Empower positive confessions- Daily devotional by Pastor E. A Adeboye

BIBLE IN A YEAR: 1 John 3-5
EMPOWER POSITIVE CONFESSIONS Tuesday, November 30, 2010
MEMORIZE: “Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy  works, and I will shew thee my faith by my  works” (James 2:18) READ: James 2:14-18 According to Proverbs 22:29, the quality of your work determines the quality of people before whom you will stand. If you are lazy or do your work shabbily, you will continue to frolic with commoners. But if you take pains to deliver outstanding services, over a period of time, a place will be created for you among princes. It is either your work is opening doors for you or shutting doors against you. What is the quality of your service? If you desire breakthrough, reconsider the quality of your output. You must be hard-working.  Do you know that all the 12 disciples Jesus called were hard-working people? Peter was a very skilled and hard-working fisherman before he was called to the ministry.  Matthew was called right in his office as he was collecting taxes.  Some people have skills: they have acquired certificates and lots of knowledge but they never put them to work. That is laziness. Some people claim to be believers yet, they are never found at their duty posts. Such people can never stand before kings. One common error among Christians today is to expect that you could confess your way through success without backing it up with works. Oh! How wrong! Some of my friends fell into this error.  They would regularly confess: “ I am the head and not the tail; I shall prosper and lend to nations. I am a millionaire and I possess a good car by faith”. Because they failed to back up their confessions with a commensurate level of works, after five years of positive confessions, they could not move an inch from where they were. Ideally, your confessions should be preceded by your works. After David said he would defeat Goliath, he backed his faith confessions by works - picking stones, and his sling shot, advancing towards the enemy and hurling a shot at him. Your works empower your confessions.  If all you do is confess: ‘I shall not die poor’ but  you refuse to engage in something that can fetch you sustenance, that fellow would surely die in poverty.  When confessions are bereft of works, they become empty words. ACTION POINT: For every good desire of your heart that you are trusting God for, list the steps you will take that will help to bring your desires into reality. N.B www.10millionexercisebooks.com is a project to eradicate illiteracy in Nigeria. Support the cause today.