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Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life (2 Corinthians 3:5-6).


As a Christian, your life is preordained by God; predestination is at work in you. Nothing happens to you by chance, neither is your life by chance. You’re responsible for the outcome of your life. He gave you authority in His Name.

This lets you know that nothing can limit you. Your age, the economy of the nation where you live, the colour of your skin, your family, educational and financial background, shouldn’t be a limitation. Nothing and no one can place a limit on you. This is God’s blessing for every one of His children, and He gave you the Holy Spirit, to be your sufficiency. With Him, you can be anything, do anything, go anywhere, and be all that God destined you to be.

You don’t have to struggle to be a success, because you function with His ability and wisdom. He’s your wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:30). What you have to understand is how to walk with Him, and function in His wisdom, beyond your human ability. God’s wisdom in you is a force that causes you to walk in His perfect will all the time, and be successful in all that you do.

Let nothing limit you. Acknowledge the Holy Spirit as your secret of success. He’s the One at work in you, and He’s an unlimited personality, with unlimited powers, abilities, and potentials. He’s the limit breaker. Recognize His work and ministry in you. That consciousness will produce a divine force that propels you to success and victory continually.

Prayer

Dear Father, I thank you for the presence of the Holy Spirit in my life, who leads me always in the path of glory and triumph. With Him, I can do all things! He’s my competence, wisdom, and ability. I reign in life by Him, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

further study: 2 Corinthians 12:9-10; 2 Corinthians 3:5 AMP; Philippians 4:13

: Acts 17:1-15 Job 3-5

: 2 Corinthians 13:1-6 Isaiah 23-24

Romans 6:11-18

In New York harbor stands the Statue of Liberty. This world-renowned icon symbolizes the freedom that Americans cherish. Though we have been blessed to live in the “land of the free,” many of our citizens are still held captive by sinful habits and mindsets.

A country’s liberty usually depends upon military might and governmental decrees. However, personal freedom has to do with a decision to protect the heart, mind, and body from evil influences. In a nation built upon independence, we call ourselves “free” as long as we aren’t incarcerated or somehow prevented from pursuing our interests. But is the man bent upon revenge “liberated”? Is the woman addicted to painkillers “free”?

The enemy’s arsenal contains all kinds of temptations that shackle one’s time and attention. The need to attend to these habits, substances, and attitudes consumes a person and draws his or her focus away from God. Then, as the devil distracts, he also employs one of his greatest deceptions: convincing people that their chains don’t really exist. He teaches them how to rationalize (“Just a little won’t hurt”) and outright deny (“I can stop anytime I want”).

According to the Bible, men and women are either slaves of God or slaves to sin (Rom. 6:16). There is no middle ground. The latter serve Satan by feeding their own selfish impulses. Meanwhile, the “slaves of God” enjoy true freedom. They honor the Lord by keeping away from those things that imprison the body, emotions, or thoughts.

Bible in a Year: Psalms 120-131

Have you ever known someone who appeared to have the “perfect” life and seemed to be happy? And then one day, you discover that they’re getting a divorce and that they had been having an affair for several years? You wonder, “How did that happen?”

It all began in the mind . . . as a thought.

Everything in your life begins as a thought. A single thought that you dwell on and allow to drop into your spirit could change your entire destiny. Thoughts that are dwelled on and meditated upon, eventually lead to actions.

You don’t just wake up one day and discover that your life has fallen apart, or you don’t love your spouse anymore. Those feelings began as thoughts planted into your mind and you allowed them to take root and grow up and become your actions.

I remember the testimony of a couple whose marriage was restored after going through a very heart-breaking divorce. They were both born again, serving God and preparing for the ministry. The wife shared that during this time, on several occasions, a gentleman at her work place would often make the comment to her, “If you were my wife . . .” She had no intentions of leaving her husband, having an affair or any thoughts of being married to anyone else.

The more this man made this same comment, “If you were my wife . . .,” that thought was then planted into her mind. She began wondering, “What if I were married to someone else?” She imagined herself with another man and how life would be different. Eventually, those thoughts took root in her mind because she entertained them constantly; and as a result, she had an affair and left her husband.

By the grace of God, eventually her eyes were opened to Satan’s deception and miraculously, God restored her marriage and they are now doing great. But it all began as a thought planted into her mind that took root.

Negative and positive thoughts will come across your mind on a daily basis. You can’t prevent negative thoughts from coming. But you can prevent them from lodging in your mind and taking root. Philippians 4:8 says, “And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”(NLT) The only way to “fix your thoughts” on these things, is to stay in God’s Word!

