CAC LIVING WATER DAILY DEVOTIONAL February 23, 2022 (ANY ACCURSED THING IN YOUR MIDST? (II))
TOPIC: ANY ACCURSED THING IN YOUR MIDST? (II)
Read Joshua 7:1-6, 16-25
MEMORISE: And Joshua said, “Why have you troubled us? The LORD will trouble you this day.” So all Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones (Joshua 7:25)
EXPOSITION
When a man allows those things that God abhors to infiltrate and settle down in his life, he should be ready to come face to face with the consuming Fire of God (Heb. 12:21). That was sufficiently emphasised in the dose of our Living Water yesterday.
What are the implication of allowing an accursed thing in our midst as a family, church, mission, or in our hearts as individuals? In the first place, it is like taking fire in one’s bosom and expecting the clothes not to be burnt (Prov. 6:27). How is that possible? He who takes an accursed thing invites God’s wrath (Jos. 7:1). It also brings corporate punishment and destruction (vv. 4,5). Achan eventually brought disaster, not only on himself, but also on everything/body that belonged to him. Harbouring accursed things results in poverty, spiritually and otherwise.
Moreover, taking an accursed thing in turn takes away one’s courage and boldness in the Lord (v. 5b ‘therefore the hearts of the people melted and became like water’). It also leads to the junction of confusion and delusion (v. 8). How terrible would it be for God to describe one as having ‘sinned, and … transgressed My covenant which I commanded them’ (v. 11)? It is better to imagined than experienced. Ask Joshua and those Israelites under him in the passage of our devotion today. This is so because God sees such a person as a thief and hypocrite (v. 11).
Who would want to fall before his/her enemies (v. 12)? He who takes the accursed thing cannot escape such an experience, because he is himself divinely regarded as an accursed person (v. 12), and thus an enemy of the awesome God. What are those accursed things in your life, today – the skeletons in your cupboard, those things you would be ashamed of, if people were to know or hear of them? The only way out of the consequences is to destroy them (v. 12c), by accepting the lordship of Jesus Christ and allowing the visitation of the sanctifying power of His blood.
PRAYER POINTS
1. Thank God for the assurance of forgiveness and salvation in Christ Jesus.
2. Pray that any accursed thing, known and unknown, in your life, be removed, in the name and by the power of Jesus.
3. Pray that God would visit altars in our homes and churches with His consuming fire to remove all filths of falsehood and demonic influences.
EXTRA READING FOR TODAY: Numbers 27 – 29
Author: C.A.C WORLDWIDE
Remain blessed!
