OPEN HEAVENS DEVOTIONAL - 15/05/2013 - FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH BY PASTOR E.A. ADEBOYE

Wednesday 15 May, 2013

FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH

Memory Verse

Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

1 John 3:16

Read

Revelation 2:8-10

Rev 2:8 And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive;

Rev 2:9 I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.

Rev 2:10 Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.

Message

 It is a dangerous thing to argue with your Commander-in-Chief when He has given you an order. When an order has been issued by the Lord, what He expects is nothing but prompt and total obedience. But are you saying 'If it is true, why then does God invite us to come and reason with Him as stated in Isaiah 1:18?' That invitation is to sinners and not to His soldiers. Although Isaiah 43:26 says you can plead together, yet I give you my candid advice not to accept that invitation. Job accepted that invitation but did not like its aftermath (see Job 40:1-5,7). Whenever something happens to you which you don't understand or cannot explain, please never query God. Whenever He is queried, God replies, only that you will not like what you will hear. God is no democrat: He rules by decrees. If you do not want any problems with Him, just obey.

God is not interested in your grammatical ability or theological knowledge but in your faithfulness. According to 1 Corinthians 4:2, if there is something God is expecting to see in you, it is faithfulness. To what extent should you be faithful? He wants you to be faithful unto death (Revelation 2:10). That means start with faithfulness, continue in it and die in it. Oh how He loves this in His soldiers! Revelation 12:11 says,

“And they overcame him by the blood of the lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”

This means that victory over the forces of darkness is not total until you reach a point you are dead to self and the flesh. It is at this point that Satan will become afraid of you and God will be able to send you on almost any errand. But if your life is still very precious to you, fear will not allow you to take on certain delicate or dangerous assignments for the Lord. According to 1 John 3:16, the Lord expects us to be faithful unto death because every soldier is supposed to be a carbon copy of his or her Commander-in-Chief. Who do you resemble? Are you dead to sin, flesh, Satan and the world? Ask God for the grace to be faithful unto death.

Prayer point

 Father, grant me the grace to be faithful till the end.

Bible in one Year

Psalm 7 - 9