OPEN HEAVENS Devotional – Wednesday
May 11th 2016
TOPIC: CONSISTENT CHRISTIAN?
Memorize: And, behold, I come
quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work
shall be. Revelation 22:12
Read: Revelation 22:11-14,
11 He that is
unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy
still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is
holy, let him be holy still.
12 And,
behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according
as his work shall be.
13 I am Alpha
and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.
14 Blessed are
they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life,
and may enter in through the gates into the city.
Bible in one year: 2nd Kings
10:18-12:21, Proverbs 22:29-23:13
MESSAGE
At the beginning of his
ministry, Paul took a ride in a basket as he escaped for his life in Damascus
(2nd Corinthians 11:32-33). But the God who delivered him from
the garrison at Damascus, allowed him to end up in jail at Philippi (Act 16).
Because God answered a particular prayer yesterday does not mean that He would
repeat another in exactly the same manner.
In Acts 16:25, Paul conducted
a worship service in prison right in the midst of chains and bonds. He never
complained. Paul learnt to praise God in whatever circumstance he found
himself. Not many people can praise God when thrown into prison for the sake of
the Gospel. He was prepared to undertake the worst of sufferings for the
Kingdom of God (Philippians 1:20-21). He was not ashamed. Are you ashamed to
suffer minor ridicule, persecutions, denials, beatings for His Name today? Paul
could say we should become a living sacrifice to God because he was one.
In African traditional
religion, when a bird or animal is brought as a sacrifice to an idol, the giver
forfeits his right to that animal; it becomes the property of the idol for the
rest of its life. Whether it lives or dies or is given to someone is at the
discretion of the idol. That living sacrifice may be fed so well in one moment
and killed the next minute. This explains the term living sacrifice. You should
be so yielded to God to the extent of delivering to Him the greatest pleasure
in whatever you do. If dying for the Gospel will give Him the height of
pleasure, you should be prepared to die like Stephen. The preparedness of
Daniel to go into the lion’s den demonstrates that he was a living sacrifice.
But in the end, instead of death, his faith compelled a decree for the whole
world to fear Daniel’s God. If my death can produce a United Nations decree
compelling all nations of the world to worship no other god other than my God –
the true and living God, I will gladly be on my way to Heaven. Are you a living
sacrifice? And to what extent?
Prayer Point
Father, please give me the
grace to always look unto You for everything I need in life.
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