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The Word For Today-A Daily Update
TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY™

Stop covering it up
09 JULY 2024

‘He who covers his sins will not prosper.’
Proverbs 28:13 NKJV

The Bible says, ‘He who covers his sins will not prosper. But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy’ (v. 13 NKJV). Could this be the reason you’re not succeeding? Unresolved guilt has the ability to corrode your confidence like acid. But there is an answer: ‘Whoever confesses and forsakes [his sins] will have mercy.’ Confess it to God! He already knows what you have done – He is just waiting for you to deal with it so He can forgive you and bless you again.

‘God is Light, and there is no darkness in Him at all [no, not in any way]’ (1 John 1:5 AMPC). The light of God reveals things. When a light is switched on in a room, we can see dust and bugs scattering. And when God gets involved in our lives, He begins to show us things we may prefer not to see; things we have been hiding, even from ourselves. We’re often deceived, especially about ourselves. We don’t want to deal with our faults, and we don’t enjoy having them exposed. Privately we feel condemned about them, but at least we feel like they’re hidden. But anything hidden has power over us because we fear it may be discovered.

Refuse to live that way. The best and most liberating thing you can do is to face what God wants to take care of and get beyond the fear of it. David said, ‘I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and You forgave the iniquity of my sin’ (Psalm 32:5 NKJV).

Ezra 1-2, Romans 3
Prophet Ebankole

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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY™

UCB Word For Today
Running to win
10 JULY 2024

‘It is better…to lose one of your members than that your whole body should be thrown on to the rubbish-heap.’
Matthew 5:29 PHPS

Desperate situations sometimes call for desperate measures, and severing your supply line to your flesh means getting radical. Jesus puts it like this: ‘If your right eye leads you astray pluck it out and throw it away…better…to lose one of your members than that your whole body should be thrown on to the rubbish-heap. Yes, if your right hand leads you astray cut it off and throw it away…better…to lose one of your members than that your whole body should go to the rubbish-heap’ (vv. 29-30 PHPS). Jesus is advocating moral and spiritual surgery – and that’s radical! There is no way to argue, reason, or negotiate with sin. Whatever your personal battle – gambling, alcohol, drugs, wrong relationships, or internet porn – its purpose is to destroy you and it needs to be eradicated.

The apostle Paul was familiar with Old Testament Scripture. He knew that when faced with similar temptation, Samson fell while Joseph stood strong. That’s why he wrote to his spiritual son, Timothy, warning him about the sin that could disqualify him and keep him from winning the race: ‘Run from temptations that capture young people’ (2 Timothy 2:22 CEV). Life in today’s environment is saturated with seductive influences, which means we can’t always eliminate the source. So Paul tells Timothy – when you can’t remove the influence, remove yourself! And furthermore, run, don’t walk. You can be free, but your carnal mind will only give you a few seconds before it decides for you. So don’t hesitate, don’t deviate, and don’t procrastinate. Do what needs to be done – and do it quickly.

Ezra 3-5, Romans 4
Prophet Ebankole

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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY™

Who helps you?
11 JULY 2024

‘She has been helpful to many, and especially to me.’
Romans 16:2 NLT

Charles Plumb was a pilot in Vietnam, and after seventy-five combat missions, his plane was demolished by a surface-to-air missile. Plumb ejected, parachuted into enemy hands, and spent the next six years in a Communist prison. He survived the ordeal and now lectures on what he learned from his experience.

One day when he and his wife were sitting in a restaurant, a man from another table walked over and said, ‘You’re Plumb! You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down!’ Plumb said, ‘How in the world did you know that?’ The man replied, ‘I packed your parachute.’ Then the man grabbed his hand and said, ‘I guess it worked!’ Plumb assured him it had: ‘If your chute hadn’t worked, I wouldn’t be here today.’

That night he couldn’t sleep, wondering about the man. What had he looked like in a Navy uniform? How many times had Plumb seen him without even asking, ‘How are you?’ – or anything else – because Plumb was a fighter pilot and the other man was only a sailor. He pondered the many hours that sailor had spent in the bowels of the ship, meticulously weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of each chute, holding in his hands the destiny of a stranger. As a result, Plumb routinely asks his audience an important question: ‘Who’s packing your parachute?’

All of us have someone who provides what we need to make it through the day. Paul said Phoebe ‘has been helpful to many, and especially to me’. Who helps you? Today show them your appreciation.

