ESOCS Devotional 13 August 2026 – The Will of God Drives to the Kingdom
MEMORY VERSE: Matt. 7:22 “Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works?”
TEXT: Matt. 7:16-28
You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
28 And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching,
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Humans are not like animals. We are rational beings. God made us in his image and gave us understanding and power to make choice of good or bad in what we are, what we do and where we go. As Christians, we are given roles by God’s Spirit to serve in the congregation and among people in the society. The Spirit of God gives us power to live rightly, yet we can exercise our will in what to do with the power we have received. Our choice of what to do and how we do it gives our report card. In Matt. 7:16 the Bible says “Ye shall know them by their fruits.” (Matt. 7:16-20).
This calls for careful thought about the things we do while serving God. One must carefully consider what God desires in everything we do. It is not about what you have become but how you use what you have become to perpetuate the will of God on earth. (Matt. 7:21).
Our guide as to what the will of God is, can be derived from the scriptures and the very life of Christ and the apostles. This is the kind of life, attitude and acts we are bound to project. God watches us and there is a time of reckoning when everyone will get a due reward and the faithful will be selected for eternal life, while the unfaithful are rejected for eternal damnation. (Matt. 7:22-25)
Our duty while we live now is to obey the word of God that we read and hear from the scriptures. The wise are ever ready to receive guidance from the word of God. But fools who are doomed to perish will allow their canal thoughts to guide them. (Matt. 7:26-29).
Question
From where do you know the will of God?
Prayer
Father, may your will rule my life, in Jesus name. Amen.
Further Reading
Ezekiel 3:33-end, Jer. 27:1-10, Heb. 6:13-end.
ESOCS Devotional 13 August 2026
