Tuesday 1, April 2014

Bible Passage: Philippians 3: 7 – 11

Memory Verse: ”that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” Phil 3:10-11 NKJV

This is the month of Easter; the month we celebrate the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. I daresay this is the month of faith reaffirmed; when we reconfirm that our faith in Christ not in vain. As Apostle Paul said in I Corinthians Chapter 15 verses 13-14 ”….. if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty”. So as we celebrate Easter let us remember the One who gave His life on the cross for our redemption, renewal, restoration and salvation. We will do well to examine our lives and our walk with Him to see how far we have progressed or retrogressed in our walk with Him. Let us rededicate ourselves to seeking after the knowledge and service of our Lord Jesus Christ who gave Himself for us, and also to the service of humanity. The best legacy we can leave is a life of faith and service to God, humanity and generations coming after us.

We need to have an intimate knowledge of Him who died and of the power of His resurrection. Knowing the power of His resurrection requires that we daily seek to have an experiential knowledge of being in Christ Jesus. By so doing we will be in continuous fellowship with Him and live a life well pleasing to Him. As Paul prayed in Ephesians 1: 17 – 21, you can also pray and expect ”that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding* being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.”

This month is said to be the month of the Red Moon. That is of the lunar eclipse; when the sun, Earth and moon sit in alignment and the Earth blocks sunlight from reaching the moon. Usually we only see the moon because it reflects sunlight. But during an eclipse, the source of light is blocked and the moon’s disk goes unusually dark. However, the moon doesn’t completely disappear since the gasses in our atmosphere act to bend some of the blocked sunlight, directing the red part of the solar spectrum back to the moon. Sometimes this has the effect of turning the moon a deep red, often blood red. History is replete with what takes place on earth and in Israel when there is a lunar eclipse. Israel usually has a earth-shaking experience that affects the world negatively. What makes this year’s lunar eclipse unique is that it will occur twice (called tetrad of blood red moons); during the feast of Passover (April 15) and the feast of Tabernacles (September 25). According to Pastor Mark Biltz of El Shaddai Ministries, this is a very rare event that has only happened seven times since the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and the upcoming blood red moon tetrad will be the eighth occurrence.

Recent happenings in the world, particularly in the Middle East raises a lot of concerns regarding the faith of Israel and of the world. Children of God, we need to pray to God to turn away evil from our world and make this tetrad occurrence a period of His visitation to proclaim peace, tranquillity and harmony in our World. That His spirit will cover the world, even as water covers the sea. Those of us who are alive at this period owe it as a responsibility to our world and future generations to pray. Please lets stand in the gap and intercede for our nations, Israel and the World.

The Lord bless you and keep you. May He make His face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. May the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace, now and forevermore. Have a splendid month.

Prayer Points

1. Lets come to the presence of God by the way of the atoning blood of Jesus, confessing our sins; the sins of our nation and those of our world. Yes indeed we have sinned, individually and collectively. In our nation, Nigeria, we have seen the spilling of the blood of the innocent, we have seen atrocious acts of ritual murder, terrorism, cannibalism and kidnapping of unimaginable proportion. Lets plead that the Lord will deliver us and heal our land.

2. Lets pray for Israel and ask the Lord to make this year a year of unexpected peace and tranquility for the land. That the going on in the Middle East right now will not result in the annihilation of Israel, but on the contrary it will cause things to turn around for the good of Israel. That this season of the occurrence of the tetrad of red blood moons will bring goodness to Israel and our world and not evil as had been experienced during seven previous tetrads.

3. Pray for yourself and ask the Lord to intervene in the affairs of your life for good this month of April. Pray that this month, the Lord will wait that He may be gracious unto you. That He will be exalted that He may have mercy on you.

4. Pray the prayer of Apostle Paul in Ephesians 1: 17 – 21 over yourself.

It is well with you in Jesus name. Amen.

Bola Olowe