*CONSIDER THE POOR*

Live Daily Die Daily Footstool Devotional

27th March 2023

Read Psalm 41

Psalm 41:1 KJVS - Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble.

God will choose you as a candidate for deliverance I'd only He can be reminded of times when you have considered the poor and been kind to them. Being kind to people who do not have anything and anyone to sort them out in their time of trouble is a very powerful investment into your own life and personal security. God will deliver you in your time of trouble when you have been kind to the needy before.

The same way the enemy attacks others who do not seem to be cushioned enough in life is the same way the enemy wants to attack you. Remember people who ask you for help because they are truly in need. God will pay you back.

Make this a major part of your life. Consider people who are poor. Show tender mercies to people who are truly in a difficult situation. You never know when you will find yourself in the same situation. God will save you when you find yourself in a similar place.

Consider the poor.

Proverbs 19:17 KJVS - He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay him again.

Don't be too high headed and fixated on looking at the negative aspects of giving to the poor. Don't give excuses like, " These people do not like to work that's why they are always hungry and in need". Allow yourself to have a soft side. Allow yourself to be merciful. You cannot be so strict all the time. If God decided to deal that way with you, you would be truly pitiful. Allow mercy rivers to flow out of your life. Be merciful and God will show you mercy.

Matthew 5:7 KJVS - Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

Live.

Anastasia Bruce

Footstool Colour

*LABOUR OF LOVE*

Live Daily Die Daily Footstool Devotional

Tuesday, 21st March, 2023

Read Matthew 21: 28-31

Hebrews 6:10 KJVS - For God is NOT UNRIGHTEOUS to FORGET your WORK and LABOUR of LOVE, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have MINISTERED to the saints, and DO MINISTER.

What love got to do with labour and what has labour got to do with love? Someone will say, " As for love, it's all about patience, relaxation and taking one's time so that things will unfold naturally.. And another will say, ' As for labour, it's all about taking your life into your own hands and working hard till you see your sweat turn into blood". Love and the things of love seem to come in some cool and natural ambience. Labour and things pertaining to labour seem to unravel with speed, determination and some forcefulness and aggression.

Can love have anything to do with labour?

Can a phlegmatic successfully marry or flow with a choleric? Can slowness and speed coexist in one person? Of course it can. By nature, God made us to be able to physically function both sympathetically and parasympathetically. The difference is in when whichever becomes more relevant, and the other has to serve to complement the one.

Can you serve God well only by loving Him in your heart? No! Can you serve God well only by labouring for Him with your physical being, not your heart, feelings, thoughts and emotions srrenxer3d to Him in admiration? No! God wants a little love and a little labour from each of us. You have to give him a balanced you- having enough love and enough labour!

Love and labour are the two things that keep God awake and aware in the matters that concern you. When God sees your love and your efforts at working hard in the things that prove your love to Him, the Bible says it provokes his righteousness! God quits Himself to ensure that He makes things right for you, when he smells your adequate and proportionate amounts of love and labour. God is moved to be righteous when He sees your good balance of labour and love. He reminds Himself to keep you remembered and not forgotten when the aroma of your balanced labour and love come before Him.

Some people only want to love God in their hearts. They don't want to work hard in serving and ministering to Him. Others want to work hard to show God that they are hardworking servants. But they don't add good enough doses of love to all their work. They like to be busybodies, leaving no room to slow down and make time to love on the Lord in worship and obedience.

From today, choose to do a little love plus a little labour, okay? Your labour must be of love, and your love must be with labour.

Try to answer Jesus' question about which son did his Father's will- the one who said he will go, and did not, or the one who said he will not go, but went. A little love, a little labour- that's how to provoke God to make things right and just for you.

Live!

Anastasia Bruce

Footstool Colour

*BECOME FRESH*

Live Daily Die Daily Footstool Devotional

Monday, 20th March, 2023

Read Ezekiel 47:1- 12

Ezekiel 47:7-8 NIV - When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river. ⁸ He said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, where it enters the Dead Sea. When it empties into the sea, the salty water there BECOMES FRESH.

