Mathew 7: 24 
‘Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:  25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house;  and it fell not:  for it was founded upon a rock.-
• DAILY READING 2 Corinthians 5:11-6:13; 2 Kings 18; Micah 7
In 1992, Hurricane Andrew destroyed thousands of homes in South Florida. Yet in an area where the wreckage looked like a war zone, one house remained standing, still firmly anchored to its foundation. When a reporter asked the homeowner why his house had not been blown away, he replied, “I built this house myself. I also built it according to the Florida state building code. When the code called for 2” x 6” roof trusses, I used 2” x 6” roof trusses. I was told that a house built according to code could withstand a hurricane—and it did.”
This house survived the hurricane because the owner built according to instructions. In Mathew 7:24, Jesus lets us know the importance of building according to instructions. It is the house that is built upon the solid foundation of the Rock, representing The Word of God, that survives the storm. 
A storm will always demonstrate the stability of your foundation.

Psalms 11:3 says ‘If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?’

When personal storms come many lives are often destroyed and left in shambles, but if you construct your life according to Christ’s building codes you will not be disappointed. Obedience to Jesus’ words is protection in the midst of troubles. The time you invest in laying a strong biblical foundation will pay off, when the storms of life strike. 

Building on the rock is the best flood insurance you can invest in. In the journey of life, storms will come and go. You are either in a trial, coming out of a trial, or entering into a trial. Nevertheless, if you’ve built your life on the foundation of Christ, you have nothing to fear. 

That means you must guard your foundation and ensure that it is rooted and grounded in the Word of God, because it is only that which is built upon Christ that will last and  not suffer loss. 

Mathew 7:24 says ‘Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:  25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house;  and it fell not:  for it was founded upon a rock.’

Rock is strong and immovable. But sand is always shifting. Building on the rock is building your life based on the Immovable Word of God. God’s word abides forever, it never shifts or changes. What God said 6000 years ago still remains the same today. Heaven and earth shall pass away but His Word remains infallible forever. It doesn’t matter the present situation, The Word always prevails in the end.  It’s like pouring water over oil, the oil will always ascend to be on top of the water. The Word of God will always arise to be on top of every situation.

But building upon sand is building upon the shifting ways of the world.. The man who builds on such shifting policies and promises, in time, his house will fall. The arm of flesh would always fail. But when you base your life on the Word and trust in God, no matter what happens God will always keep you, so that you cannot fall.
PRAYER:  Lord please help me to always build my life on the strong  foundation of Your infallible Word.. Grant me the grace to pay the necessary price to store up Your Word in my heart. I know that by Your grace, I will always stand. No matter what comes my way, I shall never fall in Jesus Name.   

QUOTE 

God’s Word is ever unchanging, changing everybody who truly comes in genuine contact with it. – WORDBITE 222. 

 [ADAPTED FROM THE BOOK ESTABLISHED BY THE WORD OF GOD] 

Matthew 5:16 

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven   
DAILY READING • 2 Corinthians 1:1-2:4; 2 Kings 14; Micah 4:1-5:1

Desmond Tutu was a South African social rights activist and Anglican bishop who rose to worldwide fame during the 1980s as an opponent of apartheid. He was asked by the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) to identify the defining moment in his life. Desmond spoke of the day in 1940 when he and his mother were walking down the street of his hometown of Klerksdorp, South Africa. Desmond was nine years old. A tall white man dressed in a black suit came towards them. In the days of apartheid, when a black person and a white person met while walking on a footpath, the black person was expected to step into the gutter to allow the white person to pass and nod their head as a gesture of respect. But this day, before a young Desmond and his mother could step off the sidewalk the white man stepped off the sidewalk and, as mother and son passed, tipped his hat in a gesture of respect to her! The white man was Trevor Huddleston, an Anglican priest who was bitterly opposed to apartheid. It changed Desmond’s life. When his mother told him that Trevor Huddleston had stepped off the sidewalk because he was a man of God, Desmond found his calling. “I decided there and then that I wanted to be an Anglican priest too. And what is more, I wanted to be a man of God” said Desmond.

