DEVOTIONAL...
DATE : WEDNESDAY 19 OCTOBER 2016
THEME : I KNOW YOUR WORKS IV
Memorise:
This is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blameless… 1st Timothy 3:1-2a
Read: Revelations 2:18-24, (KJV)
18 And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass;
19 I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first.
20 Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
21 And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.
22 Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.
23 And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.
24 But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden.
MESSAGE
It is amazing and at the same time fearful to realise that the Almighty God takes note of the so-called minor misses of the Church as seen in today’s Bible reading. God is mindful of those who occupy His altar and He will hold in contempt, not only those who climb the altar with profanity but also those who allow them to climb. In Revelation 2:20, God said:
“Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.”
The first lesson to be learnt from today’s reading is in verse 18. The One that is assessing the Church in Thyatira has eyes like unto a flame of fire! In other words, He sees everything done in secret and in public. Absolutely nothing is hidden from Him. Psalms 139:11-12 says:
“If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the light shineth as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.”
As we have mentioned over and over, the Almighty God knows the details of our service. This should always be a consolation to us, especially when it seems our services in the Church are not being appreciated. Know this, your Father in heaven who sees in secret will always reward you in the open. If you are a Deacon and you labour for the church like the General Overseer, it will amaze you that the reward of a General Overseer will pursue, overtake and stay with you. David was fighting like the commander-in-chief of the hosts of Israel and God rewarded him handsomely in many respects even before he was crowned. The greatest lesson with a strong warning is that your service is not perfect when it is laden with immorality and any form of evil. A Church is in danger when she allows profanity to take over the sanctuary. The Lord is warning someone using this devotional that has been using service to cover up his or her immorality and greed. Please, repent today and stop polluting the sanctuary of the Lord. The consequence of your defiant attitude to this warning are severe as seen in Revelation 2:22-23. May the Almighty God have mercy in Jesus’ name. .
Prayer Point:
Father, wherever I have been missing it in my service to You, please help me make amends.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR : Hosea 11-14 and Psalms 81
AUTHOR : Pst E. A ADEBOYE
HYMN 4: TAKE MY LIFE AND LET IT BE
1. Take my life, and let it be
Consecrated, Lord, to Thee;
Take my moments and my days,
Let them flow in ceaseless praise,
Let them flow in ceaseless praise.
2. Take my hands, and let them move
At the impulse of Thy love;
Take my feet and let them be
Swift and beautiful for Thee,
Swift and beautiful for Thee.
3. Take my voice, and let me sing
Always, only, for my King;
Take my lips, and let them be
Filled with messages from Thee,
Filled with messages from Thee.
4. Take my silver and my gold;
Not a mite would I withhold;
Take my intellect, and use
Every power as Thou shalt choose,
Every power as Thou shalt choose.
5. Take my will, and make it Thine;
It shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart; it is Thine own;
It shall be Thy royal throne,
It shall be Thy royal throne.
6. Take my love; my Lord, I pour
At Thy feet its treasure-store.
Take myself, and I will be
Ever, only, all for Thee,
Ever, only, all for Thee.
Hosea: 11. 1. When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt. 2. As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images. 3. I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms; but they knew not that I healed them. 4. I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them. 5. He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king, because they refused to return. 6. And the sword shall abide on his cities, and shall consume his branches, and devour them, because of their own counsels. 7. And my people are bent to backsliding from me: though they called them to the most High, none at all would exalt him. 8. How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together. 9. I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee: and I will not enter into the city. 10. They shall walk after the LORD: he shall roar like a lion: when he shall roar, then the children shall tremble from the west. 11. They shall tremble as a bird out of Egypt, and as a dove out of the land of Assyria: and I will place them in their houses, saith the LORD. 12. Ephraim compasseth me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit: but Judah yet ruleth with God, and is faithful with the saints.
Hosea: 12. 1. Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind: he daily increaseth lies and desolation; and they do make a covenant with the Assyrians, and oil is carried into Egypt. 2. The LORD hath also a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways; according to his doings will he recompense him. 3. He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with God: 4. Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto him: he found him in Bethel, and there he spake with us; 5. Even the LORD God of hosts; the LORD is his memorial. 6. Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually. 7. He is a merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hand: he loveth to oppress. 8. And Ephraim said, Yet I am become rich, I have found me out substance: in all my labours they shall find none iniquity in me that were sin. 9. And I that am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt will yet make thee to dwell in tabernacles, as in the days of the solemn feast. 10. I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets. 11. Is there iniquity in Gilead? surely they are vanity: they sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal; yea, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the fields. 12. And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep. 13. And by a prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved. 14. Ephraim provoked him to anger most bitterly: therefore shall he leave his blood upon him, and his reproach shall his Lord return unto him.
Hosea: 13. 1. When Ephraim spake trembling, he exalted himself in Israel; but when he offended in Baal, he died. 2. And now they sin more and more, and have made them molten images of their silver, and idols according to their own understanding, all of it the work of the craftsmen: they say of them, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves. 3. Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the early dew that passeth away, as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney. 4. Yet I am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but me: for there is no saviour beside me. 5. I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great drought. 6. According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted; therefore have they forgotten me. 7. Therefore I will be unto them as a lion: as a leopard by the way will I observe them: 8. I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the caul of their heart, and there will I devour them like a lion: the wild beast shall tear them. 9. O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help. 10. I will be thy king: where is any other that may save thee in all thy cities? and thy judges of whom thou saidst, Give me a king and princes? 11. I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath. 12. The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up; his sin is hid. 13. The sorrows of a travailing woman shall come upon him: he is an unwise son; for he should not stay long in the place of the breaking forth of children. 14. I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes. 15. Though he be fruitful among his brethren, an east wind shall come, the wind of the LORD shall come up from the wilderness, and his spring shall become dry, and his fountain shall be dried up: he shall spoil the treasure of all pleasant vessels. 16. Samaria shall become desolate; for she hath rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword: their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up.
Hosea: 14. 1. O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. 2. Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips. 3. Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy. 4. I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him. 5. I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. 6. His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon. 7. They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon. 8. Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree. From me is thy fruit found. 9. Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the LORD are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein.
Psalm: 81. 1. Sing aloud unto God our strength: make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob. 2. Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the psaltery. 3. Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day. 4. For this was a statute for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob. 5. This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony, when he went out through the land of Egypt: where I heard a language that I understood not. 6. I removed his shoulder from the burden: his hands were delivered from the pots. 7. Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee; I answered thee in the secret place of thunder: I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. Selah. 8. Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me; 9. There shall no strange god be in thee; neither shalt thou worship any strange god. 10. I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it. 11. But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me. 12. So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust: and they walked in their own counsels. 13. Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways! 14. I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries. 15. The haters of the LORD should have submitted themselves unto him: but their time should have endured for ever. 16. He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee.
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