Open Heavens Devotional by Pastor E.A. Adeboye
Memorise: By this shall all men know that ye are my
disciples, if ye have love one to another. John 13:35
Read: John 13:34-35
It is very expensive to love God except you do not really
have an understanding of this. In John 14:15, Jesus said:
If ye love me, keep my
commandments.
Ordinarily, there is no big deal in this except when you
realise one of His commandments you must keep is to turn the other cheek to the
one who slaps you. This is hard. It is hard to have the capacity and resources
to carry out revenge but refrain from doing so because of your faith in Jesus
Christ. When some Christians found themselves in such situations, they wept as
when they saw a rat biting the tail of a cat but the cat could not do anything.
Also, John 13:35 says: we should love one another as Christ has loved us. This
is a difficult task because among those we are told to love are unlovable
people. How do you love a so-called brother or sister who is constantly doing
everything to provoke you and cause your downfall? How do you love a so-called
leader who is a traitor and who discriminates against you? How do you love a
pastor who sits on your progress for several years and warns you not to tell
his superiors? It is hard. Yet, you have to love them because of Heaven. You
have to love and forgive them or else you have gotten to your final bus stop in
your Christian race.
Additionally, Psalms 97:10 says if you love the Lord, you
must hate evil. To most Christians, that appears like what they regularly do
until they isolate some cases and find out that they are not truly keeping this
commandment. Some Christian parents see their children dress improperly and
dismiss it with a wave of the hand saying: “Don’t mind her: she is being
childish”, yet they do nothing about it. What of wives who dress in seductive
manners, virtually showing to the world that they are” available for sale”, yet
their husbands cannot caution them? Or what of prayer point the Lord gave to
all believers in Matthew 5:43-45? Do you know that based on this command, we
should be praying for all our enemies daily? Did I hear an Amen? Not for the
enemies to fall down and die but for God to open their eyes to know the truth
and become converted. How many people are keeping this commandment today?
PRAYER POINT:
Lord, no matter how hard it is, for as long as you commanded
me to obey your Word, grant me grace to obey without complaining.
Bible in one year: Hosea 8-10
Lord give me the SPECIAl grace to walk in constant obedience...in Jesus Name.
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