What Trevor Huddleston did so impressed young Desmond that it affected his life and destiny. The Priest’s attitude mirrored his Christian faith. His decision to honor God through his actions, affected a young boy, whose life would in turn affect his generation.

We should be living epistles. Wherever we are, whatever we do, we should always seek to reflect Christ and honor God. Let our light always so shine before men that they may see our good works and glorify our Father in Heaven.     

A way of honoring God, is using whatever position we occupy in life, to promote His kingdom. Let us see our positions as opportunities to further the Gospel. As a military officer, banker, lawyer, politician, doctor, etc, let our actions always reflect the truth of the Gospel, we preach. In all we do let us become epistles that people will read and turn to God. Let us become the signposts that turn men to Jesus. As a believer your life is under constant surveillance by unbelievers. They are constantly watching you to see if you indeed practice what you preach. And what you say or do may make the difference in a soul’s eternal destination. 

Therefore let us endeavor always to live a life that glorifies God.  

PRAYER: Lord, please let everything in me and around me, continually proclaim the Gospel. Make  me a living epistle, an open Bible that all around me can read and be edified. May my light so shine before men that they may see my good works and glorify my Father in Heaven, in Jesus Name.    

QUOTE : 

The truth of God’s Word in the life of a believer is always reflective, the results can never be hidden. – WORDBITE 222.  

 [ADAPTED FROM THE BOOK FAITH CLASSICS] 

Luke 6:48 KJV

He is like a man which built a house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: 

• DAILY READING 1 Corinthians 14:26-40; 2 Kings 9; Jonah 4
There is a hidden season of life where God trains us. This season can be likened to the growth of the Chinese Bamboo Tree.

One of the most unique and amazing plants in the world is the Chinese Bamboo Tree. It doesn’t grow in the typical fashion of other trees.  Once planted, one must water, feed and nurture the seed every day, for four years. Yet for those four years there is no evidence of growth, no evidence of life. For four years it seems like one is totally wasting their efforts. Because there is no sign a tree was planted there.. But during those first four years this Bamboo Tree is actually growing a very strong, deep and extensive root system below the surface of the ground. This extensive root system is necessary to sustain the life of this amazing tree. One cannot see this growth with the naked eye, but one who understands plants knows exactly what is happening. The farmer cannot see it, but he knows the seed is growing. He keeps watering and providing sunlight to it because he understands if he stops, this plant will die. But then in the fifth year an amazing thing happens. The tree finally breaks the surface of the ground and in the space of five weeks grows to an astounding height of 90 feet. It is as if the tree grows right before a person’s eyes. 

In the same way, the ministry God has called us to, is a walk of faith. We must trust God even when we cannot trace Him. In the hidden season of life, we continue to invest our time and energy into His Kingdom because we understand that something is happening just beneath the surface. Whatever is happening beneath the surface is a necessary part of the manifestation.  We may not see the answer today, but that doesn’t mean the answer is not being worked on today. Our faith in God gives us the patience to keep working and waiting until His answer comes.

Our endeavors start first in the spirit with prayer as the foundation. This is the unseen season where like the Chinese bamboo we keep watering by faith even though there may be no visible signs of outward manifestation. But we trust that as we keep watering in prayer, underneath the surface God is working. 

Whatever it is we are called to do we must first establish it in the spirit through prayer, before it manifests physically. We have to lay the spiritual foundation first before we start building physically. 

Many endeavors fail, because people try to build without the foundation of the spirit first in place, so the whole thing comes toppling down.

God’s order of things is the spirit first, then the physical follows. Even nature teaches us that there is a hidden unseen season before manifestation. 

As human beings we were first in the unseen place of our mother’s womb where we were nurtured and preserved until the time came for us to become physically manifest. For nine months we were unseen, until the due season.  So is your destiny. It has an unseen season when it seems as if nothing is happening, but if you will only continue to obey God in your hidden season, in the due season your manifestation will come. 

