DATE: MONDAY 26TH DECEMBER 2016
THEME: NO TREACHERY
Memorise:
Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. Matthew 19:6
Read: Malachi 2:11-16
11 Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah hath profaned the holiness of the LORD which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange god.
12 The LORD will cut off the man that doeth this, the master and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering unto the LORD of hosts.
13 And this have ye done again, covering the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping, and with crying out, insomuch that he regardeth not the offering any more, or receiveth it with good will at your hand.
14 Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.
15 And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.
16 For the LORD, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away: for one covereth violence with his garment, saith the LORD of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously.
MESSAGE
Today's devotional is meant to remind children of God of the fact that sexual immorality is ravaging promiscuous youths and careless married people in the body of Christ. Many are facing unexplained challenges as a result of their illicit sexual activities. I often tell my spiritual children that if anything God has given to you is precious to you, then keep satanic offers billions away from it. John 10:10 says whenever the devil comes, forget the promises he makes; it is to steal and destroy what you already have. If he cannot steal from you, he won't waste his time coming in the first place. How then could you think that when you give in to the devil by committing adultery and fornication you will not lose something? You are so greatly decieved! The greatest losers are those who engage in sexual sins, especially because their bodies are involved, they drive God out of their hearts and welcome in the devil. Oh! If only you knew what you lost by that single act of sex, you will never do it again! If you are still living in fornication or adultery, you are a big time loser. Repent and the Lord will deliver you by His mercy today in Jesus' name. The book of 1 Corinthians 6:15 says:
"Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid."
Proverbs 6:26 says it is the precious thing you have that the devil targets when he tempts you with sex. While you are relishing in ecstasy for a few minutes of pleasure, you are losing what it took you several years of agonizing prayer, fasting, seeking God's face and self-denial to obtain. It is like pulling down a house. Some people build their house for up to six months, one year, five years or even more. But bring a bulldozer or let there be a fire outbreak in that house and the house is down in a matter of minutes. Fornication razes you down even below your foundation in a matter of minutes! Every fornicator is a loser. Fornication or adultery does not allow it's victims to have permanent blessings. When God gives such victims a blessing that they are expected to secure through righteousness, the moment they fornicate, the blessing is eaten up and before they realize it, everything is gone. Are you secretly fornicating or committing adultery even as a Christian worker, or minister? You are undoing yourself. Repent and stop it now before it takes your life and sends you to hell!
Prayer Point:
Father, please cleanse your Church from every form of sexual sin in Jesus' name.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:
Leviticus 26:14-27:34
Psalms 136
AUTHOR: PASTOR 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.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR PASSAGES
Leviticus: 24. 14. "Take the blasphemer outside the camp. All those who heard him are to lay their hands on his head, and the entire assembly is to stone him. 15. Say to the Israelites: 'Anyone who curses their God will be held responsible; 16. anyone who blasphemes the name of the Lord is to be put to death. The entire assembly must stone them. Whether foreigner or native-born, when they blaspheme the Name they are to be put to death. 17. "'Anyone who takes the life of a human being is to be put to death. 18. Anyone who takes the life of someone's animal must make restitution—life for life. 19. Anyone who injures their neighbor is to be injured in the same manner: 20. fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. The one who has inflicted the injury must suffer the same injury. 21. Whoever kills an animal must make restitution, but whoever kills a human being is to be put to death. 22. You are to have the same law for the foreigner and the native-born. I am the Lord your God.'" 23. Then Moses spoke to the Israelites, and they took the blasphemer outside the camp and stoned him. The Israelites did as the Lord commanded Moses.
Leviticus: 25. 1. The Lord said to Moses at Mount Sinai, 2. "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a sabbath to the Lord. 3. For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops. 4. But in the seventh year the land is to have a year of sabbath rest, a sabbath to the Lord. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. 5. Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land is to have a year of rest. 6. Whatever the land yields during the sabbath year will be food for you—for yourself, your male and female servants, and the hired worker and temporary resident who live among you, 7. as well as for your livestock and the wild animals in your land. Whatever the land produces may be eaten. 8. "'Count off seven sabbath years—seven times seven years—so that the seven sabbath years amount to a period of forty-nine years. 9. Then have the trumpet sounded everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement sound the trumpet throughout your land. 10. Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each of you is to return to your family property and to your own clan. 11. The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; do not sow and do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the untended vines. 12. For it is a jubilee and is to be holy for you; eat only what is taken directly from the fields. 13. "'In this Year of Jubilee everyone is to return to their own property. 14. "'If you sell land to any of your own people or buy land from them, do not take advantage of each other. 15. You are to buy from your own people on the basis of the number of years since the Jubilee. And they are to sell to you on the basis of the number of years left for harvesting crops. 16. When the years are many, you are to increase the price, and when the years are few, you are to decrease the price, because what is really being sold to you is the number of crops. 17. Do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God. I am the Lord your God. 18. "'Follow my decrees and be careful to obey my laws, and you will live safely in the land. 19. Then the land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill and live there in safety. 20. You may ask, "What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not plant or harvest our crops?" 21. I will send you such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years. 22. While you plant during the eighth year, you will eat from the old crop and will continue to eat from it until the harvest of the ninth year comes in. 23. "'The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you reside in my land as foreigners and strangers. 24. Throughout the land that you hold as a possession, you must provide for the redemption of the land. 25. "'If one of your fellow Israelites becomes poor and sells some of their property, their nearest relative is to come and redeem what they have sold. 26. If, however, there is no one to redeem it for them but later on they prosper and acquire sufficient means to redeem it themselves, 27. they are to determine the value for the years since they sold it and refund the balance to the one to whom they sold it; they can then go back to their own property. 