Topic: Obey Him in the Little Things [Thursday November 23, 2017]

He who is faithful in a very little [thing] is faithful also in much. – Luke 16:10, The Amplified Bible

Have you ever wanted to take on some really big project in the kingdom of God, but the Lord just wouldn’t seem to let you? If so, there’s probably a good reason why.

You can see what I’m talking about if you’ll read about what God did with the children of Israel after He brought them out of Egypt. He wanted to take them on into the Promised Land. But before He could do it, God had to know if they would obey Him. He had to know if they would listen to His voice. Because if they didn’t, the enemies they were about to face would wipe them out.

So, do you know what He did? He tested them in a small matter.

Exodus 16:4 tells us about this simple test. “Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or not.”

God took a little, insignificant matter—the food they ate—and used it to see if they would listen to Him or not. He told them how much of it to gather, when to gather and when not to, and what to do with it after they brought it in.

And the Israelites went right out and violated those instructions. They showed God by their actions that His voice was not important to them. They were not willing to obey even His simplest commands.

God works the same way today. Before He sends you on a major mission, He gives you the opportunity to prove you can be trusted with small instructions.

But many of us miss that opportunity. We pray, What do You want me to do, Lord? Where do You want me to go? I’ll do anything You say. But then when the Lord says, I want you to get up and pray in the Spirit one hour every morning, we fail to obey Him. We say, “Oh yeah, that would be good. I ought to do that.” But somehow we never quite get around to it.

Don’t make that mistake. Start today obeying God in the little things. Let Him see that He can trust you out there in a place of much authority. Let Him know you’ll be faithful to His words and to the voice of His Spirit. Once He knows you won’t let disobedience wipe you out, He’ll start sending bigger assignments your way.

Scripture Reading: Exodus 16:1-28

This message was written by Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, the leader of the Kenneth Copeland Ministries (www.KCM.org) that specializes in teaching principles of bible faith – prayer, healing, salvation and other biblical topics.

Topic: Harvest and Thanksgiving— Thursday November 23, 2017.

Read: Genesis 8:15–9:3, Bible in a Year: Ezekiel 20–21; James 5

Celebrate the Festival of Harvest with the firstfruits of the crops you sow in your field. Exodus 23:16

Several thousand years ago, God spoke directly to Moses and instituted a new festival for His people. In Exodus 23:16, according to Moses’s record, God said, “Celebrate the Festival of Harvest with the firstfruits of the crops you sow in your field.”

Today countries around the world do something similar by celebrating the land’s bounty. In Ghana, the people celebrate the Yam Festival as a harvest event. In Brazil, Dia de Acao de Gracas is a time to be grateful for the crops that yielded their food. In China, there is the Mid-Autumn (Moon) Festival. In the United States and Canada: Thanksgiving.

To understand the fitting goal of a harvest celebration, we visit Noah right after the flood. God reminded Noah and his family—and us—of His provision for our flourishing existence on the earth. Earth would have seasons, daylight and darkness and “seedtime and harvest” (Gen. 8:22). Our gratitude for the harvest, which sustains us, goes to God alone.

No matter where you live or how you celebrate your land’s bounty, take time today to express gratitude to God—for we would have no harvest to celebrate without His grand creative design.

Prayer: Dear Creator God, thank You so much for the wondrous way You fashioned this world—with seasons, with harvest-time, with everything we need to exist. Please accept our gratitude.

Gratitude is the memory of a glad heart.

This message was written By Dave Branon [Our Daily Bread Ministries.]

Topic — Preparation: Key To Manifestation [Thursday November 23, 2017]

Scripture: Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon: and he shaved himself, and changed his raiment, and came in unto Pharaoh. Genesis 41:14

Thought For The Day: Never get ready, always live ready: Do it now, delay means decay.

Preparation is the act of getting ready or prepared. It precedes the readiness of something for use or the engagement of one in an endeavour.

Preparation is the platform for the manifestations of life’s opportunities; preparation is key to manifestation in life. The truth is that the future you are not prepared for can never profit you.