Ezra 6-8, Romans 5
Prophet Ebankole

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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY™

UCB Word For Today
How to influence and impact others
12 JULY 2024

‘Be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.’
James 1:19 NIV

There is no magic trick when it comes to influencing and impacting others. The Bible gives you the formula, and here it is:

1) Try to listen carefully. The truth is that people don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care. They tend to filter what they hear through their own life experiences, hang-ups, and the particular problem that’s on their mind at that moment. So if you want people to listen when you speak, listen carefully to them.

2) Don’t say too much. If you tend to talk too much, or too fast, here are three tips to slow yourself down: a) Stop. Just stop talking. Inhale. Count to ten. Excuse yourself and go to the bathroom. b) Practise not interrupting. Allow the other person to finish what he or she is saying. c) Ask yourself why you’re talking so much. Is it insecurity? Or anxiety? Or a need to control? Or a desire to impress? The reason many of us try to convince, impress, or control others is because we have a hard time trusting God to work things out. Just deliver the message and trust God to do the rest.

3) Keep your anger in check. If you implement the first two principles, you will tend to do fine on number three. It will just happen. The good news is, starting today you can learn to do all three things.
And if you practise them consistently year after year, when you get to the end of your life, looking back, you will be glad you took God’s Word and His wisdom seriously.

Ezra 9-10, Romans 6
Prophet Ebankole

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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY™

When you feel inadequate (1)
13 JULY 2024

‘Our sufficiency is of God.’
2 Corinthians 3:5 KJV

The fear of inadequacy is a state of mind in which you think your best is not good enough. Usually, it originated in childhood when our parents, teachers, and others we considered important, failed to appreciate and affirm us or compared us negatively to someone else. You will see it from Moses, who felt inadequate to be the spokesman and liberator for the Israelites, to the late pop star Michael Jackson, who exerted himself to attain physical and professional perfection. No statistics can measure the number of abandoned dreams due to this paralysing emotion. To rid yourself of it, you must learn to embrace these two truths:

1) Apart from God you are inadequate.

2) Infused with God’s strength, you are adequate to any challenge He calls you to face.

Paul writes: ‘Not that we are fit (qualified and sufficient in ability) of ourselves to form personal judgments or to claim or count anything as coming from us, but our power and ability and sufficiency are from God. [It is He] Who has qualified us [making us to be fit and worthy and sufficient] as ministers…of a new covenant’ (vv. 5-6 AMPC). Many of the heroes in the Bible struggled with the fear of inadequacy, so you’re in good company! Moses told God, ‘I can’t go and talk to Pharaoh, send someone else’ (see Exodus 3:11; 4:13).

The real story of these Bible heroes is that they overcame their fear and said yes to God. They stepped out in faith and said in essence, ‘Lord, I am depending on you for my success.’ Our human ego likes to look good and claim the credit. But God puts us into a position of forced dependence so that the credit for our success goes to Him.

Nehemiah 1-3, Romans 7
Prophet Ebankole

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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY™

When you feel inadequate (2)
14 JULY 2024

‘My strength is made perfect in weakness.’
2 Corinthians 12:9 NKJV

First, acknowledge your inadequacy to God. Joni Eareckson Tada says, ‘Deny your weakness, and you will never realise God’s strength in you.’ God told Paul, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Anything that makes you lean on God is a plus and not a minus.

Second, stop putting yourself down. You say, ‘But I lack the qualifications to do the job.’ God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called. How? By filling them with His Spirit. ‘I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit’ (Joel 2:28-29 NKJV). God isn’t limited by age, gender, race, or academic status. The only thing that limits Him is the limit you place on yourself or allow others to.

Third, don’t buy it. Advertisers spend billions of pounds to convince you that without their product you are inadequate or incomplete. Don’t believe them! Begin to say, ‘I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made’ (Psalm 139:14 NKJV).

Fourth, view the excellence or superior performance of someone else as a source of motivation rather than intimidation. Meanwhile, don’t lose sight of your unique giftedness. Yes, you are gifted in some area. ‘Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them’ (Romans 12:6 NKJV). Your gift may be undiscovered, undeveloped, or unused, but it resides within you. Today, unlock it and begin to use it.

Luke 13:1-21, Psalms 72-73
Prophet Ebankole

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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY™

The blessing of unanswered prayer
15 JULY 2024

‘When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives
James 4:3 NIV

A pastor writes: ‘According to legend, King Midas loved gold so much that when Dionysus granted him a wish, Midas asked that everything he touched would turn to gold. At first, Midas was delighted with his request, but when he discovered that his touch made food inedible and his embrace made loved ones lifeless, he stumbled upon what sociologist Robert Merton called the law of unintended consequences. Like Midas, getting what we want can result in…undesirable consequences. So much for the Midas touch.

