PRAYER: ANTIDOTE TO CHALLENGES-
17/03/2014
Yesterday’s message
was titled “GOD, MY FORTRESS”. Today’s message is titled “PRAYER: ANTIDOTE TO
CHALLENGES” as provided by Pastor E. A. Adeboye in Open Heavens Devotional
(Adeboye, 2014). In today’s message, we have been asked to memorise Nehemiah 4:6 "So built we the
wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the
people had a mind to work." and read Nehemiah 2:13-20. Our Bible in one year for today has been taken from Lamentations 3-55
and Psalm 64 (Adeboye, 2014).
The message is quoted below for our usual discussion:
"Every good
builder has a foe, and that is the discourager. As we have read in the passage
for today, Nehemiah determined to rebuild the destroyed city of Jerusalem; but
then, he was faced with opposition! Sometimes, when you determine to do
something good for God, you are surprised to come across opposition to your
good intentions. Nehemiah could not be deterred, and neither should we be. As a
young minister in the Church, I planned a programme for the purpose of winning
souls to the Kingdom with the approval of my father-in-the-Lord. A senior
pastor heard about it and picked a quarrel with me. I was surprised because my
expectation was commendation and not condemnation. I could not
understand how winning souls could become sacrilegious. I therefore reported
the matter to the General Superintendent, but he asked me to go and beg
the senior pastor so that the programme could hold! I obeyed; thou I did not
know why I should do that except for the fact that my father-in-the—Lord asked
me to. I thank God I did.
Reading through the
book of Nehemiah, you will discover that Nehemiah's strength was hidden in his
prayer life. He prayed all through to the God who gave him the vision to build,
and he was strengthened (Nehemiah 4:1-4). Jesus Christ also used the medium of
prayer to overcome the challenges of His assignment of saving the world (Luke
22:41-44). So, when you are convinced of what the Lord has asked you to do, go
ahead and pursue it with all your strength, but do not leave prayer out of it.
For those in opposition to good things, there are lots of lessons for you in
this story as well. Beware of standing in opposition to what God does or wants
to do, or else, you will live to regret your actions. You should know that what
you think should not happen or will be impossible to achieve will story
of the 24-hour miracle that terminated the famine in Samaria is one to take
note of (2 Kings 7:18-20). The man of God prophesied super-abundance after a
long time of of famine in Samaria, but a powerful minister in the king's
cabinet said it was not not possible. He saw It happen but he did not partake
of it according to the word of the man of God. God. May this not be your
portion in Jesus‘ Name. Let us join hands to build our country. Let us cease
from being destructively critical of our political and economic system. Rather,
let us build our nation through prayers and we shall see and eat the good of
the land in Jesus‘ Name."
Today's prayer
point is "Father, five me the strength to build your kingdom on earth, and
make me a partaker of the celebrations to follow."
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