The challenge today is that most people wait for opportunity to arrive before they get ready or prepared. To wait for opportunity to arrive before getting prepared is to wait for waste; it is a waste of waiting time. Frustration is unavoidable in such a situation.

To wait until opportunities arrive before getting prepared is like a police officer who starts loading his rifle with bullets at the sight of armed robbers – death is imminent. No one waits till rainy season or when it is raining before roofing his house It was Smith Wigglesworth who said, ‘Never get ready, always live ready’.

Do it now, delay means decay; if you delay it, you decay it. The best time to do what is in your heart was yesterday.

I prophesy to you the spirit of urgency and the grace to do it on time. Receive the wisdom, consciousness and ability to prepare for opportunity before it arrives, in Jesus’ Name.

Remember This: Never get ready, always live ready: Do it now, delay means decay.

Assignments:

1. Discard procrastination from your life.

2. Live ready. Live prepared

Prayer: O LORD, deliver me from every trace of procrastination. Help me to live ready daily, LORD, in Jesus’ Name.

FOR FURTHER UNDERSTANDING, GET THIS MESSAGE: WISDOM FROM THE LIFE OF JOSEPH

Quote: You cannot kill a man today who sees tomorrow; you cannot bury a man in the immediate whose focus is on the ultimate. Culled from 15 KINGDOM STRATEGIES FOR SURVIVAL by Dr Paul Enenche

Daily Reading: Ezekiel 45:13 to 46:24, 1 Peter 1:13 to 2:10, Psalm 119:33 to 48, Proverbs 28:11

Amazing Fact: Some palm trees can live for more than a century (100 years).

Today In History: 23/11/2005, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, elected president of Liberia, was the first woman to lead an African country.

Today’s devotional was written by Pastor Paul Enenche of the Dunamis International Gospel Centre (DIGC), headquartered at Abuja, Nigeria, with Pastor Paul and Becky Enenche, as the Senior Pastors. It is a power-packed arena where God’s Presence, Principles and Power are at work for the salvation, healing and restoration of human destinies and dignities.

Topic: Your ‘Gold’ At His Feet — Thursday November 23, 2017.

Text: Luke 19:28-35

Key Verse: “And as they were loosing the colt, the owners thereof said unto them, Why loose ye the colt? And they said, The Lord hath need of him” (Luke 19:33,34).

Alexander MacLaren in one of his comments said: “Christ comes to us in like fashion, and brushes aside all our convenient excuses. He says, ‘I want you, and that is enough”. The Creator of the universe needs us and desires to fit us into His eternal design! Though all-powerful and not dependent on any creature, He has chosen to carry out His plans through lowly human instruments just as He chose a donkey to serve as His royal vehicle.

In our reading today, we see Jesus come to the last, critical week before His crucifixion. He carefully and deliberately sends His disciples to make arrangements for His arrival into Jerusalem. Jesus had been to Jerusalem at least half a dozen times before now; but there was something very special about this particular journey on a colt. It was important that it wasn’t a horse, because that would send the message that Jesus was a man of war. For much of His ministry, Jesus did everything He could to discourage people from publicly celebrating Him as Messiah. But on this day, Jesus was going to be praised and adored as Messiah. “The whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice”.

On this Charles Spurgeon remarked: “And yet, I suppose, those disciples had their trials as we have ours. There might have been a sick wife at home, or a child withering with disease.” Yet they all praised Him for the mighty works He did in their lives and those of other people. They praised Jesus with whatever they had, using simple things like palm branches (John 12:13). You may feel you do not have a great voice, heart or life but use it to praise Him with it. The Lord has need of it. It does not matter what your reputation is; the Lord has need of you. Like this colt, take courage and break loose from what has bound you because God has need of you!

Thought for the day: Little is much when God is in it.

Bible Reading in one Year: Ezekiel 25-28

DCLM Daily Manna was written by Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi; is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church situated at KM 42 on the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Nigeria.