MAN, VERY UNRELIABLE- Daily devotional with Pastor E.A Adeboye

Shining through Hard Work - Daily devotional by Pastor E.A Adeboye

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Num. 21-24
SHINING THROUGH HARD WORK Saturday, July 16, 2011
MEMORIZE: “Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men” (Prov. 22:29) READ: Isaiah 60:1-3 Isaiah 60:1 says it's time to arise and shine. Anyone who is ready to shine must be ready to pay a price. There are degrees of shining. Depending on the size of each light and its make-up, light rays are beamed towards a particular location, with a specified intensity. And like battery operated torches that grow dim as the battery weakens, so also do the rays that come from the one who shines. In order to shine, you must make up your mind on the level of rays you want to release, the circumference of your glow, and how long it must be sustained. There are categories of glory. 1 Corinthians 15:41 says, “There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory”. Apart from paying the price, it must be commensurate with the level of glory expected. Some believers want to radiate the glory of the sun but cannot even pay the price to carry the shine of an ordinary torch. It does not work like that. You can only carry the level of glory you have paid for on your knees, in praying, fasting, sowing, evangelizing, worshipping, etc. The higher the price, the greater your shine. Ideally, God is really the One who promotes (Psalm 75:6-7). He can choose a beggar from the dunghill and set him among the greatest (1 Sam. 2:8). God has destined you for greatness and you shall be great. One thing I like doing is studying those who have gone ahead of me. I want to learn from their success, and mistakes. Proverbs 22:29 says diligence makes you wine and dine with kings. If you are lazy, you may never come close to the top. During our family devotion one morning, while discussing about Hannah and the birth of Samuel, I told my children that although Eli had already prophesied to Hannah that her request was granted and that she should go in peace, Elkanah still had to do his part by being intimate with his wife. If this was not done, Samuel would not have come. Good news is only the beginning of hard work. To what extent do you work? Do you leave what you should do undone? KEY POINT: Your spiritual altitude is determined by the price you are prepared to pay.

ATTITUDE AT HOME: A daily devotional with Pastor E. A Adeboye

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Titus 1-3
ATTITUDE AT HOME Friday, July 8, 2011
MEMORIZE: “Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.” (Prov. 14:1) READ: Prov. 31:25-29 Your attitude towards your home will show whether you are wise or not. Proverbs 14:1 says, “Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands”. This does not restrict the building of the home to only the woman, as inputs from the man are equally required. What is important here is the attitude of the couple. Anytime you do anything that works against the interest of your family, you are pulling it down. A wise woman invests her time, money, efforts in building up her husband, children and herself. One way you can build up your partner or home is by your words. In Proverbs 31:26, the language of the virtuous woman is full of wisdom and kindness. A woman who combines these whenever she speaks to her husband or children, would earn their respect, support and praise. The way some sisters shout at their children, you would take their residence for a mad house. If you call your children names such as dog, goat, or insane fellow, you are pulling down your house. It is only a foolish man or woman who would call his or her spouse or children anything less than what God calls them. How are you building your home? Appreciation and commendation are part of the building blocks for the average home. Proverbs 31:28 says, “Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her”. In the house of the wise, you do not hear swearing and cursing. What you hear are words of blessings. When your wife cooks and sets the table, do you remember to say: 'Thank you for this lovely meal?' A simple word of appreciation, go a long way in building your family. Truth must not be compromised. It is only a foolish individual who feeds his or her spouse with lies. By the time the truth is exposed, there may be serious crisis. Anything that does not contribute to the well being of your family must be avoided. In order to build together, a couple must put aside their differences, and work for their common good. By your attitude towards your wife, husband or children, are you building up or pulling down? The virtues in the virtuous woman are worth emulating by modern women. ACTION POINT: List 20 things you can do to make your spouse and children happy. Go ahead and do them.

