OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL FOR JANUARY 17, 2023 (THE LIVING SACRIFICE)
TOPIC : THE LIVING SACRIFICE
MEMORISE: – (Romans 12:1)
“I beseech you therefore, brethren by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”
READ: Matthew 16:24-27 (KJV)
24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
27 For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.
MESSAGE
The sacrifice that pleases God the most is your life. You become a living sacrifice the day you surrender your life to Jesus. From the day you genuinely surrender your life to Him, He can send you wherever He wants, set the direction of your life and use you to fulfil His plans. God knows, I never wanted to be a Pastor, talk less of a General Overseer, but I am a living sacrifice.
I had wanted to retire at the age of seventy, so that I could then begin to live a normal life – sleep when others sleep, eat when others eat and so on, but God said, “No”. Since I am a living sacrifice, my response was, “Yes, Daddy”.
God expects your entire life to be a sacrifice to Him; you are to go wherever He sends you. When He says witness – you witness, sit – you sit, pray – you pray.
The moment God knows that He has you as a living sacrifice, whatever other offering you give becomes acceptable because it would be given under His guidance. Some of us, even before coming to Church, have made up our minds on the offering to give. For the fellow who is a living sacrifice, God will tell them what to give.
When I became General Overseer, things were hard. We could hardly pay the staff on the church’s payroll and many a time, there would be nothing left to pay the General Overseer. Having left paid employment for full-time ministry after working for the government for several years, I received my gratuity, with plans to save some, invest some in shares and so on. However, since I am a living sacrifice, I asked God, “What do I do with this money?” He responded that I should divide it into three parts and give each to a different ministry while retaining nothing for myself. As painful as this was, I was comforted when He said further, “I will be your source”.
When you become a living sacrifice, God will become your source. The day you became a living sacrifice, you became His property, so He will take care of you. Things may be hard at first, but He will make sure that your tomorrow will be all right (Colossians 1:27).
REFLECTION: Are you a living sacrifice for God? Can He decide to do whatever He pleases with you and all you have?
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Exodus 5-7
HYMNAL: Hymn 23 – Take my life, and let it be