Sometimes an unanswered prayer is God, in His sovereign wisdom, sparing us the pain of unintended consequences. Sometimes God allows what His power could prevent. Most of the time that causes us a great deal of temporal angst, but someday we will owe God as many thank-you’s for the prayers He did not answer as the ones He did.’ James writes, ‘You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures’ (vv. 2-3 NIV). C.S. Lewis said, ‘If God had granted all the silly prayers I’ve made in my life, where would I be now?’

The pastor continues: ‘Many of our prayers are misguided. We pray for comfort instead of character. We pray for an easy way out instead of the strength to make it through…Many of our prayers would short-circuit God’s plans and purposes for our lives if He answered them. Maybe we should stop asking God to get us out of difficult circumstances and start asking Him what He wants us to get out of those difficult circumstances.’

Nehemiah 4-6, Romans 8:1-21
Prophet Ebankole

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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY™

Always ask, ‘What does the Bible say?’
16 JULY 2024

‘From among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things.’
Acts 20:30 NKJV

Paul writes: ‘From among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears. So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified’ (vv. 30-32 NKJV).

When someone claims ‘special revelation from God’ that doesn’t line up with what Scripture teaches, don’t buy it! Do what the Bereans did: ‘They received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true’ (Acts 17:11 NIV). Whose teachings did the Bereans put under the searchlight of Scripture? Paul’s!

No leader, regardless of the size of their following, is beyond such scrutiny. Indeed, good leaders welcome it. ‘But doesn’t God still have more to say to us?’ you ask. Yes, and when you take your last breath, you still won’t know everything. Does God have new and effective strategies for reaching the world with the gospel in this age of technology? Yes, and we must embrace and utilise them in order to reap the final harvest. But we must never compromise when it comes to God’s Word.

‘From among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things.’ Sometimes the greatest threat to truth comes from those we know, love, and have worked with, who have wandered off track. So, what’s the answer? It’s simple. Always ask, ‘What does the Bible say?’ and make that your benchmark.

Nehemiah 7-9, Romans 8:22-39
Prophet Ebankole

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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY™

Knowing who belongs in your life
17 JULY 2024

‘I will test them to determine who will go with you.’
Judges 7:4 NLT

Gideon chose thirty-two thousand soldiers to fight the Midianites. But the truth is, you don’t need lots of people in your life, you just need the right people. So when Gideon said, ‘Whoever is timid or afraid may…go home’ (v. 3 NLT), twenty-two thousand soldiers left. But God told him he still had too many, and added, ‘I will test them to determine who will go with you and who will not.’ Consequently, Gideon ended up with three hundred soldiers – but they won the day!

Don’t worry about numbers; God can still do more with less. Just be prepared to lose some friends, for where God is taking you, they can’t go. God took the same spirit that rested on Moses and placed it on seventy leaders so they could help him (see Numbers 11:16-17). That’s what you need – people with the same spirit as you.

Just because somebody is talented doesn’t mean they belong in your life. If spiritual gifts are the standard by which we measure, what about Balaam’s donkey? He prophesied (see Numbers 22:21-33)! The important question is, ‘Does this person have the right spirit?’

As you work with others, recognise that we all have certain things in common. People like to feel special, so compliment them (just make sure it’s genuine). They want a better tomorrow, so give them hope. They want direction, so lead them. They’re self-concerned, so address their needs first. They get low emotionally, so encourage them. They want success, so help them achieve it. Your success depends on having the right people in your life – and that’s why you must pray and rely on God’s guidance.

Nehemiah 10-11, Romans 9:1-15
Prophet Ebankole

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TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY™

How to know God
18 JULY 2024

‘They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them.’
Romans 1:19 NLT

There are three ways whereby you can know God is real and have a relationship with Him.

1) Intellectual knowledge of God. ‘They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God’ (vv. 19-20 NLT).

2) Subconscious knowledge of God. ‘Even Gentiles, who do not have God’s written law, show that they know his law when they instinctively obey it, even without having heard it. They demonstrate that God’s law is written in their hearts, for their own conscience and thoughts either accuse them or tell them they are doing right’ (Romans 2:14-15 NLT).

3) Personal knowledge of God. ‘At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!’ (2 Corinthians 5:16-17 NLT). God reveals Himself to us through creation. He speaks to us through our conscience and reveals His moral character and requirements. But beyond that, we can know God personally and have a relationship with Him through His Son.

Jesus said, ‘I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life’ (John 8:12 NKJV). There is one sure way to satisfy yourself that God is real – flip the switch!

Nehemiah 12-13, Romans 9:16-33
Prophet Ebankole

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