WHAT'S YOUR CHOICE? -Daily devotional with Pastor E.A Adeboye

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Psa. 28-30
WHAT'S YOUR CHOICE? Saturday, July 2, 2011
MEMORIZE: “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:” (1 Pet. 2:9) READ: Acts 5:14-16 God has different purposes for calling and using His people. For instance, the purpose for which He created Peter was to show the world that in His hands, a nobody can become so anointed that his shadow would heal (Acts 5:14-16). Peter never went to school. He even confessed that it was difficult for him to understand Paul's writings. Yet, if his shirt mistakenly touched the sick, there would be instant healing. Not many educated people would be comfortable with that. This is not to say that God cannot use the highly educated. He took Paul with his outstanding academic credentials, wore him like a garment, and began to use him. God can use you whether educated or not. What is more important is what you want the world to know about God, through His manifestation in your life. What do you want to be remembered for after leaving planet earth? You have the opportunity of determining it now. As for me, I want God to reveal His holiness through me. If you take a look at God's Generals of our day, you will find that each of them exudes an aspect of God's attributes. For instance, He created Oral Roberts to reveal His healing power to the world. From his sick bed where he was dying of tuberculosis, God healed him and began to use him to heal others. Even at the point of his death and in a coma, Roberts was taken to the Oral Roberts Teaching Hospital and the doctors put his hand on a woman who had just been operated on but was dying. Immediately his hand touched the woman, the bleeding stopped and she was healed. Similarly, why did He create Kenneth Hagin? It was to reveal faith to the world. Sometimes you may almost think that all he knows is Mark 11:23. Personally, I want His holiness to show forth through me because of its key role in everything. If you are holy, faith is simplified. Also, God's blessing will pursue and overtake you (Deut. 28:1). In addition, Deuteronomy 28:1-7 says with holiness, you may not be required to fight your enemies by yourself. Holiness opens the door of Heaven. I don't want to labor in vain. I want to see Him on the last day. Hebrews 12:14 says without holiness, no one can see Him. What do you want God to reveal of Himself through your life? ACTION POINT: Consider the cloud of witnesses in Heaven and the present-day Kingdom Generals, and then prayerfully decide your area of specialization in God's work.

SIN CHANGES EVERYTHING- Daily Devotional with Pastor E.A Adeboye

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Isa. 7-9
SIN CHANGES EVERYTHING Tuesday, June 28, 2011
MEMORIZE:"In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” (Gen. 3:19). READ: Genesis 3:17-19 After God created Adam, he ruled as a king over the whole earth. He named all the animals with his God-given, unparalleled wisdom. Everything went well and was peaceful. In addition, he regularly received his heavenly visitor - God. All he needed had been provided ever before he was created. Then came sin! The man who wanted to be like God was reduced to dust. While meting out judgment to them, God told him, “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” (Gen. 3:19). Nothing debases a man like sin! Sin can relocate the one on the mountain top to the valley! The moment sin surfaced, everything on earth changed. Suddenly, man realized that he was naked. The animals also realized they could now govern themselves and did not need to be under the control of men. The ground hardened up as it resolved to reduce man's harvest. The heavens seemed to move farther from man as divine visitations now become a rarity. Sin changed everything! There are some people who are still looking at their mother-in-law, or at one relative somewhere as the root cause of their problems, whereas they fail to see the real culprit—sin—which they are carrying about with them. They are busy chasing shadows. Face reality! Is sin in your life? If yes, you are the one undoing yourself. It is an irony that people can go to any length searching for invisible enemies, whereas the visible enemy they are harboring has become 'invisible' to them. In the Garden of Eden, sin brought nakedness. It also brought disgrace and sweating. Until man's fall, there was no sweat. Progress was without sweat. Little effort delivered great results. But when sin came, great efforts delivered very little result. It was all work, much sweat and little or no progress. Have you not noticed that your gossiping, backbiting and jesting are working against you? As long as you refuse to cut off from sin—lies and deceit—you may continue to retrogress. Check yourself and pinpoint the sin that is hindering your life. Repent and ask God for forgiveness, resolving never to return to it. Live right before God while asking for your covenant benefits. KEY POINT? Sin and righteousness are two things that can rewrite one's destiny, but from opposite angles. Choose righteousness!

STILL MANIFESTING- Daily devotional with Pastor E. A Adeboye

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Gal. 4-6


STILL MANIFESTING

Saturday, June 25, 2011

MEMORIZE: “Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.” (2 Cor. 4:10).

