1. MEMORISE: And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite. Proverbs 23:2

READ: Ecclesiastes 10:16 -17

16 Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and thy princes eat in the morning!

17 Blessed art thou, O land, when thy king is the son of nobles, and thy princes eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness!

MESSAGE

It may surprise you that food can also be a destiny destroyer.

Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things. (Philippians 3:19)

Some people have turned food to their God. Such persons are so mindful of food that it is the most important thing to them. There are many Christians who cannot go one day without food. If food controls you, then it is your God and it can destroy you.

Esau was one man who food controlled. He was so controlled by food that he sold his birthright for a plate of porridge. Jacob on the other hand was willing to stay without the porridge he had cooked in order to get something valuable for the fulfilment of his destiny (Genesis 25:29-34). If you check that Scripture closely, you will see that Jacob even added bread to the porridge he gave to Esau. He knew that the moment was a destiny-defining one, so he declare a fast for himself. Because of that seemingly simple transaction, Esau lost the blessing of his father, and missed the chance to have the Israelites as his children. You may not know it, but sometimes when God ask you to fast, it is because He want to give a destiny-fulfilling encounter.

The primary purpose of food is just to give you strength. You are to eat to live, not live to eat. The Bible says that there is a due season to eat (Psalm 145:15). In other words, there are seasons when you should not be eating at all – when you should be fasting.
Do you have such seasons planned into your year? Apostle Paul said he fasted often (2 Corinthians 11:27). Your fasting must be often. I have heard some preachers say that Jesus had already fasted for us when He was on earth so we don’t need to fast again. That is a big lie; read the Bible for yourself. Jesus said in Mark 2:19 that after His ascension, His disciples would fast. He has ascended, so we must fast. Don’t let food rob you of your God-ordained destiny.

PRAYER POINT

Father, please help me to control my appetite. Give me the grace to fast.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 1King 13-15

AUTHOR: PASTOR E. A ADEBOYE

HYMN 7: I AM THINE O LORD

1. I am Thine O Lord
I have heard Thy voice
And it told Thy love to me
But I long to rise in the arms of faith
And be closer drawn to Thee.

CHORUS:
Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord,
To the cross where Thou hast died;
Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed Lord
To Thy precious, bleeding side.

2. Consecrate me now to Thy service, Lord
By the pow’r of grace divine
Let my soul look up with a steadfast hope
And my will be lost in Thine.

3. Oh, the pure delight of a single hour
That before Thy throne I spend
When I kneel in prayer, and with Thee, my God
I commune as friend with friend.

4. There are depths of love that I cannot know
Till I cross the narrow sea
There are heights of joy that I may not reach
Till I rest in peace with Thee.

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MEMORISE: This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. Galatians 5:16

READ: Galatians 5:16 – 17

16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

MESSAGE

Sexual lust has destroyed and is still destroying the destinies of many. I know there are people who will tell you that even if you fool around sexually, you will still make it to heaven. Don’t let them send you to hell with their false doctrine. (1 Corinthians 3:17) says, “If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are’.

You think adultery or fornication is something to be toyed with? In Numbers 31:1-16, the people of Israel were indestructible because God was solidly behind them, but then the enemy decided to send beautiful ladies into their camp and the people of Israel began to fornicate. After that, the enemy did not need to do anything: it was God Himself who started destroying them. If you are lusting after someone you’re not married to, you had better save your destiny by staying away from such a person because that is the strategy of the devil to destroy you. There are many people suffering all manners of plagues because of fornication and adultery. Don’t be one of them.

If you are old enough for marriage, pray for God’s direction and go through the Church when you want to start courtship with whomever God has led you to. You may say that is ‘old-school’ mentality, but that is what has kept some of us standing and on the right path of destiny for many decades. It is better to be old-school than to be destroyed. Let the Church be involved in your courtship and make sure that you and your spouse-to-be never meet in private places where you can commit sin.

