DCLM Daily Manna 30 October 2021 Devotional By Pastor W. F. Kumuyi — Enemies Of God

TOPIC: Enemies Of God

TEXT: James 4:1-17

1 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?

2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.

3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?

6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.

10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

11 Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.

12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?

13 Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:

14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.

16 But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.

17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

KEY VERSE: “Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” – (James 4:4b)

MESSAGE:

Loyalty is seen in identifying with the principles and practices of the person one pledges his loyalty. It is considered an act of treachery and betrayal to make friends with the sworn and bitter enemy of one’s master.

Our passage deals with various issues ranging from lusts, wrong motives in prayer, love for the world, the need for humility and to shun pride, the evil of judging one another and the foolishness of boasting about the future, which only God knows. The “world” as Watchman Nee said, is “an ordered system which is governed from behind the scene by a ruler – Satan.” It so enraptures its victims that they are not aware of the great danger before them. They are oblivious of the fact that they are heading towards hell fire. Having failed to weaken the Church through persecution, Satan decided to bring in the world into it. This subtle and deadly system has been embraced by many Christians unconsciously. Worldliness is made manifest in the craze for fashion, show-off, festivities, exotic hair-dos, Satan-inspired music, lack of moderation, “unisex” wears, etc. It is so alluring, enticing, seemingly unharmful and yet so evil.

Many professing Christians do not even know or believe they are already enemies of God by their attachment to the world. To make matters worse, many “great” men of God especially prosperity preachers, never tell people that worldliness leads to hell fire. Many young persons are trying to outdo unbelievers in this Satan-inspired race.

What then is the solution? Concerned believers must not stop to sound the alarm backed up with fervent prayers that these precious souls will not be lost. If you are a worldly minded person, make sure you repent today to remove the tag “enemy of God” from yourself.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
Worldliness numbs to the point of eternal damnation.

THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:
Jeremiah 25-27

DCLM Daily Manna was written by Pastor W. F. Kumuyi; is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church situated at KM 42 on the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Nigeria.

DCLM Daily Manna 29 October 2021 Devotional By Pastor W. F. Kumuyi — Retribution For Impenitence

TOPIC: Retribution For Impenitence

TEXT: Jeremiah 13:1-14

1 Thus saith the Lord unto me, Go and get thee a linen girdle, and put it upon thy loins, and put it not in water.

2 So I got a girdle according to the word of the Lord, and put it on my loins.

3 And the word of the Lord came unto me the second time, saying,

4 Take the girdle that thou hast got, which is upon thy loins, and arise, go to Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole of the rock.

5 So I went, and hid it by Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me.

6 And it came to pass after many days, that the Lord said unto me, Arise, go to Euphrates, and take the girdle from thence, which I commanded thee to hide there.

7 Then I went to Euphrates, and digged, and took the girdle from the place where I had hid it: and, behold, the girdle was marred, it was profitable for nothing.

8 Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

9 Thus saith the Lord, After this manner will I mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem.

10 This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing.

11 For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, saith the Lord; that they might be unto me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory: but they would not hear.

12 Therefore thou shalt speak unto them this word; Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Every bottle shall be filled with wine: and they shall say unto thee, Do we not certainly know that every bottle shall be filled with wine?

13 Then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings that sit upon David’s throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness.

14 And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together, saith the Lord: I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy them.

KEY VERSE: “This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing.” – (Jeremiah 13:10)

MESSAGE:

One of the most effective tools in teaching is the use of aids. This involves the use of visual, audio, audio-visual or life samples that learners can easily relate with and that can help drive the lesson home to the learners and help them understand and retain the knowledge and experience gained for a long time.

In the text, Jeremiah was commanded to take a linen girdle to River Euphrates and hide it there. When later he was instructed to go and retrieve it, the girdle had become marred and “good for nothing”. He was then commanded to go and prophesy to the people that just as the girdle had become good for nothing and useless, so shall they be when God would bring His judgment upon them for their idol worship and disobedience.

The unfortunate story of Israel’s continual backslidings, which started in the wilderness had made them unable to fulfil God’s destiny for them. In our study and in many other instances, one would see God’s displeasure at their conduct and obstinacy. It is for the benefit of man that he fears God and keeps His commandments. Every member of Christ’s Church ought to, by benefit of hindsight, learn from Israel’s mistakes and avoid all those pitfalls that crippled their walk with God.

The expectancy of an endless joy in Christ’s everlasting kingdom must keep the believer alive and vigilant against anything that may soil his garment of righteousness. Only then will he be counted worthy to walk with Christ in white (Revelation 3:4).

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
Judgment inevitably comes when the sinner fails to repent.

THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:
Jeremiah 22-24

DCLM Daily Manna was written by Pastor W. F. Kumuyi; is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church situated at KM 42 on the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Nigeria.