A perpetually irritating friend or ally is always somewhat a nuisance. There are some naughty relationships like that. They just keep provoking you and testing your patience till you want out. After you have been grieved severally and you are brought into a place where it looks like there will be no change, you probably want to quit.
If this is done to you, you sure don’t want to stay too long among such people. There is a way you naturally move away from where you are being afflicted to where you will be celebrated. Nobody wants his or her head beaten all the time and that without cause. You, being on the receiving end, are not usually having a pleasant time.
What if I say that is what we often do to God? Take a look at this scripture:
How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert! Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel. They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy.
Psa 78:40-42 (KJV)
Provoking God with acts of compromise in your relationship, grieving Him with repeated wrong acts in a deliberate fashion translates to turning back and tempting God, thereby limiting Him.
His desire is to bless and increase us. His desire is that the marriage institution He established becomes a reality in our lives. God is never the one bringing delay into your life, it is we that often keep tempting and limiting the Holy One of God.
The Message Translation puts it this way:
How often in the desert they had spurned him, tried his patience in those wilderness years. Time and again they pushed him to the limit, provoked Israel’s Holy God. How quickly they forgot what he’d done, forgot their day of rescue from the enemy,
Psa 78:40-42 (MSG)
My advice this morning: Quit limiting God to do what He wants to do through your disobedience and repeated errors. Stop pushing Him to the limit with habitual sinful tendencies.
Allow Him to be God in your life.
May God grant you more understanding!
CONFESSION FOR THE DAY I will not provoke God to anger. I will not limit God
PRAYER FOR THE DAY Pray that God shows you areas where you have been limiting him.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY Ps 78:41 (ERV)Again and again they tested his patience. They really hurt the Holy One of Israel.
ACTION PLAN FOR THE DAY Stop limiting God through disobedience
Words are powerful. It is interesting to know that our world is created by our words. Your micro world as well, guess what, was fashioned by your words.
Words are so powerful that what you say eventually overwhelms you and give direction to your life.
It is in the regard that the scripture says:
“Take this most seriously: A yes on earth is yes in heaven; a no on earth is no in heaven. What you say to one another is eternal. I mean this.
Mat 18:18 (MSG)
Words are so powerful that even the heavenlies respond to your words and statements.
Angels, as powerful as they are, the scripture declares that they listen and act on the WORDS of God in your mouth.
If you keep saying life is tough, guess what will happen to you. If you keep saying marriage is tough, guess what you are building with words. If you keep saying all men are scum, guess what the experience will be.
Your life simply gravitates in the direction of that which you speak.
In your relationship therefore, you want to be careful and deliberate about what you say to your lover, especially when you are angry or livid.
You want to abstain from such statements as below:
1. Our relationship is over 2. I know you cannot change 3. You are frustrating my life 4. You are such a negative force in my life 5. Since we met, it has been one problem or the other and I know that is what it will be forever 6. One day, I know our relationship will be over 7. I know this is never going to lead to marriage 8. I regret the day I met you 9. There is bad luck hovering around you 10. There is a curse following you and it is affecting me
Avoid any statement that looks like the above. As you begin to train your mouth, your life will come into alignment with God.
Have a great day.
CONFESSION FOR THE DAY My words are seasoned with salt
PRAYER FOR THE DAY Lord, help me to speak the right words
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY Colossians 4:6 (NLT): “Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone.”
ACTION PLAN FOR THE DAY Watch what you are saying to your lover
I remember how many times I was disciplined growing up. With mum, it was regular and lenient. With dad, it was occasional but terrible and indelible.
I can’t forget the day my younger sister reported me to dad that I jumped from a first floor balcony, only trying to show that what a boy could do, a girl couldn’t.
Well, she showed me what girl could do; she reported me.
My dad beat me so much that when I slept that night, I dreamt that I died and I was buried. It was that intense. The discipline “entered”
From that day, I didn’t move near High or Long jump, anything that entails jumping was a no go area! I was never led to that area again!
Even so, God disciplines us. Take a look here:
It’s the child he loves that he disciplines; the child he embraces, he also corrects. God is educating you; that’s why you must never drop out. He’s treating you as dear children. This trouble you’re in isn’t punishment; it’s training,
Heb 12:6 – 7 (MSG)
Some of the experiences you are going through in your relationship is just God’s way of educating you. He wants you to be better. He doesn’t want you to fail. He doesn’t want you to become a failure. He doesn’t want you to regret later. So He disciplines.
Accept God’s discipline and move on into greater heights. God doesn’t want you to drop out of that discipline system. It’s not punishment, it’s training. God will NEVER punish you! It may look like that, but it’s not!
