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SIN AND FAVOUR Sunday 24 April

Open Heavens Devotional by Pastor E.A. Adeboye


MEMORIZE: “Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, though art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.” (John 5:14).

READ: John 5:2-8, 14

One quality you must possess in order to attract God’s favour is the ability to worship Him. Another indispensable quality of one who seeks divine favor is the ability to surrender all. In Matthew 8:13, the leper laid everything at the feet of the Master and worshipped Him. He surrendered all to Him. Many who claim to have surrendered all to Jesus do not really understand what it means to do so. To surrender your life is to give up everything; to relinquish control. If you have surrendered your life to Jesus, how come you are still the one calling the shots? If you are holding something, and then you surrendered it, it implies it is no more in your custody. Many believers do not surrender their lives; they only loan them out to the Lord for a period. Are you loaning or surrendering your life to the Master? The bitter truth is that God knows the difference, irrespective of what we claim with our mouths.

I preached one Sunday morning on ‘I surrender All’. Thereafter, a man came to me, thanked me for the beautiful sermon, and then said he has surrendered all to Jesus. When I hinted him we would like to make use of his car the following day, he replied that being a working day, he would need the car. So, I smiled and told him there was really no need for his car but that I just wanted to make him realize he was yet to truly surrender all like he claimed. Have you surrendered all to Jesus?

Still, another quality you must have to secure divine favour is that your sins must be forgiven. Sin and divine favour are miles apart; hence, you must ensure there is no sin in your life capable of hindering your favour. This was why the Lord had to forgive the paralytic before healing him in Mark 2:1-12. After being forgiven, you must not continue in sin, according to John 5:14. Some believers who commit sin in secret are rejoicing in their hearts that they have not been found out. They think all is well. No! All is not well. If only God would open their eyes to know the extent sin has set them back, or their blessings that have been diverted away from them. Sin steals from the sinner. Sin never gives to the sinner.


ACTION POINT
List ten evidences of true surrender to Christ in your life. If these are lacking, ask God for the grace to completely surrender to Him.

Bible in One year: Lev. 24-27

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