OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL FOR NOVEMBER 29, 2022 (DEALING WITH DESTINY KILLERS 2)
TOPIC : DEALING WITH DESTINY KILLERS 2
MEMORISE: Proverbs 16:18
“Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”
READ: Ezekiel 28:1-19 (KJV)
The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord God; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God:
3 Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can hide from thee:
4 With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures:
5 By thy great wisdom and by thy traffick hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches:
6 Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God;
7 Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness.
8 They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas.
9 Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am God? but thou shalt be a man, and no God, in the hand of him that slayeth thee.
10 Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God.
11 Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
12 Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.
13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.
14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.
15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.
16 By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.
17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.
18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.
19 All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.
MESSAGE
Pride is one of the most dangerous destiny killers I know. If there is any iota of pride in your life, or someone has been telling you that you are proud, you had better cry to God to take it away as you work on becoming humble. James 4:6 says that God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. You cannot achieve your destiny without God’s grace, so if God resists you and refuses to give you His grace, that is the end.
I really thank God that He helped me with this early on in ministry. When I became General Overseer of the Church in 1981, the name plate on my table read ‘Reverend (Dr) Enoch Adeboye, Ph.D, M.Sc, B.Sc.’
I wanted everyone to know that this was not just an ordinary pastor, that I was a doctor too. What I should have added to it is empty barrel, because empty barrels make the loudest noise. God asked me if I wanted Him to lift me and I said, “Yes, of course, Lord”. The Lord then asked me to remove all those titles and just be addressed as ‘Pastor’.
Thank God I obeyed, because no sooner had I done that than He started lifting me.
Pride is a destiny killer; don’t let it hinder you from getting God’s grace to fulfil God’s purpose for your life. Oh, God made Lucifer very beautiful; amongst angels, he was special. Just as Jacob gave Joseph a coat of many colours, God gave Lucifer a covering of every precious stone you could think about.
God even made musical instruments inside him so, with his voice alone, he could play sweet music. He was really special.
However, Ezekiel 28:17 says:
Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou halt corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.
Today, that Lucifer that was described as bright is now known as darkness.
If you become proud, you would lose everything God has in store for you. Instead of being celebrated, you would become abhorred. If you want to fulfil your destiny, you must wear humility like a garment (Colossians 3:12).
REFLECTION:
Check your life for any element of pride. Be honest with yourself and deal with that pride today.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:
Romans 6-8
HYMNAL:
Hymn 1 – All to Jesus I surrender
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