Memorise: For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. 1st John 5:3
Read: Psalm 119:97-106 (KJV)
97 O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.
98 Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me.
99 I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation.
100 I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts.
101 I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word.
102 I have not departed from thy judgments: for thou hast taught me.
103 How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
104 Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.
105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
106 I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous judgments.
Bible in one year:
Nehemiah 9,
Matthew 9:27-10:15,
Hymn:
Sing hymn 4
Message:
We often need to remind ourselves of what it means to be born again so that we do not lose sight of who we are. To be born again means that the control of one’s life has been given or surrendered to Jesus Christ.
From the moment a person makes this decision, the Lord Jesus Christ is meant to be in charge of his or her life. One of the important features of being born again is transformation, which is described in the Bible as putting on the new man (Ephesians 4:24, Colossians 3:10). This occurs through a process of continuously renewing the mind with the word of God (Romans 12:2). When a person becomes born again, he or she is a new creature, from whom old things are passed away and all things have become new (2nd Corinthians 5:17). The old things that have passed away include the old ways of thinking and acts that lead to disobedience. The old man, present in all of mankind, is disobedient by nature. This Adamic nature finds the instructions of God oppressive and can never submit to His authority. 1st Corinthians 2:14 says:
“But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
In contrast to the old Adamic nature, the mind of the new man is subject to the control and influence of the Lord Jesus Christ. Whenever the new man receives any instruction from God, it is joyfully obeyed – God’s commandments are not in any way burdensome to him. Indeed, the new man loves to obey God (1st John 5:3). However, to reassure our hearts that He is not in any way a taskmaster, Jesus in Matthew 11:30 said:
“For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Through these words and several others, we know that God’s motive behind every commandment is our own good. The system of the world is one of the main factors that make obeying God’s commandments seem difficult, but we thank God that the new man in us has overcome the world (1st John 5:4). True children of God find the world with all its trappings unattractive. Everything the world has to offer, in the form of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, cannot dominate a child of God any more (Romans 6:14).
Today’s Bible reading paints a perfect picture of the resultant effect of resolving to obey God’s commandments. The word of God suddenly becomes sweeter than honey. This leads us to hate falsehood and keeps us away from evil behaviour. Obedience to the word of God gives superior understanding and divine wisdom. Having been taught by God Himself, we become wiser than our enemies. You will find it easy to obey God’s word henceforth in Jesus’ Name.
Prayer Point:
Father, please give me divine wisdom, and take me far above my enemies in Jesus’ Name.
Open Heavens Daily Devotional Lessons was written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, one of the largest evangelical Churches in the world and also the President of Christ the Redeemer's Ministries.
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