Open Heaven 24 May 2019: [Friday] Daily Devotional By Pastor E.A
Adeboye – Persecution and not Prosecution
PERSECUTION AND NOT
PROSECUTION – Friday
May 24th 2019
Memorise: Blessed are ye, when
men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil
against you falsely, for my sake. Matthew 5:11
Read: Daniel 3:16-23 (KJV)
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.
19 Then was Nebuchadnezzar
full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego: therefore he spake, and commanded that they should heat the
furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated.
20 And he commanded the
most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace.
21 Then these men were
bound in their coats, their hosen, and their hats, and their other garments,
and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
22 Therefore because the
king's commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flames of the
fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
23 And these three men,
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning
fiery furnace.
Bible in one year: Leviticus
1-3, Jeremiah 41:9-42:6, Hymnal: Sing hymn 10
Message:-
Persecution
is being mistaken for persecution nowadays. There is a whole lot of difference
between the persecution of a believer and his or her prosecution for evil
deeds.
OPEN HEAVEN 24 MAY 2019
As defined by the Lord Himself in today’s memory verse, it is
persecution when men rise up against a Christian for the reason of his or her
faith in Jesus Christ or choice to live by His principles. Standing firm in the
face of persecution attracts blessings from the Lord (Matthew 5:12). When a
child of God is undergoing a period of persecution, it is not because he or she
has done anything wrong to warrant it. In fact, the Holy Spirit says in 1st
Peter 4:15:
“But let none of you suffer as a
murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s
matters.”
It is
unfortunate that this meaning of persecution is gradually being eroded by those
who compromise their faith and get indicted for it, who then whips up religious
sentiments in order to garner sympathy and escape punishment.
Open Heaven 24 May 2019: [Friday] Daily Devotional By Pastor E.A Adeboye – Persecution and not Prosecution
A lot of people
who compromise their faith abound in the Body of Christ today. Gone are the days
when Christians suffered persecution in their places of work due to their
uncompromising stand. Today, Christians connive with unbelievers to swindle
their employers, or simply look away from the shady deals being perpetrated
under their watch, for fear of persecution. They forget that they are actually
the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Their salt is gradually
losing its saltiness and their light is growing dimmer by the day. When
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were brought before King Nebuchadnezzar, it was
as though they were enemies of the state. Some of their brethren who had
compromised their faith in that foreign land would have seen them as being
proud, showy or acting holier-than-thou. It is very painful when members of a
righteous man’s household turn out to be enemies or join forces with enemies to
slander and persecute him.
Open Heaven 24 May 2019 Friday: Prayer Point
I
encourage you to recognise the difference between being punished for
righteousness sake and being punished as an evil doer. Once you know this, and
you are sure you are on the same page with God, you will receive an internal
boldness and peace that surpasses human understanding whenever persecution
arises. This boldness was present in the three Hebrew young men, and it was
also manifested by the early apostles (Daniel 3:16-18, Acts 4:19-21). As the
light of the world, I admonish you to never do anything that would justify your
being prosecuted as a criminal. If you must suffer prosecution for anything,
let it be for upholding the cross of Jesus Christ, which you should never be
ashamed of. May God continue to help you.
Prayer Point
Father, please help me comport
myself in a way that always glorifies You, and let me never have cause to
suffer as an evil doer.
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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