Topic: The Enemy of Destiny Called Indiscipline [Friday March 17, 2017]

Scripture: Look carefully then how you walk! Live purposefully and worthily and accurately, not as the unwise and witless, but as wise (sensible, intelligent people). Ephesians 5:15 (AMP)

Thought For The Day: There can be no destiny without discipline.

God’s Plan for our lives is to live purposefully and accurately. God never created anybody to be wasted or irrelevant. However, there are enemies that render people’s destinies useless on earth and in eternity.

One of these enemies is the life of indiscipline or lack of self-control. Esau sold his birth-right to his younger brother, Jacob for food. He could not control his appetite and so, he ruined his destiny (Genesis 25:34).

There can be no destiny without discipline. If you cannot control yourself, you can never control your destiny; until you can change something inside you, there is nothing you can change. There are people who are trying to change the world without knowing that they first have to change themselves.

Self-control is a product of mind control (Proverbs 4:23). If you cannot control what enters your mind, you cannot control what flows through your life and destiny. When the flesh rules your life, your future is not guaranteed.

Beloved, you must learn to say “No” to the flesh. Surrender yourself absolutely to the control of the Holy Spirit.

Remember this: There can be no destiny without discipline.

Assignments:

1. Desist from wrong associations. Surround yourself with positive and disciplined people.

2. Be disciplined in the study of the Bible, praying and fasting.

Prayer: O Lord, I ask for grace to be disciplined in my walk with You. I say No to the flesh and its works, Lord, in Jesus’ Name.

FOR FURTHER UNDERSTANDING, GET THIS MESSAGE: DEADLY ENEMIES OF DESTINY.

Quote: The quality of your character is determined by the quality of your company. If you move with quality people, you cannot be a low quality person. WHO ARE YOU? by Dr Paul Enenche.

Daily Reading: Numbers 26:1 to 51, Luke 2:36 to 52, Psalm 60:1 to 12, Proverbs 11:15

Today In History: 17/03/1845 – The rubber band was invented.

Amazing Fact: A blue whale can eat as much as 3 tons of food every day, but at the same time can live without food for six months.

Dunamis International Gospel Centre (DIGC), is a powerfully anointed church, headquartered at Abuja, Nigeria, with Dr Paul and Dr 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.

A Promise For You From Bible Promises:

Topic: Reliable God [17/03/2017]

Thus the children of Israel were brought under at that time, and the children of Judah prevailed, because they relied upon the LORD God of their fathers. 2 Chronicles 13:18. Read: 2 Chro 13:1-18

As times and seasons change, men also change, hence, the Bible says in Pro 25:19, “Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth, and a foot out of joint”. At any point in time, only God Almighty can be reliable. To be reliable is to be trusted. Psalms 125:1 “They that trust in the LORD shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever”. To be Victorious in the battles of life is to rely on God Almighty. Only those that rely on God are entitled to triumph over the circumstances of life sweatlessly. You can’t be victorious in life by simply depending on your limited strength or on mere mortal who cannot help him/herself.

Here is a battle array between a divided kingdom of David; Jeroboam king of Israel and Abijah king of Judah. Jeroboam came against Abijah with eight hundred thousand chosen men while Abijah came with four hundred thousand chosen men. Jeroboam was smitten and lost the battle to Abijah king of Judah. One lesson to learn here is that, the battle of life is not determined by multitude or how much you possess but who you rely on. It’s determined by who your ally is. Abijah and his men prevailed because they relied upon the LORD God of their fathers.

#BiblePromisesThought

* The battle of life is not determined by multitude or how much you possess but who you rely on.

There aren’t many things in this world as precious and as refreshing as water.

However, despite this, a good number of people deprive themselves of the many benefits of water by not drinking enough on daily basis.

This damages their bodies in ways they might not even realise.

Here are 9 signs to help identify when you are not drinking enough water.

Dry mouth

If your mouth is always dry, it’s a clear sign you might not be drinking enough water. However, there are certain medications that cause dry mouth. In this case, the dry mouth might be a side effect of the drug and not caused by dehydration.

Headaches

If you are experiencing slight headaches, check yourself. Assess your water consumption in the past hours and determine if it has been less than adequate. Dehydration may be the cause of the slight headaches. A glass of water, preferably cold but not too cold, may help get rid of that headache.

Reduced urination and dark-coloured urine

If in a day, you rarely have to pee, it is likely you are dehydrated. Also, when you eventually pee, if your urine is dark yellow or worse, dark brown, it is a sign you are probably dehydrated and need to drink more water.

