AS IN A MIRROR: OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL, 6TH DECEMBER 2018.

MEMORISE:
But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. James 1:22

READ:  James 1:21-25
21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.

25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

MESSAGE :
While driving on the highway, you would often see a road sign that indicates “Bump ahead” or “sharp bend ahead”. Seeing such a sign, a wise fellow will immediately slow down while foolish fellow will keep speeding. 

When the danger that should have been averted happens, everyone will consider such a driver to be foolish. This scenario describes the case of those who read the Bible and see some truths in it that will save their lives but choose to act on what they have read.

Today’s Bible reading tells us that the word of God is like a mirror which shows us what needs to be changed in our lives. It is a dangerous kind of foolishness to read or hear the word of God and not act on it. 

Some people hear the word and resolve to do something, but they procrastinate taking action until their resolve fades away with time. They are like man dressed up to go out who sees in the mirror that his tie is a little too far to the right, but then leaves the front of the mirror without correcting it. 

If after a while he remembers that his tie is a little off to the right and then tries to adjust it to the left, he may adjust it a little too far to the left. The wise thing to do is to make the adjustment while still in front of the mirror. If you hear or read any word from God that requires you to make an adjustment in your life, you must do so immediately, because delay may be dangerous. 

Many years ago, my Father in the Lord preached a message on keeping our environment clean if we wanted God to live in our homes. He also said that the kind of music we listened to would determine if the Spirit of God would be comfortable dwelling in our homes. 

My wife and I got home late and tired that day, but tired as we were; we raised up our mattress and swept off a lot of dirt from under our bed. We also broke and threw away all the secular tapes that we had in the house. We acted on the word immediately and we were better off for it. Matthew 13:23 says:

“But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”

When you have heard a word that can change your life for the better, the devil knows it, and he immediately springs into action to steal it from you. You must be on guard, and your best strategy is to act on the word before he brings distracts and suggestions that will destroy the fruits that God intends the word to yield in you. 

Are you just a hearer of the word or a doer of it?

PRAYER POINT:
Father, please make me head indeed and don’t let me fail in my responsibilities.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Ezekiel 47-48, John 7:40-8:11

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.

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.