WHERE DO YOU PLACE YOUR CONFIDENCE?

Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel.

1 Chronicles 21:1-2

God always requires total trust in Him alone for our victories in life. Throughout scripture, we are cautioned not to place our trust in the strength of horses, other men or our own abilities.

David's decision to take a census was a failure to keep his trust totally upon the Lord. David's purpose in counting his population was to assess his military strength, much like the second census taken under Moses.

David found 800,000 men eligible for military service in Israel and 500,000 men in Judah, more than double the previous head count.

David's commander evidently recognized the grave error that his king was about to make. "But Joab replied, 'May the LORD multiply his troops a hundred times over. My lord the king, are they not all my lord's subjects? Why does my lord want to do this? Why should he bring guilt on Israel?”

This census displeased the Lord. David was falling into the temptation of trusting in the size of his army rather than in the Lord.

God punished David and reduced his forces by bringing a plague that killed 70,000 men.

How do we do this in our lives today? We trust the government, our connections, our bank accounts, our skills, and the security of our workplace.

When we begin placing our faith in these things instead of the provider of these things, we get into trouble with God.

What a lesson this is for each of us! We must look up only to God as the source of our provision. He is our Father, and our help comes from Him alone.

Prayer: Praise the Father, for being the unfailing source of all you will ever need.

Scriptural Reading: 1 Chronicles 21:1-10

A few lessons on ANGER

A few lessons on ANGER;
The more you grow up, the less you blow up;
The emptier the pot, the quicker it boils;
An angry man is seldom reasonable; a reasonable man is seldom angry;
Anger is one letter short of danger;
In a disagreement, the moment we feel anger, we have ceased striving for the truth, and begun striving for ourselves. 

ANGER ERODES RELATIONSHIPS!

Happy New Month of July Folks!!!

Happy new month My People may we encounter God's freshness everyday,
May Second half of the year bring us favour and blessing always.
Adenike Salako Blog's World wish you all the Best of the New Month :)

FOCUS ON JESUS

Lead me, O LORD, in Your righteousness because of my enemies; Make Your way straight before my face. Psalm 5:8

Have you ever tried to walk a perfectly straight line along a muddy path? It's not as easy as you might think.

When walking on a muddy path, most people tend to walk slowly with their heads focusing intensely at their feet. When someone attempts this task with their eyes cast downward, their footsteps become unsteady and crooked.

When you walk with your eyes constantly looking down at your feet, you have no idea where you're going. There's no perspective because you cannot see how you fit into the larger landscape.

There's no genuine focus, since every step treads over the last step's focal point. You haven't imagined yourself as part of a bigger picture. The only way to make a purposeful line of progress is to forget about your feet.

The key is to look straight ahead, set your focus on a fixed target ahead of you - a fence post, street sign, or tree off in the distance.

Then, with your eyes fixed on that target, just start walking.
When you lock your focus on a target ahead, the immediate problems become stepping stones towards your goal.

The same is true in our lives. If we walk through life concentrating only on what lies ahead of us, we will fail to see the bigger picture and allow little distractions to become major obstacles.

But when we look beyond ourselves and fix our thoughts and spiritual eyes on Jesus, we can trust that our paths will be straight and trustworthy, every step of the way. He is our big picture.

The ultimate goal of our lives. The final prize of all our endeavours.

Prayer: Lord, help me to keep my eyes on You at all times.

Scriptural Reading: Psalm 5:1-12

DECLARATIONS & PRAYER for new week:

You are walking through your open doors. You are taking possession of your inheritance. God will preserve, promote and perfect all that concerns you in Jesus name.

Whatever has held you back in the past will suddenly give way. Like David, you too will pursue, overtake and recover all in Jesus name.

No matter who you are or what the physicians have concluded at, your permanent healing will come as a shocker to all in Jesus name
You will not beg to feed, to train your children or run your home in Jesus name

 Life will favour you no matter how hopeless all seem
After all is done here [on earth], the wealth and all, you will not forfeit heaven!J

Happy New Week from us ASB-World. 