God can turn any negative situation around. God can fill the hopeless with hope. God can turn a cold heart into a lively and fiery one. God can bring life into a dead situation. God is the River of Life!

In Ezekiel 47, we are introduced to a river that is similar to the river seen in Genesis 2 and in Revelation 22. This river is unique in the sense that it flows from the Temple into the Dead Sea, where the water is so salty it cannot support any aquatic life. But when the River from God’s Presence flows into the Dead Sea, it becomes fresh. New life enters the dead place and plenty different kinds of fishes begin to exist and survive in it. Fishermen can then make use of this water and catch fishes in their nets. Fruit trees can grow along its banks, and their leaves can be used for healing. The standing waters will be preserved for a source of salt. This is a picture of fruitfulness. God’s River breaks out in our lives to makes us fresh and fruitful.

Ezekiel 47:9-12 NIV - Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live. ¹⁰ Fishermen will stand along the shore; from En Gedi to En Eglaim there will be places for spreading nets. The fish will be of many kinds—like the fish of the Mediterranean Sea. ¹¹ But the swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt. ¹² Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing. ”

Become fresh again. Do all the things that take away death and staleness out of your life and allow God to introduce Life into your life. When you become fresh, you will souls, you will be a healer, you will have food to eat and give and you will have salt in yourself. Allow God’s Life to flow into you today in Jesus Name. Amen.

Live Daily.

Anastasia Bruce

Footstool Colour

THINK PROFIT 2

Live Daily Die Daily Footstool Devotional

13th March, 2023.

Proverbs 14:23 KJV - In all labour there is profit: but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury.

What labour are you involved in? Does it bring you profit in the end? If it does not, you need to think again about your labour. Work is a noble thing to engage in. But when you are involved in work that does not bring profit, you need to revise your strategy. God’s Word advises us not to tend towards penury in our labour. God’s Word counsels us to tend towards profit, increase and riches, through heavenly wisdom and God-enabled labour, instead of mere talkativeness, which is folly. Labour that only tends towards penury is labour that is not being well done or managed. Labour must be done in wisdom if it is going to tend towards riches. Otherwise, if done for mere labour sake, it will tend towards poverty.

Proverbs 14:24 KJV - The crown of the wise is their riches: but the foolishness of fools is folly.

God desires to crown you with riches. That's why He starts off with you by giving you wisdom. Wisdom helps you manage resources and riches. Wisdom ensures that you do not lose your crown. So, if you start off with God by seeking godly wisdom, you must allow Him to, when the time comes for that, teach you how to turn the wisdom He has given you into riches. God wants to crown you with riches. He does not want the most obvious thing about you to be folly. The Bible says the foolishness of fools is folly. But that must not be your description. It must be very obvious to all that you are a very wise person. That’s God’s plan for you.

Pray that God will crown you with riches. Pray that every wisdom that God has given you you will become apparent. Be willing to turn your depths into heights. Be willing to turn your precious gold, fetched from the depths of your search in God, into a crown of riches, while you remain true to the call of God on your life, delivering souls. Keep soul winning as your main dealership. A crown of riches is given by God through your wise labour will only serve to enhance your work of delivering souls. Never forget that three verses occur consecutively and one should not be looked at in isolation from the rest.

Proverbs 14:25 KJV - A true witness delivereth souls: but a deceitful witness speaketh lies.

Go all out for labour, think profit, be crowned with riches and do the true work- witnessing about Jesus and delivering souls.

Live.

Anastasia Bruce

Footstool Colour

*NOT HASTY TO BE RICH*

Live Daily Die Daily Footstool Devotional

Read Hosea 12

Proverbs 28:20-22

A FAITHFUL man shall abound with blessings,: but he that MAKETH HASTE TO BE RICH shall not be innocent.

