JAN 28, 2020
Bible Reading: 1 Peter 1:5-6, James 1:2-4
Memory Verse:But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. 1 Peter 5:10
A test is God’s way of promoting his children. Trials are adversities to proof who we really are. It can come in form of affliction or hardship. Temptations are enticement to go against God’s way. Yesterday, we concluded that God calls for certain tests in our lives in order to proof His children and consequently, promote us. Shall we consider the two other persons that could call for a test in the life of a believer:
2. Satan: In Job 1:8-12, Satan requested that God take His hedge of protection away from Job that he may proof his love for Him. God eventually did and Job suffered so much for His faith. He lost all his children, properties and wealth one after the other yet, his faith remained immoveable (1 Cor. 15:58). God gave him double for his troubles after he successfully passed the test. Job 42:12 says, “So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses.” Now that your landlady ejected you from her house, can you still say, “God is faithful”? Will that financial embarrassment separate you from the love of God? What shall separate you from the love of God? Shall tribulation, famine, pain, rejection, persecution, or troubles stop you from loving Jesus? In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him. Will your anchor hold in the time of storm? Most times, Satan’s test come in the form of temptations, trials and persecution. It also comes as thoughts in the battlefield of our mind. He tempted Jesus even after 40 days and 40 nights of prayer and fasting. Satan strikes in our most vulnerable period. You will not fail the test needed for your next level, in Jesus name.
3. Man: In Psalm 139:23-24, the Psalmist was asking for a test when he said, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.” Be careful what you ask from the Lord when you are desperately in need. You may be calling for a test. Jephthah had to sacrifice his only daughter in fulfillment of his vows to the Lord. That was a test of his integrity.
Quote: Test and promotion are two Siamese twins – the former precedes the latter.
Prophetic Decree: The storms of life shall not blow off your faith, in Jesus name.
Prayer Focus
1. Prince of Peace will praise and worship You.
2. I silence every activity of witchcraft against my faith, in Jesus name.
3. I receive divine strength and fortitude to fight for my faith, in Jesus name.
4. I receive grace to be steadfast, immoveable and to always abound in the work of the Lord, in Jesus name.
5. I command peace to every storm in my life, in Jesus name.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Genesis 46-47.