Friday 19 April 2013

RCCG Open Heavens Devotional Friday 18 April 2013 TAKING GRACE FOR GRANTED By Pastor E. A. Adeboye

RCCG Open Heavens Devotional Friday 18 April 2013 
TAKING GRACE FOR GRANTED 
By Pastor E. A. Adeboye

Memorise: “God forbid! How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?” Romans 6:2
Read: Romans 6:1-5
Bible in one year:  Leviticus 8-10
Action point: Prayerfully follow up 5 backsliders and lead them back to Christ. Pray that they will not take God’s grace for granted.

Just as certain things are peculiar to champions, ex - champions also have what ¡s common to them. You will not be an ex-champion, but if you are one, the Lord will restore you to a place of relevance in Jesus name. When we look at the prayer of Samson, an ex-champion, we can learn something from it. The first thing he said was, Remember  me oh Lord! Why was he asking to be remembered? it is because people don’t easily remember ex-champions. It is the champion’s crown that is revered by many not the one wearing the crown. So if the crown goes, so goes everything the crown attracted. Samson also said, strengthen me. Strength is an invisible force. If you ask any boxer, he will tell you not to judge a man by his size. Why? Until you are left alone with your opponent, you may never realise how strong he is. There are people who are big but without strength, just as there are slim but powerful people. Isaiah 40:28-30 says God gives power to the faint. Philippians 4:1 3 says you are enabled to do all things by the strength that Jesus supplies. In 1 Kings 1 8:46, God laid His hand on Elijah and he outran a chariot. This season, the Lord will lay His hand on you and enable you to do the impossible. Another thing Samson said was, Strengthen me just this once. We believers ought to learn something from this. He did not ask for restoration several times but just once. Have you been falling and rising? Do note that when Samson fell, he asked for restoration just once. Also, the prodigal son that is so often used to build a mould for backsliders, left home just once according to Luke 1 5:1 1 24. On his way back his father ran to receive him, but he never left home again. Some of us teach that God will always receive the backsliders: but that excludes when you are now taking His grace and love for granted. if you have been a divine champion and you fell, the devil will not want you to rise again. On the other hand, God wants you to reconcile with Him after the fall, but He does not expect you to go on a regular dive înto sin expecting Him to forgive. Hence, Romans 6:1 says, 
“What shall we say then? Shall  continue in sin, that grace may abound?”
And the answer followed: God forbid! The mould that some modern believers are following is the one forbidden by God. If you fell and asked for forgiveness, stay on in Christ. Stop taking grace for granted!

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