There is a powerful verse that I came across a while back and it is found in Psalms 68:19 and says the following “Praise be to the Lord, who daily loads us with benefits, even the God of our salvation”. I immediately began to meditate on that verse and declared it over my life and family believing that what I read, meditated on and  confessed would come to pass in Jesus name.
You as a believer need to know and have no doubt at all in your heart and mind, that your God wants to load you with benefits on a daily basis.
The word load means:  to supply abundantly, lavishly or excessively, to fill.
The word Benefit means: something that is good, beneficial and advantageous, an act of kindness, improvement, reward.

 

Daniel 5:12

The believer must be a person that excels in every area of life. Our standards of doing things must go beyond the standards of the world. Daniel was a young man who lived in the city of Babylon, and the Bible says about him in Daniel 5:12 that it was evident to all, that he had an Excellent Spirit. His attitude, his way of doing things, his  demeanour was obvious to all and thus excelled far beyond anyone else in the kingdom, gaining the attention of the King and Queen. The word excel means: To throw beyond the usual mark, to surpass, to outdo, to do extremely well, to exceed etc.
I believe it is God’s will that the believer be a person that excels in whatever he or she puts their hands to do. I want to challenge you that this year you will excel in whatever you do, especially when it comes to the things of God, for the Bible says in Mathew 6:23              “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all the things you need shall be added unto you”. Excel in your church attendance, in your praise and worship, in your giving, in your study and knowledge of God’s word, excel in your faith, in the fruit of the Spirit, in your passion and desire for spiritual things etc. Those that are privileged to be serving God and the church in a certain ministry, strive to excel and to do the best you can for God, understanding that whatever we are called to do deserves our best attention, for it is to the glory of Jesus that we do it in the first place and He deserves the best of our time, talent, energy, attention etc.

James 3:1-12

Your words have power and they are creative, they carry faith or fear and they will produce an atmosphere in and around you. As believers we must learn to get our words under the control of Faith, that is we must learn to speak the word continually over every area of our lives and over every circumstance. So many times we allow our emotions to have control over our words instead of staying under the control of Faith.
James 3:4 teaches that the direction of a big ship will not be determined by the wind, current, storm etc. But it’s direction will be determined by a small rudder which is not seen but exercises great influence. James makes the parallel between the rudder and our tongue. Your life will be directed by the words that come out of your mouth. The sooner we understand this truth that what we speak has enormous influence over our life, the sooner we will put a bridal over our mouth and make sure that we speak what lines up with the word. If you do not bring your words under the control of the word, your life will be lived as a stumbling horse, directionless and accomplishing very little. A mature/spiritual believer will make sure that his words are positive, creative and faith filled.

Acts 11:26

Today anybody calls themselves a Christian without even knowing what the word means and without living up to the standard of that word, which means a follower of Christ. This is why the word Disciple carries more weight and meaning to you and I as a believer, I will explain this further down. The word Christian which is “Christianos” in the Greek, does not occur in the New Testament as a name commonly used by the Christians themselves. It was the people from the city of Antioch who as a title of ridicule called the Disciples Christians for the first time in Acts 11:26. Notice that the disciples continued calling themselves disciples from this point forward. Why? Because I believe that ‘Disciple’ is deeper than Christian. You can be a follower of someone but not believe in or do what that person does, but a disciple (which means: a student, one that learns from a master, a believer, has a discipline, does what is being taught, becomes a photocopy of his teacher etc) will go beyond just following, but will do. This is why today as stated at the beginning of this devotional, any one calls themselves a Christian, but do not live and act like the one we are following, who’s name is Jesus and who’s instruction    manual is the Bible.

I once heard a man of God make the following statement  “Look for a problem and solve it and problem solvers will be rewarded”. As I thought on that statement for a moment and searched it out in the word of God, a realized that it is a powerful truth. From Genesis chapter 1 God, was a problem solver, he saw a problem and solved it. In Genesis 1:2, the word says “The earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep” then in verse 3 God comes on the scene of this problem and solves it by saying “Let there be light”, problem solved.
Then as a result of Adam and Eve sinning in the garden of Eden, humanity was on its way to hell, turning the world over to a problem of sin and rebellion that had no solution, but John 3:16 says “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have ever lasting life” problem solved. We could continue studying the Bible from Genesis through to Revelation and see continually how our God was and is a problem solver, He is a God that likes order.
You and I have been called to be problem solvers. The word Problem means: Something that needs a solution, a difficult situation in need of being resolved.