There are many people who set themselves up to fall into fornication by being too close to the opposite sex or staying alone in private places with them. Once you notice that you are beginning to lust after someone, declare a fast immediately to kill that lust in your flesh. Lust thrives in secrecy, don’t cover it up.

Beloved, don’t engage in fornication or adultery; don’t defile the temple of God. If you do, you are calling for judgment on yourself.

PRAYER POINT

Father, please put an end to every form of lust in my life in Jesus name.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 1King 10-12

AUTHOR: PASTOR E. A ADEBOYE

HYMN 23: TAKE MY LIFE AND LET IT BE

1. Take my life and let it
Consecrated Lord to Thee
Take my moment and my days
Let them flow ceaseless praise.

2. Take my hands and let them move
At the impulse of Thy love
Take my feet and let them be
Swift and beautiful for thee

3. Take my voice and let me sing
Always only for my king;
Take my lips and let them be
Filled with messages from Thee.

4. Take my sliver and my gold
Not a mite would I withhold
Take my intellect, and use
Every power as thou shalt choose.

5. Take my will and make it Thine,
It shall no longer mine:
Take my heart, it is Thine own;
It shall be Thy royal throne,

6. Take my love, my Lord, I pour
At Thy feet its treasure store;
Take myself, and I will be
Ever, only, all for thee.

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MEMORISE:
Mark 16:15 “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”

READ: Luke 4:13-20, Isaiah 61:1-3

13 And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.

14 And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath day.

15 The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering?

16 And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?

17 And when he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed: and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.

18 Then said he, Unto what is the kingdom of God like? and whereunto shall I resemble it?

19 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and cast into his garden; and it grew, and waxed a great tree; and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it.

20 And again he said, Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God?

Isaiah 61:1 -3
1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;

3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.

MESSAGE

In Luke 4:13-20, Jesus read from Scripture the reason He came to the earth as prophesied in Isaiah 61:1-3. There is however, one surprising thing in that Scripture: He started reading the prophecy of Isaiah about His ministry from the beginning, but when He got to the part that says ‘to preach the acceptable year of the Lord’, He stopped and closed the book. That was not all that Isaiah said; there was more, but in announcing the assignment that He had come to do on earth, Jesus stopped halfway. There must have been a reason for this. We see that reason in Acts1:8:

“But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”

Jesus came to the world, lived and died, then sent us the Holy Spirit so that we can continue from where He stopped. The first part of His assignment was fulfilled while He was on earth; the rest, as prophesied by Prophet Isaiah, is to be fulfilled through us His children after we have received the Holy Ghost.

Jesus saved you so that He can use you to save others. The question is: are you a ready vessel or not? As you celebrate Easter, don’t forget the assignment the Lord gave to you after He rose from death (Matthew 28:19-20).

Does Christ truly have you as a vessel to fulfil His will? Apostle Paul was a man who stopped at nothing to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. Easter is not a time to just eat chicken and stay at home relaxing; it’s a time to go out there and let Jesus use you to save unbelievers. It’s a time to proclaim the day of the vengeance of God and to comfort all those who mourn.

Let Jesus use you to win at least one soul this season. Tell someone about the day of the vengeance of God and don’t let that fellow end up in hell.

ACTION POINT:
Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:
2 Samuel 20-22

AUTHOR: PASTOR E. A. ADEBOYE

HYMN 2: AMAZING GRACE! HOW SWEET THE SOUND

1. Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found
Was blind, but now I see.

2. ‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved.
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed!

3. Through many dangers, toils, and snares,
I have already come.
‘Tis grace that brought me safe thus far, And grace will lead me home.

4. The Lord has promised good to me,
His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures.

5. When we’ve been there ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we’d first begun.

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MEMORISE:
But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
1 Corinthians 9:27

READ: 1 Corinthians 9:24-27

9:24 Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.

9:25 And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.

