Open Heaven 21 April 2022
MEMORISE: “And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And immediately the spirit driveth him into the wilderness.” – Mark 1:11-12
BIBLE READING: John 6:5-13
5 When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?
6 And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do.
7 Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little.
8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, saith unto him,
9 There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?
10 And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.
11 And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.
12 When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.
13 Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten.
Read yesterday’s Open Heaven Devotional here
The boy in the Bible reading who gave his lunch to Jesus Christ was not named. One would expect that a boy like that who was selfless enough to share his lunch, through which over 5,000 people were miraculously fed, would have been named in the Bible, but the Scriptures are silent about his name. Not only he; many of the vessels of honour in the Bible were not named. For example, the slave girl in 2 Kings 5:1-3 who brought salvation to Syria was not named, the fellow who the disciples saw casting out demons in Jesus’ name in Luke 9:49 was also not named. This tells us that the work of God is not a popularity contest. You don’t have to be popular to be relevant and of great use to the Kingdom of God. When I see people struggling to be seen and recognised publicly while doing the work of God. I wonder if they understand the nature of the assignment they are called to. That’s why in Mark 1:45, when the leper who Jesus healed went around telling everyone about his healing, Jesus could not enter the city openly again. Jesus knew that the spotlight was going to distract Him from the real work which He was to do, so He stayed in the desert to carry out His assignment.
When you read Mark 1:10-13, you will see one of the dangers of being publicly recognised. The moment God bragged about Jesus Christ to the hearing of the public, Satan heard and a season of trials and temptations began for Jesus immediately. In 1 Samuel 13:14, Samuel announced that God had found a man after His heart to replace Saul. Immediately Satan heard that, he began to look out for who that man was. In 1 Samuel 16:11, when Samuel said nobody would sit until David arrived to be anointed, Satan knew it was David, so he raised Goliath against Israel so that David would not fulfil his God-given destiny. David killed Goliath and it became abundantly clear that David was loved and chosen by God, so the devil raised Saul against him and a season of trials began for David during which he resorted to hiding in caves. The moment you are hailed in public, the devil marks you for trial. Be wise; one of the prayer points in the Lord’s prayer is, “Lead us not into temptation”.
Don’t bother about public recognition. Just face the work that God wants you to do, not the spotlight.
PRAYER POINT: The spotlight attracts the attention of the devil; stay away from it as much as you can.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 2 Kings 11-14
Thank you for studying today’s Open Heaven – Don’t Be Desperate for the Spotlight – written by Pastor Enoch A.
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Open Heaven 21 April 2022
