April 2, 2021 CAC Living Water Devotional : Topic – CAN WE REMAIN UNWOUNDED.
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CAC LIVING WATER DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE.
Friday, April 2, 2021.
(Good Friday)
CAN WE REMAIN UNWOUNDED.
Read Isaiah 53:5
MEMORISE: These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world (John 16:33).
EXPOSITION
Thank God for the Good Friday this year. God has something special for us today. In the epistle of Apostle Peter to the pilgrims of the Dispersion, he admonished believers not to be afraid of persecutions but to be careful not to suffer as criminals (1. Pet. 4:15, 16). This he said because he and others who were with the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ has tasted series of persecutions both within and without. As believers, there is no how we would not be wounded, either for the gospel’s sake (Acts 16:23), or in our personal lives. The likes of Peter, John, James, Steven, and Paul were wounded for saving people’s lives (2 Cor. 6:5; 11:23ff; 1 Peter 2:24). For God’s glory, Job was wounded by the devil while many others were wounded for sin (Psa. 89:32; Lk. 12:47, 48).
Christians only want to enjoy the blessings of Abraham and not his challenges. However, whether we like it or not, suffering is inevitable, which is not bad in itself, as it produces godliness and glorification in us (Rom.8:18). If God watched His own begotten Son wounded on the Cross, who are you to be spared without Cross? Yet, that doesn’t mean abandonment. If you are patient in tribulation, the end is glorious and rewarding.
Today, Christ and the early Martyrs are celebrated worldwide. Rejoice in your tribulation by waiting in endurance, as He never totally abandons us when we face the challenges of life. Do you also know that no one living is free from troubles (Job. 14:1)? Then it is better to suffer while in the Lord and for the Lord, as the reward is enormous (I Pet. 4:16). So, cry no more when you are pressed and shaken by challenges of life. God is on your side, and in charge!.
PRAYER POINTS:
1. Lord, give me the grace and power to face my inevitable life challenges when they come.
2. Lord, help me to see the positive side of persecution and never to lose focus of my eternal home.
3. O Lord, help those ministers who major in preaching the so-called ‘Prosperity Gospel’ and make them come to the right senses and stop receiving ‘those on the way’.
EXTRA READING FOR TODAY: Deut. 33:14- 34:12; Joshua 1:1 – 2:18; Luke 6:1- 6:22.