Slight hunger pangs

Slight hunger pangs especially after just eating not too long ago may be caused by dehydration. Before grabbing a snack, try drinking a glass of water. If the hunger pangs recede, then chances are you were actually thirsty not hungry.

Drowsiness

This can be caused by many things but one of the causes is dehydration. In a bid to conserve the water in your body, your body slows down; this leads to lethargy and overall sleepiness. A cool glass of water can help perk your body up and give it what it needs to remain active.

Dry skin

Dry skin is one of the early signs of dehydration. If your skin always feels flaky and dry, and you seem to always have to apply lotion or lip balm to moisturise your skin when the weather is relatively humid, you could be dehydrated. This is also accompanied by lack of sweat, which leads to the body’s inability to wash away excess dirt and oil accumulated during the day.

Dry eyes

Without water in the body, your tear ducts dry up, a lack of or inadequate water in the body thus leads to dry bloodshot eyes. If you always experience dry eyes, a likely cause of this is dehydration.

Digestive problems

Without proper hydration, the amount and strength of mucus in the stomach tend to reduce. This allows stomach acid to eventually damage your insides, leading to heartburn and indigestion.

Constipation

When there isn’t enough water in your body system, the water that should be used by the intestines in the digestive process is used up by the colon. This lack of lubrication in the intestines leads to constipation.

Source: Nigerianeye.com

Topic: After You [Friday March 17, 2017]

Read: Genesis 13:1–18, Bible in a Year: Deuteronomy 30–31; Mark 15:1–25

Is not the whole land before you? Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left. Genesis 13:9

In some cultures a younger person is expected to permit his elder to enter a room first. In others, the most important or highest ranking individual enters first. No matter what our traditions, there are times when we find it difficult to allow someone to choose first on important matters, especially when that privilege rightfully belongs to us.

Abram (later called Abraham) and his nephew Lot had so many flocks, herds, and tents that the land could not support both of them as they traveled together. To avoid conflict, Abram suggested they part company and generously gave Lot first choice of the land. His nephew took the fertile Jordan Valley, leaving Abram with the less desirable land.

Abram did not insist on his rights as the elder in this situation but trusted his future to God. “So Abram said to Lot, ‘Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me . . . . Is not the whole land before you? Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left’ ” (Gen. 13:8–9). Lot’s choice eventually led to dire consequences for his entire family (see Gen. 19).

Today, as we face choices of many kinds, we can trust our Father to guide us in His way. He has promised to care for us. He will always give us what we need.

Prayer: Father, Your unfailing love and faithfulness guide us in every choice we make. May our lives speak well of You and honor You today.

God always gives His best to those who leave the choice with Him.  Jim Elliot

This message was written By David McCasland [Our Daily Bread Ministries.]

Topic: Unclean Made Clean [Friday March 17, 2017]

Text: Leviticus 15:1-18

Key Verse: “Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When any man hath a running issue out of his flesh, because of his issue he is unclean” (Leviticus 15:2).”

Generally, the Mosaic Law spoke of something as “unclean” if it was unfit to be used in worship to God. Being “clean” or “unclean” was a ceremonial designation governing the ritual of corporate worship. For example, there were certain animals, like pigs, considered unclean and therefore not to be used in sacrifices; and there were certain actions, like touching a dead body, that made a living person unclean and temporarily unable to participate in the worship ceremony. In the text, God declared any man with a running issue from his flesh unclean, including his beddings, clothes and the saddle he sits upon.

Whatever and whoever he came in contact with, was to be declared unclean likewise and had to meet certain purification conditions to be clean again. When he is cleansed of his issue, he is to offer the sacrifice of sin offering (Leviticus 15:13-15). This connotes that the unclean had committed sin which brought about his sickness. The suffering and death of Jesus Christ on the Cross was primarily meant to free mankind from the yoke of sin, diseases, sickness and oppression of all kinds. Far beyond the food modern medical sciences offer, God’s word has been proved for centuries to be health to the body: “My son, attend to my word… For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh” (Proverbs 4:20-22).

The healing of diseases and sicknesses forms an integral part of the package from Calvary. Once you know Jesus, you will know good health and vitality because “…the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). The Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke tell how Jesus made “whole” the woman with the issue of blood when she touched the helm of His garment. The unclean was made clean by the touch of Christ. Absolute faith in Christ’s healing power will cleanse you from any form of uncleanness which may be as a result of yoke of sin and make you whole, spiritually and physically.

Thought for the day: The blood of Jesus cleanses all uncleanness.

Bible Reading in one Year: 2 Samuel 9-11

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.

Topic: Start Planting [Friday March 17, 2017]

Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. – 1 Peter 1:23

You won’t really get excited about the Word of God until you realize that it’s more than just a collection of divinely-inspired promises. It’s a living force that literally carries within it the power to make those promises become a reality in your life.

