ARE HIS COMMANDMENTS GRIEVOUS?: OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL 28TH JULY 2018

MEMORISE:

For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. 1 John 5:3

READ:    Psalm 119:97-106
97 O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.

98 Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me.

99 I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation.

100 I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts.

101 I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word.

102 I have not departed from thy judgments: for thou hast taught me.

103 How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

104 Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.

105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

106 I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous judgments.

MESSAGE:

We often need to remind ourselves of what it means to be born again so that we do not lose sight of who we are. To be born again means that the control of one’s life has been given or surrendered to Jesus Christ. From the moment a person makes this decision, the Lord Jesus Christ is meant to be in charge of his or her life.

One of the important features of being born again is transformation, which is described in the Bible as putting on the new man (Ephesians 4:24, Colossians 3:10). This occurs through a process of continuously renewing the mind with the word of God (Romans 12:2).

When a person becomes born again, he or she is a new creature, for whom old things are passed away and all things have become new (2 Corinthians 5:17). The old things that have passed away include the old ways of thinking and acts that lead to disobedience. The old man, present in all of mankind, is disobedient by nature.

This Adamic nature finds the instructions of God oppressive and can never submit to His authority. 1 Corinthians 2:14 says:

“But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

In contrast to the old Adamic nature, the mind of the new man is subject to the control and influence of the Lord Jesus Christ. Whenever the new man receives any instruction from God, it is joyfully obeyed-God’s commandments are not in any way burdensome to him.

Indeed, the new man loves to obey God (1 John 5:3). However, to reassure our hearts that He is not in ay way a taskmaster, Jesus in Matthew 11:30 said:

 “For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Though these words and several others, we know that God’s motive behind every commandment is our own good. The system of the world is one of the main factors that make obeying God’s commandments seem difficult, but we thank God that the new man in us has overcome the world (1 john 5:4).

True children of God find the world with all its trappings unattractive. Everything the world has to offer, in the form of the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and the pride of life, cannot dominate a child of God any more (Romans 6:14).

Today’s Bible reading paints a perfect picture of the resultant effect of resolving to obey God’s commandments. The word of God suddenly becomes sweeter than honey. This leads us to hate falsehood and keeps us away from evil behavior.

Obedience to the word of God gives superior understanding and divine wisdom. Having been taught by God Himself, we become wiser than our enemies. You will find it easy to obey God’s word henceforth in Jesus’ Name.

PRAYER POINT:
Father, please give me divine wisdom, and take me far above my enemies in Jesus’ Name.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Nehemiah 9
Matthew 9:27-10:15

AUTHOR: PASTOR E. A. ADEBOYE

HYMN 4:  TRUST AND OBEY.

1. When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word,
What a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will, He abides with us still,
And with all who will trust and obey.

o Refrain:
Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

2. Not a shadow can rise, not a cloud in the skies,
But His smile quickly drives it away;
Not a doubt or a fear, not a sigh or a tear,
Can abide while we trust and obey.

3. Not a burden we bear, not a sorrow we share,
But our toil He doth richly repay;
Not a grief or a loss, not a frown or a cross,
But is blessed if we trust and obey.

4. But we never can prove the delights of His love
Until all on the altar we lay;
For the favor He shows, for the joy He bestows,
Are for them who will trust and obey.

5. Then in fellowship sweet we will sit at His feet,
Or we’ll walk by His side in the way;
What He says we will do, where He sends we will go;
Never fear, only trust and obey.