THEME: BE DILIGENT
Memorise:
The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness; but of every one that is hasty only to want. Proverbs 21:5
Read: Proverbs 6:6-11
6:6 Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:
6:7 Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler,
6:8 Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.
6:9 How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?
6:10 Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:
6:11 So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.
MESSAGE:
Diligence can be defined as a conscientious hard work and perseverance, particularly with regards to your relationship with God. The Bible presents diligence in a highly favourable manner, which clearly shows that God loves hardworking people but hates the lazy ones. When He looks for people to use for assignments, He chooses hardworking people. If you see a lazy and nonchalant fellow occupying an ecclesiastical position, ask him how he got there because God has no business with lazy bones. Even when a person become mad, that state of insanity does not take away hard work from the fellow. When you observe mad men, you will know those who were hard-working and those who were lazy. The lazy ones will sit all day long or scavenge in one location for virtually the whole day, but the hard working ones will go far distances, even travelling several kilometers on foot. Very hardworking mad fellows are possible candidates of God's mercy. If you see them, pray for them and the Lord will deliver them.
Diligence results in a rich harvest and links you up with the high and mighty in the society. That is why Jesus, In Mark 5:1-20, came all the way to a graveyard in search of a mad fellow, bypassing other people in the process. It was because that mad man was a diligent fellow and Jesus knew that after his deliverance, he would use his energy and diligence to serve the Lord. Hence, Jesus delivered him and he immediately became an evangelist, combing the whole country for Jesus.
Similarly, you need to use the temperament that God gave you to serve Him, for example, if you are an extrovert, God wants you to use that extroverted nature to reach out to people, go from place to place speaking for God and leading souls to Christ. If you were extroverted before you were saved and thereafter you became introverted and hardly speak with anyone, you are getting something wrong. One reason God saved you was because of your extroverted nature which He expects you to use for the increase of His Kingdom. Paul was an extrovert and worked for Satan, but after his conversion, he worked much more for Jesus, touring different countries for the Lord. Are you adequately engaging your temperaments? Are you diligently handling the Kingdom business?
Prayer Point:
Father, please let my work bring maximum benefit to the Kingdom of God in Jesus' name.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:
Leviticus 24:17-26:13
Psalms 135
AUTHOR: PASTOR E. A. ADEBOYE.
HYMN 2: O Jesus, I HAVE PROMISED.
1. O Jesus, I have promised,
To serve Thee to the end;
Be Thou forever near me,
My Master and my Friend;
I shall not fear the battle
If Thou art by my side,
Nor wander from the pathway
If Thou wilt be my Guide.
2. Oh, let me feel Thee near me;
The world is ever near;
I see the sights that dazzle,
The tempting sounds I hear;
My foes are ever near me,
Around me and within;
But, Jesus, draw Thou nearer,
And shield my soul from sin.
3. Oh, let me hear Thee speaking,
In accents clear and still,
Above the storms of passion,
The murmurs of self-will;
Oh, speak to reassure me,
To hasten, or control;
Oh, speak, and make me listen,
Thou Guardian of my soul.
4. O Jesus, Thou hast promised
To all who follow Thee
That where Thou art in glory
There shall Thy servant be;
And Jesus, I have promised
To serve Thee to the end;
Oh, give me grace to follow,
My Master and my Friend.
5. Oh, let me see Thy footmarks,
And in them plant mine own;
My hope to follow duly
Is in Thy strength alone.
Oh, guide me, call me, draw me,
Uphold me to the end;
And then to rest receive me,
My Savior and my Friend.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR PASSAGES
Psalm: 135. 1. Praise the Lord. Praise the name of the Lord; praise him, you servants of the Lord, 2. you who minister in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God. 3. Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good; sing praise to his name, for that is pleasant. 4. For the Lord has chosen Jacob to be his own, Israel to be his treasured possession. 5. I know that the Lord is great, that our Lord is greater than all gods. 6. The Lord does whatever pleases him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths. 7. He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth; he sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses. 8. He struck down the firstborn of Egypt, the firstborn of people and animals. 9. He sent his signs and wonders into your midst, Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants. 10. He struck down many nations and killed mighty kings— 11. Sihon king of the Amorites, Og king of Bashan, and all the kings of Canaan— 12. and he gave their land as an inheritance, an inheritance to his people Israel. 13. Your name, Lord, endures forever, your renown, Lord, through all generations. 14. For the Lord will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants. 15. The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by human hands. 16. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see. 17. They have ears, but cannot hear, nor is there breath in their mouths. 18. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them. 19. All you Israelites, praise the Lord; house of Aaron, praise the Lord; 20. house of Levi, praise the Lord; you who fear him, praise the Lord. 21. Praise be to the Lord from Zion, to him who dwells in Jerusalem. Praise the Lord.
