What Is Acceptable To God

Devotion for Wednesday November 1, 2017

Topic: What Is Acceptable To God

Text: Romans 12:1

It is not everything we do that God approves and accepts. He accepted the sacrifice of Abel and showed disdain to that of Cain. Also He does not accept the act of not entirely depending on Him (Isaiah 31:1). God does not accept sacrifice that is not holy or anything not pleasing to Him. In this our text for the day, Paul exhorts us to present our bodies as living sacrifices. This means that we should dedicate and devote our souls and bodies to the service of God and His glory. Christians should offer up their lives unto God as a whole burnt offering. This must be voluntary as you are expected to do it (present yourself). It must be a living sacrifice; a holy sacrifice, a reasonable sacrifice, otherwise God will not accept it.

Have you offered yourself as a sacrifice that is acceptable to God? Your commitment should be reasonable and not offensive to God. A life that has been sacrificed to God as a living, holy and reasonable sacrifice is seen in its dependence of God for direction and instruction in everything. The person lives according to detects of God. Christians shouldn’t invent services, or make trials, or seek persecutions or provoke opposition so as to be seen as serving and suffering for Christ’s sake. They should do just what God requires of them, and that will be acceptable to Him.

When what we do is acceptable to God that will be the greatest recompense we can get because not everybody will have the privilege to serve God. If He approves what we do, what men think of us doesn’t matter. Therefore, to please Him should be our highest aim in this new month and we will certainly reap the benefits. Happy New Month!

Food for Thought: God’s priority and what He accepts matters. Is this your guiding principle in this heavenly race?

Memory verse: Romans 12:1

Prayer: Grant me, O Lord, the understanding of what you accept so that I can make them my priority in this heavenly race in Jesus name Amen.

Do You Undermine God’s Word

Devotion for Tuesday October 31, 2017

Topic: Do You Undermine God’s Word

Text: John 12:44 – 50

John 12:48 is similar to Deuteronomy 18:19. Many people are eager to hear God’s word or preach it but very few are ready to apply same into their lives. The doers of the word of God are justified according to Apostle Paul (Romans 2:13). Thus James affirms in his exhortation in James 1:22.

Here in our bible reading for the day is an obvious truth. Jesus asserts that if anyone hears His word and does not believe it, that truth He preached will judge the person at last. A sinner will certainly remember the word he heard on the last day and that will be the source of his/her condemnation. Undermining the word of God we hear makes us not to be committed in the things of God and it makes us faithless when we come to the crossroads of life. Another side effect of undermining God’s word is that it makes us lose sight of what God is capable of doing for us. Lastly, those who undermine God’s word act hypocritically and are compromisers.

How do you treat the word of God you read, hear or preach? Do you read, hear or preach and undermine it? Do you attend all the conferences and conventions of your church and have nothing to show for it? When we hear the word of God and undermine it, the result will be what Paul said in 1 Timothy 4:2. Do not hear the word of God and refuse to surrender your life to Jesus? By so doing, you have already condemned yourself. Again, men of Nineveh will rise against you (Matthew 12:41) in judgement. Therefore, act now before it will be too late.  

Food for Thought: The conscience of a sinner will concur with the sentence of Christ on Judgement Day. Will your conscience condemn or commend you?

Memory verse: John 12:48

Prayer: Lord in your mercy grant that I will no longer undermine your word. Help me to be a doer of your word and not hearer alone in Jesus name.

Contrary Behaviour

Devotion for Monday October 30, 2017

Topic: Contrary Behaviour

Text: Titus 1:15 – 16

Contrary means conflicting, opposite, obstructing or hindering progress. Anything we say or do that is opposite of what is ideal can be termed contrary behaviour. In the days of Paul and Titus, there were some false teachers of the word of God even as we have them today. These teachers of Jewish fables and carnal ordinances profess to know and serve God, yet their immoral lives are evidence of denial of Him. Thus they became abominable both to God and man, disobedient to the law and averse to every god work. See Romans 1:28; 2 Timothy 3:5, 8 and Jude 1:4.

Our text for the day teaches us that hypocrites are generally great professors of faith; they profess great knowledge of God and great zeal for Him. Again, our bible reading teaches us that to deny God is a very heinous sin and an abominable wickedness. However, there are some people who are genuinely zealous.

We deny God in two ways: first, in our words and secondly in our actions. Is your behaviour contrary to your profession of Christian faith? Contrary behaviour manifests when we are still living in sin but seriously active in the church. Such person is a deceit and hypocrite. If you belong to that group, turn away from such behaviour (2 Timothy 3:5) because you will be disappointed on the last day. If you have been following such teachers/people whose lives are contrary to the gospel message they preach, turn away from them because they will lead you astray in this Christian race.

Food for Thought: Live well as a Christian because you may be the bible you unbelieving neighbour will have the opportunity to read.

Memory verse: 2 Timothy 3:5

Prayer: Help me O Lord my God, to remove any contrary behaviour in my life

Don’t Labour For The Wind

Devotion for Sunday October 29, 2017

Topic: Don’t Labour For The Wind

Text: Ecclesiastics 5:13 – 17

Solomon posted in a pertinent question for us in Ecclesiastics 1:3 saying, “What profit has a man from all his labour in which he toils under the sun?” Any man that labours looks forward to receiving a reward and a good reward at that. No one wants to work without getting something out of his labour. However, not all the people that labour reap rewards that will last. Some labour for the wind, some for sickness; for thieves and many other things. This is what Solomon called severe evil.