To have respect of persons is not good: for a piece of bread that man will transgress.

He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye, and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him.

It is not good to rush towards riches. The Bible calls that kind of demeanour an EVIL EYE. A person who is always looking at how they can quickly get rich through whatever means has a wrong way of looking at life- they simply have an evil eye.

What should our approach to riches be, then? It is better to be FAITHFUL and work steadily on whatever you have in your hand at a point in time, growing it in bits till it becomes plenty, than to have your eye in so many places where you think you can get money quickly from. The desire to get rich and rich in the shortest possible time introduces anxiety and a certain fast-pacedness that leaves very little room for God to show up in our lives or offer His help or suggestions for our increase. Our approach to riches should be that we embrace poverty, whenever we find ourselves there, and let it be a reason why we seek God and depend more on Him. Poverty is good in the sense that it helps us need God, seek Him and find Him. Yes. A good eye embrace one’s state of lack and uses it as a means to wait on the Lord, instead of making haste to find riches here and there.

Apostle Paul said, “ I will rather glory in mine I firmities, that the power of Christ may rest on me”. While it is not good to be satisfied with any state of poverty you may find yourself in, it is good to allow that state of poverty to inspire you to reach for God’s help. If your state of poverty rather inspires you to want to be rich quickly by whatever means,using all kinds of “smart” ways, even when God has not impressed it on your heart to go ahead with that, makes you have an evil eye. And an evil eye will not dwell with God.

Live.

Anastasia Bruce

Footstool Colour

JUST LIKE JAEL 3- JAEL THE BUILDER

Live Daily Footstool Devotional

2nd March, 2023

Read Judges 5

Judges 5:24 KJV - Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be, BLESSED SHALL SHE BE ABOVE WOMEN IN THE TENT.

Judges 5:24-27 NIV - “Most blessed of women be Jael,

the wife of Heber the Kenite,

most blessed of tent-dwelling women.

²⁵ He asked for water, and she gave him milk;

in a bowl fit for nobles she brought him curdled milk.

²⁶ Her hand reached for the tent peg,

her right hand for the workman’s hammer.

She struck Sisera, she crushed his head,

she shattered and pierced his temple.

²⁷ At her feet he sank,

he fell; there he lay.

At her feet he sank, he fell;

where he sank, there he fell—dead .

Jael was blessed above women in the tent. The term “ women in the tent” refers to women who were into homes and houses. Jael was a woman in charge of her own house. She was in charge of food in her house and knew how to serve food to nobles and kings. She even had working/ building tools in her tent and knew how to hold them and use them. She was physically a builder of her own dwelling place and she was in charge of her space. These are the qualities that made her chosen to be blessed with the gift of cunningness and wisdom.

Proverbs 14:1 KJV - Every wise woman buildeth her house...

The cunningness of the serpent in the garden of Eden not only made Adam lose his place as leader of the whole world but it also made lose her space and place as the leader in charge of food and the beauty of her tent or home or temporary dwelling place. When God anoints a woman with cunningness, He enables you to take back your charge of being a builder of your own tent- and that is your destiny!

Proverbs 24:3-4 KJV - Through wisdom is an house builded; and by understanding it is established:

⁴ And by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches.

You must desire to build your own house and fill it in with all the treasures required. You must desire to have all kinds of varieties of drinks and foods in your house, as a woman. These things are fantastic to dream about, yet they are achievable if you can ask God for wisdom and cunningness to be able to have the profit that enables you to sponsor all such provisions.

