Delightsome Agbabo

April 30 PRAYER FRUIT If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. — JOHN 15:7,8 “If ye abide in me . . . .” If we are born again, we do abide in Christ. If Jesus had said that and that alone, we would have hadit made, but He continued, “. . . AND my words abide in you . . . .” Jesus’ words abide in us in the measure that they govern our lives — in the measure that we act upon them. If Jesus’ words abide in us, we are bound to have faith, because the Bible says, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17). It would be impossible for Jesus’ words to abide in someone and that person not have faith! Unbelief and doubt are a result of ignorance of the Word of God. If we live the Word, then when we come to pray, that Word dwells in us so richly that it becomes Jesus’ Word on our lips. It will be as the Father’s wor...

April 29 HE KEEPS HIS WORD For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. — ISAIAH 55:10,11 Isaiah 55:11 is a verse you should continually use in prayer. It is the very backbone of the prayer life. No word that has gone forth from God can return to Him void. God said, “. . . I will hasten my word to perform it” (Jer. 1:12). A marginal note in the King James version reads, “I will watch over my word to perform it.” God will make His Word good if you dare to stand by it! The greatest answers to prayer I have received came when I brought God’s Word to Him and reminded Him of what He had to say. Praise God, He keeps His Word! Confession: God’s Word shall n...

April 28 PLEAD YOUR CASE Put me in remembrance: let us plead together: declare thou, that thou mayest be justified. — ISAIAH 43:26 “Put me in remembrance . . . .” What does God mean by that? It means that we are to remind God of His promises about prayer. When you pray, stand before the throne of God and remind Him of His promises. Lay your case legally before Him, and plead it as a lawyer. A lawyer is continually bringing up law and precedent. You bring up God’s Word. Bring up His covenant promises. The margin of my King James reference Bible says “set forth thy cause” as another meaning of “declare thou” in this verse. God is asking you to bring His Word; to put Him in remembrance, and to plead your covenant rights. This is a challenge from God to lay your case before Him! If your children are unsaved — find scriptures which cover your case. Then lay the matter before God. Be definite in your requests. Find scriptures that definitely promise you those things you need. When you come t...

April 27 A BETTER COVENANT But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. — HEBREWS 8:6 All through the Old Testament, we find men who understood and took their place in the covenant. Joshua could open the River Jordan. He could command time to stand still. Elijah could bring fire out of Heaven to consume not only the sacrifice, but the altar as well. David’s mighty men were utterly shielded from death in time of war as long as they remembered the covenant. When you read about them, you think you’re reading about “supermen.” Nearly all the prayers in the Old Testament were prayed by covenant men. Those prayers had to be answered. The believer today has the same covenant rights as believers who lived under the Old Covenant. In fact, we have a better covenant established upon better promises. Therefore, we ought to be able to do all that they did and more, because we have a New Cove...

April 26 COVENANT FRIEND And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? — GENESIS 18:23-25 God refused to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah until He had talked it over with Abraham, His blood covenant friend! Abraham’s prayer in Genesis chapter 18 is one of the most suggestive and illuminating prayers in the Old Testament. Abraham was taking his place in the covenant that God had made with him — the Old Covenant, the Old Testament. Through the covenant, Abraham had received rights and privileges we understand little about. The covenant Abraham had just solemnized with the Lord Jehovah gave Abraham a legal standi...

April 25 LIMITING GOD Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel. — PSALM 78:41 Can you limit God? The Bible says Israel did. And we have limited Him. We have limited God with our prayer life. John Wesley, founder of Methodism, said, “It seems God is limited by our prayer life. He can do nothing for humanity unless someone asks Him to do it.” Why is that? God made the world and the fullness thereof. Then God made man and gave him dominion over all the works of His hands. Adam was made the God of this world. However, Adam committed high treason and sold out to Satan. Then Satan became the god of this world (2 Cor. 4:4). God didn’t just move in and destroy Satan. If He had, Satan could have accused God of doing the same thing he had done. But God devised a plan of salvation. And He sent His Son, whom Satan could not and did not touch, to consummate that plan. Through Jesus, God redeemed mankind! Now authority has been restored to us through Jesus Christ— an...

April 24 LORD, TEACH US TO PRAY And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray . . . .— LUKE 11:1 Someone said, “It is more important that men learn to pray than that they gain a college education.” Notice he did not say that having an education is not important; he said, that learning to pray is more important. I feel sorry for people who don’t know how to pray. When the crises of life come, they know how to say words — but just spouting off words into the atmosphere isn’t praying! Simply talking into the air is not praying. Taking up twenty minutes on a Sunday morning giving God a homily on what His duties are toward the church is not praying. And giving the congregation a lecture pretending to be praying to God is not praying. Christianity, from a practical side, is a living religion whose believers are in touch with the living God who hears and answers prayer. And prayer may be defined as j...