Your Refreshing Daily Devotional

In His sermon on the mount, Jesus put several things in the old order to rest. One of them has to do with vengeance. The old order was “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”. In other words, treat people as badly as they treat you. Several reasons make pursuit of vengeance an undesirable course of action. One, there is no justice in vengeance. If someone hurts you with words, for example, when you want to pay back you will look for something more damaging. If you give more than you received you are already unjust. On another note, when someone is bent on exacting vengeance for every wrong, he sets himself up to be treated without mercy when he himself errs.

We belong to the new order where love covers a multitude of sins…“Do not avenge” … Those who do it break His law…towing the path of vengeance is usurpation. God says that vengeance is His; trying to do it yourself is presuming to usurp God’s work.

The story of the servant in Jesus’ parable comes to mind here. He was forgiven of a huge debt. Shortly after that he grabbed a fellow servant by the throat to demand a lesser amount. He wound up in jail. Jesus put the old order to rest in His teaching on the mount. He reminded them how the law says an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. In the new order, He would rather have them suffer wrong than taking issues into their hands. We belong to the new order where love covers a multitude of sins. Finally, we find two more reasons to avoid taking vengeance in Romans 12:19 – “Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.” “Do not avenge” is a direct command of the Lord. Those who do it break His law. Secondly, towing the path of vengeance is usurpation. God says that vengeance is His; trying to do it yourself is presuming to usurp God’s work.

For 20 long years, a woman prayed regularly, believing for the salvation of her husband. One night, the man came under conviction of the Holy Spirit and shook terribly in bed. Apparently that night, the man himself was praying that his wife would lead him to the Lord. Now, twenty years is a long time for someone to wait, pray, and believe; but it was worth the wait after all. Jesus taught several things about prayer, one of which is importunity. He spoke a parable in Luke 18. The very first line of that chapter introduced us to the objective of the parable – “Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart.” Luke 18:1 NKJV. 

He wants people to pray without fainting…You must resist the temptation to give up, otherwise precious hours previously invested in prayer would be a waste of time…keep pushing in prayer.

He wants people to pray without fainting. To give up is a temptation that every prayer warrior faces, particularly when the answer does not seem imminent. You must resist the temptation to give up, otherwise precious hours previously invested in prayer would be a waste of time. When you take a burden or concern to the Lord, you are to stick with Him until one of two things happens. Firstly, you can stop praying when the object of your prayer has been delivered or at least you have received the assurance that the answer is on the way. In this case you can shift from request to thanksgiving. The second option is if the Lord asks you to stop praying about the matter. He did that to Paul regarding the thorn in his flesh. Outside these two, keep pushing in prayer. Now, here comes again the place of the Holy Spirit. It is through Him we obtain help to counter our infirmity of either not praying at all or giving up midstream.

Without mincing words, Jesus told His disciples that without Him they could do nothing (John 15:5). To that extent, He exhorted them to abide in Him. We can transpose the same word and counsel to the Holy Spirit without any fear of misrepresentation. Before He rounded off His mission on earth, Jesus promised that He would send another Helper just like Him. Just as they could do nothing without Jesus, so would they not be able to do anything without the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit has three dimensional work in our lives. He is involved with past, present, and future…the Spirit of the Lord serves as a capacity builder.

The Holy Spirit has three dimensional work in our lives. He is involved with past, present, and future. He handles the past because He reminds us of all things; He is involved with the present because He teaches us all things;  and He connects us with the future as He shows us things to come and guides us into all truth. There is yet another dimension to the ministry of the Holy Spirit as we can see from the text. Jesus had told the disciples that all He taught them was not all that needed to be taught. He stopped at the level that they could handle. However, He promised that the Spirit would help them to receive more of the mysteries of the Kingdom. By implication, the Spirit would enlarge their capacity and help them understand. In other words, the Spirit of the Lord serves as a capacity builder. If all these are the things to enjoy from the Holy Spirit, then He is the priciest treasure and we must walk carefully so as not to grieve Him.

The last chapter of Saul’s life was a total contrast to the first. When Samuel anointed him with oil, the Holy Spirit came into his life and he prophesied. So evident was the Spirit’s manifestation that the people questioned one another, “Is Saul also among the prophets?” How can we explain that a man who was full of the Spirit at a time lost it and ended up being tormented by an evil spirit? It would seem that he grieved the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 4:30 says, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”  If we grieve the Holy Spirit until He gives way, the evil spirit will definitely take over.

If we grieve the Holy Spirit until He gives way, the evil spirit will definitely take over…When disobedience becomes a pattern, we consign the Holy Spirit to an ineffective position.

It is possible to grieve the Holy Spirit; otherwise the warning would not have been necessary. However, quenching the Holy Spirit is not an incidental event. The Spirit is hardly quenched through a lone incident; it is usually a final product of some gradual process that may be imperceptible. Anyone who finally quenches the Spirit must have been grieving Him for some time. When disobedience becomes a pattern, we consign the Holy Spirit to an ineffective position. A rebellious attitude is repulsive to the Lord, but a broken and contrite heart will remain a conducive environment for the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

While discussing the gifts of the Holy Spirit, Paul employed the analogy of the human body to drive home his point. He noted that though the body is one, there are many parts to it. To this extent, what happens to a part impacts the whole body. Flowing from this is the stark reality that how a believer lives and responds to God can affect someone else in the Body of Christ. Walking in obedience with God does not only affect you directly, but it can also affect other people in the community of saints.

Walking in obedience with God does not only affect you directly, but it can also affect other people in the community of saints…When you fail to obey the Lord fully and on time, the lifeline that God wants to give to others through you may be delayed.

The Lord met Saul of Tarsus on his way to Damascus where he was going to persecute the saints. In that noonday blistering encounter, he temporarily lost his vision. His restoration would not come until he had entered the city for further instruction. Meanwhile, God had told another disciple, Ananias, to go and minister to Saul. Initially, this disciple was jittery, having heard so many terrible stories about Saul. God had to bring assurances his way not to be afraid. That was when he went and prayed for Saul to receive his sight and got him baptized in water.  Imagine if Ananias did not obey the Lord as soon as possible!  Saul would have groped in darkness a little longer than God had intended. When you fail to obey the Lord fully and on time, the lifeline that God wants to give to others through you may be delayed.

Although I live in a tropical country, I mostly run warm water to have my bath, especially in the morning hours. You can now imagine my shock when I saw two young athletes having ice bath. They had plenty of ice in a bath and soaked themselves in it for several minutes. I saw their face grimace and their teeth gnashing. To satisfy my curiosity, I went to search for the benefit of ice bath for athletes. I understand that cold water helps to reduce inflammation and soreness of the muscles. When one comes out of the water, the body responds by increasing blood flow which in turn helps to remove waste products and allows nutrients to come in for recovery. With all the advantages, an average person will still require a lot of gut and psychological retuning to dip in ice. All this points to the tremendous sacrifices that professional athletes make to wear the crown.

There is no moving forward spiritually without the readiness to make sacrifices…If you want more of God, there is more of you that you must let go.

As it is in the physical so is it in the spiritual. There is no moving forward spiritually without the readiness to make sacrifices. Daniel and his colleagues found themselves in Babylon as captives. But they still strove to uphold the laws of God and be on the same page with Him. They purposed not to eat of the king’s meat. They requested for a meal of vegetables and water for 10 days as a test run. That eventually went on for three years on the same diet! Three years of what most of us will describe as dry meal devoid of meat and wine. That was some sacrifice there. No wonder God blessed Daniel with such an incredible revelation. If you want more of God, there is more of you that you must let go.