To be a builder of your own life, home, career, or ministry like Jael, you need to be anointed to build. A tent is a temporary dwelling place. You must have a mind that you are in this world for just a little while, only to do the will of God and exit into eternity for the next assignments. Your life is momentary and temporary- it is like a tent. Your home is momentary- it is like a tent. Your career is only for a while on this earth- it is like a tent that can easily be pulled down when you die. Your ministry is what you can do to serve others while you’re on this earth- it is also like a tent. Though these aspects of life are temporary, they are the tools that you can use to overcome the oppressor from your life. If you can successfully build whatever shade-giving tent God wants to give you, you can become free from the oppressors rule. Every daughter of God is destined to be free from bondage, oppression, suppression and depression. Jael killed the oppressor within her tent. You must find your own tent and build it up. Build your life, your physical body, your home, your family, ministry, career, business and anything else that makes you survive and get out of the pressures and hard knocks of this life. Become a builder of something that will give you space and a place in this world while you are here. God wants you to last long and live free while you are on this earth, having dominion through Christ What you build is what will enable you to destroy the power of the enemy over your life, and ossibly your entire nation!

Be a builder of your own tent, just like Jael.

Live Daily

Anastasia Bruce

Footstool Colour

*JUST LIKE JAEL 2*

Live Daily Die Daily Footstool Devotional

1st March 2023

Judges 5:24 KJV - Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be, blessed shall she be above women in the tent.

It is important to take a look at people whom the Bible mention to be blessed in a high level of excellence. To excel is to go past the mark of what the average or ordinary person would do. God wants daughters who go past the mark of many average girls. God desires excellent daughters. God is into making excellent women. You must desire to be above average. You must desire to be above ordinary because your God is not average and He is not ordinary. Think about it. If God were just every other God, we wouldn’t love Him that much and all nations would not have him as their desire. But Jesus is loved because he is above all the ordinary powers that be. If you love God, you must love to go beyond average. You must desire to be blessed above women.

Proverbs 31:29 AMP - ²⁹

“Many daughters have done nobly, and well [with the strength of character that is steadfast in goodness],

But you EXCEL THEM ALL.”

Deborah described Jael as a woman blessed above women in the tent. Can you be described as a woman blessed above women in the market place, if you are a market woman, or blessed above students, if you are a student? Can you be described as a person blessed above( not among) ministers, or blessed above professional? Certainly it takes the excellent Spirit of God to go above the average mark and to press on towards the ever-advancing mark of excellence in knowing God.

Philippians 3:8 KJVS - Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the EXCELLENCY OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST JESUS MY LORD: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

Philippians 3:14 NKJV - I press toward THE GOAL for the prize of the UPWARD CALL of God in Christ Jesus.

Jael was blessed above women in tent. God used her to destroy the cunning Canaanite oppressor, Sisera.

Hosea 12:7 NKJV - ⁷ “A cunning Canaanite!

Deceitful scales are in his hand;

He loves to oppress.

Jael’s blessing was in her cunningness. She was anointed to become more cunning than the cunning Canaanite oppressor, Sisera. You go above the mark of everybody else when you start living for the profit of the Kingdom that God has designed for you to add through your talents. ( Your talents are supposed to make God’s Kingdom even more wealthier!). Jael was blessed above women because she lived unlike several other women- she put the needs of God and His Kingdom first, before her own needs or desires.

Philippians 2:21 NIV - For everyone looks out for their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.

Your excellence begins the day you decide to live for the profit of Jesus and His Kingdom more than you ever desire for your own self.

Live!

Anastasia Bruce

Footstool Colour

*CUNNING JAEL 1*

Live Daily Die Daily Footstool Devotional

28th February 2023

Read Judges 4

Judges 4:17-22 AMP - But Sisera fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. ¹⁸ Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me! Have no fear.” So he turned aside to her [and went] into the tent, and she covered him with a rug. ¹⁹ And he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink because I am thirsty.” And she opened a skin of milk and gave him a drink; then she covered him. ²⁰ And he said to her, “Stand at the door of the tent, and if any man comes and asks you, ‘Is there anyone here?’ tell him, ‘No.’” ²¹ But Jael, Heber’s wife, took a tent peg and a hammer in her hand, and came up quietly to him and drove the peg through his temple, and it went through into the ground; for he was sound asleep and exhausted. So he died. ²² And behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.” And he entered [her tent] with her, and behold Sisera lay dead with the tent peg in his temple.