READ: 2 Corinthians 4:8-12

Through the lives of His children, God tries to reveal Himself to the world. Such revelation may fall either under God's goodness or severity (Romans 11:22). This is why you must be extremely careful about what God wants to use your life to show the world. For instance, God used David to reveal His super abundance.

While studying Psalm 23:5, I asked God, “Why the waste? Why did you not stop when the cup became full with oil?” He said He just wanted to show David that there is still plenty of oil left where the oil was coming from.

May God use you to reveal His super abundance this season. Let us consider another Bible character - Elijah. God wanted to show the world through Elijah that He is a prayer answering God (1 Kings 18:213-9). After about two minutes of prayer, fire fell from Heaven. As long as there are no obstructions to a life of sacrifice and holiness, you can always get answers to your prayers. He can even answer your unsaid prayers - mere wishes which were not voiced out.

Sometime ago, during our Lets-Go-A–Fishing program, I was going in company of my children when we ran into a notice, 'Turkey for sale'. I told my children we had never had turkey for Christmas, except chicken. By the time we returned home, there were three turkeys waiting even when I did not pray for them.

At Ebute Metta (Lagos, Nigeria), I shared the testimony in church and by the time we got home, they had increased to seven! As you align your desires with God's and please Him, He will give you even your unvoiced requests.

What of Daniel? What people commonly say of him is how he came out of the lions den alive but they appear to not know the main issue. God's purpose was to reveal Himself through Daniel as the All-wise God, hence, Daniel could interpret the dream that the dreamers had even forgotten, as well as hand writing on the wall.

Even today, God wants someone through whom He can manifest a higher level of wisdom. Can He choose you for such an assignment? There are levels of God's manifestation. In whatever way He has manifested Himself before in the life of an individual, He can repeat it at the same level, or modify it, depending on the level of cooperation of the seeker.

How ready are you to cooperate with the Almighty God for a higher manifestation of His power, or wisdom, in your life?

PRAYER POINT: Father, as I serve You this season, grant my prayers and desires, even those unsaid.

Soul winning is to be sustained- Daily devotional with Pastor E.A Adeboye

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Gal. 1-3
SOUL-WINNING IS TO BE SUSTAINED Friday, June 24, 2011
MEMORIZE: “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.” (Prov.11:30). READ: Proverb 11:27-30 You can know a wise fellow by his willingness and ability to serve God till his last breath. The hands of the wise remain on the plough till the end. Although many start a race, not all get to the finishing line. Part of wisdom is to endure to the end so that you can see the end of what you started. Our Christian race starts on earth but finishes in Heaven. May you not tire until you see the end of your Christian journey! The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise” (Prov.11:30).Another mark of a wise fellow is continuous soul “winning. It is good to win souls, but stopping after a few is not wisdom. The wise fellow is the one who never stops winning souls. Some Christians were regularly winning souls when they were not ordained ministers. After they were ordained, they decided they had outgrown soul-winning. How wrong! Why were you anointed if not to make you more effective in soul-winning? Some pastors, particularly senior pastors, cannot recall when last they spoke to and led a sinner to Christ one on one. This is one reason ordinary workers who are committed to evangelism may earn greater rewards in Heaven than some senior pastors. God never planned that attaining an ecclesiastical position will become a hindrance to effective soul winning. As far as He is concerned, soul winning is for the wise. The week or month you win souls, you are adjudged wise. The week or month you don't win souls, you are adjudged foolish. Moreover, there are Christians who won souls in their youth but stopped after they became elders. To such believers, age is a good reason to be unfruitful. But Psalm 92:14 says, “They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing”. It is wisdom to continue to win souls even as you grow older. Naturally, when you become an elder, one thing you will be praying for is to see your grandchildren. An elder who has no grandchild feels he or she has failed as an elder. The quest to see such a bundle of joy makes such elders to force their children into marriage. When the grand child arrives, the grandparents will be full of joy. Do you know that having converts in your old age brings greater joy and dividends to the soul winner? If you don't believe it, try it today. Become an incurable soul winner. Ask God for the grace. KEY POINT: Some die fornicating, some die stealing, some die eating, some die sleeping. One great way to die is to die winning souls.