C.A.C LIVING WATER DAILY DEVOTIONAL FOR AUGUST 24, 2023 : TOPIC – THE RECOMPENSE FOR CYNICAL DISBELIEF
CHRIST APOSTOLIC CHURCH
THE LIVING WATER (January-December, 2023)
DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE
DATE: Thursday, August 24, 2023
TOPIC: THE RECOMPENSE FOR CYNICAL DISBELIEF
MEMORISE
So an officer on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God and said, “Look, if the LORD would make windows in heaven, could this thing be? And he said, “In fact, you shall see it with your eyes, but you shall not eat of it” (2 Kings 7:2).
READ: 2 Kings 7:1, 2
[1]. Then Elisha said, “Hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord: ‘Tomorrow about this time a seah of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.’”
[2]. So an officer on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God and said, “Look, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, could this thing be?” And he said, “In fact, you shall see it with your eyes, but you shall not eat of it.”
EXPOSITION
*My thoughts,” says the LORD, “are not like yours, and My ways are different from yours. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are My ways and thoughts above yours”* (Isa. 55:8-9 GNT). God is supreme. He has His mouthpieces like prophets, pastors, evangelists, etc. This is because when God wants to work, He graciously uses man, not because man merits it, but according to His eternal programme. Therefore, where and when a genuine man of God pronounces anything in the name of the Lord as touching any situation or person, let us be very careful what we say or do with respect to such. This does not mean that there are no fake servants of God today. Yes, there are countless of them today, yet we still have the faithful ones with us, who, when they pronounce anything in the name of the Lord, it is binding. Beware how you talk about such, lest you regret your action.
Prophet Elisha, being an ambassador of God, filled with His Spirit and worked in His light, prophesied that there would be surplus overnight to put an end to the 7-year famine in Samaria. But one of the high officials in the king’s cabinet foolishly disbelieved and spoke ill against God’s decree. He paid dearly for his lack of restraint. Unfortunately for him, he was put in charge of the supplies. As he was trying to control the crowd, the impatient hunger-stricken people trampled on him, and he died, according to Elisha’s words that he wouldn’t live to enjoy the fulfilment of God’s promise. You don’t talk to a true servant of God anyhow. Learn to keep quiet, if you have nothing to say when God speaks through His servant, instead of being cynical. The result is always grievious.
SUGGESTED HYMN FOR TODAY:
CAC GHB 819
1. Begone, unbelief,
My Saviour is near,
And for my relief
Will surely appear:
By pray’r let me wrestle,
And He will perform;
With Christ in the vessels,
I smile at the storm.
2. Though dark be my way.
Since he is my Guide,
‘Tis mine to obey,
‘Tis His to provide;
Though cisterns be broken,
And creatures all fail,
The word He hath spoken
Shall surely prevail.
3. His love, in time past
Forbids me to think
He’ll leave me at last
In trouble to sink:
Each sweet Ebenezer
I have in review
Confirms His good pleasure
To help me quit through.
4. Why should I complain
Of want or distress,
Temptation or pain?
He told me no less;
The heirs of salvation,
I know from His Word
Through much tribulation
Must follow their lord.
5. How bitter that cup
No heart can conceive,
Which He drank quit up,
That sinners might live!
His way was much rougher
And darker than mine;
Did Christ, my lord, suffer,
And shall I repine?
6. Since all that I meet
Shall work for my good,
The bitter is sweet,
The medicine, food,
Though painful at long present
‘Twill cease before long,
ff And then-oh, how pleasant
The conqueror’s song!
Amen.
PRAYER POINTS
1. You spirit of unbelief in relation to God’s Word, out of me, in the name of Jesus.
2. O God, make it easy for me to do Your will always.
3. O Lord, bind and cage the scorning spirit of cynical disbelief in people’s lives as we go out to minister Your gospel to them.
EXTRA READING FOR TODAY:
Jeremiah 5:20-8:22