OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL
DATE: SUNDAY 29TH MARCH 2020
THEME: WORKERS IN THE LORD’S VINEYARD.
HYMN 8 : HAVE YOU BEEN TO JESUS.
1.Have you been to Jesus for the cleasing pow’r?
Are you washed in the blood of the lamb?
Are you fully trusting in His grace this hour?
Are you washed in the blood of the lamb?
Chorus
Are you washed in the blood,
In the soul –cleansing blood of the lamb?
Are your garments spotless?
Are they white as snow?
Are you washed in the blood of the lamb?
2.Are you walking daily by the saviour’s side?
Are you washed in the blood of the lamb?
Do you rest each moment in the crucified?
Are you washed in the blood of the lamb?
3.When the bridegroom cometh will your robes be white!
Pure and white in the blood of the lamb?
Will your soul be ready for His mansions bright,
And be washed in the blood of the lamb?
4.Lay aside the garments that are stained with sin,
And be washed in the blood of the lamb;
There’s a fountain flowing for the soul unclean,
O be washed in the blood of the lamb.
MEMORISE:
Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. Acts 6:3.
BIBLE READING: Acts 6:1-7.
3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you
MESSAGE
Before any organisation recruits employees, the criteria for qualification would have been determined. Similarly, there are qualifications God expects all workers in His vineyard to meet up with. In Acts 6:1-3, when the first set of church workers were to be selected, it was mandatory that they had an honest report and be filled with Holy Ghost. This is how the work of God can grow. After Spirit-filled workers had been chosen in Acts 6, verse 7 says:
“And the word of God increased and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith”
It is wonderful to work for God but God is not seeking just anyone to work for Him, He is seeking Spirit-filled workers. It is pathetic when someone comes to Church for the first time, willing to surrender to Christ and then he sights his girlfriend or someone who asked him for a bribe in the course of the week amongst the workers. He then says to himself “If these are the kind of people serving God, then I am not interested”.
How will the word of God increase when even the workers are not living by it?
Every worker in the Ushering, Media, Choir, Sanitation, Prayer team, Follow-up, Protocol, Evangelism, Traffic control and all other departments must be Spirit-filled. Deuteronomy 34:9 says Joshua was filled with the Holy Spirit, otherwise they will get him/her in trouble. In 2 Kings 5:20-27, but for the intervention of the Holy Spirit, Gehazi, the Personal Assistance of Elisha could have put him in trouble. There are Church workers who collect money on behalf their pastors without informing them. It is dangerous to be unfaithful in your service to God. Just ask Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, as recorded in Leviticus 10:1-3.
PRAYER POINT:
God is seeking spirit-filled workers, do you qualify?
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Judges 1-2.
AUTHOR: PASTOR E. A. ADEBOYE.