Confession: I will bring every negative thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

Author: Jerry Savelle

If your brother wrongs you, go and show him his fault, between you and him privately. If he listens to you, you have won back your brother.
—Matthew 18:15

When Dave and I got married, I was a nightmare to get along with. I just wanted to stay in control because I thought that was the only way I could keep from being hurt. Plus I have a pretty aggressive personality to begin with, so that combined with a lot of dysfunction in my background did not make me a very nice woman.

Dave, on the other hand, is a real peace-lover and very easy to get along with. For a lot of years, he went about being happy and didn't really say too much to me while I acted badly. I believe God gave him extra patience with me because He knew the hurt I had in my life. Sometimes God calls us to put up with some things for a while, while we are praying and waiting on Him. To be honest, if Dave had confronted me in the first month we were married I would have just left him because I didn't know any better. So there was a purpose in God not asking him to confront me right away. But you need to confront when God tells you to.

After a few years, God showed Dave it was time to confront me. Dave explained to me, “God has dealt with me that I can no longer let you get by with talking to me the way you do and acting the way you do. You're not going to get everything your way, and things must change.” And they did. It took time, but little by little, I changed.

I was very angry when Dave confronted me. But by then I was loved by Jesus enough and I knew enough of His Word to know that Dave was right—I knew that my behavior was wrong—but if he would have never confronted me, even though I knew that it was wrong, I don't know if I would have ever changed. So sometimes you are not doing somebody else a favor by not confronting them. It was the right thing for Dave to do for me. And even though I didn't like it and I got mad, Dave was right to listen to God. And we are doing the work we do today because of it.

Trust in Him: Confrontation is usually not easy for the one doing the confronting, or the one being confronted, but it is an important part of spiritual growth. Follow God's lead and confront when He shows you it is time, and do it in love!

2 Corinthians 10:5
casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,

Have you ever felt condemned because of the bad thoughts you have had? You could be in the middle of a prayer meeting when suddenly a dirty thought enters your mind. Actually, it is the devil who puts such thoughts in your mind. Then, he steps back, looks at you and knocks you on your head, saying, “How can you call yourself a Christian and still think such thoughts?”

I used to be in bondage over the bad thoughts I had because I felt that I had to confess every one of them and seek God’s forgiveness. But that is not what God’s Word exhorts us to do. You see, God wants us to bring “every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ”. Now, whose obedience are we to focus on? Christ’s obedience and not our own obedience!

But what is “the obedience of Christ”? It is His obedience at the cross, where “by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous”. (Romans 5:19) Jesus shed His blood for us at the cross. This means that when our thoughts condemn us, we are to focus our thoughts on Jesus’ obedience at the cross.

My friend, the devil can only make inroads into our minds when he gets us to focus on our obedience instead of Christ’s obedience. His strategy is to point us to our obedience or the lack of it to determine our standing before God. But just as our position as sinners is not based on what we do, but what the first Adam did, in the same way, we are forever righteous today not because of what we do, but because of what Christ, the last Adam, did on the cross.

So the next time your thoughts seem to condemn you, say, “I am righteous whether I have good or bad thoughts. My righteousness has nothing to do with my obedience. Jesus’ obedience at the cross made me righteous.” Then, go ahead and pray, knowing that you have access to God and His favor, and that He hears the prayer of the righteous. (Proverbs 15:29)

Thought For The Day
The devil’s strategy is to point us to our obedience or the lack of it to determine our standing before God.

“Then [Nehemiah] said, ‘O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps his covenant of unfailing love with those who love him and obey his commands, listen to my prayer! … I confess that we have sinned against you. … Please remember what you told your servant Moses: ‘If you are unfaithful to me,

I will scatter you among the nations. But if you return to me and obey my commands and live by them, then even if you are exiled to the ends of the earth, I will bring you back to the place I have chosen for my name to be honored.’ … Please grant me success today by making the king favorable to me. Put it into his heart to be kind to me.” (Nehemiah 1:5-11 NLT)

Here are four secrets to answered prayer from the life of Nehemiah:

Base your request on God’s character. Pray like you know God will answer you: "I’m expecting you to answer this prayer because of who you are. You are a faithful God. You are a great God. You are a loving God. You are a wonderful God. You can handle this problem, God!"