Romans 4:17-21

If you and I are going to see all that God has promised us, as a reality in our life, we are going to have to be people that are strong in the faith. This is the faith that believes God and His word more than man or circumstances. It is the faith that is   spoken about, concerning Abraham and it is the faith that you and I can have.
It is interesting to see in the life of Abraham, that between the first time that God promised him a son in Genesis 12:2 and the time that Isaac was born in Genesis 21, well over 20 years went by. It would have been easy for him to doubt the promise as the years past by, especially given the fact that Sarah, his wife, had gone beyond the age of been able to conceive. Yet the Bible tells us in Romans 4:17-21 that in the face of this impossibility Abraham was strong in faith. He believed that he would become what was promised to him by God. He did not have to try and work it out (and when he did try to work it out he produced    Ishmael). The Bible says that Abraham considered not his own body, that was 100 years old, neither did he consider the deadness of Sarah's womb. He did not, despite the impossible situation, stagger at the promises of God but was as verse 20 says “Strong in Faith”. Now there are a number of reason as to why Abraham maintained strong faith, but I believe there is one great key of His faith that will help us on our journey and will teach us how to develop strong faith. It is the following:

Exodus 3 & 4
Following last week’s devotional I will give the next 2 excuses as to why Moses thought he was not the man for the call to deliver the children of Israel from Egypt.

3. I am not Eloquent: Excuse number three is found in Exodus 4:10,where Moses says to God “I am Not Eloquent”. Notice once again as stated in part 1, Moses still has his eyes on his own weaknesses and not on the capacity and power of God, who can take anyone to do greatness through his power if they only believe. Moses had spent the last 40 years taking care of sheep, and he had lost the ability to be able to speak the way he spoke when he was in the palaces of Egypt. He felt that, in order to deliver Israel and enter into the palaces of Pharaoh and stand before him, he was not able to talk and communicate up to the level required. But God just takes it as an excuse, and says to Moses in verse 11”Who has made man’s mouth? Or makes the dumb, or deaf, or seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD?”. Notice how God is taking Moses eyes of his own abilities and putting them on Him. In other words, what God is saying to Moses is, you don’t worry about what you think will not work, if I have called you I can make it work. God made a donkey speak once. Maybe you feel that for what God is challenging you to do, that you are not gifted or equipped enough to fulfil it. I want to encourage you to focus on the calling of God over your life and put your faith in the fact that if God called you He will equip you. You can be 100% sure of that.

Exodus 3 & 4

Moses is one of the most powerful figures in the Bible. He is one of the few characters of scripture whose life is sketched out from infancy to his death. He is one of the most commanding personalities of the ancient world. In character, and faith, in the unique position assigned to him as the mediator of the Old Covenant, as well as in achievements, he stands first among the heroes of the Old Testament. All of God’s dealings with Israel were transacted through Moses. He was a Prophet, priest, and King in one person. He was a great man.
But with all his greatness Moses started out as a man who was full of insecurities, excuses  and a desire for God to use someone else. I want you to know that we have all been called for greatness in whatever sphere of life we may find ourselves in. The potential for great things that God has deposited in you, would leave you amazed at how He can and desires to use you for His glory. So many times as in the beginning of Moses ministry we look at ourselves and think God surely could not use me, not realising that it is all about Him.  God can take a nobody and make them into a somebody, it is Him taking an ordinary person and turning them into an extraordinary person.
When Moses had His burning bush experience in Exodus chapter 3,God begins to challenge him about going back to Egypt and to be the deliverer that the people of Israel had been waiting for. After God reveals to Moses that he has been called for greatness, Moses gives 4 excuses as to why he was not the man for the job, like God did not know about this.

Romans 14:17

When we believe what Jesus did for us on the cross of Calvary and appropriate it to our lives, by confessing Him as Lord and believing that He rose from the dead, we are immediately translated from the kingdom of this world into the kingdom of God. Thus, from that moment on, our life must be lived out according to the rules and constitution of that kingdom which is the word of almighty God: The Bible. We are to act, live, talk and think like a kingdom citizen. We are to be kingdom minded people. This means that everything we do revolves around how it is done in the kingdom of God. The Bible says we are in this world (that is the kingdom of darkness) but we are not of this world”, in other words, the word is saying  that although we live in this natural world we can still live out our life on this earth like a citizen of the kingdom of God. We are not to wait until we get to heaven to be kingdom minded people we are instructed to be kingdom minded people now on this earth. It is the will of God that we start living out the fullness of His word here and now.