Friday 31 October 2014

Open Heavens 2014: Friday October 31, daily devotion by Pastor E. A. Adeboye - Divine Promotion for the Wise

Topic: Divine Promotion for the Wise [Friday October 31, 2014]


Memorise: The wise shall inherit glory: but shame shall be the promotion of fools. - Proverbs 3:35
Read: Psalm 75:5-7

    5 Lift not up your horn on high: speak not with a stiff neck. 

    6 For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south.

    7 But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.

MESSAGE:

Divine promotion is a reward for those who live holy. God is the Judge, and only He can promote you. The devil is not the one who will promote you. There are two types of promotion according to Proverbs 3:35. These are: glory and shame. There is glorious promotion for the wise and shameful promotion for fools. Who are the wise? The Bible says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 1:7). Those who are wise fear God, and because of this, they live a holy life. They depart from sin. God says that such people will have a glorious promotion. A classical example of a wise man, who as a result of his fear of God abstained from sin, is Joseph in Egypt. He refused to have carnal knowledge of his master’s wife, though it was offered to him ‘free of charge’. In Genesis 39:9, He queried this offer saying:

    “......how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?”

The end of the story is that Joseph became the Prime Minister of Egypt. Who are fools? Fools are those who can see danger ahead and still walk into it. Fools are those who know that the wages of sin is death and yet continue to sin. Fools are those who know that the only way to get to the kingdom of God is by becoming born-again and yet they refuse salvation. Fools are those who have decided to continue living in sin, after knowing that without holiness, no man shall see God.

You must live a holy life if you want glorious promotion. God is no respecter of persons. He will never bend His standards. Promotion puts you on top. Being on top comes with very many advantages, according to Deuteronomy 28:1:

    “And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all the nations of the earth.”

God will give you divine promotion if you live holy. However, if you do not live holy, you will go down. Those who are on top enjoy it up there. Those who are below remain in suffering. I prefer being on top. When you are on top, you will get special protection. The one who is on top is special and of more value than the one who is below. Can you see how wise it is to live holy? I pray that today, the Lord will give you the grace you need to live holy for divine promotion, in Jesus’ Name.

All you need to do is to make up your mind that you will no longer live a life of sin anymore, and the Lord will help your decision.

Prayer Point: Father, put your fear in me so that I may shun evil for holy living, and grant me divine promotion this season in Jesus’ Name.

Bible in a Year: 1 Kings 19:19-21:16

Open Heavens Daily Devotional written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, one of the largest evangelical church in the world and also the President of Christ the Redeemer's Ministries.

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