Prayer is the foundation. The man who tries to build without a spiritual foundation found that when the wind, rain and storm came his great house crumbled.

Because there will be oppositions, it is in the hidden season of prayers that you deal with the oppositions that will arise. 

Whatever you are embarking upon, marriage, childbirth, education etc, you require prayer investment for it to succeed. Life is handled with prayer. 

The height of any building is determined by the depths of its foundation. We shouldn’t expect a great dream to manifest without first establishing it in the spirit through a season of prayer.
PRAYER:  Lord please help me to build my life upon the solid foundation of Your Word and prayer, help me to pay the required price to lay the needed spiritual foundation for my endeavors  in Jesus name. 

 QUOTE 

The tests you are going through in life today is not for your destruction, it is for your testimony. – WORDBITE 222.  

 [ADAPTED FROM THE BOOK FAITH CLASSICS] 

Deutronomy 2:2 
Moses speaking said ‘And the LORD spake unto me, saying, 3 Ye have compassed this mountain long enough:  turn you northward.’ 

• DAILY READING  1 Corinthians 14:1-25; 2 Kings 8; Jonah 3

At the 1936 Olympics, Owens was easily the most dominant athlete to compete. He captured four gold medals (the 100 meter, the long jump, the 200 meter and the 400-meter relay) and broke two Olympic records along the way.  Owens’ world record for the broad jump would last 25 years before being broken.

Yet Jesse Owens started out in life with virtually  nothing. The son of a sharecropper and the grandson of slaves, Jesse Owens was a frail child who was often sick from battles with chronic bronchial congestion and pneumonia. Still, he was expected to work, and at the young age of seven he was picking up to 100 pounds of cotton a day, to help his family put food on the table. When a teacher  suggested that he take up sports as a way for improving his poor health, the family could not afford a sporting equipment. But since, at least  he had his legs, he decided to put them to good use by running. The more he ran, the more his potentials as a good athlete began to manifest. 

At High School, Owens quickly made a name for himself as a nationally recognized sprinter, setting records in the 100 and 200-yard dashes as well as the long jump. After graduating, Owens enrolled at Ohio State University, where he continued to flourish as an athlete.

Indeed as he began to do what he could, with the little he had, God blessed his efforts.  

The 1936 Olympics, gave Owens the opportunity to greatly display his athletic ability. His stunning achievement of four gold medals, made him the best remembered athlete in Olympic history.

Yet, at the beginning, all Jesse had was his legs, but when he put them to good use, God multiplied his efforts.  

No matter how little or inconsequential your talent or ability, when you turn it over to God, it will become greatly multiplied. 

When the widow required Elijah’s help to pay off her husband’s creditor, so that her two boys would not become slaves, Elisha asked her, ‘Tell me, what do you have in your house?”

She said she had nothing except a jar of oil. However through God’s power, the oil was multiplied to meet all her needs. 

God has a grand plan for us this year. But for it to be accomplished, we have to entrust God with the little we have. 

When you are faithful in the  little, God will see to it that it becomes much.

Having come into the second month of the year, it is time for us to begin to move in the definite direction of God’s will.

In Deutronomy 2:2 Moses speaking said ‘And the LORD spake unto me, saying, Ye have compassed this mountain long enough:  turn you northward.’ 

God was asking them to stop going around in circles. It is time to go forward. We are in the year of the Eagle’s flight. And it is time to go forward. The race to the top has started. You can’t afford to be a spectator. January has gone and today marks the beginning of the second month. No matter how little what you have, as you turn it over to God, He will multiply it exceedingly.  

And one way to engage God’s multiplying ability is through the force of praise. You gain altitude through expressing gratitude. You’ll never drop in altitude unless you drop in gratitude.
Make up your mind that this is your year. It is your turning point year and season of forward movement. Therefore, don’t be deterred by any discouraging situation that may surround you. No matter how difficult or impossible the  circumstance, you can still overcome and move forward. Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass…It’s about learning to soar even in the storm. 

