Open Heaven 17 January 2023
MEMORISE: I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Romans 12:1
BIBLE READING: Matthew 16:24-27 (KJV)
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 27 For the Son of Manis going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.
Read yesterday’s Open Heaven Devotional here
The sacrifice that pleases God the most is your life. You become a living sacrifice the day you surrender your life to Jesus. From the day you genuinely surrender your life to Him, He can send you wherever He wants, set the direction of your life and use you to fulfil His plans. God knows, I never wanted to be a Pastor, talk less of a General Overseer, but I am a living sacrifice.
I had wanted to retire at the age of seventy, so that I could then begin to live a normal life-sleep when others sleep, eat when others eat and so on, but God said, “No”. Since I am a living sacrifice, my response was, “Yes, Daddy”. God expects your entire life to be a sacrifice to Him; you are to go wherever He sends you. When He says witness-you witness, sit-you sit, pray-you pray.
The moment God knows that He has you as a living sacrifice, whatever other offering you give becomes acceptable because it would be given under His guidance. Some of us, even before coming to Church, have made up our minds on the offering to give. For the fellow who is a living sacrifice, God will tell them what to give. When I became General Overseer, things were hard. We could hardly pay the staff on the church’s payroll and many a time, there would be nothing left to pay the General Overseer.
Having left paid employment for full- time ministry after working for the government for several years, I received my gratuity, with plans to save some, invest some in shares and so on. However, since I am a living sacrifice, I asked God, “What do I do with this money?” He responded that I should divide it into three parts and give each to a different ministry while retaining nothing for myself.
As painful as this was, I was comforted when He said further, “I will be your source”. When you become a living sacrifice, God will become your source. The day you became a living sacrifice, you became His property, so He will take care of you. Things may be hard at first, but He will make sure that your tomorrow will be all right (Colossians 1:27).
KEY POINT: Are you a living sacrifice for God? Can He decide to do whatever He pleases with you and all you have?
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Exodus 5-7
Thank you for studying today’s Open Heaven – The Living Sacrifice – written by Pastor Enoch Adeboye
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Open Heaven 17 January 2023
