OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL DATE: FRIDAY 17th APRIL 2015......

THEME: KEEP YOURSELF HUMBLE
MEMORISE: Humble yourselves
therefore under the mighty hand of
God, that he may exalt you in due
time: 1st Peter 5:6
READ: 1st SAMUEL 15:17-19,
17 And Samuel said, When thou wast
little in thine own sight, wast thou
not made the head of the tribes of
Israel, and the LORD anointed thee
king over Israel?
18 And the LORD sent thee on a
journey, and said, Go and utterly
destroy the sinners the Amalekites,
and fight against them until they be
consumed.
19 Wherefore then didst thou not
obey the voice of the LORD, but
didst fly upon the spoil, and didst
evil in the sight of the LORD?
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: JOSHUA
19:40-21:45 and MATTHEW
22:15-46
MESSAGE:
Several years ago, I was on a visit to
a parish of our church in Ilesha (a
town in southwest Nigeria) on the
same day that a Bible Study service
was to take place. Because I wanted
to be blessed, I sat down in the
congregation waiting for the Bible
Study teacher to commence the
lesson for the day. However, an
overzealous usher announced that I
was around, and so the Bible Study
teacher refused to teach while I was
sitting in the congregation. When he
insisted, I offered to interpret the
message for him. In spite of this, he
still would not teach. I then ordered,
“As the General Overseer, I
command you to teach.” Not wanting
to disobey me, he started teaching,
though he was uncomfortable having
me as his interpreter. It was a
humorous scene, but we had a
wonderful time.
One great undoing of present-day
minister is pride. Humility can be
discerned from your relationship
with your superiors and
subordinates. When you respect your
subordinates as though they were
your superiors, you are beginning to
learn the principles of a humble life.
There is nothing good that can come
out of arrogance and pride: only
destruction.
Some people are humble when their
ministry is still modest, but the
moment they gain publicity and
popularity, they become so proud
and see themselves as infallible. The
same Saul that was hiding when he
was being made king started
disobeying God without remorse
when he became settled.
Do you know that a simple “I am
sorry, Lord” from Eli could have
saved him from being rejected and
destroyed by God? Instead, his
response to the situation at hand
showed that he was not bothered
about God’s judgement (1st Samuel
3:18). Rather than asking for God to
show mercy, he told God to “do as
He pleases.” May God not “do as He
pleases” in your life in Jesus' Name.
If God is to do as He pleases,
nobody will be able to stand (Psalm
130:3). When you clothe yourself
with humility, your life becomes
blessed and favoured (James
4:6&10), and you become a channel
of blessing to everyone around you.
Jesus Christ, our Master and King,
humbled Himself to die a shameful
death (Philippians 2:8). Let the
mind of Christ be in you always. He
made himself of no reputation. He
took the posture of a servant
through the spirit of humility. It is
against this backdrop that God
decided to exalt Him highly and gave
Him a Name that is above every
other name. Pride usually goes
before a fall. Pride is excessive self-
esteem. It brings about the
misconception that one is better
than others. This is dangerous
because God is the only one who
can help you in the fulfilment of
your destiny. With humility, you can
conquer the world.
KEY POINT:
It is better for you to humble
yourself than for God to humble you.

AUTHOR: Pst E. A. ADEBOYE.