Turn your worry into worship and watch God turn your battles into blessings. And as you engage the force of praise, God will turn every  test into a testimony for you in Jesus Name. 

PRAYER: Lord, please give me the wisdom to utilize the gifts and talents that You have given me. As I make the most of what is available, please do for me exceedingly, abundantly above all I could ever ask or imagine in Jesus Name. 
QUOTE 

Your attitude always determines  your altitude in life. -WORDBITE 222. 

 [ADAPTED FROM THE BOOK REJOICE] 

Psalm 34:1 

I will bless The Lord at all times, His praise shall continually be in my mouth…
• DAILY READING – 1 Corinthians 13; 2 Kings 7:3-20; Jonah 2
Blair Monique Walker  is an American  Gospel singer and Radio host.  She has sung background vocals for gospel artists like Smokie Norful, Earnest Pugh, Ted Winn and Beverly Crawford. In 2017 she shared an incredible testimony of her encounter with God’s power. 

She was diagnosed with uterine cancer. Her doctors told her she needed a hysterectomy, which is a surgery to remove the uterus. This meant she would not be able to become pregnant in the future. Her surgery was scheduled for October 12th 2017.

During  that period, she was dealing with a great deal of physical pain, to the point where she could hardly get out of bed, nor go to church. This situation almost led her to depression. However, her husband, musician Terrence Walker tried to encourage her with words like, “If you’re sad it’s going to be bad.” 

Such words encouraged her to switch from sadness to gladness, and to keep trusting God no matter the situation. Though it wasn’t easy, she knew that praise would help her better than depression.  

She recalls praying to God while preparing for the surgery. When the day arrived for her to visit her surgeon for a pre-operative visit, she says something amazing happened. The purpose of the visit was for the surgeon to look at an ultrasound of Blair’s uterus to see the size of the cancerous growth. But the doctor was amazed by what he found.  There was no  tumor! And not only was the tumor gone, there was a baby growing in Blair’s uterus instead.  The doctor looked at her and said, ‘It looks like your God removed all of your tumors and left you with a baby,'” what an amazing testimony! God removed her uterine tumor and replaced it with a baby. 

Psalms 30:11-12  says ‘You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, To the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever.’

Indeed God turned Blair’s mourning into dancing! 

Through praise, God replaces sadness with gladness. He transforms pain to gain. He takes failure and creates success!

Though challenges are real, they can also become raw material for a divine transformation that God will accomplish in our lives. Indeed the force of praise  provokes divine intervention. We escape misfortune and enter into favor when we praise God. God answers your adversaries in the midst of praise. 

When we praise God He brings a sudden change of story to us. In the case of Blair, God turned the tumor to pregnancy. Within the exercise of genuine praise is the release of genuine blessings. 

Like Blair’s husband told her, ‘if you are sad, it will be bad’. The more depressed you are, the more the enemy will oppress you. But when you turn to praise,  God’s Presence is engaged for your deliverance.  As we praise God, Romans 8:28  becomes a reality to us; ‘all things work together for good to them that love Him, and to those who are the called according to His purpose.”

You can praise your way out from every form of misfortune to favor.  As you begin to praise God, break down will be converted into breakthroughs. Therefore rather than allow frustration to occupy you, occupy God with your praise. Praise excites God. Therefore as you engage the force of praise, expect God to bring about a sudden change of story in your life. Your  defeat will be turned into victory. Indeed God will turn your mourning into dancing and your sorrow into joy in Jesus name. 
PRAYER: Lord, please help me to praise you despite any situation, let nothing ever stop the continual flow of your praise from my mouth.  As I praise You, I know You are turning my mourning into dancing; and my sorrow into joy in Jesus Name. 

QUOTE 

Praise always guarantees you power for a raise, learning to praise God in season and out of season is key to fulfilling destiny. – WORDBITE 222. 

 [ADAPTED FROM THE BOOK REJOICE]