Deuteronomy 28:11-13
”The Lord will grant you abundant prosperity in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you. The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. The Lord will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom.”
INSIGHT
-Grant in Hebrew is written as sheelah & it means to answer, award, allow or permit.
-God renewed His promises to the children of Israel through Moses after one generation had passed on in the wilderness. A promise of prosperity to the Israelites in line with Gods’ covenants extending from the Abrahamic to eternal covenant through the blood of Christ & the new covenant through the Holy Spirit Who lives in us. A promise from God our Father to open up the heavens & His storehouse, & bestow abundant blessings in all spheres of our lives as we maintain His statutes through the help of the Holy Spirit by His grace. God promises to bless the work of our hands, prosper us in family & children, provide abundant resources that we may never borrow but lend to many nations, to make us the heads in leadership & not tails, & place us at the pinnacle of success, affluence & dominance. We are called to believe in Gods’ word which does not depart from His mouth & return empty but accomplishes the purpose for which it has been sent forth. God sets us apart in sanctification through His blood & gives us patience to persevere in prayer through faith that all these promises may be accomplished in our lives.
PRAYER
We give You all the glory & honor Father for You have shown us abundant love. You have always been faithful to us Lord by granting us a great wealth of strength to enable us get up from our beds every morning in good health, we thank You Jesus. Settle the hearts of those who have lost their loved ones & heal all the sick by Your merciful love Father. We humbly ask You Lord to purify us by Your precious blood & increase our faith & wisdom that we may always remain rooted in Your statutes & follow Your holy will. Bless us, our children, families, friends & leaders dear Lord in all spheres of lives by Your merciful love. Open the flood gates of heaven & the storehouse of Your bounty, & let it rain in our hearts, homes, families & nation, that You may bless us indeed & expand our territories. Grant us abundant prosperity through the work of our hands, gift of children, fruitfulness of our livestock & prosperity in our land that we may bear much fruit according to Your promise. We believe that we will lend to many nations & borrow from none; for everything is possible through You Jesus. We magnify Your holy name Father for You are making each one of us the head & not the tail, the top & not the bottom. Protect us from any harm & grant us good health & peace even in our old age merciful Father. All glory & praise belong to You Jesus, now & forever. Amen
Psalm 20:4-7
“May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed. May we shout for joy over your victory and lift up our banners in the name of our God. May the Lord grant all your requests. Now this I know: The Lord gives victory to his anointed. He answers him from his heavenly sanctuary with the victorious power of his right hand. Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.”
INSIGHT
-King David reveals that some nations placed their trust in their own military strength measured by the number of war chariots, wagons or horses which ferry armed soldiers to war. He made a declaration that Israel under his leadership trusts in the Lord Who grants them the strength to triumph over their enemies & prayed for the people. In the quest to always give thanks & praise to God, we pray that the Lord may answer all our hearts desires & make all our plans succeed. According to Abraham Maslow, all human beings have the desire to succeed & attempts to explain our hierarchy of needs using a simple illustration detailing human needs from the most basic to self actualization which are in real sense made possible through the love of God. The Holy Spirit reveals our hearts desires through intercession with groaning that cannot be uttered, searches our hearts & intercedes for us according to Gods’ will (Rom 8:26-27).
PRAYER
Lord our Father, You have revealed Your nature of love to the whole world that we may know You as we dwell in love. You are our only God, we praise You & give thanks in all things Father. We humbly ask You to grant us our hearts desires Lord, make all our plans succeed & grant us all our requests through Your victorious power & merciful love. We put all our trust in You Lord our Father, be merciful unto us & grant us Your grace now & forever. Amen
1 Samuel 1:17-18
“Then Eli answered and said, “Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition which you have asked of Him.” And she said, “Let your maidservant find favor in your sight.” So the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad.”
INSIGHT
-After the sacrificial meal at Shiloh was over, Hannah rose up disheartened to pour out her grief in her childless situation & prayed for Gods’ mercy. Eli’s prophecy that the Lord may grant her request encouraged her & she believed. In the same way we might be carrying many burdens & prayer petitions in our hearts, some we have prayed for a long time & have become discouraged. We are called to approach Christs’ mercy seat that our prayers may be answered & find His grace & peace.
PRAYER
Lord Almighty Father, You are the Alpha & Omega; the Beginning & the End; the First & the Last. We come before You today with humility in our hearts to Your mercy seat Dear Jesus & place all our prayer petitions before You that You may grant us our requests. Have mercy on us, our families, leaders & nation Father & answer all our prayers. Victory & power belong to You Lord, we believe that now is the time of victory & salvation merciful Father. We give You thanks & glorify Your holy name Father in firm belief that You have already done it for us. Amen
Ephesians 3:14-17
“For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,”
INSIGHT
-As we read last week from Galatians 2:20 that it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. Christ bought us at a price & comes into our hearts as our rightful owner, & through faith imputes us with righteousness that no one should boast of His salvation but give all glory to Him. He adopts us into His lineage which has no beginning & no end, in a new identity according to the riches of His glory to give us strength by the power of the Holy Spirit through faith.
PRAYER
We thank You & adore You God Almighty for You are worthy of all glory & praise. Our lives belong to You Jesus, remain in us for without You we are without favor. We love You Lord for You loved us first with unconditional love. Help us to love You with all our hearts, minds & strength, & to love our neighbors as ourselves. Through Your victory on the cross Jesus; we believe in You, dwell in us & strengthen us through the power of the Holy Spirit to help us always in our spiritual lives, families, work & relationships. Grant us according to the riches of Your glory Father that we may access that which You predestined for us before the foundations of the world. Amen
Luke 18:3-5
”And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’
INSIGHT
-The widow demonstrates perseverance in prayer despite the delay in receiving her request. This parable posses as a good example of how we ought to pray to God for sometimes we loose heart & stop praying especially when the prayer takes too long to be fulfilled. Just like Jesus told His disciples oftentimes to keep watch & pray, we have been instructed to pray without ceasing. To put our trust in God & pray unrelentingly until our requests are granted for our God has unfailing love for us.
SUMMARY
– Grant in Hebrew is written as sheelah & it means to answer, award, allow or permit.
-Just like the persistent widow who’s prayer was answered, Hannah prayed with humility & the Lord granted her a son as prophesied by Eli since she was barren (1 Sam 1:17-18). Gods’ love for us is everlasting & He grants us His merciful love just like He did to the Israelites. Christ lives in our hearts; grants us His grace & establishes us in His love that we may abide in Him (Eph 3:14-17). He renews His promises to us His children; just like He did in the wilderness during the time of Moses in Deut 28:11-13. In faith we pray that God may help us to remain rooted in Him through grace that He may grant us abundant prosperity in the fruit of children, abundance of livestock & crops, open up the heavens & His storehouse so that rain may be felt in our households, to bless all the work of our hands, to enable us lend to many nations & borrow from none, to make us the heads & not tails so that we may always be at the top. God also grants us the desires of our hearts, gives us all our requests & make all our plans successful, & calls us to put our trust in Him (Ps 20:4-7). We are also encouraged to approach Christs’ throne of mercy with faith & humility that we may always find grace & peace for the glory of His name.
PRAYER
You are full of wisdom & love Father help us to always be patient & exercise perseverance in prayer so that we may not despair but wait on You & receive our requests for You love us with unfailing love. We believe Lord that You are able to grant us more than we can even ask, think or imagine, hear our prayers Father we humbly beseech You & bring forth our requests, heart desires & Your abundant blessings to manifestation in our lives, families, friends, the less fortunate, widows, among our diverse leaders & nation according the riches of Your grace merciful Father; all for the glory of Your name. Amen