C.A.C Living Water Devotional For December 20, 2023 : Topic – PRESERVED FOR OTHERS
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CHRIST APOSTOLIC CHURCH THE LIVING WATER (January-December, 2023)
DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE
DATE: Wednesday, December 20, 2023
(International Solidarity Day)
TOPIC: PRESERVED FOR OTHERS
MEMORISE: And God sent me before you to preserve posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance (Genesis 45:7).
READ: Genesis 6:13-22
[13]. And God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
[14]. Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch.
[15]. And this is how you shall make it: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits.
[16]. You shall make a window for the ark, and you shall finish it to a cubit from above; and set the door of the ark in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third decks.
[17]. And behold, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die.
[18]. But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.
[19]. And of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female.
[20]. Of the birds after their kind, of animals after their kind, and of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive.
[21]. And you shall take for yourself of all food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to yourself; and it shall be food for you and for them.”
[22]. Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did.
EXPOSITION
After God finished the work of creation, He handed the work of preservation of created things over to man, who is the head of the creation. Adam must tend and and keep the garden. Later on, he had to give suitable names to the animals, thereby preserving their identities. God desires that we preserve what He gives or deposits around us. Noah was divinely given the role to keep nature alive. Things are kept alive using preservatives, i.e, agents that prevent things from decay. Describing Christians as the salt of the world simply implies we are to preserve our world from decay. That is the great task before us (Matt. 5:15).
It is obvious that you are preserved to preserve others. God preserved Noah in the ark for lives to be preserved, so that He wouldn’t need to recreate any other. Joseph identified the purpose he was to fulfil when God eventually sent him to Egypt, and he was divinely promoted. If he had lost focus, he would have been bitter against his brothers, but he realised that God sent him ahead, to preserve posterity for them. You too need to know that you are a a deliverer and saviour in the sense of preserving lives for God. We are saved and sent to facilitate the salvation of others (Matt. 28:19). Our lives must be accommodating and inviting to others, to prove the light and salt that we are, to the world. Let people see the Light of Life, Jesus Christ, through, and in you. That is how you can preserve them for God, and deliver them from the corruption of this world. Happy International Solidarity Day 2023!
SUGGESTED HYMN FOR TODAY:
CAC GHB 201
1. Hasten, sinner, to be wise!
Stay not for the morrow’s sun;
Wisdom, if you still despise,
Harder is it to be won.
2. Hasten, mercy to implore!
Stay not for the morrow’s sun;
Less thy season should be o’er
Ere this evening’s stage be run.
3. Hasten, sinner, to return!
Stay not for the morrow’s sun;
Lest thy lamp should fail to burn
Ere salvation’s work is done.
4. Hasten, sinner, to be blest!
Stay not for the morrow’s sun,
Lest perdition thee arrest,
Ere the morrow is begun.
Amen
PRAYER POINTS
1. Lord, help me to better understand and actualise the reason You have saved and sent me to the world.
2. Lord, help me to cooperate with You in order to fulfil the essence of my existence.
3. Like light and sugar attract insects, let the lives of Christians in the land attract the unsaved to You, O Lord.
EXTRA READING FOR TODAY:
Hebrews 7-10