Leviticus: 24. 17. "'Anyone who takes the life of a human being is to be put to death. 18. Anyone who takes the life of someone's animal must make restitution—life for life. 19. Anyone who injures their neighbor is to be injured in the same manner: 20. fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. The one who has inflicted the injury must suffer the same injury. 21. Whoever kills an animal must make restitution, but whoever kills a human being is to be put to death. 22. You are to have the same law for the foreigner and the native-born. I am the Lord your God.'" 23. Then Moses spoke to the Israelites, and they took the blasphemer outside the camp and stoned him. The Israelites did as the Lord commanded Moses. -
Leviticus: 25. 1. The Lord said to Moses at Mount Sinai, 2. "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a sabbath to the Lord. 3. For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops. 4. But in the seventh year the land is to have a year of sabbath rest, a sabbath to the Lord. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. 5. Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land is to have a year of rest. 6. Whatever the land yields during the sabbath year will be food for you—for yourself, your male and female servants, and the hired worker and temporary resident who live among you, 7. as well as for your livestock and the wild animals in your land. Whatever the land produces may be eaten. 8. "'Count off seven sabbath years—seven times seven years—so that the seven sabbath years amount to a period of forty-nine years. 9. Then have the trumpet sounded everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement sound the trumpet throughout your land. 10. Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each of you is to return to your family property and to your own clan. 11. The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; do not sow and do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the untended vines. 12. For it is a jubilee and is to be holy for you; eat only what is taken directly from the fields. 13. "'In this Year of Jubilee everyone is to return to their own property. 14. "'If you sell land to any of your own people or buy land from them, do not take advantage of each other. 15. You are to buy from your own people on the basis of the number of years since the Jubilee. And they are to sell to you on the basis of the number of years left for harvesting crops. 16. When the years are many, you are to increase the price, and when the years are few, you are to decrease the price, because what is really being sold to you is the number of crops. 17. Do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God. I am the Lord your God. 18. "'Follow my decrees and be careful to obey my laws, and you will live safely in the land. 19. Then the land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill and live there in safety. 20. You may ask, "What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not plant or harvest our crops?" 21. I will send you such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years. 22. While you plant during the eighth year, you will eat from the old crop and will continue to eat from it until the harvest of the ninth year comes in. 23. "'The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you reside in my land as foreigners and strangers. 24. Throughout the land that you hold as a possession, you must provide for the redemption of the land. 25. "'If one of your fellow Israelites becomes poor and sells some of their property, their nearest relative is to come and redeem what they have sold. 26. If, however, there is no one to redeem it for them but later on they prosper and acquire sufficient means to redeem it themselves, 27. they are to determine the value for the years since they sold it and refund the balance to the one to whom they sold it; they can then go back to their own property. 28. But if they do not acquire the means to repay, what was sold will remain in the possession of the buyer until the Year of Jubilee. It will be returned in the Jubilee, and they can then go back to their property. 29. "'Anyone who sells a house in a walled city retains the right of redemption a full year after its sale. During that time the seller may redeem it. 30. If it is not redeemed before a full year has passed, the house in the walled city shall belong permanently to the buyer and the buyer's descendants. It is not to be returned in the Jubilee. 31. But houses in villages without walls around them are to be considered as belonging to the open country. They can be redeemed, and they are to be returned in the Jubilee. 32. "'The Levites always have the right to redeem their houses in the Levitical towns, which they possess. 33. So the property of the Levites is redeemable—that is, a house sold in any town they hold—and is to be returned in the Jubilee, because the houses in the towns of the Levites are their property among the Israelites. 34. But the pastureland belonging to their towns must not be sold; it is their permanent possession. 35. "'If any of your fellow Israelites become poor and are unable to support themselves among you, help them as you would a foreigner and stranger, so they can continue to live among you. 36. Do not take interest or any profit from them, but fear your God, so that they may continue to live among you. 37. You must not lend them money at interest or sell them food at a profit. 38. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God. 39. "'If any of your fellow Israelites become poor and sell themselves to you, do not make them work as slaves. 40. They are to be treated as hired workers or temporary residents among you; they are to work for you until the Year of Jubilee. 41. Then they and their children are to be released, and they will go back to their own clans and to the property of their ancestors. 42. Because the Israelites are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt, they must not be sold as slaves. 43. Do not rule over them ruthlessly, but fear your God. 44. "'Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. 45. You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. 46. You can bequeath them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly. 47. "'If a foreigner residing among you becomes rich and any of your fellow Israelites become poor and sell themselves to the foreigner or to a member of the foreigner's clan, 48. they retain the right of redemption after they have sold themselves. One of their relatives may redeem them: 49. An uncle or a cousin or any blood relative in their clan may redeem them. Or if they prosper, they may redeem themselves. 50. They and their buyer are to count the time from the year they sold themselves up to the Year of Jubilee. The price for their release is to be based on the rate paid to a hired worker for that number of years. 51. If many years remain, they must pay for their redemption a larger share of the price paid for them. 52. If only a few years remain until the Year of Jubilee, they are to compute that and pay for their redemption accordingly. 53. They are to be treated as workers hired from year to year; you must see to it that those to whom they owe service do not rule over them ruthlessly. 54. "'Even if someone is not redeemed in any of these ways, they and their children are to be released in the Year of Jubilee, 55. for the Israelites belong to me as servants. They are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.
Leviticus: 26. 1. "'Do not make idols or set up an image or a sacred stone for yourselves, and do not place a carved stone in your land to bow down before it. I am the Lord your God. 2. "'Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am the Lord. 3. "'If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, 4. I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit. 5. Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want and live in safety in your land. 6. "'I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid. I will remove wild beasts from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country. 7. You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you. 8. Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you. 9. "'I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, and I will keep my covenant with you. 10. You will still be eating last year's harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new. 11. I will put my dwelling place among you, and I will not abhor you. 12. I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people. 13. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high.
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