THEME : FORSAKING ALL TO GAIN ALL.
MEMORISE : And she went
and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her
house, did eat many days. 1 KINGS 17 : 15.
READ : MARK 10 : 28 - 30.
28 Then Peter began to say unto him, Lo, we have left all, and have followed thee.
29 And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man
that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or
wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's,
30
But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and
brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with
persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR : ACTS 8 - 9 AND SONG OF SOLOMON 1 : 11 - 2 : 7.
Elisha was the son of a wealthy farmer ( 1 Kings 19 : 19 ). He was
unlike Elijah the son of a nobody, whose father’s name was not even
mentioned in the Bible ( 1 Kings 17 : 1 ). Yet, Elisha followed this
materially poor but spiritually rich prophet of Yahweh. When a fellow is
called to forsake the business world to do spiritual work, he or she
may not know the glory that is waiting for him or her. When Elisha
forsook the flourishing farming business of his father, little did he
know that kings will later call him “father” ( 2 Kings 6. : 21 ). In the
text of today’s scripture reading, we read of how Jesus assured His
disciples that their sacrificial living shall be rewarded in a
hundredfold here and hereafter. As a result of the demand of God for my
service on a full time basis, I had to leave the university campus where
I had a duplex with a servant quarters to myself, to live in a very
small “boys’ quarters” in Mushin, a poor Lagos neighbourhood. The
apartment was obviously too small for me and my entire family. So, I
asked God to give me a bigger house in other to give my family minimum
comfort. The Lord then told me that I should not be asking for a house
because He was preparing a city for me. Today, the Redemption Camp is
the beginning of the fulfilment of the promised city. The city is still
being awaited, because my Father in heaven said that we have not seen
anything yet.
Whenever God wants to bless an individual, he sets
the fellow up for the blessing. For example, when God wanted to bless
Abraham, he set him up by asking Abraham to give him his only son Isaac
as a burnt offering. The end of the whole drama was that after Abraham
proved his love for God, God restrained him from killing his son and
then swore that he would bless him and that through Abraham, the whole
families of the earth shall be blessed. Abraham was not only blessed, he
became a blessing ( Genesis 22 : 15 - 18 ). Also, when the widow of
Zarephath was to be blessed, she was set up by the demand of Prophet
Elijah. He asked her to first prepare him a meal before hers, even
though there was only one meal left in the house. The widow gave all to
gain all, as she and her son were fed for about three and half years of
famine ( 1 Kings 17 : 10 - 16 ). This principle is still at work today.
If the children of God can learn from the experience of the people of
old and trust God to the point of not withholding from God whatever he
ask us to surrender to Him, then this principle will work for us. As you
begin to surrender totally to God from today, you will always have more
than you bargain for in Jesus’ Name.
ACTION POINT :
What is God demanding from you? Give it to Him and you will receive pleasant surprises.
AUTHOR : Pst E. A ADEBOYE
No comments:
Post a Comment