SEPARATION Sunday 10June

Open Heavens Devotional by Pastor E.A. Adeboye

Memorise: The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. 1 Corinthians 15:26.

Read: 1 Corinthians 15:25-28

Death is the enemy of every living soul but one day, it shall cease to be relevant. 1 Corinthians 15:26 says:

The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. 

An African proverb says: “The one who is dead has paid all debts but the living has one more debt to pay”. Generally, people fear death. They will do everything possible to keep this thief from completing its mission in their lives. But what you fear so much becomes your master or even your god. What you fear ends up taking you into its bondage. An employee who dreads a sack will do everything possible to please his employer, even to the point of displeasing God sometimes. As a result of the level of fear people have towards death, they have become enslaved to it. Many are in bondage because of fear. Hebrews 2:14-15 says Jesus tasted death for all of us so that in the process, He might liberate us from this bondage. The fear of death has led many people into all kinds of covenants and satanic cults. 1 John 4:18 says fear torments its victim on a continuous basis. The day you stop being afraid of death, you have secured your freedom.

Why do people fear death so much? It is because it brings about permanent separation from people, places and things. Whenever you travel to some distant location, there is a temporary separation from your family, house, car, etc, but as soon as you are back, that separation is over. According to 1 Corinthians 7:39, death separates husband and wife permanently. In 2 Samuel 12:15-23, when the product of David’s adulterous affair died, David stopped fasting, washed himself and ate his food saying that the child was no longer going to return to him. When somebody dies, he is separated from his house and his bed; no matter how rich he was or how much he liked his bed, he will be moved to the mortuary (Luke 12:16-21). There are earthly things with limited life-span and there are things of eternal value (1 Corinthians 9:24-25). Death may separate you from loved ones, places and things but if you have anything of eternal value, they will remain with you forever. This is why you should focus more on building up your heavenly reserves. In any case, how prepared are you for death or the rapture?

KEY POINT:

If death was to come calling now, would you have anything of Eternal value to look forward to in Heaven?

 

Bible in one year: Psalms 22-24