Confess the sins of which you’re aware. After Nehemiah based his prayer on who God is, he confessed his sins. It wasn’t Nehemiah’s fault that Israel went into captivity. He wasn’t even born when it happened; he was most likely born in captivity. Yet, he’s including himself in the national sins. He says, "I’ve been a part of the problem.”

Claim the promises of God. Nehemiah prays to the Lord, saying, "I want you to remember what you told your servant Moses." Can you imagine saying "remember" to God? Nehemiah reminds God of a promise he made to the nation of Israel. In effect, he prays, “God, you warned through Moses that if we were unfaithful, we would lose the land of Israel. But you also promised that if we repent, you’d give it back to us.”

Does God have to be reminded? No. Does he forget what he’s promised? No. Then why do we do this? Because it helps us remember what God has promised.

Be very specific in what you ask for. If you want specific answers to prayer, then make specific requests. If your prayers consist of general requests, how will you know if they’re answered?

Nehemiah is not hesitant to pray for success. He’s very bold in his praying. Have you ever prayed, "Lord, make me successful?” If you haven’t, why haven’t you? What is the alternative — a failure?

Is it okay to ask God to make you successful? It all depends on your definition of success! I believe a good definition of success is this: "fulfilling God’s purpose for my life in faith, love, and the power of the Holy Spirit and expecting the results from God.” That is a worthy life objective that you can pray for with confidence.

PLAY today’s audio teaching from Pastor Rick >>

Talk About It

Consider this: If you can’t ask God to make you a success at what you’re doing, you should be doing something else. God doesn’t want you to waste your life.

What are the promises of God that you need to claim today?

Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? God forbid.

Romans 3:3-4

Faith-filled words. That's what changes things. They'll move mountains into the sea. They'll turn sickness into health. They'll turn a sinner into a saint.

They'll also take a sin-ridden nation and turn it into God's own country. That's right. Then, if we believers would back up the prayers we've been praying for this nation with words of faith instead of doubt and discouragement, we'd soon begin to see spiritual resurrection in the United States.

God promised us that if we, His people, would humble ourselves and pray and seek His face and turn from our wicked ways, He would heal our land. And let me tell you, there are prayer warriors all over this country (I hope you're one of them) who are doing what that promise requires.

But, even so, you don't hear many people saying, "This is great! God is healing the land." You don't hear people speaking out by faith the promise of God. Instead, you hear them saying, "Oh my, oh my, did you hear what those terrorists are doing?" or some other destructive thing they've seen on television.

Listen, we need to stop preaching what the terrorists are doing and start telling what God is doing! God said He is healing this land.

We must start speaking about this country by faith instead of going around spouting bad news all the time. Of course, that will sound odd to most people. Some of them may even think we've slipped a few cogs. But that's nothing new.

Let me tell you something: One handful of believers who are listening to, trusting in, and speaking out the good news of God are more powerful than all the devils on earth. One handful of believers is more powerful than a whole army of unbelieving doomsayers. The unbelief of the doomsayers will not make the faith of God of no effect!

That's why over the last 25 years, Gloria and I have learned to turn a deaf ear to the bad news and just start praising and thanking God for His deliverance. Every word of praise we speak releases faith in our heart.

Get determined with Gloria and me right now. Take a firm stand with us that things are changing in this country. Settle it in your heart as you pray. Speak it out. Call it forth. God is healing the land!



Scripture Reading:
Nehemiah 6:1-16

Beloved. You are My offspring, born again by the Spirit of God. I have wrapped you in My Robe of Righteousness. You wear My garments of salvation. The Blood of the Lamb makes you worthy, Dear One. You are now Mine. You are a beloved Child of the King. The world is not your home, Beloved. Though you are in the world, you are not of it. You no longer are part of the muck and mire. I reached down with My own Arm and drew you out of the pit. I took your hand in Mine and pulled you unto Myself. You are not a "nobody." I have chosen you as My own. Yes, you are a "whosoever".

Whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. It is NOT hopeless, My Love. I am your Hope, the One who is the Anchor of your soul. I am He who is called Faithful and True. I have loved you with an everlasting love. A love that does not give up. A love that never fails. I am Abba Father. I uphold you by your right hand and say to you, "Fear not, I am your Helper." I have raised you up to sit with Me at the Right Hand of Majesty. I have crowned you with glory and honor. My thoughts of you are infinite, greater than the sands of all the earth. Now rise up from your place of tears, Little One. I shall dry your tears with My own Hand. Be in peace, Beloved, for I will always sustain you.

