with God, you have what it takes to overcome.

1 Corinthians 10:13 says that with every temptation God has made a way of escape. Indeed you can escape every prison of sickness, poverty, disfavor etc. You’re a barrier breaker. By the grace of God upon your life, you can defy any odds.

Mark 10:27 says ‘for with God all things are possible” Through faith in God, we escape the realm of limitations.
In Genesis 13:14-15 God told Abraham that as far as his eyes could see would be given to him. Likewise today also, as far as our eyes can see in God’s Word will be given unto us. Today is your day to take the limits off. It’s time to shake off the past; it’s time to shake off burdens; it’s time to Break Out!

In Isaiah 43:18-19 God says ‘Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know’

God is indeed doing a new thing with you this month. Truly, God will take you further than you ever imagined. He will use you to set a new standard and turn you into a reference point. Don’t limit your options by what you see right now. Don’t decide it can’t happen because of what looks like prison walls around you now. “For we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7)

Do not limit what God can do! Remember He’s the God who parts our Red Seas! He’s the God who caused an earthquake and brought Paul and Silas out of prison! He’s the God of the impossible. Therefore, let us continually praise Him, knowing that by His help, truly we can do all things.

PRAYER: Lord, I thank You for breaking every barrier and limitation in my life. Truly by Your grace I am moving from glory to glory in Jesus Name

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Nothing liberates like truth, the truth you know and act upon will set you free.- – WORDBITE 222.

Psalm 34:5 ‘They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed.

DAILY READING – – Luke 9:1-27; Genesis 15; Psalm 8

Many poetry, songs and stories have been written over the centuries about the beauty and glory of the moon. Looking from the earth, the moon indeed appears like a bright beautiful ball in the sky.. However the truth is that the moon is actually a dry and dark rock that has no light.
The moon is not like the earth that has a hot core, instead, the moon is completely cold and dead.
However, despite how dreary and dark and dismal the moon is, because of the light it reflects from the sun, it appears to be bright and beautiful.

The moon glows as its surface reflects light from the sun. However, the moon is like a bad mirror, it is made up of such dark material, that it reflects only between 3 and 12 percent of the sunlight that hits it.
Science tells us that thousands of years ago, the moon had appeared much brighter and larger in the night sky because it was closer to the earth. However, because the moon over the centuries has been slowly moving away from the earth, we are now seeing less amount of light from it.
The brightness of the moon is tied to its ability to keep reflecting light from the sun. The moment the moon stops reflecting the sun’s light, it would lose its glory and beauty and become just a dull dark orb in the sky.

In the same way, like the moon, we can only maintain our brightness when we stay close to the Sun of righteousness. Jesus is the light of the world. The more we contact His light, through staying in His Presence, the more we can shine brightly on earth.
In Exodus 33:18-23 when Moses was on Mt. Sinai in the presence of the Lord, his face radiated with the glory of the Lord And the glow continued even after he came down from the mountain. The light that came from his face was as a result of being in God’s presence.

In the same way, as we study the Word and behold as in a glass the glory of the Lord, the more we will be changed into the same image from glory to glory. And we know that glory is the answer to shame.

Psalm 34;5 says ‘They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed.’

Therefore if you are dealing with any issue of shame today, the way out is to contact the glory of God through spending time in His Presence. If you want to dominate over the works of darkness, the answer is to contact light from God’s Word. Indeed as we spend time in His Presence, through studying the Word, prayer and praise, we will receive the grace we need for the race. And when we are engraced, we cannot be disgraced.

Indeed as believers our victory and shining in life is bound to our closeness to God. The closer you are to God, the more His light will be imparted into you and the more you can live in dominion and power.
Indeed for our gifts and callings to be effective, we must stay connected to the Father of lights.

James 1:17 says ‘Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.’

Every good and perfect gift comes from God.
We have no beauty or color on our own outside of our connection to God. Indeed without Jesus we can do nothing. It is only in Him that we can live and move and have our being.
We have no light or life outside of Him. And as we seek God and His kingdom first, then glory, beauty, color and everything else we need in life shall be added unto us.

