How often do you praise the Lord? During family devotions in the mornings? On the assembly ground at school? Sunday school?
Psalm 145:1 “I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever. Everyday I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever.”
You must have a personal time where you praise the Lord . There are so many ways to do this. Some ways are:
1. Reading psalms of praise from the bible. 2. Play and sing along to praise songs. 3. Sing from your heart praise songs. 4. Write love letters to God telling Him how much You love Him. 5. Write poems of praise.
When you praise the Lord, you are exalting Him over everything and everyone in all the earth and heaven. You are acknowledging Him as your Lord. God enjoys our praises. He delights in them, and he wants us to continually praise Him.
Only God deserves your praise. Make it a daily habit of praising God. You don’t have to spend long hours at it unless you are led to do so. And ensure that the time you have put aside for praising God is used for that. Don’t allow distractions.
Focus on God and His mightiness and splendor. He wants to hear you praise Him always. It is a good thing to praise the LORD! And it’s something you should learn to do always. Praise the Lord!
Prayer: Lord, thank you for receiving my praises. You are the Almighty God. The Lord highest. I praise You with all my being. Help me to always praise You. Amen.
Action points: Praise the Lord for some time today. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you new ways to praise God.
God speaks to everyone including children. Everyone can hear from God – that includes you! Remember the story of little Samuel in the bible, who later became a strong prophet that ministered to the Israelites and anointed kings?
Our heavenly father wants to speak to us and He does so in different ways. One of such way is through His word- the bible. The bible is the only place where all of God’s words reside.
Reading the bible is one of the ways you can hear from God. When you read about what God did, how He did it, and who He did it for, you get to know more about God.
Maybe you are facing a situation and don’t know how to go about it, read the bible: that is one way to hear from God. God will speak to you through a verse or chapter. He will direct you to a book where someone just like you, faced the same dilemma you are in.
When you read through, you will learn how the person resolved it with God’s help; that way God can help you resolve yours too. This is one of the ways you can hear from God .
Heb 4:12 KJV For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
The bible says His words are living. They are alive, quick, and sharp. Always speaking. See it as God speaking directly to you.
God bless you as you read, and thereby hear from God, Amen.
Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for your word that is forever living and true. Let your words speak to me daily, in Jesus name. Amen.
Action plan: When next you think God is speaking to you or have a problem, pray and ask God to use His words to speak to you. Then incline your ears to hear from God.
Declaration (children): The Lord speaks to me through his word. My ears are opened to God’s word.
“Show me your friend and I will tell you who you are” is still a valid saying; one which you must pay attention to if you must succeed in life. So today we will continue with our series on warning signals to watch out for in friendships. Here is another signal.
2. When you hope and pray your parents or guardians don’t find out where you have been. Friends that corrupt mostly advise you to give a false account of your whereabouts to parents or guardians. In other words, they tell you to lie.
For instance, they encourage you to buy a skimpy outfit which you know your parents won’t allow on you. They teach you how to hide it at home. Show me your friend. Is he/she like this? Even when your parents find out about the skimpy dress and forbid you to wear it, these kind of friends will again teach you how to sneak it out of the house for a party or an outing which you know will keep you late outside. Once more, they tell you what lie to tell to your parents.
Another way is you come home late from school and lie that you were at the library, studying for a test or exam. All the while you were playing football with friends or watching a PG movie at one of your friend’s house. They, of course, told you to say that. Show me your friend!
You hope and pray your parents don’t find out or catch your lie.
You need to let go of such friends because they are gradually helping you to become a liar. The bible tells us that the devil is the father of all liars. How can a child of God be friends with the children of the devil? You need to end your friendship with friends that teach you to lie. Show me your friend.
John 8:44 (NKJV) You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.
One downside of this is that, once your parents find out the truth, they won’t trust you anymore. They won’t believe anything you say again even when you are saying the truth.
So, check your friends again, and remember the saying: Show me your friend, and I will tell you who you are.
Prayer: Father in Heaven, help me with good friends. I don’t want friends that will teach me to lie, I want friends that will help me grow to know you more. Amen.
Action point: Stop being friends with anyone who encourages you to tell a lie, especially to your parents.
Your fellowship with other Believers is one of the great habits to imbibe, and today we would start with a scene that happened in Jide’s life. Jide took the stairs two at a time as he made his way up to the second floor of the school’s building. It was almost fellowship time and he was leading opening prayers. He didn’t want to keep the others waiting and God too.
“not forsaking our meeting together [as believers for worship and instruction], as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more [ faithfully] as you see the day [of Christ’s return] approaching. Hebrews 10:25 AMP
The verse above tells you why you need to develop the habit of constant fellowship with other believers like yourself. You worship God together and learn from Him. Not that you can’t do this on your own. You can, but with other believers, you will experience God in a new way.
Look at how people in church speak in different tongues. Or say one prayer in different ways. How about when someone or the pastor says he has a message from God for everyone. Yes, God will speak to you when you are alone with Him, He can also do so in a gathering of believers.
Another thing you will enjoy in a fellowship with other believers is encouragement. When you feel weak to pray, they can pray for you. Their prayers will boost your spiritual muscles and connect you to God’s power node where you draw strength to pray.
And finally, you know Jesus’ return is almost here, you need to be more spiritually sound and one way to be so is in the presence of the brethren (fellow believers). Constantly connecting with them keeps you from falling into sin easily or at all. You should learn to fellowship with other Believers.
So, when next your parents say it’s time for church, don’t frown or grumble. Rather, grab your Bible, put on a beautiful smile on your face, and say “I am ready!”
Prayer: Lord, thank You for my fellow believers. Thank You for the wonderful Christian family I have. Teach me to fellowship with other Believers. Amen.
Action point: Why not lead prayers or praise at the next prayer meeting or fellowship at school or in church.
Just as you study your textbook as a school student, you also have to study the Bible as a spiritual student that you are. As a student, you have textbooks for each subject you are taught in school. As a child of God, the Bible is your spiritual textbook too. Inspired by God to teach you about Him and what He wants you to do.
Textbooks are meant to be read and studied so that you can best understand a subject. You spend time reading and studying them. If the Bible is your spiritual textbook, then you should also spend time studying it too. Pick a book from it, read and study. You just have to study the Bible.
Forming the habit of regularly reading and studying your bible is a brilliant way to grow your spiritual life. Starting early in life is the best. Because as you grow up, it becomes a part of you and you won’t be able to stop reading and studying your Bible. You won’t rest until you study the Bible.
Like Samuel who began to serve in the temple at a young age.
Now Samuel was ministering before the Lord, as a child dressed in a linen ephod [a sacred item of priestly clothing] 1 Samuel 2:19 AMP
His mother gave him to God as she had promised. Under Eli, Samuel learnt about the ways of God and how to serve Him. And as he grew into an adult, with the knowledge of the things of God (…And the boy Samuel grew before the Lord 1 Samuel 2:21 AMP) he became a mighty prophet of God.
The Bible is filled with so much knowledge that will grow your spirit, mind and soul. You just have to study the Bible for yourself. Inside the Bible, you will find stories of love, hate, fear, anger, redemption, and much more. You could read it in the morning, afternoon or at night before you sleep. Even if you have a daily devotional that you read, it still doesn’t take the place of your personal Bible reading plan.
Study the Bible daily. Let regular Bible reading be a part of your daily life. God bless you as you do so. Amen.
Prayer: Father in Heaven, thank You for the Bible. I receive help to study the Bible daily. Amen.
Action plan: Pick a version of the Bible, and start to read. As you do so, note things down and ask your parents to explain further for you. Or just ask the Holy Spirit.