With a good dose of cunningness working in her, Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, was able to outwit and destroy Israel's longstanding oppressor of 20 years, Sisera, the Canaanite army commander during the war.

She fought with some pretentious tenderness, a smile, a welcoming hand and opening the door of her house unto an enemy. She pretended she was a friend by capitalising on her husband's peaceful relationship with Jabin, the Canaanite king. In order to be cunning, you need to be skillful in utilising every advantage in your life. Being thankful for everything in your life , whether good or bad, enables you to become skillful in utilising whatever asset you may have when it is needed. Jael did not curse God for being married to a man who was a friend to Israel's oppressor. She used that opportunity to be the one who could invite the enemy commander into her home, into his death-trap!

Apostle Paul had a dual citizenship as a Roman and a Jew of Tarsus (Acts 21:39; 22:25ff). He capitalised on either whenever it became more necessary, so he could have an advantage. Cunningness is an important skill to have if you are going to learn to overcome your adversaries and to have the victory.

Ask the Lord to make you wise, cunning and shrewd in dealing with others around you, who though may appear unsuspecting, may actually be enemies of your soul. Ask the Lord to make you shrewd. Such an ability can never be attained through self-effort. It is a gift of God that comes through wisdom and revelation. Ask the Lord for wisdom and revelation.

2 Samuel 22:27 NKJV - With the pure You will show Yourself pure;

And with the devious You will show Yourself shrewd.

Psalm 18:26 NKJV - With the pure You will show Yourself pure;

And with the devious You will show Yourself shrewd.

Live Daily!

Anastasia Bruce

Footstool Colour Ministries

*A SELF- MAILED GIFT OF STRENGTH!*

Live Daily Die Daily Footstool Devotional

27th February 2023

1 Corinthians 14:1-5 NLT - Let love be your highest goal! But you should also desire the special abilities the Spirit gives—especially the ability to prophesy. ² For if you have the ability to speak in tongues, you will be talking only to God, since people won’t be able to understand you. You will be speaking by the power of the Spirit, but it will all be mysterious. ³ But one who prophesies strengthens others, encourages them, and comforts them. ⁴ A person who speaks in tongues is strengthened personally, but one who speaks a word of prophecy strengthens the entire church.

⁵ I wish you could all speak in tongues...

Have you ever wondered how some people who do amazing things openly find inner strength to keep going everyday? I’m sure you have some people like this in your social circle who are always so consistent and appear motivated and powerful so much so that you wonder how and why they keep going on. The truth is that no one is powerful to do anything without some supernatural support. You will never be able to succeed big time in your life’s work without an external source of strength sustaining you and urging you on.

Remember that in Genesis chapter 6, the Bible says there began a crop of people who started achieving fame and stardom and become so skilled and warrior-like and though these people were human beings like everyone else, they also had a supernatural thing at work in them- they were half spirit beings and half human beings because they were produced from sexual relations between fallen angels and the daughters of men. They were the “men of renown” not because they simply had more inner self-motivation than others, but rather because their very genetic makeup demanded that they be super- human.

Genesis 6:4-5 NLT - In those days, and for some time after, giant Nephilites lived on the earth, for whenever the sons of God had intercourse with women, they gave birth to children who became the heroes and famous warriors of ancient times.

⁵ The LORD observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil.

But such super-human abilities were nothing to be applauded by God, because those abilities were only being used for wicked purposes.

God wants to increase your personal strength. He doesn’t want you to live as weakling, only merely human. As you can see, the systems of the are failing everywhere and if you decide to live only a simple merely human life, you will not succeed much. You have to decide to consciously include as part of your daily routine, time to suck in some supernatural strength into your weak, tired, unmotivated, cold and dry life.