DON’T GIVE UP! THERE HOPE FOR YOUR LIFE

This is a true story of a young woman who went through the most gruesome fire. When you read her story, you’ll realize that your trials are absolutely nothing compared to what this young girl went through.

It was September 25, 2000; Maricel Apatan was an 11-year old girl in Zamboanga. On that day, this little girl went with her uncle to draw water.

Along the way, four men met them. They were carrying long knives. They told her uncle to face down on the ground, and they hacked him on the neck and killed him.

Maricel was in total shock especially that the men were their neighbours. She tried to escape, but the men ran after her.

She cried, “Kuya, ‘wag po, ‘wag n’yo akong tagain! Maawa po kayo sa akin!” (“Don’t kill me! Have mercy on me!”)

But they weren’t listening. With a long knife, a man slashed her on the neck too.

Maricel fell to the ground and lost consciousness.

When she woke up, she saw a lot of blood. She also saw the feet of the men around her, but she pretended to be dead.

When they walked away, Maricel ran back home. But along the way, she saw that both her hands were falling off because the men hacked them too. She cried but she kept running.

Sometimes, she would faint and fall to the ground. But she will regain consciousness and run again.

When she was near her home, Maricel called her mother.

Upon seeing her daughter, her mother screamed in terror. She wrapped her bloodied child in a blanket and carried her to the hospital.

Here was the problem: From her house to the highway, it was a 12-kilometre walk. It took them 4 hours just to reach the highway.

When they arrived in the hospital, the doctors thought Maricel was going to die. For 5 hours they operated on her. It took 25 stitches to stitch together the long knife wound in her neck and back.

Maricel barely survived. And she lost both of her hands.

Ironically, the next day was Maricel’s birthday. She was 12 years old.

But tragedy didn’t end there. When they went home, they saw their home was gone. It was ransacked and burned down to ashes.

Being very poor, Maricel’s family also didn’t have P50,000 for their hospital bills.

But God sent many angels along the way to help them.

Archbishop Antonio Ledesma, a distant relative, paid for hospital bills and helped them bring the criminals to court. They were sentenced to prison.

Today, she’s staying with the nuns at Regina Rosarii with Sr. Eppie Brasil, O.P.

But this is the incredible miracle. Instead of staying down, Maricel kept running.

Instead of cursing God why she had no hands, she now uses her wrists in incredible ways that will boggle your mind.

Maricel was cited as the most industrious, best in computer and most courteous in the School for Crippled Children.

In 2008, she graduated from a course in Hotel and Restaurant Management. She even received a Gold medal for Arts and Crafts.

In 2011, she finished her education to be a Chef. Yes, a Chef without hands.

Nothing can stop this young lady from reaching her dreams.

Real Winners Don’t Give Up!

Power In The Word

TEXT: JEREMIAH 23:23-32

KEY VERSE: “Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?” (Jeremiah 23:29).

An Indian found a tract that dwelt on salvation through Jesus Christ. It spoke of the endless eternity of woe that awaited those who neglect the message. The Indian took the paper to the toilet; but as he read it, he could no longer use it to clean himself. He took the tract home and at the end of the day, God used the message in it to save him and his household. Eventually they established a couple of Bible-believing churches in India.

The bane of the success and achievement of the disloyal prophets in our text is their refusal to acknowledge the potency of the word of God. They ignored the word of God and instead fed the people with lies and dreams that originate from their rebellious minds: they effectively used their lies and false dreams to divert the hearts of their hearers away from God (verses 26,27).

We should avoid the danger of falling into the same trap today. There are many preachers today who have relegated the word of God to the background. They, instead, elevated dreams, prophecies and other unscriptural practices in their preaching. No wonder then that there are many churches but righteousness and holy living is fading out in an alarming rate. No assembly can be favoured by God when the word of God is not given the right place. The hardened heart of sinners can only be broken by the power of the word.

God wants us to embrace the “wheat” of the word of God and reject the “chaff” (dreams and visions) of modern day pleasure-seeking preachers. The power to deliver from sin and to keep us rapturable can only be found where the word of God is faithfully preached and lived out.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: There is sovereign power in God’s word.