What are the things that lead to laboring for the wind? This could be as a result of robbing God. Another way we labour for the wind is when we refuse to use our wealth the way God, who gave them to us wanted us to use them. The case in Haggai 1:2ff is another way to labour for the wind because it can cause God to withdraw His favours and we earn wages only to put them into bags with holes (Haggai 1:6). These are some of the ways we can labour for the wind.

“He who troubles his own house will inherit the wind” (Proverbs 11:29a). Someone troubles his own house when he is greedy (Proverbs 15:27). Riches are unsatisfying, uncertain and transitory. No one can hold or stay in its course because they are all properties of the wind. Do you labour for the wind by being greedy, not recognizing the source of your wealth or by robbing God? Repent now to avert evil of labouring for the wind.

Food for Thought: Labouring for the wind is a curse. What can you do to avert it in your life?

Memory verse: Ecclesiastics 5:16

Prayer: Grant me the grace, O Lord my God, never to labour for the wind any more but rather that I will labour and eat the fruits of my labour in Jesus name. Amen

What Is Life?

Devotion for Saturday October 28, 2017

Topic: What Is Life?

Text: James 4:11 – 17

In our bible reading for the day, James put up an argument which started from James 4:13 concerning those who think that they have power over their future. He asserts that no man knows what will happen tomorrow. Unfortunately and sadly too, so many people either carelessly or due to pride assume that they can do something about the future by boasting to fulfill their pride and arrogance.

Proverbs 27:1 says, “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.” God has not given us the power to command the future which means that we should depend on Him for each day. No wonder Jesus taught us in the Lord’s Prayer: Give us this day, our daily bread … meaning one day at a time. We can only plead to God concerning the future and not to command the future.

Beloved, all your plans must depend of course on the continuance of your life which God alone offers because when the life is no more, all plans end. Unfortunately, what most of us don’t know or fail to remember most times is that life is transitory and evanescent as a basis on which to build any plan for the future. We can’t calculate on the permanence of a vapour neither build any solid hope on a mist. Therefore, we must know this fact that our future is in the hands of God and let this spur us to rely on Him in all we do.

Food for Thought: “Man that is born of a woman hath but a short time to live and is full of misery; he cometh up and is cut down like a flower; it flees as it were a shadow and never continues in one stay.” – Book of Common Prayer

Memory verse: James 4:14

Prayer: Help me, O Lord, to understand that life is just a mist and transitory so I can depend on you for each day of my life in Jesus name. Amen.

One Secret Of Abundance

Devotion for Friday October 27, 2017

Topic: One Secret Of Abundance

Text: James 4:1 – 3

Yesterday’s food for thought was James 4:1- 3, which speaks that we ask amiss and don’t get from God. James mentioned the reason for this in that verse as avarice. Charles Caleb Colton said that, “Avarice has ruined more souls that extravagance.” A greedy person is like a bottomless pit which never gets filled.  Such a fellow will exhaust all efforts to get satisfaction but can never be satisfied. The story of Ahab and Naboth’s vineyard is an example. Lust and greed are inseparable twins. It leads to covetousness and murder as James made us to understand. He reprehends them who are not ashamed to make God the minister and helper of their lust and pleasures, in asking for their wicked motives and uses.

We pray amiss and don’t have when our aims and ends are not right with God. In prayer, we must consider three things; 1) the object, 2) the manner and 3) the end. We must not only guard our affections, but secure our intentions; for prayers that want a good aim, do also want a good issue. What is you aim for the 7 days, 21 days or 40 days fasting and prayers? Is it aimed at expanding the kingdom of God or for worldly satisfactions in cars, husband, job, money, children, etc? If any of these or many others not mentioned here is your reason for the fasting and prayer, you are not getting it right or you may be asking for what God will give you that you will regret at the end. Remember the case of manna the Israelites had with God in the wilderness. Have you ever considered why God don’t answer all the prayers we say?

If we intend to pray and have what we ask for in abundance, then we should always consider our object, manner and end before praying. Certainly, God will answer you, and your joy will be full (John 16:24).

Food for Thought: “If your desires be endless, your cares and fears will be so too” – Thomas Fuller

Memory verse: James 4:2

Prayer: Re-order my motives in prayer O Lord, so I will not do things wrongly and end up without a reward in Jesus name. Amen.

Holy Spirit Reorders Our Prayers

Devotion for Thursday October 26, 2017

Topic: Holy Spirit Reorders Our Prayers

Text: Romans 8:26 – 28

Holy Spirit is indispensable in the Christian life we live. A Christian life demand living in Spirit and it is obvious that man in the flesh cannot live well and please God if the spirit does not take over such life. Here in our text, Apostle Paul explains some of the things the Holy Spirit does for us in bearing our weaknesses.

1) By giving us strength to bear them

2) By exciting us to make efforts to overcome them

3) By ministering to us consolations, and truths, and views out our Christian privileges that enable us to endure our trials.

The reasons we do not know what to pray for may be for the following reasons:

1) That we do know what would really be the best for us.

2) We do not know want God will grant to us according to His will

3) We are, to a great extent ignorant of the character of God, the reason of His dealings with us and our real wants.

4) We are often in real, deep perplexity. We are encompassed with trials, exposed to temptations, feeble to diseases, and subject to calamities. These, put us in despair and changes our focus.

Do you have the Holy Spirit in your life? When we allow Holy Spirit to have full control over our lives, then we can pray well and get what we need. Allow Him into your life so He can reorder your priorities and needs.

Food for Thought: James 4:3

Memory verse: Romans 8:26

Prayer: Lord, fill me with the Holy Spirit so He can do the impossible in my life and reorder my request always so I can gain your approval in Jesus name.