Dearly beloved in Christ,
I greet you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ!
Some years ago, a family came for prayer. They were advocates. They did not get the payments for their jobs. Even though they had given the bills or vouchers for the jobs done, the money was not released to them in time to pay the instalments. They were in trouble. I began to pray along with them. I asked them whether they gave any chicken they were rearing to anyone at any time. First, they couldn’t recollect it. After some time, they said that once a boy living nearby gave their little son a chicken as he enjoyed seeing it. The boy played with it. But one day the boy who gave the chicken went to see the flood near the house along with two other boys. But these boys were carried away by the flood and they died. It was a Saturday. There was a superstitious belief that people who died on Saturday will look for companions. So instead, they would give a chicken. So, they sought a chicken. The families of the other boys got chickens, but the next door neighbour couldn’t. So, this family which had received the chicken from the dead boy gave it back to them. They had sent their small son to the house of one of their relatives as they were afraid that he might be affected. The chicken that they gave was taken with the dead body for performing funeral rites.
Dear Brother/ Sister, do not give your possessions, things like flowers that you grow in your garden to fulfil the traditional wrong practices of anyone just to please your neighbours. If you do so, the blessings of your hands will be thwarted. As they confessed their sin of giving that chicken for a wrong belief, they received all the payment due to them and they were able to pay salaries for their office staff. They could pay the rent and settle everything else. The Lord helped them to do so. Do not trust in vain things. In all situations, trust the Lord.
May the Lord bless us!
Bro. C. Ebenezer Paul