9:26 I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:

9:27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

MESSAGE

Your biggest enemy is not the devil, neither is it your mother-in-law, witches nor wizards. As a child of God, you know very well that greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world (1 John 4:4). The Bible made it clear that you are more than conquerors through Him that loved you (Romans8:37).

Your number one enemy is yourself. The one who is truly victorious is the one who has conquered himself. When you live according to the dictates of your flesh, you give it permission to destroy you and it is good at doing that.

“He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.”
Proverbs 16:32

Samson took down an entire city single-handedly but could not conquer himself. He was so powerful that cities feared him, but in the lap of a woman, he was the weakest of men. Even a little child knows better than to touch a piece of hot iron that had burned him or her before. In Samson’s case however, he told Delilah a lie about the source of his power and awoke to find that she had used the information against him, yet he did not stay away from her. He told her another lie and she tried to exploit it and failed again, yet he did not stay away. To make matters worse, he told her the truth at last and ended up grinding corn for the same enemies that used to fear him (Judges 16:6-21). You may say Samson was a fool, but what about you? Have you been staying away from those sins that easily beset you?

When a child of God is really fervent, the devil starts searching out his weakness. The moment he finds it, he will try to use it as a weapon for that child of God to destroy himself or herself. That is why you must destroy that weakness before the devil uses it against you. Proverbs 25:28 says, “He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls”. Control yourself so that you would be victorious against the attacks of the devil.

REFLECTION:
Have you conquered yourself?

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:
2 Samuel 14-16

AUTHOR: PASTOR E. A. ADEBOYE

HYMN 23: TAKE MY LIFE, AND LET IT BE

1.Take my life and let it be
Consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
Take my moments and my days,
Let them flow in endless praise,
Let them flow in endless praise.

2.Take my hands and let them move
At the impulse of Thy love.
Take my feet and let them be
Swift and beautiful for Thee,
Swift and beautiful for Thee.

3.Take my voice and let me sing,
Always, only for my King.
Take my lips and let them be
Filled with messages from Thee,
Filled with messages from Thee.

4. Take my silver and my gold,
Not a mite would I withhold.
Take my intellect and use
Every pow’r as Thou shalt choose,
Every pow’r as Thou shalt choose.

5. Take my will and make it Thine,
It shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart, it is Thine own,
It shall be Thy royal throne,
It shall be Thy royal throne.

6. Take my love, my Lord, I pour
At Thy feet its treasure store.
Take myself and I will be
Ever, only, all for Thee,
Ever, only, all for Thee.

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MEMORISE: For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. 1 John 5:7

READ: Hebrews 12:1 -2

1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

MESSAGE

When you read the Letters to the Churches in the book of Revelation, you would realise that everything that we Christians do here on earth is being observed and recorded in heaven – every single thing. There was once a lady who agreed to go with her Pastor to a hotel to commit fornication. Before they went into the room, they looked left and right to be sure that no one could see them going in. After they got inside, the lady become uncomfortable and told the Pastor, “We look left and right to be sure no one was looking at us, but we did not look up; God can see us” 2 Chronicles 16:9 says that God’s eyes are going to and fro all over the earth.

When temptation come your way, God is watching you closely to see if you will fall or not. In fact, God and the devil are watching closely. If you fall, then the devil will go boasting to God that he won over you. God forbid that in Jezus’ name. If however, you overcome the temptation, then God will be the one boasting that you are His child.

In Job 19:25-27, Job said it didn’t matter what was happening, his Redeemer was still alive. God must have said to the devil, “Did you hear that?” That is why you must fight every temptation to ensure that you win at the end of the day.

I didn’t know about you, but l will never let the devil use me as an object to boast before God. Imagine the joy in heaven when Job finally overcame his temptations.

The good thing about God seeing everything we do is that when we do good, He sees it and will reward everyone accordingly. If you have been doing good and it looks like no one is noticing, God can see you and in good time, He will reward you. Galatians 6:9 says,

And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

The moment someone stops doing good and starts sinning, all the good he or she had done in the past will not be accounted for again (Ezekiel 18:24). Beloved, what is God recording about you right now?