Is it tough for you to believe such a thing is possible?

It shouldn’t be. You see it happen in the natural world all the time.

If I were to put a tomato seed in your hand and tell you that within that tiny, dry seed lies the power to produce a stalk thousands of times bigger than the seed, to produce leaves and roots and round, red tomatoes, you wouldn’t have any trouble believing that, would you? You know from experience that even though that scrawny seed doesn’t look like a tomato factory, somehow, given the right environment, it will become one.

Jesus says the Word of God works by that same principle. There’s miraculous power within it. It is a seed that, once planted by faith in a human heart, will produce more blessings than you can imagine.

Once you grasp that, you’ll get extremely excited about the Word of God. That’s what happened to me.

Over 45 years ago, I caught a glimpse of what that Word could do. I caught a glimpse of the power within it. Before long, I had a Bible in every room of my house, a Bible in my car, and a tape player going nearly all the time.

I spent every possible moment in the Word of God because I wanted the power of that Word inside me more than I wanted anything else in the world. I knew it would blow the limits off my life, limits that had held me back and kept me down for years. I knew that when I read it, I wasn’t just reading, I was planting seeds. Seeds of prosperity, seeds of health, seeds of protection and seeds of victory for every area of my life.

Don’t treat the Word of God like a book. It’s not! It’s spiritual seed that has the supernatural power within it to produce the harvest of a lifetime. Get excited about it and start planting today!

Scripture Reading: Mark 4:23-32

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: Sight for the Blind [Friday March 17, 2017]

. . . one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.— John 9:25

I try to explain to you the joy of following Christ: the thrill, the excitement, the exhilaration—knowing where I’ve come from, why I’m here, where I’m going! There’s a reason for existence. There’s a reason for getting up every morning of the year. I try to tell you what I’ve found in Jesus Christ, and in studying the Scriptures and walking with Him, and you say, “I can’t see that!” Of course, you can’t. You are blind.

Try to explain television to a blind man. He can understand a little of it, but it doesn’t make sense to him. Try to explain a sunset to him. He’s blind to it. The scales must be removed from your eyes, and only Christ can do that. He can remove them right now and you can start living and seeing a whole new world that you never knew existed, if you will let Him open your spiritual eyes.

Prayer for the day: I thank You for that Power that is able to give sight to the spiritually blinded eyes of each person who trusts in You, Lord Jesus.

Written by Billy Graham, Founder of Billy Graham Evangelistic Association(BGEA). BGEA exists to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ by every effective means and to equip the church and others to do the same.

A Promise For You From Bible Promises:

Topic: Earnestly Wait For It [16/03/2017]

For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. Habakkuk 2:3. Read: Heb 10:35-39

Whosoever wants to walk with God and be successful must learn to be patient with Him because you cannot hasten God up to do your bidding, or else, He adds leanness to whatsoever you get from Him. Ps 106:15. The Bible says, He hath made every thing beautiful in his time (Eccl 3:11) and because, His ways are not our ways. Isa 55:9. He knows the exact time to bring whatsoever He has promised to come to pass in your life, so wait for Him patiently. Has God not forgotten me since I have been waiting for so long? No, He has not and will never forget you. He knows you are waiting for Him and He has decided to end your waiting by fulfilling all He has promised you now. Hear what He says in Isa 49:16 “Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me”.

You must earnestly wait for the fulfillment of God’s Promises for your life and until you see it, don’t quit waiting on Him. But you must wait in faith and patience to obtain what He promised you. Through faith and patience, the Bible says you will obtain your Promise from Him as many have done. Don’t abandon what God has promised you because of little delay, wait for it, it will SURELY come to pass. Stay with God and hold on to His promises for your life.

#BiblePromisesDeclaration

* If a man dies, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. Job 14:14

Written by the Editorial Board of The Guardian Newspaper

It is gratifying to note that just when the perception is growing that the Nigerian government has been fighting a few corrupt people without really fighting corruption, the presidency has rightly identified corruption in the civil service as “the nation’s greatest tragedy.”

This declaration by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo was made during the inaugural quarterly civil service lecture series with the theme: “Civil Service in a Change Environment: The Change is Now” at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

The then Acting President had noted that a situation in which civil servants subverted the system for personal gain when majority of the citizens were poor was a tragedy a nation should never endure.

According to him, “the power to do great good or evil lies with a few people who form what we refer to as our civil service. When some of such elite see the opportunity as one for self-enrichment by corrupt practices, then the nation faces a monumental tragedy.
“There is no excuse anywhere in a nation where the majority are still poor and are struggling to make a living that anyone who has the benefit of good education and good fortune of a job in the civil service should subvert that service for personal gains, I think it is the greatest tragedy that a nation can experience.”