You are the offspring whom I have blessed. You have been born by Me and I have carried you from the womb. Even to your old age I am He who carries you, I have made you and I will bear you forever. My peace I give unto you. Rest in My Everlasting Arms.

Isaiah 61:10I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, My soul will exult in my God; For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

Isaiah 59:16And He saw that there was no man, And was astonished that there was no one to intercede; Then His own arm brought salvation to Him, And His righteousness upheld Him.

Revelation 19:10 for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.11And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He doth judge and make war. 12His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns; and He had a name written, that no man knew, but He Himself. 13And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and His name is called The Word of God. 14And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.

For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
Hebrews 12:6-7

There's a terrible misunderstanding among believers today about God's method of disciplining His children. They'll point to some kind of disaster—a tornado or a car accident—and say, "I guess God sent that catastrophe to teach us something."

No, He didn't! A loving God doesn't send death and destruction on His children to instruct them. He doesn't unleash His bad dog to bite us on the leg, so we'll learn to wear our boots!

How does He chastise His own? With His Word.

Second Timothy 3:16-17 says, "Every Scripture is God-breathed (given by His inspiration) and profitable for instruction, for reproof and conviction of sin, for correction of error and discipline in obedience, [and] for training in righteousness, (in holy living, in conformity to God's will in thought, purpose and action), so that the man of God may be complete and proficient, well fitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work" (The Amplified Bible).

If you'll look in 2 Corinthians 7, you'll see an example of this. There the Apostle Paul talks about a situation in the Corinthian church that needed correction. That church had gotten out of line and had to be disciplined.

How did Paul do it? Not by asking God to send an earthquake to shake them up! He did it by writing them a letter. He wrote them a word of reproof that hurt so badly they would have preferred being beaten with a stick. It cut deep into their spirits and brought them to repentance.

Your heavenly Father loves you and because He does, He will chasten you. But He'll do it with spiritual, not fleshly tools. He'll use the spirit-power in His Word to chasten unbelief and purify your spirit in such a way that you'll come out strong, not weak and condemned.

So quit bowing down to disasters and start subjecting yourself instead to the Word of God. Yield to the Word. Let it correct you and trim away the flesh and the lusts that lead you astray. Remember, the sword of the Spirit is two-edged—one side is for Satan and the other side is for you. Let God use it to keep you in line!


Scripture Reading:
2 Corinthians 7

Memorise: 
Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you. James 5:6

Read: Amos 8:4-10, (KJV) 
4 Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail,
5 Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit?
6 That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat?
7 The Lord hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works.
8 Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein? and it shall rise up wholly as a flood; and it shall be cast out and drowned, as by the flood of Egypt.
9 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day:
10 And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day.


Bible in one year: 
Acts 20:17-22:21,
Song of Solomon 5:10-6:9

Message:
Injustice has been in existence with mankind since the fall. The unfortunate thing is that God hates injustice because He is the God of justice and equity. In our Bible reading for today and in several others verses of the Bible, we see that God vehemently abhors injustice. This injustice is all-inclusive, because it is found among traders through false measure, the employers of labours who do not pay the correct wages or delay it unnecessarily and the employees who cheat on their employers by not putting up their best for the wages they earn. James 5:4 says:
“Behold the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which are of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.”
It is injustice when an employer keeps the wages of the labourers unpaid or holds back some of the wages meant for the workers. God says He will not take it lightly with whoever is guilty of this act. In the same vein, when an employee uses the time meant for his employer to do something else, it is injustice. This is why many employees do not have anything tangible to show for the wages they earn. When a man works for fifteen days put together in a month and he is given a salary of thirty days worth, at the end of the month, the value of what he will use the money for will not be more than his actual wage for fifteen days. Many traders are fond of using false measures to sell their merchandise. Only ignorance makes people indulge in such practices, because the God of justice will always bring judgement upon such businesses.
“Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgement, in meteyard, in weight, or in measure. Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall ye have: I am the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt.”
Leviticus 19:35-36

The consequence of the above injustice is written in our text for today:
“The Lord hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works… And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day.”
Amos 8:7, 10

Beloved, beware of injustice of any kind so that you are not found guilty of practicing that which the Lord hates. The Bible says:
“Divers weights are an abomination unto the Lord; and a false balance is not good.”
Proverbs 20:23

Action Point
Examine your life; if you are in any way indulging in injustice, repent today and restitute your ways.


Open Heavens written by Pastor E.A Adeboye