PRAYER: Father please help me to always walk in Your light so that Your Glory can continually reflect through me. May my light so shine before men that they may see my good works and constantly glorify You in Jesus Name.

QUOTE :
For you to enjoy victory in the Kingdom of God, you need to develop a Kingdom mindset, that thinks in line with the Word of God. – WORDBITE 222.

SEPTEMBER 11; FOCUS ON THE PRIZE…

Philippians 1:6 ‘Being confident of this very thing, that He who hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the Day of Jesus Christ’

DAILY READING; Luke 8:26-56; Genesis 13:1-14:24; Psalm 7

In April 2015, a video of a college athletic race went viral, viewed by millions of people across the world. It was a college track & field meet, organized by Pepsi, featuring teams from the universities of Oregon, Kentucky and Washington.
A remarkable thing occurred during the 3000m Steeplechase race.
As the runners fiercely competed, the University of Oregon runner, Tanguy Pepiot took the lead, followed by the runner from the University of Washington, Meron Simon. As Tanguy neared the finish line, he had put more than 10 meters between him and Meron Simon. At this point, with only the straightaway remaining to the finish line, Tanguy became confident that he had already won the race.
Responding to the cheers from the crowd, he slowed down a bit, and began waving his arms in the air encouraging the crowd to cheer more. However as he did this what he did not realize was that Meron Simon was fast bearing down on him.
By the time Tanguy Pepiot saw that Meron was right behind him, it was too late. With only a meter left to the finish line, Meron put on a last burst of speed, zipped past the bewildered Tanguy and crossed the finish line first, winning the race.
It was an extremely close finish. According to the official time, Tanguy had lost by 0.10 seconds. He would have been the winner if only he had focused till the end and not given in to the distraction of the applauding crowd.

1 Corinthians 1: 24 says ‘Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.’

In the race of life we need to keep our eyes on the prize and not let down our guard to any distraction, no matter how well intentioned.

Indeed to achieve our God-ordained goal, we must discipline our focus on our priorities. Especially in this season of supernatural harvest, we must beware of the distractions and temptations that often come at the point of breakthroughs. It is often said that the night is darkest just before the day dawns. Indeed when a great and effectual door opens before you, many adversaries also arise. Therefore, for where God is taking you to in this season, you don’t have time to notice who is applauding you or not. The surest way to be distracted in life’s race is to focus on other people’s voices or opinions. Truly, if you mind the opposition, you may lose your position.

The greatest challenge that faces everyone running life’s race is distraction, especially from people on the sidelines who are going nowhere. Distraction is often the devil’s strategy to keep you from winning the race. While the enemy may not try to stop you from starting, he’ll work overtime to try to keep you from finishing. Distractions are the side attractions he uses to keep your attention from your destination. This is why we must never allow setbacks, disappointments or even our past successes to stop us from our destination.
Especially in this season of supernatural harvest and change of levels, in every situation, we must maintain our focus on God’s Word and follow the voice of the Spirit. Truly when you keep your face towards the sun, you will not see the shadows.

Indeed God who helped you to start, will surely help you to finish.

Philippians 1:6 says ‘Being confident of this very thing, that He who hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the Day of Jesus Christ’

The Message translation says ‘There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.’

Indeed God is bringing us to a flourishing finish. And as we keep focusing on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, surely, we will reap an exceeding, abundant harvest, more than we could ever have imagined.

PRAYER: Lord, Please help me not to be distracted in this season. In all things let my focus be on Your Word and the guidance of Your Spirit. I know indeed You are working out all things for my good, and causing me to finish well and strong in Jesus Name. .

QUOTE God’s promises in Christ in your life may appear delayed, but never forget that delays are not denials. WORDBITE 222

2 Chronicles 27:6 ‘So Jotham became mighty, because he prepared his ways before the LORD his God’.

DAILY READING; Luke 8:1-25; Genesis 12; Psalm 6

George Whitefield is said to be America’s first celebrity due to his overwhelming popularity during the 18th century. When only in his twenties, he became perhaps the person most recognized by everyone in colonial America. He was the most popular preacher of the Evangelical Revival in Great Britain and of the Great Awakening in America.