As you respond to His discipline and learn from your mistakes or errors, a better version of you emerges and God can use you better.
That relationship broke? Oh, ensure you learn from it before you jump into another one! Take your training and let the best of God be available for you.
Got any questions? Leave them in the comments and I will respond.
CONFESSION FOR THE DAY God is not punishing me. I respond well to God’s training
PRAYER FOR THE DAY Pray for grace to receive the training with a humble heart.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY Hebrews 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
ACTION PLAN FOR THE DAY Go through the training patiently because God is not punishing you.
Bones are so important in the body that it cuts across the entire body mass. They are everywhere, even inside the ears! And the bones in the body are so important that any anomaly in it is the beginning of a slow death. May our bones remain strong!
Bones! You don’t see them, but they hold the entire frame of the homo sapien in place. Without bones, the man will collapse, unable to move an inch. Without bones, mobility will cease, and productivity will be grounded, so much so that any anomaly is often referred to as a disability.
Then the flesh! That is what you get to see. It is the pulchritude, the outer beauty, the color, the complexion, and the outer glory!
Adam exclaimed and said in Genesis
And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
Gen 2:23 (KJV)
Wow! That was revelatory!
Bone of my bones first! That is, in seeking a spouse, it is not just about the flesh, which is the outward beauty. It is not just about the rotundity of the backside or the massiveness of that which dangles below the cleavage. All that is flesh!
But the order is bones first. The flesh is important as well because it is in order to be attracted. However, if it is all about the flesh alone, you are in an obvious error.
The bone of your bones talks of the inner frame, the character, the power within, the integrity, and the forthrightness that makes up the essence in a man or woman. It deals with honesty, virtue, and values, not just the lips, the hips, and the tips alone.
Go beyond outward beauty. Check the God in him or her. Check the values. Then you can say you are dealing not just with the flesh of your flesh, but with both bone of your bones and flesh of your flesh.
Selah!
We started our fast yesterday. Find more details HERE
CONFESSION FOR THE DAY I will marry the bone of my bone and the flesh of my flesh
PRAYER FOR THE DAY Lord, help me to get it right martially.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY Gen 2:23(CEV)and the man exclaimed, “Here is someone like me! She is part of my body, my own flesh and bones. She came from me, a man. So I will name her Woman!”
There is a plan of heaven this month on your life! It’s good news! Get ready!
One of the most joyful events among humanity is the birthing of a new baby! How beautiful can it be? Especially, when the parents have been trusting and waiting for a while! The arrival of the baby elicits a joy that knows no bounds, an excitement that goes really deep and an ecstasy beyond what any drug can offer!
All because of what? The birthing of a new baby!
I love Septembers! Forget about the wild belief of “ember” months! I choose to disregard that! It’s going to be a September To Remember! I choose to believe the report of the Lord.
September is that month that signifies the 9th month, when gestation period is complete and the baby has no choice, but to come forth!
May I announce to you, with a trumpet laid to my mouth this morning, that this month will be a September to Remember!
Yes! Yes! Yes!
A few days back, while in the bathroom, God spoke to me on this. And this is why we are embarking on a month-long fast beginning from today!
Wouldn’t you rather join us!
It’s a fast that God Himself called. And when God calls for a fast, He has some goodies in stock for you and I.
God said you are about to birth that which you have been carrying!
The reason you have not given birth is because there is no strength!
And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.
Isa 37:3 (KJV)
And that is why we are fasting. To provide strength to give birth to that greatness, that increase, that advancement, and whatever pregnancy you have been carrying!
From the 1st of September, we will be waiting on God daily. You can break your fast daily from 2 pm. Prayer points will be available every day on our website here. I pray that it will be a September to Remember for you in Jesus name.
There will be two prayers sessions daily, morning and evening.
Morning prayer will be by 5.30 am and 6.00 am, (online) while evening prayers will be on-site at Shouts of Grace Center, Ibadan.
Evening prayers wily 6.00 pm but on-site at Shouts of Grace Center, Joke Plaza, Beside Trans Amusement Park, Bodija-Ui Road, Ibadan.
If you are outside Ibadan or Nigeria, join for prayers online at any of indicated handles above! Prayer points will also be available on the site daily.
This month, God will answer you!
CONFESSION FOR THE DAY I am bringing forth
PRAYER FOR THE DAY Lord, help me to bring forth
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY They said to him, “Hezekiah says, ‘This is a black day. We’re in crisis. We’re like pregnant women without even the strength to have a baby! Isaiah 37:3 MSG