If you can speak in tongues, you are blessed with a great gift that can help you to draw on the strength of the Holy Spirit for your personal animation, motivation and advancement. When you speak in tongues, you lend your lips to the Holy Spirit who lives in your spirit , so that He can make pronouncements that are spiritually intelligent and able to create advantages for your propulsion. Speaking in tongues is a gift of encouragement and boldness to your own self. People will wonder how you keep going on and that powerfully so when you intentionally make time to speak in tongues daily. You have to learn to invite spiritual assistance into your weak human space, otherwise you will like ordinarily and soon, you will be down and out.

Look, everyone who is making it and getting some form of renown or success is being assisted by something out- of- this- world. As a child of God, don’t only dream of prophesying or doing things things to strengthen and help others. You must plan for your own spiritual health, exercise and nutrition by making time to learn in the Spirit and pray in the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is always on Standby, available to kick in when your energy levels a

*A BROKEN HEART AND CHANGE OF PLANS*

Good Friday with Jesus

24th February, 2022.

Genesis 6:5-8 NLT - The LORD observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. ⁶ So the LORD was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. IT BROKE HIS HEART. ⁷ And the LORD said, “I will wipe this human race I have created from the face of the earth. Yes, and I will destroy every living thing—all the people, the large animals, the small animals that scurry along the ground, and even the birds of the sky. I AM SORRY I EVER MADE THEM.” ⁸ But Noah found favor with the LORD.

God made us to love us and was expecting so much love from us in return. But at a point, like in Noah’s say, he realised how unrealistic His expectations from humans were. They had become so corrupt they just couldn’t love Him or anyone back. God experienced a real heart break and he became so sorry.

When you get to a point of heart break, you realise that you cannot expect so much from another person like you thought they could give back just because you said you love them. Just like God, every heart break can warrant a change of mind and plans. You must be ready to change your mind about some people when you realise that your efforts of love are not going anywhere with them. God changed his mind concerning humans. He redecided our lifespan, for instance. He decided to spoil all creation that He had ever made. This characteristic is important for us to learn about God. God changes His mind about things. We must also not be cast-in-stone type of people. We must be realistic to change our minds about how far we would like to go in our relationships with people.

However, this scripture does not end in too sad a way. The Bible says, “But Noah found grace in the sight of the Lord”. God could not go right on with His plans of destruction because there happened to be a flag of mercy waving at Him from Noah’s house. Noah was a man of faith and He proved his righteousness by building the boat that saved his ark and all the animals that God had wanted to destroy. He lived out the grace He received from God by building something that outlived the wicked world he found himself in.

Hebrews 11:7 NLT

It was by faith that Noah built a large boat to save his family from the flood. He obeyed God, who warned him about things that had never happened before. By his faith Noah condemned the rest of the world, and he received the righteousness that comes by faith.

Because of Noah’s obedience, God’s broken heart was somehow healed. A broken heart can be very unrelenting in carrying out a back-to-sender wicked plan. Yet the way to heal a broken heart is to have some obedience to God showing up somewhere.

If your heart is broken, chances are that God’s heart is broken too. If you want to change your mind about a loved one who is unyielding, chances are that God wants to change His mind too and destroy what was formally built. But God can fix things only if you are prepared to obey the plan He shows you if you ask Him. You find grace in God’s eyes by showing that you are willing to build a flood- surviving ark! The grace of God establishes you and makes you a survivor. So,when your heart gets broken, don’t just change your mind according to your own understanding of things. Be prepared to use your broken heart to follow God’s plan for your life and not your own plan. A broken heart is a best place to start if you want to live a life of obedience to God.

Proverbs 3:5-6 NLT - Trust in the LORD with all your heart;

do not depend on your own understanding.

⁶ Seek his will in all you do,

and he will show you which path to take.

When God’s heart was broken concerning us, He sent Jesus who obeyed Him fully, even though He did want to suffer the shame and the pain. But He did not follow His own will, but rather God’s will. You can be the reason why salvation, mercy and grace comes to you