Reminding civil servants that they are sometimes “described as evil servants,” Osinbajo urged them to see the service as one of the most important factors in national development.

The reasons for the corrupt civil service, which in turn has given room to ineffective service delivery, are not too far to seek: these are the weak institutional structures, cumbersome administrative procedure, negative attitude of the civil servants to work and individuals’ insatiable appetite for wealth at all costs. Public policy researchers have since discovered that the culture of accountability and ethical behaviour, for which the service was once noted, has been thrown overboard.

The civil servants are part and parcel of the executive arm of government. There is no modern government that does not depend on a virile civil service to make input into the policy making process and the implementation of such policies. By definition, civil servants are permanent government officials. They are embedded in the three arms of government through the extant laws that establish the regulatory frameworks including the federal and state judicial and assembly service commissions. They enjoy continuity of service and are protected by the Public Service Rules (PSR), which specify the conditions for appointment into the Federal Civil Service under PSR 02205 and 02206, and situation under which an officer may leave the service particularly, officers in the pensionable establishment under Section 8 of chapter two of the PSR. These are replicated in the state public services too in Nigeria very convoluted federation.

In recent times, most Nigerians have been worried about the level of corruption and sluggishness in the Nigerian civil service. The rules of the service have been subverted and the service has been given various nasty and dirty names. Just as Vice President Osinbajo noted, civil servants are now being derided as “evil servants.” Two factors responsible for this are psychological and the sociological.

The psychological factors include greed, drive of an individual to exploit, insatiable appetite and crave to have more, and the fear of the unknown. The culture of ethical behaviour and accountability in service is no longer adhered to as different researchers and commentators have noted at different times. The other reason for corruption in the service include weak institutional structures, cumbersome administrative procedure, negative attitudes of the civil servants, non-disclosure of information unless someone pays for it, the destruction of civil service rule of impartiality and political neutrality which obtain in most government establishments. All these have made it easier for the procedure not to be followed.

As some studies have shown, other critical failure factors of the service include non-application of modern techniques of management, absence of performance emphasis, systematic evaluation and lack of emphasis on accountability.

The lack of efficiency and effectiveness in the civil service is built on corruption and has prompted various reforms proposal. One of these attempts to reform the civil service was in March 2004 which came as a result of corruption and inefficiency noticed in the service. According to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, in his address at the service compact retreat in 2004, “Regrettably, Nigerians have for too long been shortchanged by the quality of civil service/public service delivery by which decisions are not made without undue influence and files do not move without being pushed with inducements. Our public offices have too long been shown cases for the combined evils of ineffectiveness, inefficiency and corruption, whilst being impediments to effect implementation of government policies.”

There is no doubt that corruption, whether political or institutional, destroys the socio-economic life of any nation, makes economic planning difficult, if not impossible, stifles implementation of infrastructural project, while it concentrates wealth in the hands of a few individuals. It equally promotes widespread poverty and large scale unemployment, inflation, destruction of efficiency in public institutions, destruction of ethical, moral, religious and domestic values and foster an environment in which unfairness and inequity thrive.

At independence in 1960, when Nigerian leaders took over the civil service, no attempt was made to restructure the civil service to suit the new nation’s own developmental needs; hence the inbuilt corruption in the system has continued till today despite the series of reforms that have taken place by successive regimes in Nigeria.

Several reforms carried out after independence include the Adebo Commission (1971), Udoji Public Service Review Commission of 1974, Dotun Philip Civil Service Reform of 1988, Allison Ayida Committee on Civil Service of 1995, etc. Despite all these reforms the same spirit of inefficiency and corruption has continued unabated.

That is why over the years, policies designed to improve the quality of life for the poor and to spur economic growth have often failed despite reforms.

As a nation, we need to note that a beautifully designed policy that seems to have high benefits may fail in the face of weak institutions that can’t deal with impurities and cankerworms in the system. One response is to urge a crackdown by law enforcement authorities, but that strategy will seldom be sufficient. That is why fighting a few caught officials as Nigeria often does hardly addresses the root of corruption, which is in the civil service. Those seeking to further economic development need to understand the institutional origins of corruption and take them into account in designing polices. Certain policies may simply be unfeasible because they are riddled with incentives for illicit self-dealing.

Others may need to be combined with programmes explicitly designed to reduce the incentives for corruption built into existing institutions. Which is why the presidency is hereby urged to move from rhetoric to action on corruption in the civil service.