Joy Okorie
Memorise: And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. Isaiah 2:19
Read: Isaiah 2:18-22 (KJV)
2:18 And the idols he shall utterly abolish.
2:19 And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.
2:20 In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats;
2:21 To go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.
2:22 Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of ?
Bible in one year: Job 17-20, Joel 3, Hymn: Sing hymn 3
MESSAGE:
The Almighty God is not only a God of love and mercy but also a God to be feared.
One reason why you ought to fear Him is that He can only bless you, but He can also turn your blessing into a curse. In Malachi 2:2, something went amiss among the priests and God had this to say:
“If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the LORD of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart”
When you refuse to ascribe to God the glory due to His Name, or when you do not use the blessing God has given you to glorify Him, you may be provoking Him to turn that blessing into a curse. May God not curse your blessings in Jesus’ Name! This is why you must do all that is within your power to obey God always.
Many years ago, a young man came to me saying that he needed a major breakthrough.
Open Heaven 10 November 2017: Friday daily devotional by Pastor E. A. Adeboye –Losing a deal.
Then I asked him, “Will you serve the Lord?” He chorused with enthusiasm, “I will serve Him!” So I told the Lord, “Almighty God, see this young, zealous man who is ready to serve you. Please bless him.”
Some days later, he returned to me with excitement and said, “Sir, my landlord has a house with 13 flats for sale. He says I can sell the property for any price; all he is asking me to give him is a particular amount that is less than half its worth!”
So I said to him, “Congratulations! Your breakthrough has come at last. How many flats are there again?” “Thirteen”, he replied. Then I said to him, “That means you will give one flat to God as your tithe.”
At this, he got angry and said, “This is the trouble with you pastors! This is the reason why people should not even share their testimonies with you!” So I asked him to forgive me. He said, “This is my very first breakthrough”, and I replied, “I am sorry sir”, and he left.
He thereafter sold the house to a prospective buyer, and he took the amount he earlier agreed with the landlord to him. The landlord looked at him strangely and said, “Which house did you sell?” “The house at plot so and so sir”, he replied.
The landlord said to him, “Did I ever ask you to sell that house?” “Yes sir, you did, and you asked me to bring so much for it”, he replied. The landlord then yelled, “You think you can use your black magic on me, right? If you don’t leave here now, both you and your witchdoctor will face the music!” The young man returned to me, saying he was now ready to do what I asked, but I said to him, “Leave me out of this. It is strictly between you and God. Go and settle with Him.” Are you prepared to honour God with the blessings He has given you?
Action Point
God has had to shut some doors because the beneficiaries were not ready to do what He wanted them to do with the open doors.
