Open heaven devotional 3rd May 2015.....

Topic: THE AGONY OF A BACKSLIDER – Sunday May 3, 2015
Memorize:
Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and
do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will
remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. -
Revelation 2:5
Read: Judges 16:18-21
18 And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she
sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up
this once, for he hath shewed me all his heart. Then the lords of
the Philistines came up unto her, and brought money in their
hand.
19 And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a
man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head;
and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him.
20 And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he
awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times
before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the LORD was
departed from him.
21 But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought
him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he
did grind in the prison house.
MESSAGE:
In today’s Bible reading, we see the agony of a backslider
manifested in the loss of Samson’s eyes. To lose one’s physical,
intellectual or spiritual vision is very agonising. Samson, a
Nezarite of God from the womb. Broke the covenant of his calling
first as an Israelite and then as a Nazarite. With reference to the
inhabitants of the land of Canaan such as the Philistines, God in
Deuteronomy 7:3 had thus commanded the children of Isreal:
“Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter
thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou
take unto thy son.”
Contrary to this instruction, Samson went to seek the hand of a
Philistine woman in marriage. When his parents tried to guide
him back to the right path, he in Judges 14:3 said:
“….. Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well.”
Also, concerning Nazarites such as Samson, God in Numbers 6:6
had thus commanded:
“All the days that he separateth himself unto the LORD he
shall come at no dead body.”
But the devil ensnared Samson with honey in the carcass of a
dead lion he had killed. In the process of collecting honey to eat,
he ended up defiling himself ( Judges 14:8-9).
Many children of God are, like Samson, erring in the choice of a
marriage partner. Some have been destroyed by their appetite,
because they could not resist the devil when he asked them to
turn stone to bread by sleeping with a personnel manger to secure
a job. To such people, the end justifies the means, but the
question is: can this temporary “respite” be worth the agony of
backsliding? One lesson we must quickly learn is that, the
moment a Christians begins to slide backward into his or her old
way of life or into things that God frowns at, he or she loses the
power of spiritual vision. Such a fellow beings to wallow in
darkness of untold agony. After the last straw that broke the back
of Samson’s spiritual camel was engaged, the Bible in Judges
16:20 says:
“…. And awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at
other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that
the LORD was departed from him.”
Alas, the process of Samson’s downfall was complete and his eyes
were put out. The worst thing that happened to Samson was that
he died with his enemies; hence, he could not be considered a
victor. My prayer for you is that you will not backslide in Jesus’
Name.
Action Point:
Search your life to see if there are ways you have been backsliding
unnoticed. Make amends and ask God to restore you back to your
first love for Him.
Bible in one year: l Samuel 1:1-2:36, Mark 2:13-28
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