OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL. FRIDAY 17 APRIL 2015. THEME : KEEP YOURSELF HUMBLE.

MEMORISE : Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that
he may exalt you in due time. 1PETER 5 : 6.

READ : 1 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.

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
judgment (1 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.