Topic: The Spell of Idleness [Seeds of Destiny 20 August 2018 Daily Devotional]

Scripture: Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep; and an idle soul shall suffer hunger. Proverbs 19:15

Thought For The Day: When you refuse to do what you are meant to do, you would do what you are not meant to do.

Idleness is laziness or indolence. It is a state of inaction or inactivity. It refers to a state of being lazy, indolent or inactive. The Scripture makes it clear that indolence, idleness or laziness is a killer of destiny (Proverbs 19:15).

The First Book of Samuel Chapter Eleven gave us an account of David, the king of Israel who tarried at home when kings were meant to go to battle. Thereafter, he was walking on the roof of his house and saw Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah who was bathing; he sent for her and committed adultery with her, and later got her husband killed in battle. What a tragedy!

Idleness is the doorway to unrighteousness. There are young people who have joined gangs of armed robbery or cult groups because of idleness. When you refuse to do what you are meant to do, you would do what you are not meant to do. Idleness brought about some tragic events in the life of David.

Another person that was a victim of laziness and indolence was Reuben, the first born of Jacob who slept with his father’s concubine. Later in the history God’s people, when Deborah led the people of Israel to battle, she called on the tribe of Reuben in Judges 5:15, 16, but the Reubenites were relaxed and undecided due to lack of agility and a sense of responsibility. Their forefather, Reuben transferred generational irrelevance and irresponsibility to them through idleness and iniquity.

The lack of responsibility and the inability to move fast on the part of Reuben was the reason why he, as the eldest son, could not save Joseph but allowed Joseph to be sold into slavery. As the firstborn, when his younger brothers suggested that Joseph should be killed, he should have insisted that Joseph should not be killed. He did not take responsibility, and as a result, Joseph was sold into slavery under his watch.

The tribe of Judah produced the kings; Levi produced the priests, but what about Reuben the first born? He is nowhere to be found due to laziness and lack of responsibility.

My counsel is, cast out the spell of laziness from your life; be responsible; be actively engaged in doing something remarkable.

Remember: When you refuse to do what you are meant to do, you would do what you are not meant to do.

Assignments:
1. Reject the lifestyle of irresponsibility and idleness.
2. Accept responsibility.

Prayer: O Lord, deliver me from the spell of idleness and irresponsibility. I receive the grace to accept responsibility, Lord, in Jesus’ Name.

FOR FURTHER UNDERSTANDING, GET THIS MESSAGE: DEADLY ENEMIES OF DESTINY (PART 4)

Daily Bible Reading: Esther 8:1 to 10:3, 1 Corinthians 12:27 to 13:13, Psalm 37:1 to 11, Proverbs 21:23 to 24

Amazing Fact: Peregrine falcon is the fastest bird in the world.

Today In History: 20/08/1741 – Danish navigator Vitus Jonas Bering discovered Alaska.

Quote: Your stability in life is by the acceptance of responsibility. Culled from 21 FOOLISH THINGS PEOPLE DO by Dr Paul Enenche.

Also Read: Seeds of Destiny by Pastor Paul Enenche

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

Flatimes Notice Board: Until you are born again, God ever abiding presence will never be with you. You must be born again to enjoy continuous victory. Please say the displayed prayer below in faith:

Lord Jesus, come into my life. I accept You as my Lord and Personal Saviour. I believe in my heart You died and rose from the dead to save me. Thank You Lord for saving me, in Jesus name Amen.

If you just prayed the prayer of salvation online please send your testimonies and prayer request to [email protected], 07026385437 OR 08141320204.

Topic: How To Bless God [DCLM Daily Manna 20th August 2018 Daily Devotional]

Text: Psalm 103:1-22 (KJV)

Key Verse: “Bless the LORD, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word. Bless ye the LORD, all ye his hosts; ye ministers of his, that do his pleasure” (Psalm 103:20, 21).

MESSAGE:

Can a man really bless God? Can a creature be able to bless his Creator? David knew everything he had was from God, yet in Psalm 103, he started with a self-exhortation saying, “Bless the LORD, O my soul!”

How can a mortal who is always in need and asks for blessings from God turn around to desire to bless the Giver? In this Psalm, David gave a glimpse. Verses two through to nineteen put together all the numerous physical, spiritual, family, communal and national blessings from God. When we remember these merciful acts of God, we bless His name. Also, the preceeding verses show that when we hear and obey the words of God, do His pleasures and continuously acknowledge His ownership over our lives, we are indeed blessing Him too.

In Prophet Micah’s days, when the Israelites were searching for an acceptable way to bless or please God, he answered them thus: “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God” (Micah 6:8). Later in the New Testament, Jesus Himself gave a blueprint to the Jews when they asked: “What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, this is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent” (John 6:28,29).

