Wisdom For The Day Devotional 28 June 2023 By Bishop Mike Okonkwo: Come Down To The People’s Level
TOPIC: Come Down To The People’s Level (TREM Devotional 28 June 2023)
“Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.” Ezekiel 1:1
MESSAGE:
As beautiful and as good as the mountain top is, the same place can become a comfort zone. If you are not careful, it might become a place where you think you have arrived, and you will no more be sensitive to what is happening around you. You are no more in touch with reality. You are on top there, but you don’t know what is happening in the valley. It can become an albatross.
It is good to be on the mountaintop, but it should not become residential. Jesus went up to the mountain to pray. He had fantastic encounters with God, but He always came back. The mountaintop can become a place where you stay for too long and lose touch with reality to the point where people tell you what is going on in the valley, and the challenges they are facing, and rather than empathise with them, you say it is not possible because you have become insensitive to what is going on. This can manifest in your refusal to identify with others. There is this element of “I am superior to other people” and “who do you think you are?” This is completely opposite to the plan of God for you to have the mountaintop experience.
The church of Jesus Christ has remained ineffective because we have got to the mountaintop and have forgotten the reason why God gave us the encounter. Today, I challenge you as a leader at whatever level, never to forget the reason why God called you to Himself.
According to the book of Ezekiel 1:1, Ezekiel was among the captives by the river of Chebar. He came down to the people’s level. He sat where they sat, and he was able to feel them. He was sensitive to their situations. You cannot effectively minister to somebody when you are not sitting where they are sitting. No matter where you are today on the leadership ladder, learn to connect with your people. Stop to greet them, visit, share their burdens, reach out on the telephone, send chats (not just forwarded messages alone), be specific, touch that brother and sister, and make the world a better place.
FURTHER READING:
Matthew 14: 22-33
DAILY BIBLE READING:
Morning – Job 11-13; Evening – Acts 9:1-21
Wisdom For The Day Devotional was Written by Dr. Mike Okonkwo; Is the Presiding Bishop of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM); a versatile man of God with over 30 years of dedicated service unto the Lord.