28. But if they do not acquire the means to repay, what was sold will remain in the possession of the buyer until the Year of Jubilee. It will be returned in the Jubilee, and they can then go back to their property. 29. "'Anyone who sells a house in a walled city retains the right of redemption a full year after its sale. During that time the seller may redeem it. 30. If it is not redeemed before a full year has passed, the house in the walled city shall belong permanently to the buyer and the buyer's descendants. It is not to be returned in the Jubilee. 31. But houses in villages without walls around them are to be considered as belonging to the open country. They can be redeemed, and they are to be returned in the Jubilee. 32. "'The Levites always have the right to redeem their houses in the Levitical towns, which they possess. 33. So the property of the Levites is redeemable—that is, a house sold in any town they hold—and is to be returned in the Jubilee, because the houses in the towns of the Levites are their property among the Israelites. 34. But the pastureland belonging to their towns must not be sold; it is their permanent possession. 35. "'If any of your fellow Israelites become poor and are unable to support themselves among you, help them as you would a foreigner and stranger, so they can continue to live among you. 36. Do not take interest or any profit from them, but fear your God, so that they may continue to live among you. 37. You must not lend them money at interest or sell them food at a profit. 38. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God. 39. "'If any of your fellow Israelites become poor and sell themselves to you, do not make them work as slaves. 40. They are to be treated as hired workers or temporary residents among you; they are to work for you until the Year of Jubilee. 41. Then they and their children are to be released, and they will go back to their own clans and to the property of their ancestors. 42. Because the Israelites are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt, they must not be sold as slaves. 43. Do not rule over them ruthlessly, but fear your God. 44. "'Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. 45. You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. 46. You can bequeath them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly. 47. "'If a foreigner residing among you becomes rich and any of your fellow Israelites become poor and sell themselves to the foreigner or to a member of the foreigner's clan, 48. they retain the right of redemption after they have sold themselves. One of their relatives may redeem them: 49. An uncle or a cousin or any blood relative in their clan may redeem them. Or if they prosper, they may redeem themselves. 50. They and their buyer are to count the time from the year they sold themselves up to the Year of Jubilee. The price for their release is to be based on the rate paid to a hired worker for that number of years. 51. If many years remain, they must pay for their redemption a larger share of the price paid for them. 52. If only a few years remain until the Year of Jubilee, they are to compute that and pay for their redemption accordingly. 53. They are to be treated as workers hired from year to year; you must see to it that those to whom they owe service do not rule over them ruthlessly. 54. "'Even if someone is not redeemed in any of these ways, they and their children are to be released in the Year of Jubilee, 55. for the Israelites belong to me as servants. They are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.
Leviticus: 26. 1. "'Do not make idols or set up an image or a sacred stone for yourselves, and do not place a carved stone in your land to bow down before it. I am the Lord your God. 2. "'Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am the Lord. 3. "'If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, 4. I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit. 5. Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want and live in safety in your land. 6. "'I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid. I will remove wild beasts from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country. 7. You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you. 8. Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you. 9. "'I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, and I will keep my covenant with you. 10. You will still be eating last year's harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new. 11. I will put my dwelling place among you, and I will not abhor you. 12. I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people. 13. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high. 14. "'But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands, 15. and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant, 16. then I will do this to you: I will bring on you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever that will destroy your sight and sap your strength. You will plant seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it. 17. I will set my face against you so that you will be defeated by your enemies; those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee even when no one is pursuing you. 18. "'If after all this you will not listen to me, I will punish you for your sins seven times over. 19. I will break down your stubborn pride and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze. 20. Your strength will be spent in vain, because your soil will not yield its crops, nor will the trees of your land yield their fruit. 21. "'If you remain hostile toward me and refuse to listen to me, I will multiply your afflictions seven times over, as your sins deserve. 22. I will send wild animals against you, and they will rob you of your children, destroy your cattle and make you so few in number that your roads will be deserted. 23. "'If in spite of these things you do not accept my correction but continue to be hostile toward me, 24. I myself will be hostile toward you and will afflict you for your sins seven times over. 25. And I will bring the sword on you to avenge the breaking of the covenant. When you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague among you, and you will be given into enemy hands. 26. When I cut off your supply of bread, ten women will be able to bake your bread in one oven, and they will dole out the bread by weight. You will eat, but you will not be satisfied. 27. "'If in spite of this you still do not listen to me but continue to be hostile toward me, 28. then in my anger I will be hostile toward you, and I myself will punish you for your sins seven times over. 29. You will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters. 30. I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars and pile your dead bodies on the lifeless forms of your idols, and I will abhor you. 31. I will turn your cities into ruins and lay waste your sanctuaries, and I will take no delight in the pleasing aroma of your offerings. 32. I myself will lay waste the land, so that your enemies who live there will be appalled. 33. I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out my sword and pursue you. Your land will be laid waste, and your cities will lie in ruins. 34. Then the land will enjoy its sabbath years all the time that it lies desolate and you are in the country of your enemies; then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths. 35. All the time that it lies desolate, the land will have the rest it did not have during the sabbaths you lived in it. 36. "'As for those of you who are left, I will make their hearts so fearful in the lands of their enemies that the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to flight. They will run as though fleeing from the sword, and they will fall, even though no one is pursuing them. 37. They will stumble over one another as though fleeing from the sword, even though no one is pursuing them. So you will not be able to stand before your enemies. 38. You will perish among the nations; the land of your enemies will devour you.
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