Therefore, no one should still be in doubt as to how to bless or please the Lord.

Thought For The Day: God is blessed when we honour His words and live like Jesus.

Bible Reading In One Year: Habakkuk

If you missed yesterday devotional, please click to read “Deeper Christian Life Ministry, DCLM Daily Manna HERE

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.

Flatimes’ Notice Board: Until you are born again, God ever abiding presence will never be with you. You must be born again to enjoy continuous victory. Please say the displayed prayer below in faith:

Lord Jesus, come into my life. I accept You as my Lord and Personal Saviour. I believe in my heart You died and rose from the dead to save me. Thank You Lord for saving me, in Jesus name Amen.

If you just prayed the prayer of salvation online please send your testimonies and prayer request to [email protected], 07026385437 OR 08141320204.

Topic: God Is About To Do Something New [TREM 20 August 2018 Daily Devotional]

“Behold I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 43:19

When we are talking about new things we are not talking about something refurbished or something you used to know. No! We are talking about something that is original! Something that is brand-new. Stop looking around and saying maybe it might be this or that. God will beat your expectation and imagination. We are talking about something that will be appearing for the first time. Something fresh, unfamiliar, unused, different and better. It is a new era.

New thing also means uncontaminated, unfamiliar, unique, unused, virgin and up to date. That will be your portion. When God steps into a situation He goes beyond what we think.

As it is written eyes had not seen nor ear heard, never has it entered the heart of man the things that God had prepared for them that love Him. That’s why we are not prisoners of despair, we are prisoners of hope. We live in hope! We live in confident expectation that somehow it will turn out right. It will not end in despair nor in disappointment.

Beloved, with this in mind, expect what is good always and begin to talk about it. Pretty soon creation will begin to gravitate to bring to you what you are saying. Declare to yourself that “I cannot be defeated I can never lose. Impossible! I can never die because I have passed from death to life. Sickness cannot dwell in my body. I can never be cursed. Who can curse the person who the Father has blessed! I have been redeemed. Even if there is a curse in the life of my parents, the day I received Jesus, I was “re-gened”. I have the gene of God and the gene I have has no curse. The gene I have has no defeat. I have the gene of royalty. How can I fail! For me to fail, it is impossible!”

Further Reading: Isaiah 43:18-21, Romans 8:28-29

Daily Bible Reading: Morning- Psalms 105-106; Evening- 1 Corinthians 3

“If you missed yesterday devotional click HERE to read TREM Daily Devotional by Dr. Mike Okonkwo’’

Written by Dr. Mike Okonkwo; Is the Presiding Bishop of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM); a versatile man of God with over 30 years of dedicated service unto the Lord.

Topic: Marriage is a Covenant [Andrew Wommack 20th August 2018 Daily Devotional]

Matthew 19:9 “And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.”

Text: Matthew 19:7-9

Although adultery denotes one who has unlawful intercourse with the spouse of another, in its much broader term, it means to violate or pollute. Israel violated or polluted their covenant with God. Jeremiah says, “She (Judah) defiled the land, and committed adultery” (Jer. 3:9).

Adultery in relation to marriage also reflects a violation of the covenant of companionship. Sex outside of marriage is adultery because it violates or pollutes the covenant of marriage by introducing another party and bringing that relationship into the marriage. “They two shall be one flesh” (Eph. 5:31).

Divorce also adulterates or pollutes marriage because it disrupts or denies the divorced parties the right to be faithful to their covenant of companionship. Any time one divorces his mate (except for fornication) and marries another, he is guilty of adultery. He has polluted and destroyed a relationship intended by God to be permanent and pure.

Why the “except for fornication” clause? Jesus is not saying that if fornication is involved, we must divorce, but rather, when fornication is involved, that is the only time when the person getting the divorce is not guilty of adultery. That is because the partner who had an extra-marital relationship has already polluted the marriage vow. In God’s original design for marriage He intended marriage to be sacred, precious, pure, and permanent. The marriage covenant represents a final, irrevocable commitment where the man and the woman renounce the right to live for themselves and become “heirs together of the grace of life” (1 Pet. 3:7).

Also Read: Andrew Wommack Daily Devotional

This message was written by The Association of Related Ministries International (ARMI) is an extension of Andrew Wommack Ministries (AWM). ARMI is a unique partnership committed to providing resources to help like-minded ministers succeed in a spirit of excellence and to draw from the experience and expertise of both the AWM and Charis Bible College staff. (www.awmi.net).