While the suddenness of Whitefield’s acclaim at the time disarmed skeptics and baffled his critics, what they failed to recognize was that Whitfield was only seeing the fruit of the seed he had sown in diligent spiritual preparation.

When he was 15 years of age, George Whitefield was so hungry for God, that though he served in his father’s drinking bar, once the bar closed, he would go up to his room and read his Bible by the light of a candle. He would spend hours in studying, praying and having sweet communion with the Holy Spirit.

Later ,while studying in the university, Whitefield associated with Charles and John Wesley who  helped to deepened his spiritual life. In his search for God, Whitefield often prayed and fasted so much that at a point it broke down his health and, under doctor’s orders,  he was confined to bed for seven weeks. 

As he continued to increase in spiritual strength, at only 25 years old, he took America by storm when he embarked on a preaching tour in 1739. America’s Great Awakening was sparked largely by this  preaching tour. During another great tour through New England, though only 26 years at the time, he drew thousands and shops and businesses were closed as people trooped to hear him.  

Whitefield kindled religious revivals throughout Britain and North America and prompted the founding of about fifty colleges and universities in the United States.

He remained a magnet that drew many people to the Gospel throughout his lifetime. And up till the day before his death, he preached until late at night to a rapt audience and then died the following morning.

Genesis 8:22 says “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”

For our life to truly count on earth, it must be sown deeply in the service of  God. The principles of seedtime and harvest control every man’s life and destiny.  Whether we  realize it or not, everything  we  are experiencing  now is a direct result  of the  spiritual investments we have made in our lives in the past. Indeed the fruit our lives  eventually produce is a reflection of how we have spiritually invested our time.

Our life is made up of our time. That is why our period on earth is called a ‘lifetime’. And for us to reap a fruitful life on earth it is important that we sow our time rightly  in the diligent pursuit of God.

Our choice for dedication today is what  guarantees our distinction tomorrow. Indeed our actions today are seeds of our future that grow in the soil of time to bear fruit for us. We can therefore determine to reap a  glorious life, by investing time  in the place of adequate spiritual preparation.

We must understand that it is God’s plan in this end-time for His glory to be seen upon us. In spite of  the growing gloominess and darkness in the world, God is raising an army of  believers who will command influence and  be celebrated by their  world.

But that will happen when we take time to adequately prepare spiritually. Every sudden manifestation of glory is usually a product of long term spiritual preparation. Nobody’s life can be more glorious than his level of  dedication to God.  

Spiritual preparation demands discipline in the place of diligent study of God’s Word, fasting, praying, sacrifice, worship and service. It is only  those who pay the due price in spiritual preparation that become due for manifestation. The truth is that  God won’t project you unless He has first prepared you.  When our life is planted as a seed in God’s kingdom, we will eventually manifest as a sign and a wonder to our world.  Indeed as we pay the spiritual  price of diligent pursuit of God, we will arise and shine and the glory of the Lord will be seen upon us. 

PRAYER: Lord, please  help me to pay the needed spiritual price so at to  manifest Your glory to the world  around me. Please help me to invest my time  rightly in the pursuit of Your kingdom,  so that I can reap the  harvest of Your overflowing blessings  in  Jesus’ Name.  

QUOTE :

Illuminate your world for you are a star destined to shine. WORDBITE 222..

Exodus 12:13 ” The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt”.

DAILY READING;  Luke 7:18-50; Genesis 11; Psalm 5

In 1948, Israel’s War for Independence concluded with a ceasefire that left Jerusalem divided into two. While Israel controlled the western part of Jerusalem, Jordan controlled the eastern part, which included the Temple Mount, the Western wall and other important religious sites. Jews were not allowed to enter Jerusalem’s walls or to pray inside the city. However, all that changed in June 1967, when God unleashed a miracle of biblical proportions in the form of the Six-Day War.

