RCCG OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL (FOR JANUARY 14,2023 (ONLY BY GRACE)
TOPIC : ONLY BY GRACE
MEMORISE: (John 15:16)
“Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.” –
READ: Romans 9:15-26 (KJV)
15 For he says to Moses,
“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”[a]
16 It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. 17 For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”[b] 18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
19 One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?” 20 But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’”[c] 21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?
22 What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? 23 What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory— 24 even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? 25 As he says in Hosea:
“I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people;
and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,”[d]
26 and, “In the very place where it was said to them,
‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called ‘children of the living God.
MESSAGE
Some people think that God is doing great things for them because they deserve it.
They think because of all that they do for God, then it is only expected that He would bless them as He does. Believe me honestly, everything that God does, He does for His name’s sake – not for you, but that His name will be glorified (Psalm 106:7-8).
Don’t become arrogant, God could use anyone else. There are people who pray, study the Bible and are even more talented than you, but God chose you; you should be grateful for that. In any case, if we were to count iniquity, who will stand? (Psalm 130:3). When people see the things God is doing in The Redeemed Christian Church of God, they think I must be special.
The only thing special about me is that God chose me, because even from as far back as when I was a little child, God had promised my Father-in-the Lord that The Redeemed Christian Church of God would go round the world. It had nothing to do with me at all; God just decided to glorify Himself through this Church and it is only by grace that He chose me to be the General Overseer. He could have chosen anyone else. There are people far more qualified than I, but it is by grace that I was chosen.
When you see people still drowning in sin, don’t judge them because you are on your way to heaven; rather, pray that God will save them by His grace. It is by His grace that you are not the one on the way to hell. Never forget that it is He who is working something out for His name’s sake. You are only graced to be a recipient of God’s blessings. The people of Israel may have thought that God parted the Red Sea and drowned Pharaoh and his army because they were so special. He did it for His name’s sake. They were only graced to be the ones He did it for. Romans 9:17 testifies to this:
For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
PRAYER POINT:
Father, thank You for Your grace over my life. Please don’t let me ever stop enjoying help from Your throne of grace.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Genesis 44-46
HYMNAL:Hymn 2 – Amazing grace