Topic: Three Kinds of Pleasure [Billy Graham Daily Devotional 20 August 2018]

The disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost. — Acts 13:52

The Bible speaks of three kinds of pleasure. There is lustful pleasure, the lust of the flesh, and Scripture says it is sinful and wrong. There is legitimate pleasure, which is not wrong, but we are not to become so preoccupied with its activities that it takes the place of God. Then there is a third kind of pleasure, lasting pleasure. Do you have that kind? It does not depend on circumstances or feelings. It is the pleasure that runs deep and comes from the Spirit of God.

Prayer for the day: Almighty God, may my pleasure always come from being filled with the joy of Your Holy Spirit.

If you missed yesterday devotional, please click to read Billy Graham’s Daily Devotional HERE

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.

TOPIC: Godliness with Contentment (Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministries Sunday, 19 August 2018)

FIRE SCRIPTURE: 1 Timothy 6:5-8

MEMORY VERSE: “Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.” – Philippians 4:11

The MESSAGE:

It appears the church has been terribly swamped by the society. Rather than teach and preach impactful messages that will transform the society, the church has become as corrupt as the society itself, if not worse. The church is filled with false teachers and preachers, who constantly rob the people of truth. These false teachers profess the Christian faith as a way of getting financial gain. Unlike these false teachers, Paul was always careful not to use his calling and ministry as a means of making money. In fact, he even refused support from the Corinthian church so that no one could accuse him of greed (1 Corinthians 9:8-19). He never used his preaching as a cloak for covetousness (1 Thessalonians 2:5). What a tragedy it is today to see religious racketeers who prey on gullible people, promising them help while taking away their money. What the greedy folks in the church fail to realise is that wealth does not bring contentment. Contentment is an inner sufficiency that keeps us at peace in spite of outward circumstances. True contentment comes from godliness in the heart, not wealth in the hand. A person who depends on material things for peace and assurance will never be satisfied, for material things have a way of losing their appeal. It is the wealthy people, not the poor people, who go to psychiatrists and who are more apt to try to commit suicide.

Wealth is not everlasting since we brought nothing into this world, we cannot carry anything out of it. The craze for wealth, acquisition and accumulation of wealth for generations yet unborn is absolute madness. The preacher called it vanity. Many have lost their sense of decency to the pursuit of riches. Many have forsaken the fear of God for the love of money, and they do anything to get money. Those who are unable to make merchandise of the gospel, temper with church money left in their care. The pursuit of money today is done with total loss of decency, lack of fear of God and placement of zero value on integrity.

Those who look for money at all costs are never contented with whatever they get. They keep on pursuing money endlessly without regard to whose interest is being negatively affected. They may be rich in monetary terms but not rich in God. On the contrary, those presumed poor may not have all the money required to make ends meet, but because they are rich in God, they enjoy much contentment and obviously a better life. They have peace in their souls, peace with men, and peace with God. They do not sacrifice eternal life for earthly pursuits and whatever they get in this world, they express their gratitude to God wholeheartedly. Godliness with contentment is indeed great gain. You will enjoy a better life now and in eternity if only you can be contented with whatever you are able to get righteously. Pursue contentment from today and the Lord shall strengthen you, in Jesus’ name.

MOTIVATIONAL QUOTE:
TRUE CONTENTMENT COMES FROM GODLINESS IN THE HEART, NOT WEALTH IN THE HAND.

PROPHETIC WORD:
As you pursue contentment from today, the Lord will strengthen you.

PRAYER POINTS:

MORNING
1. Spirit of contentment, enter my life now, in the name of Jesus.
2. Holy Spirit, empower me to live above board, in the name of Jesus.
3. Covetousness and greed, get out of my life by fire, in the name of Jesus.

EVENING
4. Holy Spirit, revive my spiritual life, in the name of Jesus.
5. I shall not be a spiritual cheat in the house of God, in the name of Jesus.
6. Wolves in the ministry, be flushed out by fire, in the name of Jesus.
7. False teachings directed at exploiting the children of God, expire by fire, in the name of Jesus.

If you missed yesterday devotional, please click to read MFM Mountain Top Life Daily Devotional HERE

MOUNTAIN TOP LIFE is a daily devotional by Dr. D.K Olukoya (General Overseer, Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministries, Worldwide)

Flatimes Notice Board: Until you are born again, God ever abiding presence will never be with you. You must be born again to enjoy continuous victory. Please say the displayed prayer below in faith:

Lord Jesus, come into my life. I accept You as my Lord and Personal Saviour. I believe in my heart You died and rose from the dead to save me. Thank You Lord for saving me, in Jesus name Amen.

If you just prayed the prayer of salvation online please send your testimonies and prayer request to [email protected], 07026385437 OR 08141320204.