20/01/2023
OPEN HEAVENS DEVOTIONAL
DATE: FRIDAY JANUARY 20TH 2023
THEME: SET THE RIGHT EXAMPLE
MEMORISE: But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. 2 Timothy 2:20
READ: 2 Timothy 2:19 -21
19 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.
20 But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.
21 If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Exodus 14-16
MESSAGE
Following our discussion which started yesterday, the second question that you should ask yourself is "What kind of example am l going to be for those coming behind me?" You see God can raise somebody and promote him or her greatly, but when the fellow makes a mistake and crashes, he or she becomes an example for others to learn from, so as not to make the same mistake. If you read l Corinthians 10:11 carefully, you would see that verses 1-4 were dedicated to describing the investments that God had made in the people of Israel, then the rest of the passage goes on to list how many of them became examples for those of us coming after. God is making investments in you now. He is making sure that you read and hear certain messages, He is promoting you and doing miracles for you now; what will be the outcome of all these? Will you be used as a good example later in future or a bad one?
But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
1 Corinthians 10:5
The verse above says God was not pleased with many of them. The truth is that not many people will end up as good examples,; most will end up as bad ones because only a few will be violent enough to take the Kingdom of God by force (Matthew 11:12). The devil will throw a lot of temptations your way. Some of them will come as harmless suggestions, but you have to be fully ready to submit to the Lord and resist the devil so that he would flee (James 4:7).
As we see in our Bible reading of today, purge yourself of all unrighteousness so you can set the right examples for those coming behind you. Ask the Holy Spirit for help. You must never get to the point where you feel you have enough of the Holy Spirit. Only the Holy Spirit can keep you from falling; embrace Him like your life depends on it, because it actually does.
PRAYER POINT
Father, don't let me end up as a bad example to those coming after me.
