Open Heaven [31 January 2019] The Price of Being a Standard

Open Heaven 31 January 2019: [Thursday] Daily Devotional By Pastor E.A Adeboye – The Price of Being a Standard

THE PRICE OF BEING A STANDARD – Thursday January 31^st 2019

Memorise: Then the king promoted shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the province of Babylon. Daniel 3:30

Read: Daniel 3:14-18 (KJV)

¹⁴ Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up?

¹⁵ Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made; well: but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?

¹⁶ Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.

¹⁷ If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.

¹⁸ But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.

Bible in one year: Luke 10-11, Isaiah 29:1-14, Hymn: Sing hymn 10

Message:-

The price of being a standard or trailblazer is indeed very high. Self-disciplined will be required of you if you desired to be a standard among your contemporaries. Speaking on this, 1^st Corinthians 9:25 & 27 says:

Open Heaven 31 January 2019 The Price of Being a Standard

“And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible… But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are good examples of people who paid the price to be a standard. Although they were captives in a strange land, they stood up to be counted for their loyalty to the God of Israel, even though it came at a high price that required them to pass through King Nebuchadnezzar’s fiery furnace. One point to note from this story is that the king’s decree was not only directed at the Hebrew boys; it was for all the officials in the realm of the king, including a number of other Jews. Only God knows how many of those other Jews allowed their faith to be compromised in order to avert the king’s anger. I suppose they were many. In any case, the stand taken by the three Hebrew boys was the price they had to pay to become standards for the other Jews to follow. We must learn from Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego that to become a standard, we must first stand out.

Open Heaven 31 January 2019: [Thursday] Daily Devotional By Pastor E.A Adeboye – The Price of Being a Standard

John the Baptist was another person who paid a high price to become a standard. Whoever wants to succeed in life and ministry like him must not be given to an uncontrollable appetite for delicacies and fashion. John the Baptist ate wild honey and locusts which he found in the wilderness and his wardrobe contained only coats of animals skins (Mark 1:6). He therefore had no dependencies on anyone. So, when the time came for him to tell the raw truth to the adulterous King Herod, he was not worried about missing out on any royal banquets or privileges (Matthew 14:1-12). Although John the Baptist paid the supreme price for speaking out against the king, our Lord Jesus Christ, had this to say concerning him in Luke 7:28^a:

“For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist:”

After the Hebrew boys went through the fiery furnace unhurt, the king acknowledged the majesty of their God and promoted them in Babylon (Daniel 3:30). Beloved, there is a price to holiness to pay if you want to stand out and become a standard.

Prayer Point

Father, please empower me to pay the price of greatness, and cause me to be great before I see You in glory.

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.