KEY POINT

God sees and records everything you do.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 1Samuel 28-31

AUTHOR: PASTOR E. A ADEBOYE

HYMN 9: IMMORTAL, INVISIBLE GOD ONLY WISE

1. Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes
Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of days,
Almighty, victorious, Thy great name we praise.

2. Unresting, unhasting, and silent as light,
Nor wanting, nor wasting, thou rulest in might!
Thy justice like mountains high soaring above,
Thy cloud which are fountains of goodness and love.

3. To all life thou givest to both great and small;
In all life Thou livest, the true life of all;
We blossom and flourish as leaves on the tree,
And wither and perish but nought changeth Thee.

4. Great Father of Glory, pure Father of Light,
Thine angels adore Thee, all veiling their sight;
All laud we would render; O help us to see;
‘Tis only the splendour of light hideth Thee.

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MEMORISE: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1

READ: John 1:1 -10

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2 The same was in the beginning with God.

3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.

8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.

9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

MESSAGE

The simple statement, “In the beginning was the Word…” is pregnant with many meanings. One of those meanings is that before anything that exists now ever existed, the Word was already existing. In other words, He saw the beginning of everything else since all things were made by Him (John 1:3).

The day you dedicate your new house, that is the beginning of your dwelling in that house, but the day you laid the foundation of the house was also another beginning. When the architect began to draw the plan of the house was another beginning while the day you – the Landlord – conceived the idea to build a house was also another beginning all together.

Humanly speaking, the day your Father and mother met together to produce you is another beginning of the house, because if you were not born, you would not have thought of building that house. Jeremiah 1:4-5 says that before God formed you, He knew you. Thus that house of yours started in the mind of God long before you were born. God had in His plan a house that you were going to build even before you were born. Thus, no matter what it is that exists, it has its root in God. This is good news for children of God because since He was in the beginning of everything and everything was made by Him, then everything is controlled by Him – The Word. Therefore, when you simply speak the word of God into any situation, you gain control over it.

Before the mountains were brought forth, He has been God (Psalm 90:1-2). This is why Mark 11:22-24 says that if you have faith, you can speak to any mountain and it will move. For example, if the mountain of sickness wants to bring you down, you uproot it with the word of God in Isaiah 53:5 that by Jesus’ stripes you are healed. If it is the mountain of failure, then you uproot it with the word in Deuteronomy 28:13 that says you shall be the head and not the tail. If it is the mountain of poverty threatening you, then you tell it the word in 2 Corinthians 8:9 thatJesus was made poor that you may be rich. The Word will grant you all-round victory in Jesus’ name.

ACTION POINT

Search out what the word says about that mountain in your path and begin to declare it in faith.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 1Samuel 19-21

AUTHOR: PASTOR E. A ADEBOYE

HYMN 6: I AM SO GLAD THAT OUR FATHER IN HEAV’N

1. I am so glad that our Father in heaven
Tell of His love in the book He has given;
Wonderful things in the Bible I see;
This is the dearest, that Jesus loves me.

REFRAIN:
I am so glad that Jesus loves me,
Jesus loves me, Jesus loves me,
I am so glad that Jesus loves me,
Jesus loves even me.

2. Jesus loves me and I know I love Him;
Love brought Him down my lost soul to redeem;
Yes, it was love made Him die on the tree:
Oh, I am certain that Jesus love me.

3. In this assurance I find sweetest rest,
Trusting in Jesus I know I am blessed;
Satan, dismayed from my soul doth now flee,
When I just tell him that Jesus loves me.

4. Oh, if there’s only one song I can sing,
When in His beauty I see the great King,
This shall my song in eternity be,
“Oh, what a wonder that Jesus loves me!”

5. If one should ask of me, how can I tell?
Glory to Jesus, I know very well!
God’s Holy Spirit with mine doth agree,
Constantly witnessing Jesus loves me.

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