One of the most amazing miracles in the war was Israel’s capture of East Jerusalem from Jordan.  Starting from June 5^th 1967, the Israeli army had violently battled the  Jordanian troops in an attempt to capture the old city of East Jerusalem. However on June 7th, something amazing happened. The Jordanians suddenly stopped firing and an eerie silence befell the city.  The Israelis couldn’t understand the sudden quietness or why the Jordanians had stopped firing, Suspecting a trap, Israeli troops were dispatched to check for an ambush.  However, they came back with the report that it was not a  trap, but rather a miracle! The Jordanian forces had inexplicably fled from the city, the only  thing left  behind was their equipment. It seemed as if God had gone ahead of the Israeli army and cleared every opposition.  

And so the Israeli forces entered East Jerusalem,  and  took over the city without even firing a single shot. And for the first time in over two thousand years, Israel had  full  control of Jerusalem.

Though the Arab residents  left in the city were fearful they would be attacked, the invading Israeli soldiers simply told them  “Every house with a white flag on its gate will be spared, and whoever does not have the white mark will be broken in by force”. The residents promptly complied.

The residents of Hebron located south of Jerusalem, were especially fearful because they had massacred  the city’s Jewish community in 1929 and feared Israel would now revenge.  But as the residents promptly flew white sheets from their windows and rooftops, and voluntarily gave up their weapons., Israeli soldiers did not attack them.  By the end of the war, Israel had crushed enemies to the north, east, and south and tripled her territory. And most importantly for the first time, in over two millennia, Jerusalem was finally reunited as a free city under the Israeli flag.  

When the Israeli troops gave the instruction that  white flags be placed in front of the houses in Jerusalem, it was meant to be a sign of peace, that would stop them from attacking.

When God gave the Israelites the instruction to place the sign of the Blood on  their doorposts and on their lintels, it was to stop, destruction from invading their homes.

In Exodus 12:13 God says ” The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt”.

By obeying the instruction, the blood of the lamb protected Israel from the judgments that came upon Egypt.

This story of the Passover provides us with an insight on the Blood of Jesus and its inherent power to divinely shield us from evil and harm. Indeed the Blood of Jesus is God’s divine provision for our protection from every satanic invasion and oppression.

The truth is that a lot of invisible battles go on in the realm of the spirit  against believers. Life is a battlefield and not a playground; a warfare not a funfair, and it takes the engagement of the superior spiritual  force of the Blood  to overcome.   Zechariah 1:18-21; spoke about the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem, ‘so that no man did lift up his head:’ These horns of the Gentiles were the wicked forces stopping the progress of the people and manipulating their destinies.

However, the Blood of Jesus is the ultimate weapon that destroys every invisible battle against  our progress. All barriers on our path are cleared away at the invocation of the Blood. Every time we plead the Blood of Jesus, the Blood begins to speak, “Passover” to every force of destruction.

Especially in this season of  harvest we need the power in the Blood of Jesus to shield us from the anti-covenant forces that abort harvest. With so many forces fighting the fruitfulness and progress of believers, the mystery of the Blood Covenant is so essential in this season.

Today, especially, we invoke the Blood against everything that tries to steal our joy. Joy is the sickle of harvest. and anything that tries to hinder our joy is actually attempting to dry up our harvest.

Joel 1:12-17 says ‘The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men.’

Therefore by the Blood we resist everything that tries to tamper with our joy this month. By the Blood we shield ourselves from every from of depression and sadness. And  as we remain joyful and praiseful in every situation, surely the earth will yield its increase to us and God’s surpassing blessings shall dwell upon all our endeavors.  

PRAYER:  Lord,  I Thank You that by the Blood of Jesus I am an overcomer over every invisible force fighting my destiny. Thank You Lord, for continually filling my heart with joy and granting me amazing progress in all my endeavors in Jesus Name. .

QUOTE

Praise is proof that you believe God to do what He said, He would do in your life, – WORDBITE 201.